All of our bloodwork is finally back!! All the results are either negative as they should be or within normal ranges as they should be! That was the preliminary bloodwork, but still a major step. Now my surrogate is scheduled for her appt. on Tuesday and will have her consult and bloodwork completed. Her hubby is going to try and make the appt. as well and if so he will be finished with his part, with the exception of the psych eval. Things are taking a little longer to coordinate since we are in different states and testing is being handled by 2-3 different places depending on what the test is.. My patience is definitely being tested at this point, but I know I can survive this and just keep praying that all things stay on track or as close to on track as can be. Right now we are waiting on the contract draft (we still have time for this, doesn't have to be completed until I start medication and we are a bit away from that still) and then however long it takes to get the psych evals back.. So, that's about all I have for an update for now, but things ARE moving forward so that's a blessing in itself..

 As I finish getting my Thanksgiving dinner ready, I look around and smile at how much I have to be thankful for.. I have a great family and great friends. We have a lovely home and beautiful things. We are by no means rich, but we are not poor. God has blessed us infinitely... We are thankful and hopeful for our future and this journey we are embarking on and excited about what the New Year will bring us. I hope you all take a second and just relish in your loved ones today. Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

So we got our scripts for our bloodwork finally! Now to have them drawn. :( DH is having his SA (semen analysis) done Tuesday, and hopefully we can get these bloodtests done this week so we can move on to the next step! Our pysch eval is scheduled for Dec. 8th and our contract should be drafted and us getting to see it also next week! Lots going on in the next 2 weeks here (well 3-4 really factoring in the holiday) so 1st of December should be smooth sailing after that! Next thing on the list is getting the AMH results, then I will know what my protocol is. You will know when I do. Until next time!
(Post from 11-21-

So I had my consult with the fertility clinic today and it went GREAT! Found out some great info about the tests we need to have done and the Dr. went over each person and what they need. Now, back to me (LOL!) I have to have another test done to determine my ovarian reserve. This test is called AMH or Anti-Mullerian Hormone. This test does this: Since AMH is produced only in small ovarian follicles, blood levels of this substance have been used to attempt to measure the size of the pool of growing follicles in women. Research shows that the size of the pool of growing follicles is heavily influenced by the size of the pool of remaining primordial follicles (microscopic follicles in "deep sleep"). Therefore, AMH blood levels are thought to reflect the size of the remaining egg supply - or ovarian reserve. So, this test is going to tell them if i have a decent amount of eggs left in my ovaries.. I don't know why but I am nervous about this test! I already had a blood test done to see if I can produce eggs and that came back favorable (FSH was 6.55, which is great for being over 35) So this new test caught me off guard, since I thought I had already "passed" the egg issue portion of the exam..

Anyway, so based on the results of this test I am going to be on birth control pills for either 2 or 3 weeks and then start my injections 3-4 days after that. I was given 2 different scenarios for stimming (taking the injections)
Option A: (if I am shown to be a higher producer) Take lupron after BCP's and my protocol will not be that much different than it was years ago when I did this.

Option B: BCP for 2-3 weeks then 3-4 days later start only FSH drug (Gonal-F or Follistim) no Lupron and then 5-6 days in add in another drug that I am not familiar with (Ganirelix- yes I am researching this) and then use LUPRON as the trigger to ovulate. This is a very new protocol for me and I am not good with new things.. I have to take this for what it is though, and that is I AM NOT A DOCTOR. I have put my faith in this Dr. (who is amazing) and this clinic and I have to go with that, so with that thought, I am excited! new things are happening and tomorrow I should be getting a call back from the clinic to give info for them to fax me all the many Rx's for bloodwork we have to have done.. So the train engine has started but we aren't moving yet.. BUT WE'RE CLOSE! Overall, today was a very good day...
(Post from 11-15-2010)

So my consult with the new clinic is TOMORROW! Yep, you read that right. 1PM I will be chatting up the RE (reproductive Endocrinologist) and seeing what our next move needs to be. This is a major step forward for us and we are so ready! My goal is to have all my questions ready for the Dr. and ask him what we need to have ready and when in order to be at egg retrieval and transfer by the end of January or middle of February. We have this time frame in mind for several reasons. The main one being I don't want my friend at delivery during the Holidays! As much as a Christmas baby sounds wonderful, I don't want her missing Christmas with her family for us. So as long as we transfer no later than the end of March we are ok. Goes something like this:
End of Jan transfer = Beginning of Sept baby..
Beginning of Feb Transfer= Beginning of Sept due date
End of Feb Transfer = Beginning of Nov due date
End of March Transfer= Beginning of December due date (very latest time we want)

The dates are funny to figure because the woman is technically already 2 weeks pregnant the day of the embryo transfer, cool huh?! So when the bloodtest rolls around and then ultrasound you are already 6wks pregnant by that time.. So, that's the method to our madness. Please say a prayer that things continue to move in our favor!

OK, that's your education for the day. Back to your regularly scheduled programs..

Enjoy your Sunday!

(Post from 11-14-2010)

So, as you know we met our surrogate and matched relatively quickly and with no (major) problems.. Things have been kind of bumpy due to her not having insurance and us trying to find an affordable plan to cover her. In all fairness, all of the bumps are not her fault. Some were (I hope) just working out the kinks, while others are issues.. Anyway, the insurance is one of the biggest problems that we were not able to overcome. Also, our clinic that we had been in talks with and had our consult set with rather offhandedly informed us that we had not been told about an additional $10K fee just for using a surrogate (this is more than the actual IVF cost!) I was devastated. They apologized for not informing us sooner, but that doesn't help us, we still do not have an extra $10,000 sitting around! So, we decided to part ways with this clinic and we have since found a new clinic. Even with travel it is cheaper for us (travel is only an 8hr drive to GA).

OK, back to the surrogate.. The insurance hurdle has been a huge one. I have tried to find her a plan and THOUGHT I had one, until the health care reforms started taking effect. Now the plan I was looking into was not available when I was ready to purchase it! So our surrogate said what if she tried to get on with her work insurance, she said someone told her it wasn't as expensive as she thought. Turns out when she told me it was really expensive, she really meant when she looked online for individual policies it was expensive for her and her husband (not the same thing...) I told her to check into it and get back to me. Well long story short, she didn't for whatever reason. This is not something we could wait on as time is of the essence with these things and you have to be on top of it in order to move forward. So we have decided to part ways. I know all of that is a bummer, but in the midst of all of this something AMAZING happened..

My really dear friend who I donated my eggs to almost 7 yrs ago has been my rock in all of this and my sounding board. All of this time I believed she was gearing up for a sibling project. Turns out she was getting her self ready to offer to be our surrogate! When I told her what was going on and that we were going to have to get back into search mode she made the amazing offer to carry for us! This has been such a blessing in so many ways. The most important is that the trust is already there. I know she is going to do what she says she will and what is needed of her. She is experienced since she already has been down this road for her own journey. The best part is the clinic we chose is in her area so we don't even have to go back to the drawing board in that aspect. Things are just falling into place like this is what was supposed to happen all along.. I actually had a dream that this was what was going to happen and she had offered years ago, but I was not comfortable with moving forward down that road until their family was complete. Now it is and we are really doing this!

I am so overwhelmed, overjoyed and in awe of my friends amazing and generous spirit. She said she feels like this was how it was meant to be from when we first started this journey long ago and I feel the same way.. I am just so thankful that things are still going to move forward and that our dream still has a fighting chance! So now we have LOTS of work to do to get started!  A basic rundown of what needs to happen now:

• Fill out the questionnaire for the lawyer so the contracts can be drafted and send him a check.
• Phone consult with the clinic (and give them c/c payment)
• Give clinic a HUGE check so we can get our rx's for testing
• Have lots of blood and other things drawn, poked or prodded
• Then start meds and get the ball rolling

So that's where we are right now. The contracts have to be finished in order to move to transfer so we are working on that part now. And I am still hocking my wares to help finance this whole baby party!
(Post from 11-08-2010)

My consult with the fertility clinic is scheduled for November 19th! I am really excited to finally be moving forward. All this time waiting to have something going on and it is! The clinic made a lot of sense when I asked when should we even be getting things rolling considered we want to be at transfer in the Spring? I was shocked when they said "NOW". Excuse me? Did you say now?? Ummkay, getting on that! Apparently, you have to have all sorts of tests done and things drawn (like blood folks) and analysis of the hubby's "swimmers" and we don't want to be starting that a few weeks before we want to transfer, ya know? So, now we are going to meet with the clinic talk about our options and game plan and get our next steps to move forward. Today is a very exciting day!

So nothing really new going on on our end, still hurry up and waiting... Felt the need to let everyone know that we are still puttering along. There will not be anything really worth noting about our journey until after the holidays, besides updating on our savings efforts, which are coming along quite nicely I might add.. Once things do take off, they go fast, so I am trying to enjoy the quiet before the storm so to speak. So hang in there, that's what we are doing!

Made another small dent in our savings plan! That's always good news, we are that much closer to our goal!

So my egg donation journey has come to an end... Things didn't work out with the financing aspect for the recipients. I am so sad for them!! The good news is, their journey is not over, they will still do an IVF cycle and I pray it is successful for them.. How does this affect my own surrogacy/ivf journey you ask? Well, it does put a bit of a speed bump in the financial road for me, but that just means I have to trust in God to provide and make a way for it to happen. I KNOW He can and will! The good thing is, our surrogate isn't going anywhere, she said she is here for us when we are ready. We had a goal of February (no later than March) in our head as a start date, otherwise it will be babydreams 2012 for a due date :)

We are just working as hard as we can to get all of our finances in order and still be able to make that Spring start date that we planned. So I am hitting the ground running with me eBay stuff and I opened an eBay store to help push my stuff out front better, I hope the $16 a month is worth it! So that's my update for now, I wish it was a better news one :( I do believe things happen for a reason and maybe this was the way my journey was meant to play out.

I don't want to close on a sad note, so with that; I DID have some nice sales this week and I found some AWESOME things that i am getting prepared to list on eBay! Oh and for those that wanna take a gander, this is my new eBay store stop by and check it out!
(Post from 9-25-2010)