Check that off the list

Well, another appointment down. Today Jason and I went in for the psychological evaluation. It was rather painless and easy, basically just reviewing the questions in my profile that I gave the agency. I think the doctor was very at ease with my decision and there really wasn't a need for "probing" questions. We did discuss the one big factor in the outcome in all this and that is IMs "advance" maternal age. She is just over 40 so a lot of how well this works is weighing on egg/embryo quality. I think the psychologist just wanted to be sure I was aware that even though pregnancy has come easy for me, it might not be so easily achieved through this. Regardless, I'm an optimistic person so I'm not gonna fret over the unknown at this point. I'm just hoping for the best.

I do have the MMPI -2 to take either tonight or tomorrow when I have some peace and quiet to answer the 567 questions!!!! YIKES!!! They are True/False though and mostly statements and then I just have to choose how I feel about it. They are so ridiculous though, it is amazing to think they can actually determine someones personality and tendencies from some of these questions. The test is used to rule out hypochondriasis, depression, paranoia, aggression etc. so I can understand where the questions are coming from but some are so silly. I am amused by it mostly.

OK, on to the great part about today. Jason and I went out to lunch with A&T following the appointment. It was such a nice visit and we chatted for 3 hours. Everything was much more relaxed than last time and we were just able to get to know one another. The conversation flowed so easily and again Jason and IF seemed to have the most to talk about. They are both big time into film (this is actually IF's line of work) and Jason is a movie buff so they get along GREAT!!! LOL

I will admit, I was still a little quiet for me. I guess I hadn't realized how much I ramble on about my kids until I consciously make an effort not to do so. We did talk some about my previous pregnancies/deliveries and the girls too, but I just tried hard to not let that be the ONLY thing I talked about. I know for a fact I let the girls consume my thoughts and I can go on and on and on about them sometimes. Seeing as how A&T haven't met them yet I just feel I'd rather wait instead of blabbing non stop about them and usually when I talk about my children it is with friends who have their own "kid stories" to share. Hopefully A&T will have some of those soon enough too. We talked about plenty other stuff too and as I said it was just nice to enjoy one another company and not feel the pressure we did in the match meeting interview a few weeks back.

So, looks like next it is on to medical exams. We have an appointment set with the lawyer in two weeks but from what IF was saying we need to do med exams with the RE first. If that is the case then those will take place early Jan. and then contracts soon after. Oh, another great thing I found out today is they don't think their RE typically does mock cycles so we may be looking at getting started as early as February. That would be awesome!!

I am very excited by the thought of having a successful Feb/March transfer and A&T getting a baby in time for Christmas. I think that would be wonderful.

Hurry up and WAIT!!

They aren't kidding when they say surrogacy is all about playing the "hurry up and wait" game. Ugh.

So I relayed all my cycle info to the consultant at my agency and she contacted the RE office. Guess they said a big NO to doing any med exams (hysteroscopy/blood work) before I get my psych clearance. So although we've been racing to get in a few preliminary appointments (psych eval, contracts) to get going we are gonna have to WAIT till January for the next step which is medical exams.

With the way things are going looks like med evaluations early January, with possibly a mock cycle sometime February. I've heard rumors that these can take up to 8 WEEKS so.....that is gonna push us to April at the earliest for an actual transfer. That seems like forever away and I am ready NOW!!!!!

Another frustrating note is that I asked about the possibility of using a clinic close to home for some of my monitoring appts. Guess were gonna have to wait on IPs RE and see if they are ok with that. Truth is that I HATE to drive into Chicago. That part of this surro journey has me more paranoid and intimidated then giving myself multiple injections over and over with a big fat needle in my butt. That sounds like a piece of cake in comparison to driving into the city every few days for u/s and b/w. I am hoping they [clinic] will be ok with me using someone local for the "little" appointments and I can save myself for scary city driving.

Anyway, that is the latest update. Not gonna be much happening for awhile it seems. Psych evaluation is still a week from this Friday (Nov 30) and I am hoping IPs, DH and I can all do lunch following since they have an appt just before ours.

I'm sure I'll post again then if not before.

So far all is going smoothly

I hope the rest of the journey goes this well.

Now that we have an official match it is time to get in all the preliminary stuff. This past week I got the psych evaluation scheduled for Jason and I, we'll be doing that on November 30th. I also have an appointment on the books with the lawyer we are working with, that is December 12th. I love that everything just keeps moving along.

I've also been cleared by the IP's RE, so after the psych evaluation is done and that is A-OK I begin the medical evaluations. From what I understand this will include a bunch of blood work for both Jason and I and an hysteroscopy for me. According to what I've read they do the hysteroscopy sometime around the week after AF (CD7-14) so if AF shows when I'm expecting that would put us somewhere around December 1-7th. I imagine if we don't do it this cycle it will be delayed until January. I'd rather just get it done and over with. Not that I'm worried about it, when I got my IUD in/out I hardly felt a thing but I hate waiting for AF and it would make me anxious waiting till the new year.

I am very excited because now that things are moving along A&T and I have been able to exchange personal information. I wasn't quite sure how to first contact them, so I decided to send A an E-card to say hello and let them know I was thinking about them. She responded back with an email and I returned her with one of my own. It will be nice to be able to keep in touch now.

On the 30th they also have their psych evaluation, we have back to back appointments so I am hoping maybe we are able to do lunch that afternoon. Since they live about 2 hours from us it would be nice to take advantage of the fact that we will be in the same area at the same time. I'm hoping to hear back from them if this will work out.

Well looks like......

......everything is a go!!!!

Just got the good news, A&T have chosen me to carry the most precious thing they will ever make together....a BABY or BABIES!! Looks like I'll be helping them make a family in 2008 and I am so excited to join in this partnership with them.

It is onto contracts, evaluations, transfers pee sticks and Betas!!

A friend made this blinkie for me...so excited to use it!!!

Match Meeting....we shall see!?!?!

Well, DH and I got home not to long ago. Things went well at our meeting with the IPs. We did a lot of chit chatting over the two hours and the consultants from the agency were there to facilitate the conversation and ask questions and keep things moving.

I have a very good feeling and hope they do to. The IM and I were both crying at one point so I think that is a good sign. IF was very friendly and did the majority of the talking, very outgoing. She however seemed a bit reserved but after we talked about that (how quiet IM was) she confessed she is just a bit apprehensive about getting too excited. Their struggle with infertility has been 5 long years and there have been several surgeries resulting in getting no where so it is understandable for them to be cautious.

I was also a bit quiet, which is unlike me, but I think I was afraid of saying the wrong thing. I just didn't want to blab to much about my own children or how wonderful my pregnancies/deliveries were for fear of sounding insensitive. I know right now "A" would do anything to be in my shoes and I wanted to respect that. I can't even begin to imagine the mental process one goes through to decide to let another woman carry your child and relinquish the dream of being pregnant. It must be a hard place to be. So, I waited for them to ask the questions instead of spilling my guts. I imagine that feeling lessens as you begin to really know one another, but it was a bit awkward during this first meeting. Certainly not something that makes me second guess the match, I think time will remedy it.

I am hoping to hear something by late morning or early afternoon so I'll let you all know.

It really wasn't that hard once we got talking and I am positive they got to see the true me. However, I think they hit it off even better with DH. Maybe they will want him to carry the baby.