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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.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Things are coming along

I had another monitoring appointment today. I was pleasantly surprised to run into IM at the office, we didn't have plans to meet this time but she had an appointment right before mine so we had some time to chit chat in the office while I waited my turn.

IM's check went well, she has 5 follicles right now and are hoping to see a few more pop up in the coming days, ideally 10 would be great.

My bloodwork and u/s went good too. Ovaries were clear and my lining was at 7.43mm, we want to see it get to at least 8mm so with a little less than two weeks to go that shouldn't be a problem. What is important is they see a triple stripe which indicates a good "landing pad for the embroys" and that is looking fine. Estradoil level was 387 which she said was great so my instructions are to continue with 5u Lupron daily and 2mg Estrace 3x a day.

IM's next monitoring appointment is Tuesday so I'll hear from the clinic then when my next appointment will be and soon we'll begin to get confirmed dates of when everything will take place.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Not much longer now

I hope the TWW goes this quickly!! Can't believe we are just a lil over 2 weeks away from baby making.

I had an appointment yesterday and all went well. I got a little confused on my med protocol and took 2mg Estrace yesterday morning not realizing I wasn't supposed to take it till after getting verbal instructions following my appointment but all ended up ok. There was also a miscommunication with the clinic regarding my consents. I was instructed to have them in my file prior to transfer but now they are saying they should have been there prior to starting meds so, Jason and I rushed off to get them notarized and he is faxing them over today.

IM and I had a very nice chat over breakfast, it was exciting to finally get to talk about moving forward, it is all a reality now and not just a plan anymore. We had plenty of time to talk about family and work and all those things too. I always enjoy having time with her.

IMs meds will begin next week and as she is monitored we'll get a more concrete idea of when her ER will be and from there a date for when we'll be transfering but for now the tentative date is November 19th, not long now!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Easy Peasy Apple Cheesy

Well that was no big deal. The Lupron injection was super simple and no problem at all. So far no side effects either but we'll see if that remains true after it builds up in my system. Beware I may become an emotional hormonal mess in the coming days/weeks.

I'm excited about my next monitoring appointment coming up on the 31st. IM and I have back to back appointments so we'll be able to grab a bite to eat and visit for a bit while I'm in the city. It's been a few months since we last saw one another and on our last visit we were both stressed and frustrated by how slowly everything was moving, this time we'll really have something to look forward to and be excited about.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Meds Arrived


FedEx kindly dropped off my medications this morning. After reading through most everything I think I've got a good handle on what everything is for. Our protocol calls for me to begin Lupron tomorrow night, this is an injectable but the needle is fairly small and it is only a subcutaneous injection right in the tissue surrounding the belly button so it shouldn't be to bad. Lupron is used to surpress my normal cycle. I'll continue BCP for a few days more and the other meds are parental vitamins, Estrace; an estrogen supplement that will hopefully help me achieve a nice fluffy uterine lining, a corticosteroid which have been shown to increase IVF results, an antibiotic to take just before transfer to ward of any infection, and a progesterone supplement (suppository) that will be used just prior to and for several days/weeks following our transfer. No dread PIO shots for me, my bum is so very excited about that!

I remember a surro before posting pics of her meds and it was quite intimidating. Mine all laid out doesn't look so bad...hopefully all will go well and side effects will be minimal. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll let you know how the first injection goes tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Here we go!!!

I got a call from our IVF coordinator today and she reviewed our portocal with me. I'm taking BCP now and will continue to do so until 10/26 (only active pills) and will start Lupron on 10/22. Let the fun of injectables begin! My next monitoring appointment will be on Halloween 10/31 and at that time if all checks out we'll move on to Estrace 3 times daily. Right now we are on target for a mid November transfer.

Getting nervous, anxious and excited and hoping soon for more than just butterflies in my tummy!!!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Moving Right Along (Again)

Well AF made her appearance on Monday so I called the clinic to relay all my cycle dates. They wanted me to come in for a baseline u/s and bloodwork so I made the trek into Chicago today for a quick appointment. All went well and later this afternoon I got a call from our IVF coordinator, my tests came back "ok", but I did have elevated E2 (Estrodial) and a 15mm follicle on my left ovary. Honestly I don't know what all that means but from what I understand I'm still ovulating on the BCP. ?!?!?! DH is "snipped" so I'm not worried about that but I'm a little baffled why that would be since I've been religious about taking my pills but didn't ask any questions. So, the RE changed my bcp regimen and wanted me to start a new pack right away today so I ran out to the pharmacy pronto to refill my RX to get going on that.

After Dr. reviews everything with IM and gets all her cycle info we'll be rolling and hopefully getting that coveted cycling calendar we've been waiting so long for.