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!

Well, it's been a while since I have had an update! Nothing major going on right now, this is the hurry up and wait portion of the show.. We did have a nice BBQ with Casey and her family. We grilled and ate and sat around and talked, it was really nice! We ate ourselves full and just really got to know each other a little bit better. IVF and infertility in general will REALLY test your patience, so it is a relief to just have a normal day of fun and relaxing in this crazy rollercoaster of a journey we are on!
(Post from 9-20-2010)

OK, so remember a few posts back I was asking if I could REALLY make this happen with eBay?  Heheh, well I started a new account on eBay specifically for our IVF/Surrogacy fund and lemme tell ya folks, in FIFTY (50) days, I have made 809 BUCKS! Now I know that's pennies in the grand scheme of things, but HOLY eBAY Batman! We Juuuust might be able to pull this thing off AND get tah keep our house! (I kid, I kid we are TOTALLY keeping our house... Anyway I will squat in this beyotch if I have too) But for serious y'all if I can keep this up through the New Year, that will put a MAJOR dent in what we need to have on hand!

On other fronts, nothing much new to report. Had a meeting with a lawyer and decided we are going to go with our first choice anyway so this one won't be getting the 2nd interview call. We didn't agree on a few things and in the end I want someone I feel is going to FIGHT for what I believe in and not just there to collect a check, ya know? So I have the retainer paperwork from our "chosen" one and now we have to send her a nice big ole check for $2500 bucks and she will email us the contract draft. Then the fun begins.. We go over it, change what we don't like and send it back. Get it back and then once it's all good we send it to Casey for her lawyer to look over. Since we already know what we do and don't want, we don't anticipate any of the back and forth that can go on. We were smart enough to hash out as many "what if" scenarios as possible face to face and surprisingly we all (hubbys included) agreed on everything!

The lawyer estimates we should start contracts in October or November since we aren't looking to start before the New Year (Well, we would if we could afford to but since we can't...) so That's where we are. Some time in the near future I will start a "we did that when? and it cost what?" outline so y'all can see how much it costs step by step and what we have to go through (each IVF step) in order to bring home "baby". That should be an interesting set of entries, ya think? After contracts the next step is testing and we estimate to start that in December and it's just blood work for us and a "swimmer sample" for J and then Casey's testing is more intrusive since she's the oven (look at her tubes and uterus and blood work as well) and blood work for her hubby too. After we are all cleared we get our schedule to start BCP (birth control pills) then I start the IVF stim medication. SO, that's the next step in the process for us. That will be after the holidays...

In the meantime, we are taking this time to get to know Casey, her hubby and their daughter. We want things to proceed nice and slow so everyone is comfortable and fully aware of the process. If you know me, you know PATIENCE is NOT my thing, so this is a big step for me... But I'm not complaining, 'cause it's giving me time to get as prepared as possible and it's giving me more time to work on this: Babydreams IVF FUND 
every little bit helps!
(Post from 9-4-2010)

I had my consult yesterday afternoon, with the recipient's clinic. Talk about laid back! If I was there in person, I think they would have offered me a massage or some chamomile tea! The consult lasted about 15 minutes and pretty much were the same questions that were on the new patient forms I filled out, but it was all good. We talked about my protocol and what would change based on my "advanced maternal age" (Dontcha' just love that phrase?) but let's face it in the world of makin babies, 36 is basically what 46 is to Hollywood stars.. So Dr. D is going to bump up my medicine protocol to match my age and then monitor me closely in case my E2 (estrogen) spikes too high so they can back down my stimulation medicine. To give you an idea of what it will be like here is a run down of an egg donation (from the donor's point of view)

• Birth Control Pills to synch the cycle of the recipient to the donor (this can be 3 wks or more of active pills only)
• Lupron (think of the needle a diabetic uses, injections in your stomach for about 2 weeks, this keeps you from ovulating) This is the baby of the IVF meds.
• After week 1 of Lupron, you are checked to see if you are suppressed (not about to ovulate) if so they introduce the bad mamma-jamma drugs, the actual IVF stimulation drugs. These are LONG needles that are either injected into your hip/thigh OR if you get the short straw into your BUTT yes think penicillin shot. Some meds have to be done intramuscular (or IM ) and well that's the broadside of my big ole big ole.. This happens for about 7-12 days, depending on how well you respond to the drugs
• Transvaginal ultrasounds along the way to check the egg growing (tube up your vajayjay
• Once they are "ripe" so to speak, one final BUTT shot of HCG (this is the chemical pregnant women produce that makes your EPT say yes or + or  2 lines, you get it.) to super charge the eggs maturation, kinda like the shot they give women in premature labor to rapidly mature a babies lungs.
• Retrieval - long metal vacuum attached to a long needle that is used to pierce your ovaries to retrieve each egg visible on the ultrasound (so think if you have 12-15 on each side, that's getting stuck 30 times) LUCKILY most clinic knock you out for this part. Some do just give twilight sedation or Valium (I don't think so for me buddy!!) So when you wake up you just feel crampy and want to take a nap.
• Your part is finished after that!
• Eggs are mixed with recipients husbands sperm and hopefully 12-24 hrs they get a call that all of their eggs fertilized and they have embryos! 
• 3 -5 days later 2-4 embryos are transferred to the recipient and hopefully they implant. About a week after that a pregnancy test is done at the Dr. office via a blood draw this is the BETA and lots more blood tests and ultrasounds follow if things went well.
 

And that folks, is how you make a baby in my world! 
So that's what I have to look forward to in this next few months, depending on when we get started..I am going to update here each step of the way once it is underway so you can all cheer me on! I am hoping for at least 12-15 mature eggs so my recipient "D" has a better chance of having nice quality embryos at the end.  

Stay tuned for the Egg Donor Chronicles
(Post from 8-27-2010)

Well today I actually got more accomplished than I thought! I researched all day trying to find an affordable health plan option for "C". We still both are in agreement on the birthing center, BUT with IVF there is ALWAYS the chance of multiples and if that is the case then, the birthing center option is out. I have talked with 3 different facilities who all told me the same thing. "Unfortunately, this would move the pregnancy into the high risk category and while we could provide prenatal care, we absolutely would not be able to assist in the delivery" OOOOOOOk... So, I FOUND a great insurance policy!! The only scary thing is the plan *may* change before it goes in force. Due to the changes in healthcare reform, somethings that are available won't be and some that aren't will be, yada yada... I don't want to get the policy too far in advance BUT I do need it, so that there is the current dilemna folks..
Oh and also too (thanks Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, I love saying that now) I totally found a few lawyers who are well versed in surrogacy law and have a few estimates on contracts and affirmation of birth (our names going on BC directly) I have a meeting with another to see what their fees are (not sure why they couldnt tell me over the phone but whatevs) So Insurance issue solved?= CHECK! Contract lawyer found?= CHECK!

The only catch in my day is a girl that uses the clinic we are looking to work with stated they don't have the best "one on one" care with the patients.. She is using them for a different issue than I would be but now I am on the fence.. I mean, I am a big girl and all and I've dealt with that PLEN-TEEE with my last clinic but is that as important as their take home baby stats? (For all who don't know each clinic has to publish their success/failure rates to the Society for Reproductive Technology ) so having amazing stats is a big bonus, 'cuz let's face it no one wants to work with the kid that failed science class on their science project, ya know? Yeah, so The clinics with THE BEST stats are out of my league, but I CAN go to a clinic with some pretty damn good stats and this clinic is one of them... There are a few others in the running but this one is within a few hrs of my house vs. a plane ride or SEVERAL HRS in the car.. So what's a girl tah do?? I guess I will keep researching until it is closer to my estimated start date (After the holidays and this egg donation I am in the process of doing) and see how I feel and whichever place seems like it is going to give us the BEST chance of taking home a baby (or TWO) then we are going with them (as long as they fit nicely into my cute black budget clutch)... Ok quit reading this and go to bed! (Post from 8-20-2010)

So my much anticipated Day 3 labs and ultrasound were done today. The bloodwork results are not known to me at this time (the clinic should have the results and I should know something at the latest tomorrow morning) But the ultrasound obviously I could see right then. So as the tech is cruising around, she starts measuring follicles and I am asking questions like the pest I can be ("does that look normal?, "Is this what you expect to see from someone on day 3?", "What's that?") You know, all the good questions... So after she measures the around 13-15 small follicles (good sign in case you were wondering) she also measures the KING FUCKIN KONG OF CYSTS!! this monster is as big if not BIGGER than my ovary! I was FREAKING out and I seem to be the only person freaking out! Apparently us women folk get them all the time and "it's no biggie".. OH WAIT.. Except it is! Ya see, in the world of stim meds, there will be no injectin in your stomach, your thigh or your ass unless that thing is GONE. So I am awaiting the Dr.'s decision right now on whether or not I take BCP, have it drained or have it removed.. So that's about all I know for now folks.. When I know more, you will... (Post from 8-16-2010)

Hello world! I decided to start a blog over here since lots of my favorite people can't access my other blog during the day. I will back track for a bit and put my old posts over here so it can be current. I lost my original blog for the time being (perhaps forever ..) since the site has been down for months now.. So without further ado, here it is..