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About Me

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Caledonia, Northern Illinois, United States
I am a Thirty-Something mother of four beautiful girls. My love for them, and the joy I've experienced during this crazy ride called motherhood, has inspired me to help make the dream of a family become a reality for couples through gestational surrogacy. I've proudly helped A&T, as their lives were forever changed when they welcomed a son in April 2010 and K&S were blessed as parents in Sept 2012 when we welcomed their twin boys. I completed my final surrogacy journey Nov 2015 when I helped a wonderful local couple J&W and Big Brother add their family with the birth of twin boys. I am so very fortunate to have wonderful relationships with each one of my surro-families and continue to share in their lives.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

So far so good

Things are coming along nicely. I made another trip into the RE Monday. That's the third trip into Chicago in two weeks, 3-4 hours of driving each time! I must admit though, besides the occasional heavy traffic I do enjoy the solitude of being in the car all by myself. ;) The appointment was for bloodwork and u/s. They were monitoring to make sure I am suppressed after being on 10u Lupron for the last 10 days. I stopped BCP on Wed and started my second AF for this month on Friday, gotta love being synced and having two cycles in a months time! Everything looked good on u/s and the b/w numbers indicated that I have not ovulated so we are right on track. My instructions were to decrease Lupron to 5u daily and begin 2mg Estrace 3x daily and continue 81mg baby aspirin and prenatals. Next visit will be in 10 days to do a lining check (Aug 5). Hoping we have a nice fluffy triple stripe lining for some lucky lil embies to snuggle into.

I was able to have breakfast with IM, it was soooooo nice to see her. It was great to catch up and chat about family and how this summer has been treating us both. She and IF are off for an annual vacation next week and when they get back....it's baby mak'n time.

Dates are still the same, retrieval is planned for August 10-12 depending on when they have RE recommends trigger, then transfer 5 days later August 15-17th. It's getting close, less than 20 days away!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Cycling has begun

Hoping and praying that the 3rd times a charm!!! I went into Chicago for a baseline u/s and bloodwork Monday but have to go back tomorrow for a hystrosonogram. I guess the RE was just coming back from being out of town Monday and hadn't reviewed my chart so I'll be making two trips this week. I started a 9 day regimen of BCP to sync cycles on Monday, then Friday I begin Lupron injections...I love doing those...seriously, I'm not being sarcastic. LOL My first monitoring appt will be Monday, July 27th to make sure I'm suppressed and then the estrogen supplement will begin to build up a nice fluffy lining in my uterus with weekly checks until transfer.

As of now the retrieval is planned for sometime between August 10th and 12th (depends on how she responds to meds and when follicles are mature). Then they fertilize the lil eggies, let them grow for 5 days and then transfer them which is tentatively set for the weekend of August 15th. It's baby making time!!

Oh got good news from the IVF coordinator. Turns out the PIO was sent because she thought I had bleeding/spotting after my previous transfers so it was added into the protocol as a precaution in case there was any this time. They were mistaken, I haven't had any bleeding either of the previous times so I likely won't need it at all. Guess it is good to have on hand just in case though but my bum is relieved that it likely won't be needed.

I talked with IM through email the other day, contracts are being drafted and will be ready for signatures in the coming week(s). Gotta get those wrapped up before we transfer but really nothing is changing, so it should be no biggie.

I hope to meet up with IM at my monitoring appointment on the 27th, we haven't seen one another since the last transfer in January. It will be so nice to sit down and chat face to face again, it seem like it's been so long.

That's the latest.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Meds have arrived

The meds have arrived and cycling will officially begin in just a few days time. The first step is BCP which will start when AF shows next week. I'll be putting a call into the clinic then to find out when Estrace starts and monitoring appointments begin. When reviewing my meds list with the pharmacy I found out we'll be doing PIO this time....oh my! I actually enjoy the injections (strange I know) but up to this point I've only done sub-q ones which are a piece of cake. Those inter muscular ones can be a b**** from what I hear and the needles are quite intimidating. It looks like the RE is only doing a 10 day regimen though and then weaning on to suppositories or doing some kind of combo so at least it isn't weeks and weeks of arse poking.

I haven't seen our calendar/protocol yet but according to the IVF coord all is on track. The retrieval should be between Aug 10th-12th putting transfer the 15th - 17th. I risk sounding like a total country bumpkin saying this but our dates fall right over the Boone County Fair weekend and I'll be disappointed to have to miss watching my brother in the demo derby. It is all for a good cause though. We'll just have to wait and see.

Still no word yet about contracts, we should be reviewing those very very soon so hopefully I'll hear something in the next week or so.