Whoa baby it's been a whirlwind the past few weeks. I had to reread my last post so I could see exactly what you people know about. Last you heard I'd just started my injections. Well as of yesterday I am stopping my Lupron injections!
So backing up a bit...I had an ultrasound last Monday to check in on my ovaries and make sure they were nice and quiet. I had 10 folicles less than 10 mm on one side and 8 less than 10 on the other side. To those who aren't in the ovary business that's great news and it means it's like a library in my lady parts. Nice and quiet. We want my eggs to stay put and not develop and butt in on our little embie. So my ovaries are behaving. Good girls.
My uterus is also behaving. Last Monday it cleared out that old outdated lining to make way for the fluffy fabulousness of this season's IVF transfer lining. Coming November 2014.
The next day I started the Estrace pills that are supposed to not only fluffy up my uterus but also make me cry uncontrollably and lash out irrationally. So far the only thing I've noticed is that my skin and hair are looking fabulous. I was a little scared that the estrogen wasn't working right and that my uterus was going to be a barren wasteland at my next appointment.
In the mean time the door of my home was revolving. It's funny to me that while I'm preparing the guest womb for embie, I was also preparing my guest rooms for a ton of company! The Hubs was in the throes of work stuff the first week of my injections. He had client dinners every night, so I only got to say goodnight and good morning the entire week. He took off early on Friday so we could pal around before he left for Europe on Saturday. I'm not sure if it's because he was MIA the past two weeks or if my hormones were just aching for some adjustment, but I honestly have not felt crazy. Again...getting a little nervous for my next ultrasound because if I didn't feel hormonal surely that meant that the meds weren't working.
While Hubs was away I had a very special visitor! My Baby Mama came in on Thursday, and we spent the day mainly picking up my kids from school. My mom came over for lunch I'm sure to scope her out and try to convince her that she's normal since Mom decided to come with me to California for the transfer. I don't know that Baby Mama is convinced that my mom is normal, but she's at least been exposed. Actually it went really well. We all went out to dinner, and the kids played and danced to some live music. Baby Mama sweetly twirled my little girl around the dance floor, and we sat outside with a little breeze and just really had a lovely time. It was so natural and normal.
Again, I've heard horror stories about IPs, but my Baby Mama is just the coolest. Then again I've heard horror stories about crazy surrogates, so I suppose she's lucky too. We came back home and after I got my girlies in bed Baby Mama and I plopped down in the living room and watched....Baby Mama!
If you've never experienced this treasure, just stop right now. There's no way to fully appreciate surrogacy until you've seen Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's rendition of the journey. It's fabulous. I doubt my Baby Mama found it as ridiculously hilarious as I do, but I'm in lesbian love with Tina and Amy so that skews my view. I think the movie mainly scared her into thinking I was going to start drinking Big Gulp's full of Dr. Pepper and try and convince her to eat the placenta after Baby arrives. But it was really fun to just pal around with Baby Mama. We really got a chance for some girl time and it was great. Not to mention my kids think she's their new favorite auntie. She got serious points for bringing her dog along.
Just a few hours after Baby Mama headed home my in-laws arrived, and just a few hours after that Hubs caught an early flight from London! It was a whirlwind weekend, and it was great. Sweet Pea had a dance recital and was told to wear her Halloween costume. I asked what she wanted to be and she said an orange dog. She said it like 30 times so...
So backing up a bit...I had an ultrasound last Monday to check in on my ovaries and make sure they were nice and quiet. I had 10 folicles less than 10 mm on one side and 8 less than 10 on the other side. To those who aren't in the ovary business that's great news and it means it's like a library in my lady parts. Nice and quiet. We want my eggs to stay put and not develop and butt in on our little embie. So my ovaries are behaving. Good girls.
My uterus is also behaving. Last Monday it cleared out that old outdated lining to make way for the fluffy fabulousness of this season's IVF transfer lining. Coming November 2014.
The next day I started the Estrace pills that are supposed to not only fluffy up my uterus but also make me cry uncontrollably and lash out irrationally. So far the only thing I've noticed is that my skin and hair are looking fabulous. I was a little scared that the estrogen wasn't working right and that my uterus was going to be a barren wasteland at my next appointment.
In the mean time the door of my home was revolving. It's funny to me that while I'm preparing the guest womb for embie, I was also preparing my guest rooms for a ton of company! The Hubs was in the throes of work stuff the first week of my injections. He had client dinners every night, so I only got to say goodnight and good morning the entire week. He took off early on Friday so we could pal around before he left for Europe on Saturday. I'm not sure if it's because he was MIA the past two weeks or if my hormones were just aching for some adjustment, but I honestly have not felt crazy. Again...getting a little nervous for my next ultrasound because if I didn't feel hormonal surely that meant that the meds weren't working.
While Hubs was away I had a very special visitor! My Baby Mama came in on Thursday, and we spent the day mainly picking up my kids from school. My mom came over for lunch I'm sure to scope her out and try to convince her that she's normal since Mom decided to come with me to California for the transfer. I don't know that Baby Mama is convinced that my mom is normal, but she's at least been exposed. Actually it went really well. We all went out to dinner, and the kids played and danced to some live music. Baby Mama sweetly twirled my little girl around the dance floor, and we sat outside with a little breeze and just really had a lovely time. It was so natural and normal.
Again, I've heard horror stories about IPs, but my Baby Mama is just the coolest. Then again I've heard horror stories about crazy surrogates, so I suppose she's lucky too. We came back home and after I got my girlies in bed Baby Mama and I plopped down in the living room and watched....Baby Mama!
If you've never experienced this treasure, just stop right now. There's no way to fully appreciate surrogacy until you've seen Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's rendition of the journey. It's fabulous. I doubt my Baby Mama found it as ridiculously hilarious as I do, but I'm in lesbian love with Tina and Amy so that skews my view. I think the movie mainly scared her into thinking I was going to start drinking Big Gulp's full of Dr. Pepper and try and convince her to eat the placenta after Baby arrives. But it was really fun to just pal around with Baby Mama. We really got a chance for some girl time and it was great. Not to mention my kids think she's their new favorite auntie. She got serious points for bringing her dog along.
Just a few hours after Baby Mama headed home my in-laws arrived, and just a few hours after that Hubs caught an early flight from London! It was a whirlwind weekend, and it was great. Sweet Pea had a dance recital and was told to wear her Halloween costume. I asked what she wanted to be and she said an orange dog. She said it like 30 times so...
Super fun weekend for sure. But come Monday morning I was so exhausted I nearly forgot about my ultrasound.
I dropped Sunshine at school and headed with Sweet Pea to the clinic. Sweet Pea cut her eyes at the nurse drawing my blood like she was a sadistic vampire. But once she saw I was fine she happily bounced in the room with me as I disrobed and waited for my ultrasound.
This was the one to determine whether my uterus had changed the sheets and started really fluffing things up for little embie.
Doc came in and grabbed the lubed up weenie wand and asked when transfer was again. I told her we're shooting for the second week in November and she got down to business. She counted the follicles and we still had 10 under 10 and 8 under 10, which is fabulous. Then she looked at the lining and I saw the beloved triple stripe. I've heard of the triple stripe from my Facebook surrogate group stalking. The lining needs to have a triple stripe in order to be deemed suitable for little babies. My lining measured just under 7 mm, which meant nothing to me but thrilled the doctor. She said everything was just beautiful and was already nice and inviting for little embie. I looked it up later and I think 7mm is great for this stage. Some people had successful transfers with 7mm, and it should still fluff up plenty more from here.
So we're right on track, and once my bloodwork confirmed that my bod is on board, the Cali clinic called to tell me I can quit with the needles this week and just continue with my aspirin, prenatal, folic acid, estrogen cocktail.
I am so excited!! We are less than 2 weeks away from transfer, and so far so good! I'm enjoying my neeedle break this week before sh*t gets real next week. Next Monday I have one more ultrasound to make sure my womb is at its utmost fluffiness, and then...duhn duhn duhhnnnnnnnn PIO shots. PIO stands for Progesterone In Oil, and just to give you an idea that shot entails a very thick concoction that requires one needle to pull it out of the vial and a different GIANT needle to shoot it in my butt. Yowza. This is the shot I've heard leaves itchy knots and painful bruising.
I was telling Baby Mama about the PIO shots during her visit and was feeling a little apprehensive about them until she casually mentioned the FOUR shots she had to give herself DAILY for MONTHS...By. Her. Self. for the THREE rounds of egg retrievals...while her husband was deployed. Ummm I quit my belly aching after that. This is one shot. For 12ish weeks, while my husband is safely at home. So yeah I think I can handle it with my big girl panties.
So a very busy couple of weeks lately, and even more busy-ness to come! I know Baby Mama is getting nervous about the transfer, which makes me oddly calm since there's already someone worrying. I'm able to be the calm one, and I'd say that's probably a better scenario anyway. I'm making it my goal to be in a very peaceful, hopeful place when little embie gets in there. I want to be sending all kinds of endorphins his/her way when she/he decides whether or not to settle in for the long haul.
So keep those fallopians crossed! We are in the final weeks until T Day!! Woohoo!!!
I dropped Sunshine at school and headed with Sweet Pea to the clinic. Sweet Pea cut her eyes at the nurse drawing my blood like she was a sadistic vampire. But once she saw I was fine she happily bounced in the room with me as I disrobed and waited for my ultrasound.
This was the one to determine whether my uterus had changed the sheets and started really fluffing things up for little embie.
Doc came in and grabbed the lubed up weenie wand and asked when transfer was again. I told her we're shooting for the second week in November and she got down to business. She counted the follicles and we still had 10 under 10 and 8 under 10, which is fabulous. Then she looked at the lining and I saw the beloved triple stripe. I've heard of the triple stripe from my Facebook surrogate group stalking. The lining needs to have a triple stripe in order to be deemed suitable for little babies. My lining measured just under 7 mm, which meant nothing to me but thrilled the doctor. She said everything was just beautiful and was already nice and inviting for little embie. I looked it up later and I think 7mm is great for this stage. Some people had successful transfers with 7mm, and it should still fluff up plenty more from here.
So we're right on track, and once my bloodwork confirmed that my bod is on board, the Cali clinic called to tell me I can quit with the needles this week and just continue with my aspirin, prenatal, folic acid, estrogen cocktail.
I am so excited!! We are less than 2 weeks away from transfer, and so far so good! I'm enjoying my neeedle break this week before sh*t gets real next week. Next Monday I have one more ultrasound to make sure my womb is at its utmost fluffiness, and then...duhn duhn duhhnnnnnnnn PIO shots. PIO stands for Progesterone In Oil, and just to give you an idea that shot entails a very thick concoction that requires one needle to pull it out of the vial and a different GIANT needle to shoot it in my butt. Yowza. This is the shot I've heard leaves itchy knots and painful bruising.
I was telling Baby Mama about the PIO shots during her visit and was feeling a little apprehensive about them until she casually mentioned the FOUR shots she had to give herself DAILY for MONTHS...By. Her. Self. for the THREE rounds of egg retrievals...while her husband was deployed. Ummm I quit my belly aching after that. This is one shot. For 12ish weeks, while my husband is safely at home. So yeah I think I can handle it with my big girl panties.
So a very busy couple of weeks lately, and even more busy-ness to come! I know Baby Mama is getting nervous about the transfer, which makes me oddly calm since there's already someone worrying. I'm able to be the calm one, and I'd say that's probably a better scenario anyway. I'm making it my goal to be in a very peaceful, hopeful place when little embie gets in there. I want to be sending all kinds of endorphins his/her way when she/he decides whether or not to settle in for the long haul.
So keep those fallopians crossed! We are in the final weeks until T Day!! Woohoo!!!
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