New Beginnings - The Start of GSx3

This blog entry has been a difficult one for me to piece together.  I'm excited to share what's ahead but a lot has transpired in the last couple of months and I don't want to be so incredibly wordy that no one gets to the end of this post.

I'll start with a quick summary of the last year .  A few times throughout my journey with K&S they expressed how happy they were to be expecting twins so that they would not have to go through the very emotional experience of IVF and surrogacy again.  They would have a beautiful family of four and two little boys who had one another as lifelong friends.  However, not long after Ryan and Mason were born, they brought up the topic of a sibling and for the last year we've all entertained the possibility of another journey.

Now lets go even further back ... when I was 30 weeks along with the boys a hopeful Intended Mother reached out to me looking for guidance through the process of surrogacy and curious to know if I had plans to carry again.  Of course at the time, VERY pregnant with twins, I was uncertain what the future held but knew that if I were able I would complete another journey.  In short, I couldn't really answer her question but I was more than willing to help her and her husband navigate the often overwhelming world of surrogacy.  We kept in touch, months went by ... they contacted the agency (FSC) I had used both of my previous journeys hoping to find a local match.  While waiting, she went through a couple of ER cycles hoping to have embryos ready to go when they did find their Angel.  This past fall they successfully created "maybe babies" that were frozen in hopes to transfer them to a GS in the future.

As the year has flown by the idea of a journey in the upcoming year has become questionable for K&S, their dose of double trouble is keeping them very busy!  On my end, the more time that passed the more anxious and ready I've become.  My original thought was that I wanted to start next fall, then I thought summer, then spring ... then I realized, I was ready now!  Surrogacy is such a huge part of who I am and I was becoming restless with the idea of waiting, but also didn't want to pressure them or give a deadline.

As the other couples journey began to unfold we continued to stay in touch and I felt more and more connected to this IM.  I wanted to do more than just help them navigate surrogacy - I wanted to be their surrogate, but still felt committed to K&S.  I reached out to K again wanting her thoughts and decided, that if in time they wanted to add to their family I'd be happy to carry again for them, but that I would regret not exploring the possibility of working with the wonderful IM I had been in touch with and had developed a relationship with over the last year.  That was late October.

After making my decision things moved quickly.  I excitedly told them I would be their surrogate!!!  They were excited as well but cautious because we had one major hurdle to overcome, my grand multipapa status and getting the RE's approval.  My pregnancy/delivery records were reviewed and without issue, I was given the go ahead to schedule a med/psych evaluation. Everything still hinged on the saline u/s and the condition of my uterus, especially since my last delivery had been by c/s.  Yesterday I got the thumbs up and was told everything looked "beautiful".  I even left with a cycle calendar, med schedule and transfer date - very exciting!  We've already retained attorneys so the next step is to get contracts finished so that I can start meds mid January for our February 20th FET.   That's less than 8 weeks away!

So with that news ...

We are all very eager and I can't wait to tell you more about this wonderful couple, share the story of how they came to surrogacy, and the journey that will hopefully bring a miracle to this very special family.

Baby Steps,
Tiffany

Lights Galore

This past weekend we headed into the city to visit my first surrofam, A&T and Giovanni.  We were welcomed by a little voice behind an open door, "Hello, come into my house".  Mr. G had fun showing the girls his toys while A&T, Jason and I warmed up with some festive cocktails and catching up.

We later set out for the Lincoln Park Zoo where they do an event each year, lighting up the zoo with thousands of Christmas lights.  The displays were quite impressive.  The weather was not as frigid as it had been in recent days but cold nonetheless.  The kids surprisingly lasted a full two hours as we walked around looking at the sights and admiring the Chicago skyline.

We then headed back to A&T's home to thaw out and have dinner. T made us a fabulous meal.  We enjoyed each course with a bottle of wine to compliment the region of Italy the dish originated from.  We wrapped up with dessert around 1 o'clock in the morning and then retired for the night quite content from all the food and drink.

In the morning we woke ourselves up with some coffee, gathered up the girls and said our goodbyes.  It's always so nice to see them and can see this outing becoming a yearly tradition.

There are more photos in the RECENT album. :)