Truckin'...

Well ladies and gents, I am finally, mostly recovered from the trip to the new IVF Clinic for the all-day screening. I suspect that my having chosen to fly rather than drive or take the train resulted in more stress than there really needed to be, but it was an adventure anyway.

We left the house around 5:30 Thursday evening – BAMF and The Ginge being kind enough to not only drive us to the airport, but bring Pooka along as well, so she could see us off. Mama agreed to stay at the house with Pooka, so that she’d have a responsible adult near at hand. I saw on the Facebooks that Mama and Pooka sat up a little after bedtime to finish watching an episode of “American Horror Story.” Good show, that.

Meanwhile, Hubs and I flew down to Washington-Dulles, had an hour layover, then flew back up to Newark, where we caught a cab for the 20-minute ride to our hotel. We arrived just after midnight. Not my favorite thing ever. The hotel was nice, though. Very modern. Lots of bright pastels and large photos covering literally the entirety of one wall in each area. The only downside was that when we went to flush the toilet in our bathroom on Friday morning, the bottom of the tank sort of exploded water everywhere. Now THAT was a sight to see. Ha!

We got breakfast with Mum and Dad (read: Intended Parents) early-ish on Friday morning, for which they refused to let us pay. I suspect Hubs may have anticipated that, so he only ordered a bagel and coffee. I, on the other hand, expected to pay for our breakfast, so I got a tasty egg white and veggie ciabatta sandwich with a side of fresh fruit.  We had a great conversation and lots of laughs, as per the usual.

After breakfast we took the hotel’s complimentary shuttle down the road to the IVF Clinic where we met with a very nice social worker who, as I predicted, asked us all the same questions we went over on the phone. And Hubs and I took the same personality profile as last time; after which the social worker informed us that neither of us are crazy, so that was good.  We did blood work, the results for which won’t be available till either this coming Friday or Monday. I doubt there’s anything wrong with either of us, though.

We also met with the social worker and Mum and Dad all together and went over everything that Mum and I discussed and decided early on. No, I’m not going to argue about terminating the pregnancy if the parents and doctor think it best. No, I don’t mind if they attend every single OB appointment. Yes, they can obviously be in the delivery room. Yes, I’ll carry twins. Blah, blah, blah. Mum and I had a giggle over all those questions, simply because we had already agreed on the answers.

I also got to have another sonohysterogram. That’s where they fill my uterus up with sterile water and check it out via ultrasound. Normally it hurts and makes me crampy, but the doctor who did it must have magic instruments because I didn’t even flinch. He said everything looks… Guess the word, folks? That’s right; perfect. MUAHAHA! Mum was of course pleased to hear it over lunch, which they ordered out. (Pizza is my downfall, and yet I managed to stick to one piece only! Huzzah!)

As we were finishing up our lunch, one of the nurses came in to discuss medications and the like. It’s VERY different than the last IVF Clinic’s regimen. I’ll be back on “dinosaur shots” (leuprolide, which BAMF once thought said, “liopleuridon,” hence “dinosaur shots”) even though this is a frozen cycle. They’ve decided to keep me on Estrace pills and Vivelle patches because they worked well for WiggleWorm and Tempest, but they want me to do the progesterone as intramuscular injections. Mind you, I’m not much bothered by needles, but If they’re going to keep me on the same type and dosage of estrogen, why not keep the progesterone the same, too? Additionally, they’re going to give me seven days worth of steroid shots post-transfer, to ensure that my body doesn’t reject the embryos. Clearly they don’t know me well. I joked that if they put me on steroids to prevent rejection of the embryo, they’ll more likely ensure that BOTH embryos will implant. But I was only half joking. I don’t call it the Uber-Ute for nothing!

The new IVF Clinic also apparently feels it necessary to do a kazillion ultrasounds in addition to the regular bloodwork to monitor beta hCG (pregnancy hormone) levels. Thankfully, I can have all of that done close to home, and won’t need to go back to the Clinic except to undergo the embryo transfer. After which, I will be instructed to go back to my hotel room and lounge around for 24 hours. That’s also new. The last Clinic sent me home about an hour after the transfer. Ah well; if the doctor says “be lazy,” then I’m gonna be lazy.

The trip home was long but good. We flew from Newark to Chicago, and got to spend a couple minutes with my in-laws, who we get to see far too rarely. We tried to see if there was a slightly later flight so we could spend some extra time, but we wouldn't leave Chicago until 9:00pm Central Time, and it would cost an additional $150 to switch the flights. From Chicago, we flew back into the Queen City, where Mama picked us up and drove us, at long last, home.

On an unrelated note, I’ve spent this month learning to work out and eat healthier. It’s. Working. By my measurements, I’ve lost about five inches off my midsection, not to mention whatever has slipped off my thighs, arms and other fat-lumps I’ve been dying to burn for years. I haven’t lost diddly as far as the scale is concerned, but frankly I don’t care. I’m watching myself get smaller, and I love it! I’m not starving myself – if anything, I’m eating MORE, but better. As I type this, I’m pausing intermittently to spoon plain Greek yogurt with a bit of honey and raspberries into my mouth. Best. Diet. Ever.

I’m also learning to break my empty-carb addiction. It turns out that I may have a mild sensitivity to wheat gluten. Just enough to make my face and fingers swell a little after eating them. Having switched to mostly gluten-free or at least sprouted grains, I can now fit my wedding and engagement rings easily onto my thumb.

Well readers, it’s been real. It’s been fun. It’s even been real fun. But it’s also almost 11:00 and I still need to jump in the shower before I can crash for the night, so for now… Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!

All Sorts of News!

I got to talk to Mum on the phone for a little while the other day. It turns out her egg retrieval went better than expected and the clinic has lots of high-quality embryos. The IVF Doctor is therefore suggesting that Mum try one more IVF cycle before they go through with impregnating me. Mum says that neither she nor the IVF doctor are hopeful that a pregnancy will stick, but they’re going to try it anyway. The reason Mum called was to basically ask for my blessing on it.

I guess I kind of feel like there has to be SOME hope of a pregnancy sticking, or it would be a total waste of Mum and Dad’s time, not to mention one last emotional rollercoaster for them before a really, REALLY big roller-coaster with surrogacy. Regardless: How could I NOT give them my blessing? I mean, the purpose of all this is to make them parents. If they can do it without me, GREAT! It means they’ll have better luck with a second baby if they decide to try for one down the road!

Mum says I’m wonderful for thinking this way, but I can’t imagine a surrogate who wouldn’t. I’d say I made out pretty well on this deal. I got to meet two incredible human beans, and Mum has assured me that we’ll stay in touch, no matter what happens. (She’s also promised to compensate me for my time, but it’s not like I’ve lost any, even if I didn’t take into account that meeting them was totally worth the tiny bit of time I’ve spent on this so far. Hubs, Pooka and I were already in Boston when we had breakfast together – which Mum and Dad paid for - and it’s not like she ate up a lot of minutes or data with texting, phone calls and emails. Ha!)

The testing is going ahead on October 25^th, despite all this. It makes sense: Mum and Dad want to cover all of their bases. I spoke to my very favorite Coordinator at The Agency about travel arrangements. I could be misinterpreting, but it seems like Mum and Dad are very, VERY accommodating. The new contract says they’ll pay for airfare, cab and hotel arrangements. What I didn’t realize in reading the contract was that this means that The Agency will arrange and pay for the airfare and hotel out of Mum & Dad’s escrow account, AND send me the funds to cover cab fare and meals allowance. With WiggleWorm & Tempest’s contract, we paid up front and got reimbursed.

The new IVF Doctor called me today to chat about my history and the process, etc. He seems nice enough, if extremely soft-spoken. I had to turn my desk phone’s volume up to the max to hear everything he had to say. We talked about my medical history, and I told him what worked best during the last three IVF cycles, as far as administering medications. I also told him that at the Other IVF Clinic, they transferred 3 frozen embryos for the last two cycles, but that I suspect they did this because the embryos had been frozen for the better part of two years. In Mum and Dad’s case, the embryos will only have been frozen for a couple of months.

The IVF Doctor seemed a little surprised by how much I knew about the process, and pleased that I was able to tell him how often and in what manner I took the medications, as well as remembering the names of the medications themselves (Estradiol, Vivelle patches and Crinone gel). I guess other carriers just do what they’re told, and don’t pay attention to the process itself? It does seem to be an American trend to not want/need to take note of the procedures we undergo. Personally, I like to be informed rather than blindly trust someone else with my care.

Anyway, we’re on for the 25^th! Mum and Dad had airfare and cab fare written into the contract in addition to the normal reimbursement for expenses and stuff. On top of that, the arrangements are being made by The Agency, and everything is being paid for up front, so we don’t have to pay anything out-of-pocket. HOW COOL IS THAT! So if I understand it correctly, Hubs and I will fly down to The Clinic on the 24^th, do testing and psych evals for 5-6 hours on the 25^th and then fly home. WHEE!