2dp5dt=2 days post 5 day transfer

First Id like to say Happy 3rd Birthday to my Surro-son: N!!! <3 <3 <3

Our Embryo Transfer was done on Friday 4-25-14!!! HOORAY!!

1st I will start off with a little sad news. My IPs left back to their country. So they werent able to attend the transfer appointment. :-( My boyfriend came with me tho to be supportive and of course to drive me home. I am slowly realizing that each fertility clinic does things their own way. For my first Journey, my IPs were allowed in the transfer room. At this clinic, noone was allowed back except me, so now I understand why the parents left. But my agency did tell me that my IPs plan to go back and forth throughout my pregnancy. So, when they are here, they would like to go with me to all drs appointments! That will be so great! I definitely look forward to that.

The next little bit of sad news. It was supposed to be 2 embryos-1 frozen and 1 fresh. Unfortunately, the doctor informed me at the transfer, that the fresh one stopped growing :-( poor little embie. But the doctor also stated that the frozen embie is strong and already starting to hatch. It is a 5 day old embryo, that is ready for implantation! YAY!! My uterus lining thickness was 10.9, so my body is completely ready for the lil embie! Heres a photo of what a hatching embryo looks like:

The transfer itself went great! On one side of me was a tv screen that showed the embryo under a magnifying glass. I watched the embryologist suck it up into the catheter, and then on the ultrasound screen I saw the doctor insert it into my uterus. He wished me good luck and the nurses helped me up off the table to the other room to lie down for 30 minutes. I had brought my book, so that was the fastest 30 minutes ever lol. The nurse informed me to continue all my current medicines and dosages except for the Crinone-vaginal suppository. I am to discontinue one of them per day. Thank you God! After that they set 2 appointments for me. 1 is tomorrow (4-28-14 = 3dp5dt) to check my progesterone levels. The other appointment is to check my Beta #s-to see if Im pregnant!! That appointment is next Monday!! CINCO DE MAYO!!! (10dp5dt) :-) I am sooooo excited for that day!! As for tomorrow,  Id love it if I could discontinue the Crinone altogether, hahaha. Id rather continue the shots than deal with the nasty suppositories. And speaking of shots....

The PIO injections are going pretty well, all things considered of course. The first injection did give me a little trouble. After I took the needle out, a little oil came out of the wound and got on my skin. I now have one itchy welt in that spot. :-( I learned my lesson quickly. Now after I take out the needle, I wipe my skin with an alcohol pad and then put on the bandaid. No more welts, except that first one. So thats good.

April 22nd was the last time I took the oral Progesterone. I am pretty sure thats what was causing my bloated-ness. I am still a little bloated in the stomach area, however, it seems like every day its getting less and less. So far I am not experiencing any other side effects.

A few other things for this embryo transfer were a little different than in my experience. I didnt have to take any medicine prior to the transfer. Before, I was given Demerol to help me relax. However, after the transfer, that medicine knocked me out for like 6 hours! Thankfully, I had my IPs with me to help take care of me! :-)  So I was definitely pleased to hear no meds this time.
Also, no mandatory bedrest. Simply one day of rest. With only one embryo (same as with TNT), I decided to do the same rest as I did for them. 3 days of strict bed rest, and 4 more of mostly bed rest. It worked before, Im sure itll work again! :-)

Today I also watched Baby Mama. I loved that movie when it first came out, and I still love it! Although, most of it is NOT how things go in real life, its fun to watch and laugh. I watched it with T n T before we had our transfer. So I thought it might give me some good luck with this transfer.

I decided that I will be doing home pregnancy tests (HPT) starting Wednesday. I will be 5dp5dt. I found this informative little graph:

5-Day Transfer

Days Past Transfer (DPT)	Embryo Development
One	The blastocyst begins to hatch out of its shell
Two	The blastocyst continues to hatch out of its shell and begins to attach itself to the uterus
Three	The blastocyst attaches deeper into the uterine lining, beginning implantation
Four	Implantation continues
Five	Implantation is complete, cells that will eventually become the placenta and fetus have begun to develop
Six	Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) starts to enter the blood stream
Seven	Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Eight	Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Nine	Levels of hCG are now high enough to detect a pregnancy

Pre-transfer Excitement!!

Guess WHAT!! :-)  :-)  yaaaayyy I am sooo happy!! I was putting away my clothes, and guess what I found at the bottom of my jammie drawer!!  My special necklace, that was given to me from my 1st IPs!!! The charm is a little horseshoe with a 4 leaf clover!! 

Aint it the cutest!?!?! I love it so much!! I took it off at Christmas time because my daughter had given me a necklace for Christmas. I forgot where I had put it. Now what else could possibly bring me more good luck than that! OMG I am soooo excited that I found it! Last minute, and by total accident! YAAAAYYYY!!! Of course immediately I put it on! On total countdown now: T minus 4 hours to go!!

I already went to the library and picked up a couple books to keep me entertained over the next few days. I still have to stop at the dollar store to pick up a couple HPTs :-) I know they are only $1 and you may think they are too cheap to work, but they have told me for the past 10 years whether I was preggers or not, correctly every time! Including when pregnant with my daughter, who is 10 and my surro-son who will be 3 in 2 days!! 

Which just got me to thinking...this is definately going to be a great good luck cycle! My son was born in the year of the horse and his birthday was April 18th. My surro-sons bday is in 2 days. This month was Easter. This journey process has happened incredibly quickly with barely any bumps in the road. I even was able to meet my IPs before they left the States. I found my necklace.We are transferring 2 embies. I have such great confidence in this transfer! I truly feel God is just clearing the path for us!! 

Lots of Love.....

and Sticky Baby Dust!!!

Pre-transfer thoughts

As I am laying here in bed, waiting for the arrival of tomorrow, my mind is passing over many things. Im feeling a little sad. I asked my agency if they knew if my IPs would be attending the transfer with me and my boyfriend. (I thought they were going to be able to meet each other). Their answer: nope :-( They actually flew back to their country already.....wait, what??? They wont be joining me at the Drs office for the embryo transfer :-( That totally sucks!! I was under the impression they would be staying here in California thru the entire pregnancy. Actually, the agency informed me that they will be traveling back and forth until the baby is born. :-(  Also, since I sorta found out by accident, I felt even more sad that they didnt email me. Of course they arent obligated to email me these things :-( Im a little at fault too because I havent emailed them either....Tomorrow after the transfer, that will be the very first thing that I do!! The transfer will be an ice breaker. We really bonded over lunch, but sometimes, theres still a little bit of awkward feelings to be the first one to text or email. Well, tomorrow, I will stop feeling awkward and just get over it. Afterall, I will be having 2 of their little embies inside me ;-)

 I cant remember if I posted on here, but there will be a transfer of 2 embies: one fresh and one frozen. And of course I will post after the transfer!!

Which brings me to my next thought. What am I going to wear?? As in what type of clothes? I was trying to think a little logically, so Im wondering if a dress would be a best type of choice. Im not sure how this doctors office does things. Do I have to change into a gown? Do I get to keep my socks on? Would I keep my top on and undress from the waist down? Im not sure. I didnt really think to ask these things until right now. My only instructions were to come 30 minutes prior to my appointment. They didnt even mention about drinking enough water for the ultrasound to work. During an IVF transfer, the doctor usually has an ultrasound tech use a trans-abdominal ultrasound. For this to work, the patient (me) needs to have a full bladder. All these questions will be answered is about 12 hours :-)

What else is floating around in my busy brain? good luck charms
I dont remember exactly what I wore for my transfer during my first surro-journey. However, I wish I had paid more attention back then, because I had such great luck!! 1 embie = 1 pregnancy = 1 beautiful healthy lil baby boy. I dont have any lucky pairs of socks, but I do have a 4 leaf clover. So, Ill be carrying that in my pocket. Only other good luck charms that I have, is God. I know he is watching over this journey, and with His Blessings, these lovely 2 people will finally have a baby together!!

The next thing is the 2ww. (two week wait) OMG it is the LONGEST 2 weeks everrrrr!!! After the transfer, we surromoms have to wait about two weeks to get a blood test done to confirm a pregnancy. The test is referred to as the beta hCG test. During the 2ww, there are alot of POAS's (Peeing On A Stick-as in home pregnancy tests) Every day that passes, is nerve wracking, wondering and thinking and hoping and praying. My first journey, I felt so incredibly dumb. I poas every single morning. Every time, it was negative. I didnt get sad or worried. I stayed positive and hopeful. Then one day, I realized I wasnt doing the test right. ughhhh How dumb can a mother of 3 be, like really?? How hard is it to pee on a stick, wait, and read? Well apparently, its the waiting part that was hard for me lol.  I wasnt waiting long enough to read the results, so everyday could have been a positive HPT(Home Pregnancy Test), Siiigh....yupp thats me hahahaha well now I have learned my lesson! I cant wait to POAS again ;-)

So for now, thats all thats hindering my tranquility. Now that its all typed out, maybe I can get some sleep. YAAAYY!! Still so very excited!!!! :-)

Monitoring Appt #4

Yesterday I had my last Monitoring appointment before my scheduled transfer. They only drew blood to check my progesterone levels. I also spoke with the nurse who gave me my prenatal pills. These are different than others that I have seen and taken. They are actually 2 pills a day. One is a tablet that has 16 different vitamins and minerals-quite typical. The other is a soft gel. This one has DHA in it, for the potential baby. I find this quite interesting. The newer types of formula (at least new to me since my youngest is 9 yrs old lol), they have DHA in it. Its supposed to support brain development and neurological function in babies. I cant help wonder if it promotes these babies to be smarter....?

Anyways, so Ive received my new treatment plan which now includes these prenatal pills. Unfortunately it also incudes the dreaded PIO...that is Progesterone In Oil. This is an injection to be done daily, in the rump. Ouch. So, my new meds are as follows:
Estrace-pill-2mg-2x a day
Prenatal-2pills-2x a day
DISCONTINUE Progesterone pill
Crinone-Vaginal Suppositories-3x a day
PIO-Injection-1x a day

SIDE EFFECTS SO FAR: Bloating.  Im not sure which medicine is causing it. Im thinking the progesterone (whether the pills or the veg. supp. Im not sure) because I was taking the Estrace alone for about a week before the other meds were added and I was fine.

PIO is no fun at all, but I have figured out lil tips from other Surro-Mamas that have worked best for me. First, keep record of each injection including what side you used. Alternating sides help to give your body a slight rest before getting poked again. I like to ice the desired location, and in the meantime, I warm the vial of meds in my bra. After at least 10 minutes, my rump area is numb from the ice and the progesterone is warmed up. Since its PIO-Progesterone in oil-warmer oil equals thinner oil equals flows faster from the syringe into your body. After the injection, I use a heating pad on my skin and gently massage the area to better help the medicine disperse throughout my body. After a few weeks of daily PIO injections, lump start to form beneath the skin. The area becomes numb and the skin becomes thick, making it harder for the needle to penetrate. My lil process helps me to prolong that from happening.

I think Ill do a directions to administer PIO while Im on bedrest, next week.

Cant WAIT for tomorrow!!!!

Directions for Injections-hCG and Lupron

I decided to do a blog on Directions for Injections. All injections suck, as well as possible side effects. But, if done properly, they dont suck as bad as they could-if done wrong.

This is directions for mixing the hCG. So, first things first. Pop the tops off, use the alcohol pad to wipe the tops.

 Use the "big" syringe-usually a 18 gauge, 3ml. Pull the plunger back to 2ml, so the syringe is full of air.

 Insert the needle into the bigger bottle that has the fluid in it. Push the plunger so that all of the air enters the bottle. Tip the bottle upside down, and pull back on the plunger until 2ml of liquid is in the syringe. Withdraw the needle.

 Take the vial of hCG powder, push the needle into it. Then push the plunger so that all the fluid is in the smaller vial.

 Dispose of the needle safely. Also, the vial a liquid can be trashed.

 Swirl vial gently until all the powder is mixed . Do NOT shake it!

 Use the smaller needle. Same as before. Pull plunger to Dr directed amount (mine was 20 units) so that the syringe is full of air. Insert needle into vial. Push plunger so that the air is transferred into the vial. Hold vial upside down and pull plunger to Dr directed amount, this time full of the hCG medication. Take needle out of vial.

 Make sure there is no air bubble in the syringe. If there is, hold syringe with the needle pointing upwards. Flick the syringe so the air bubble moves up towards the needle. Push plunger so the air bubble moves out of the syringe. Make sure you still have the correct amount of medication in the syringe. If there is less, repeat the steps. It is important to have the correct amount of medication in the syringe, with no air bubbles.

Then slowly push the plunger until a small drop appears on the tip of the needle. You are now ready for your injection. Below is a photo of the two areas for hCG and Lupron injections. Luckily, I only had to do 1 each. Unfortunately they were on the same night lol. Saturday, April 19th.

 Pick the side that you want to start with. I keep a medicine journal. For every pill, suppository and injection, I record what, when and where. That way I can keep track. Its best to alternate sides if you need to do it more than once.

Wipe correct area with alcohol pad. Pinch the skin, insert needle at a 90 degree angle. Slowly and carefully push plunger till all medicine is out of the syringe. Let go of skin and pull needle straight out and dispose correctly. Do NOT massage area. If bleeding, put on a band-aid and press on the area gently for a couple moments.

Lupron is done the same way, except there is nothing to mix, so you just draw the medication in the small syringe to the Dr directed amount. 

Both medications are refrigerated.

There are side effects, however I didnt experience any.

Monitoring appt #3

Things JUST got interesting!!

So this morning was my 3rd Monitoring appt. Today is my CD11 (cycle day 11). Pretty much the same as before, except they were super busy. Unfortunately this time there was alot of waiting involved. Since today was Saturday, my boyfriend came along to support me. Like before, they drew my blood and then did the ultrasound. But this time, I had the coveted, ever so special "Triple Stripe"!!  Yaaayy!! It has to do with the thickness of the uterine lining. On the ultrasound screen, it looks like 3 stripes. It means my uterus is ready. As soon as I saw it on the screen, I knew they were going to have me do the hCG trigger shot. Later in the afternoon, I received an email, and I WAS RIGHT!!!

Tonight I have to give myself the hCG shot in my Right lower abdomen and Lupron in my Left lower abdomen. Maybe I can try to take photos, and post the how to's tomorrow.

I am to call Monday morning to schedule my next Monitoring appt for Wednesday 4-23.

And Friday 4-25, at 1:30pm is when they have scheduled my TRANSFER!! Yaaayy!!!  OMG I am soo excited! I cant wait to see my IPs again!! And this time, my bf will be driving me, so he will be meeting my IPs for the first time! :-)

Here is an updated list of my new med routine-except the injections for tonight:

Estrace pills: 2x daily
Progesterone pills: 1 @ bedtime-starting tomorrow night
Crinone(vaginal suppository): 1x tomm, 2x Monday-4/21, 3x Tuesday-4/22

I thought I would add a couple photos too.

These are the current meds, starting tonight thru Wednesday morning. I bought the pill container to make things easier.

This is when me and my bf each had to do blood work. Lucky him, he didnt bruise. But guess who did, womp womp....

Heres a photo of the ultrasound machine and the wonderful weenie wand. This fertility clinic has a tv on the wall thats connected to the ultrasound machine. That way whoever is laying down, doesnt have to lean over to see the screen. Heres a pic of that too.

Scenery around my fertility clinic-Southern Orange County, California. Love it!!!

This is a pic of my table while I was going thru all the paperwork for the agency and the fertility clinic:

This is my fave pic!! This is where my IPs and I went for lunch together for the first time!! I will always remember that day! It has a special place in my heart! Very Special, and yummy!

So now that Im thinking about it, I probably should have put these photos into the correct postings. oh well, maybe I will do that while Im on my own personal mandated bedrest, next week ;-)

One last thing, I just wanted to post about for my own personal future reference: Estrace has given me no side effects. We shall see about the other meds tho.....

Contracts signed!!

I was soooo excited to receive the final copy of the contract, I totally forgot to post about it! Ooooops :-(  Anyways, I received the final copy on Wednesday afternoon (4-16). I printed it, signed it at a notary-got it notarized too, then thankfully I only had to fax the signature page. Thursday morning I mailed it to the law firm. Friday morning, the attorney emailed me saying my IPs had signed their portions and I now have full clearance to start any dr ordered injectable meds. And literally just in the nick of time! Monitoring appt set for Saturday morning (4-18). Whew!!

Monitoring Appt #2

This monitoring appointment wasnt as exciting as the last one.  Actually the most exciting thing that happened was trying to get to the appointment on time. I definitely miscalculated the morning rush hour traffic. My GPS said 44 minutes, the appointment was for 7:30am, so I left at 625. I arrived at 735 :-/ oops....the office was fine with this, and you live and you learn. So, at least now I know for next time. Even though I was a couple minutes late, this appointment was very quick. I checked in, they took my blood, I had a lovely visit with Mr. Weenie Wand (AKA trans-vaginal ultrasound hahaha), and I checked out by 8:05am. Niiiice :-) Getting home, was just as much traffic though, womp womp......

I got home just in time to eat something and prepare for my phone consultation with my attorney. We reviewed the contract together and she answered all my questions. We finished up in 45 minutes, with her saying she will email me a copy of the contract-with the information that we fixed or added-in red and of course she will be forwarding all info to the IPs attorney.

**With a quick side note, I just wanted to say that it is out of respect for my IPs privacy that I havent been referring to them by name.

I had 3 phone calls and 1 email throughout the rest of my day.
1. from the agency. In their paperworks, I accidently skipped 2 small places where I was supposed to initial. I initialed, took a photo, and emailed it over to her.
2. from another contact of mine within the agency. She was following up about any information regarding the contract. I told her I had just had my phone consult a couple hours ago with the lawyer. She seemed very happy and said she will be reporting back to my IPs about this. Im sure they will be just as thrilled!
3. from my medical insurance contact. She just wanted to review the papers and cards that I have received in the mail.
1. The doctor reviewed my bloodwork and ultrasound results and gave me my updated treatment plan. Good news: no new meds. My levels all look good, so I am to continue the Estrace pills 2x a day. My next monitoring appt is set for Saturday morning, April 19. This will be my Cycle Day 11.

So, now we are going day by day regarding the contracts. My adjustments will have to be approved from the IPs. If they request any adjustments, it will again come back to me for approval. Once we each give final approval, the attorney will have us sign and notarize the final draft of the contract.

At this point, I am feeling excited and at the same time, calm and confident. I dont feel as worried as I did before. Things are almost completed and set up for the Embryo Transfer to be done on time.

 I also just received an email from the doctors office saying that I do not need to do bedrest after the transfer. Only take it easy and no heavy lifting. I guess every doctors office is different. With my first journey, the doctor said 3 days. I have my own requirements. I have already spoken with my family. I will be doing 3 days of 99% bedrest-only get up to go to the bathroom. and 4 more days of 75% bedrest. This is what I did the last time. We had 1 embryo transferred and I was pregnant. So, I will be repeating this. I want to do everything I can to help this little embie stick.
 :-)

Monitoring Appt....

With a few extra SURPRISES along the way!!

First things first. At the monitoring appointment, I figured there would be an ultrasound. I didnt expect more blood work tho. SURPRISE! Apparently, there will be blood work done every monitoring appt lol. Luckily it was only 1 vial. They check the hormone levels. Todays appointment was for them to get a baseline. The ultrasound went fine except, as I mentioned in my last post, today is Cycle Day 2, which means my 2nd day of my period. I have never felt as uncomfortable as today. Sitting naked from the waist down and waiting for the ultrasound tech to come in. Ugghhh poor lady, I would NOT want her job lol.

Anyways, after the ultrasound and blood was completed, I was asked to wait in the waiting room to speak with the nurse. The nurse called me back and said she is going to be giving me all my medicines. SURPRISE! I was confused at first because I was under the impression that this would be a natural IVF = no meds. She was nice and explained, they are just giving me allll the medication that I might possibly need. That way, if I need it, I will have it. She reassured me, we will be going as natural as possible. So thats good. I have 3 different meds that are injections, 3 that are in the pill form, and 1 that is a vaginal suppository, as in ummmm that goes where lol. Definitely didnt have to do that the last time. I will post the names of them if and when I am instructed to take them.

The nurse then informed me that SURPRISE!!! My IPs actually are on their way because she has a monitoring appointment as well!! She asked me if I wanted to hang out a little and I could meet them in person and speak together with them and the doctor!!! OMG What an awesome surprise!!!! I was soooo excited! Of course I will wait for them!!!

As if that weren't enough, are you ready to hear the next SURPRISE?! While I was waiting for them, I received an email from my attorney with my contract attached for review!!! YAAAYYYY I realllly think we are on the right track towards a transfer this month!!  I have a phone consultation with the attorney to review my contract on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, I have my next monitoring appointment. I am to start taking Estrace pills 2mg, twice a day starting tomorrow. I had received an email from the doctors office later in the afternoon with those directions. I was also told to discontinue my birth control pills = Safe Sex Only lol. So we are well on our way.

After my IM (Intended Mother) was finished with her appointment, we all went together to lunch. They are so sweet!! I had a great time. We spent 3 hours together. I am sure they will be super supportive throughout the pregnancy! I look forward to a wonderful journey together. We all had a nice time, I smiled my whole way home. In fact, I am still smiling :-) I feel a bond with them already.

I know deep in my heart this is the exact couple God intended me to help out! I was the one who wanted to help out that other couple back in January. But I believe Gods plan was for me to help them in a different way. I believe God helped me lead that couple to the IVF doctor in Thousand Oaks, so that he could help them. I believe Gods plan was for me to help complete THIS couple's family.

After a we finished eating, we exchanged emails and cell numbers, hugged, and parted ways.
When I got home, I immediately got started on the contract. 35 pages, and I read each one ever so carefully. Luckily, most of it is very similar to my other contract that I used for my 1st journey. Even so, it still took me a few hours to go thru it all. I am pleased to say there isnt anything major that needs changing. Most of it is minor things that need to be added. For example it mentions about loss of uterus, but nothing about any other reproductive organs. It also mentions that I cant take any medicine including over the counter, unless approved by the IVF or OBGYN (for later in pregnancy). This is technically a minor problem because what happens if I have a headache, or start coughing. I will email the doctors office to check if they might have a list of pre-approved meds that I would be allowed to take. Like I said, very minor things. I am sure we will have the contract signed quickly, I just hope it is quick enough. We need to have it signed before my body is ready for that hCG trigger shot.

Tuesday(April 15) at 730am is my next monitoring appt and at 1030 is my phone consultation for the lawyer to answer any questions I have about the contract. I was thinking to email the attorney tomorrow with my few minor concerns. That way maybe she can speak with my IPs attorney about it before Tuesday.

One last SURPRISE! One of the Surrogate Mothers that I have been emailing with, just got a positive pregnancy blood test!!! Congrats GKGH!!! Today was just a great day!!

Gotta love progression!

Still no sign of the contract, however I started my cycle late last night. This morning I emailed the fertility clinic, so tomorrow morning will be a "Monitoring" appointment. I will get more information tomorrow, and post about the appointment.

Since this will be a natural IVF transfer, I am not very familiar with this process. But from what I have gathered, there will be quite a few Monitoring appointments over the next 2 weeks, where they just do an ultrasound and keep an eye on my uterus and my ovaries. At some point, I will get a "trigger" shot. The official name is HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) trigger shot. It contains a synthetic form of the hCG hormone. I triggers the release of the mature egg. About 36 hours after the shot, I will ovulate. We wait about 5 days, and then do the transfer. During this time frame, abstaining from sex is crutial. This will ensure I dont get pregnant with my own egg.

 Unfortunately, I was told if the contracts arent signed by the the time my body is ready for the trigger shot, then there will be no shot, and we will need to wait until my next cycle, in May. :-(

 So for now, positive thoughts because I really dont want to cut things too close for my IPs. They want a transfer this month, so thats what I am focused on and praying for.

I also need to find out about the birth control pills because I would normally be due to start my next pack on Sunday night. So Im not sure if I am supposed to take them or not.

Hurry up!!! Then waaaaaait....lol

So, as every experienced Surrogate knows, the mantra is Hurry up, and wait!

Last week there seemed to be no progress, I was starting to feel forgotten. But then, Saturday (April 5th), I received not one but TWO emails!!  One was from a psychologist. She wanted to schedule a 40 minute phone call and also she sent me a link to take an online psych assessment test (more on that later).  The other email was from the fertility clinic.

 I was told to notify them when I start my cycle (get my period), which will be any day now. She mentioned that the IPs (Intended Parents) are working on the contract-which I have yet to see-and they are still aiming for a mid-April transfer!!! YAAAYYYY!! When I read this, I was sooooo excited! So, if we can hurry up and sign those buggers, we can have a transfer in the next couple of weeks!!! Otherwise, we will have to wait until May. This will be okay, its just cutting the timeline verrrrry close. My IPs realllllly want their baby to be born within the Year of the Horse....so the timing of the transfer is super important. The year of the horse ends mid-February 2015. With the help of an online IVF transfer calculator, I figured the transfer would need to be done by end of May, to have a due date of mid-Feb. So, a May transfer is possible, its just very close to the ending of our timeline goal.

Now back to the email from the psychologist. She set our phone call for Wednesday (April 9) at 10am. I decided to take the online psych assessment test this morning. It consisted of about 350 crazy and some silly questions. It took me about an hour to complete. I emailed the psychologist to let her know I completed it. Within 20 minutes she called me saying she had a cancellation and was hoping I was available to do the phone consult right now! Of course I was!! :-) We talked about my family members: mom, dad, siblings; my children, boyfriend, ex-husband; and of course my pregnancies, childbirth, and my last surrogacy journey. Our phone call was wrapped up with a nice little bow in about 25 minutes with her saying she is happy and proud of me for helping another couple with their fertility struggles and wished us luck with our journey together.

Now that the Psychological part is done, Im back to waiting again ;-)  Im not quite sure what is taking so long with the contracts, because like I said, I still havent even seen a rough draft. I plan to email my agency again to ask about communication with my IPs. I would love it if we could email each other, and maybe schedule a dinner together before we have the transfer. They live about 1 1/2 hours away from me, so it would be nice if we could all meet each other in person.


:-) :-) :-) Just as I was about to publish this, I received an email. FROM AN ATTORNEY!! Hooray!! Its a legal retainer that I need to sign and fax back with a copy of my driver's license. It says after they receive my fax, and the contract from the IPs attorney, they will email the contract to me and schedule a phone consultation to go over the contract together. OMG! This just got real!! I am so excited!

Update.....

So, here is my update: Nothing to update on :-/

Not much has happened this past week. I feel like there has been no progress, no steps forward, just standing still. I spoke with my agency today. She said they have everything they need and they are just waiting for my boyfriend's background check to be completed. Then we can complete our contracts. :-( She also mentioned that they arent sure yet if a mid April transfer is going to be possible.....waaaaahhhh!!  I am a bit concerned with what my IPs have to say about this. I emailed my agency back asking about my IPs thoughts. I also asked if I am going to be having any more skype calls with them, or at least their email address. I havent heard back about this yet, although it was a bit late in the afternoon.

So, back to the waiting game.