Cycle # 2, Monitoring Appt #3

Sorry Im a little delayed on posting this time. Things have been a little crazy in my household, and I havent had a chance to just sit down and type.


My next Monitoring Appt was supposed to be set on CD13-Friday. However, I had another appt that day and the Drs office said it was fine to make it for a day earlier. So my appointment was on CD12-Thursday.

Great and AMAZING news!!! My ultrasound showed my uterus lining is already 11.6!! I cannot believe that!! The goal for the uterus thickness is usually 10. Last cycle, on my Transfer Day (day 17), my uterus was only 10.9, which is absolutely great!! So, I am soooo super excited about the thickness now on day 12!!

My IP's embryo(s) are ready and waiting for the transfer! So, now we are just waiting for my body to be completely ready to coddle and protect their little embie. I am not sure how many or what the grade level is though. I will try to find out Tuesday.



Below is the updated medication regimine:

Continue with Estrace, 2x a day
Continue with Prenatal Vitamins
I was instructed to do the hCG shot and Lupron shot Friday night at 10pm.
Sunday I am to start Progesterone pills 1x a day
Also, Sunday I start the Crinone-Vaginal Suppository 1x a day....womp womp
Monday-Crinone 2x a day

Continue this all until Wednesday, which is my next Monitoring Appt. They will only be checking my progesterone levels. This appointment will probably be where they have me start the wonderful PIO shots. However, Im feeling more confident about it this time around. I spoke with the nurse about the welts and itchiness that I had.

She thinks that I was having a slight allergic reaction to the sesame oil (just as I thought). She gave me a different one. This one is in olive oil, so hopefully no itchy welts, yaaay!


Friday (April 30th) is the Transfer Day!! This will be my CD20. I am sooo happy and thankful and excited for this day to be here! I can only imagine the thoughts and excitement my IPs are feeling!!

Happy Memorial Day EVERYONE!!!

Cycle # 2, Monitoring Appt #2

Today, all my questions were answered, I found out why and why not about everything, all the confusion was squashed.

At my appointment this morning, they only drew blood to check my progesterone level. I was not put on medication last appointment because my level was too high. The nurse said it was probably too high because only a week ago I was taking progesterone suppositories and also the injections. She also informed me that if the progesterone level is still too high (greater than 1.0), then the transfer will need to be canceled for this month. You can imagine the amount of stress and worry I have been feeling from this morning until this afternoon!! I finally received the email and its lowered: .39. The nurse was right, it was just high because of the medicines from last cycle. I guess the extra hormones are finally out of my body now. We can continue to monitor. 

I was instructed to start the Estrace pills, the same dosage as last Cycle: 1 pill, 2 times a day. My next appointment will be to check all the hormones flowing thru my body, and once again I will have a date with Mr. WW. I feel more at ease with these dates now because I can at least see my ovaries on the ultrasound and feel assured that I am not going to accidentally get pregnant with my own child. Not being on birth control still has me feeling a little nervous regarding that.

On Monday, I want to email my agency to ask them how is my IPs cycle coming along. I am hoping to be able to speak with them sometime soon. My next Monitoring Appointment will be on next Friday, May 23. That will be Cycle Day 13. Im thinking this will be the day they have me start the lovely injections again. My butt has been healing nicely and enjoying its vaca. 

Cycle # 2, Monitoring Appt #1

Heres the update!!

My IPs arrived yesterday!! Hooray!!  My Intended Mother has already started her cycle of medication to do another egg retrieval. Many, many prayers are needed for a great batch of eggs!!

They are starting me on monitoring appointments. HOWEVER, I was given a strong forewarning! Our goal will be to transfer 2 fresh embryos around the end of this month-May. IF the eggs dont turn out so strong, or IF the embryos do not grow well, THEN the Embryo Transfer will be canceled for this month, and I will once again stop all medication and be back to playing The Waiting Game :-/ So, we need all the prayers we can get for my sweet IM and her precious little eggies!!

Lots of love and prayers needed!

Yesterday was my 1st Monitoring Appointment for Cycle # 2. This is NOT to be confused with CD3 (Cycle Day 3) theres a difference. Cycle # 2 means this is our 2nd try for a successful embryo transfer. CD3 means this is my 3rd day of my menstruation cycle. 

They drew my blood, I met once again with the lovely Mr. Weenie Wand for my ultrasound, and they gave me refills on all the medications that I am running low on.

Last night, the Drs office emailed me with my blood and ultrasound results. The email said everything looks great and for right now, there is no need to start any medications. Now, on one hand I believe that is a good thing. I mean it is, because I dont have to be putting extra medications into my body.

BUT, I have to wonder.....

Why did I have to start on the Estrace pills last cycle on CD3, But not this time??  I am not sure, but for some reason or another, the Doctor feels like my body does not need the extra estrogen right now. And I should probably keep in mind that this clinic is after all, one that prefers to do an As-Natural-As-Possible IVF Cycle.

My next appointment is on Friday. That will be CD6 (Cycle Day 6). Last month, I was taking only Estrace pills until CD11, which is when I needed to do the Lupron and hCG shots.

So for now, I am just going to enjoy my reprieve from all medications and let my body do what it naturally does: prepare for a pregnancy :-) Join me in thinking positive, keeping high hopes and praying for very beautiful and amazing things to happen this Cycle!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers, soon-to-be-Mothers, Surro-Mothers!!!

Good news.....I got my period! Yaaay
So tomorrow, I will inform the doctor's office and see what they say. I really hope they tell me to come in for bloodwork and to re-start meds :-)

downs and ups....

First I want to apologize for my ranting and raving in my last post. I was sad and stressed and worried, and angry, and every other emotion you can think of. Of course, I blame the meds. ;-)

Moving on, I went to the drs yesterday and it went pretty much as I thought. No baby.

I had a feeling when I was taking the HPTs. At 6dp5dt the 2nd line was getting darker and then by the next day it became faint again, and kept getting fainter as the days past. Yesterday my hCG # was 2.1 which is half the # from 2 days prior. So it was a chemical pregnancy.

I was pretty upset when it became official, even though in my gut I already knew. The Dr told me to discontinue all medication and that I will get my period in a couple days. Later, I spoke with my agency, asking them, now what?

I told them everything the doctor said, and that I would need to start birth control by Sunday, if we are not trying again right away. My agency said they will speak with my IPs and find out what are their thought as to what they want to do next. She said she will definitely let me know before Sunday.

I thought it was pretty much over. The parents left the US before the transfer so, I thought they were pretty much done trying. Well, I reallllly need to stop thinking!!

 I got an email later that evening from the drs office saying that my IPs are flying back here, next week!!! They want to try again and right away!!! OMG I was sooo excited and happy, I re-read the email maybe 15 times!

 I was instructed to tell them when my period starts!! Yaaaayyy!!!

So for now, back to the waiting game.

PIO shots update: Last night my butt finally got a rest from these little buggers. Most of the welts are healed up. On my right side there are 2 pink spots where welts used to be and a small bruise. On my right side is only 1 raised welt from the last injection that I did. Both sides, thankfully, are not sore. But, OMG do they itch! Idk if its the sesame oil that my body is reacting with. Possibly a slight allergic reaction....? But, I absolutely do NOT remember any of this thru my last journey.
I am going to email the doctors office to ask if I need to continue the prenatal vitamins. Im thinking it will be a yes.

Im so excited for next week! I want to try to get together with my IPs more often while they are here this time. Im hoping we will have many opportunities to bond more this time around. I would really love for them to meet my kids and boyfriend.

Beta Check = Blood Pregnancy Test

Grrrr.....the ups and downs of Surrogacy. I suppose it cant alllll be ups...

So, I will start off by saying what everyone is waiting to hear: the Beta #, am I pregnant or what??
The answer: I still dont know :-/  My beta number was really low. 5.3    The doctor said the embryo could have implanted later than normal, which would cause the hCG numbers to double later. So, I need to go back again in 2 days. Wednesday's lucky number will be 10. If the number is 10 or higher, than the pregnancy can continue. If its not, I will have to discontinue all medication, wait for my period and also wait to find out if and when the IPs would like to try again :-(

The hardest part was the pregnancy tests. Starting from 4 days post transfer (4dp5dt), I have gotten positive-faint but still positive-home pregnancy tests (HPT). 6dp5dt was the darkest line, and then the next day was faint again, and every day after that. So I couldnt help but check what Google had to say about that. Unfortunately, Google implanted an idea into my head, that is still pretty hard to stop thinking about. Google said this was possibly a chemical pregnancy. Thats pretty much a miscarriage, just verrrry early on. Im thinking if I have to do this again, I am banning HPTs and Internet from my house. I think I would just rather wait it out for the blood test. This was the worst week ever!

Because of the time difference of where my IPs live, my agency is going to speak with them later this evening and then give me a call. We will probably do a conference call later this week. I know the parents have their heart set on a "year of the horse" baby, so I think we have one more chance. But it will be cutting things very close.

One thing I cant get off my mind though is the decision to transfer that embryo alone. The original plan was to transfer the frozen embryo and 1 fresh one. The fresh one stopped growing, so obviously they cant transfer that. Buy Im not exactly understanding why they would only transfer that one frozen embryo. It wasnt the greatest quality. They grade embryos, and the frozen embryo's grade was a 4cc. 4 just means that it was hatching, thats a good thing. aa would be the perfect embryo, and dd is not to great :-/  Heres what Google found for me:

Expansion Grade

1    Early Blastocyst: the blastocoel filling more than ½ the volume of the embryo, but not expansion in overall size compared to earlier stages.
2    Blastocyst: the blastocoel filling more than ½ the volume of the embryo, with slight expansion in overall size and notable thinning of the zona.
3    Full Blastocyst: a blastocoel filling more than 50% of the embryo volume and overall size fully enlarged with a very thin zona.
4    Hatching Blastocyst: The trophectoderm has started to herniate through the zona.
5    Fully Hatched Blastocyst: Free blastocyst fully removed from the zona.

Inner Cell Mass

A     Tightly packed compacted cells.
B     Large, loose cells
C     No ICM distinguishable
D     Cells of the inner cell mass appear degenerative 

Trophectoderm Grade

A     Many healthy cells forming a cohesive epithelium
B     Few but healthy cells, large in size
C     Poor, unevenly distributed cells. Many appear as few cells squeezed to the side
D     Cells of the trophectoderm appear degenerative embryo surface.

So, the thing thats been stressing me out the most is, if the fresh embryo stopped growing, than why not just transfer two-not so great-frozen embryos. The way I understand it, it would be the doctors call. I dont know. :-( I just keep praying for that lucky 10!!

 The rest of today and tomorrow is going to take for plus ever!! I was supposed to go to a little party tonight, with a couple friends, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. But now Im not feeling up to it. Im not buying anymore pregnancy tests either. Im just going to put this little embryos life in God's hands. Only He can give life to this little embie!

Update on PIO shot.....ughhhhhhh  hahahaha thats my update lol
**sigggghhh** forreal tho, they suck!!
 My right side has 4 raised welts and 1 small black and blue, not to mention a small hard spot under my skin.
 My left side has 2 raised welts and 2 small black and blues, but no small hard spots.
The welts itch like crazy...think poison ivy. The black and blues are sore, of course. So every time I scratch, I also cringe in pain. Every time I have a moment to sit down on the sofa, I warm my rice pack and massage my right side, to help the small hard spot go away.

I just want to also say how lucky I am to have the support of my agency! They are the best ever!! I called them up crying when I found out my beta number was only 5.3. They were super sweet and thoughtful. They made me promise not to drive until I calmed down. They also said if I cant calm down, or if I dont feel like driving, they could rent a hotel room for me to stay the night in. So that I could rest. They are amazing! I could never stay away from my kids like that, (unless I absolutely have to), but they are awesome to offer that!

Well, Im not sure how Im gonna keep my mind busy, and my fingers away from Google (Google is not my friend right now) for the next 36 hours. But I will stay focused on that lucky number 10!!!