I want my Mommy!!!!

Holy shit. I knew this next round of injections was going to be tough, but as I look at the needle that will be going into my bum.....I feel like crying. I WANT MY MOMMY!!! No seriously. I want my Mom here with me for this injection. My Mom is my rock and if anybody can get me through this, it is my Mom.

This week I start the next phase of medication and another injection. In addition to the Lupron injection that I've been taking every night for the past week and a half, I will be adding to my daily ritual.....Estrace (2mg 1tab 2x/day), PNV/Folate/DHEA (vitamins 3x/day), and the dreaded Estradiol injection (0.1cc into my bum every 3 days).

I opened one of the needles tonight. Not freakin' cool. And you want me to stick this WHERE!?!?

My Mom is out of the country on business but she returns Thursday night. I hope she's home in time to help me with my first bum shot. If not, I have a lovely surro-sister who has already volunteered to drive down here and help me.

Day 4 of Lupron

I was really nervous for my first Lupron injection.

Friday night, after my son's football practice, we headed out to pizza with the team. I found my self hanging around as long as possible, having a few (too many!) beers with the parents and procrastinating. I wasn't ready to go home. As excited as I am to be where we are at on this journey, I wasn't ready to face the fact that I had to stab myself with a needle. I was terrified that when I walked through my front door it was shot time. So instead, I poured myself another beer and continued to procrastinate.

11:30pm rolled around. I think we closed down the pizza place. It was time to head home. The team had opening day the next morning and we had to be back at the field at 8:30am. It was time to go home. It was time for the shot.



I prepped the syringe with 10 units of Lupron. Numbed my belly with ice. Rubbed the area with an alcohol swab. And then I stood there. The needle in my hand. I couldn't do it. I could't stab myself. Shaking my head, I yelled to Eric, "This is wrong!" thinking no one should ever have to stab them self. I continued to just stand there with the needle ready and in my hand. Finally, I gave the needle a little tap tap on my belly to see if I could feel anything. Nothing. No pain. Deep breathes.......I can do this!


Then I heard Aiden running down the stairs to give me a kiss goodnight and I thought to myself, damn it, I need to do this now. Tap, tap, tap, tap, puuuush!!!! It was in. No pain at all. 


Psssht. I got this!!! 

All that hype for nothing. It was literally painless.


Fast forward to Sunday night. I got a little too comfortable with my shot administering abilities. I thought, lets see if I can do this without the ice. There was a little pinch, but nothing more. Sweet!


Then a burning sensation crept up on me and lasted for about an hour. Dang it!! Was it because I didn't use ice? Maybe it was because I injected the Lupron too low on my belly?

The next morning (Monday) I woke up to this:

Don't mind the redish looking skin...this was taken from my camera phone.

A nice dollar-coin-size bruise. Nice. Just nice. 


Lesson learned. Use ice with every injection. And stay within 2 inches below the belly button when injecting the Lupron. 

And so it begins

Meds have arrived!!!  Meds have arrived!!! Meds have arrived!!!

T = 31 days until (possible) transfer!!!!!!!!!!!

This is enough medication for....get this....ONE MONTH!!
Of course there are more needles and syringes, but I didn't want to pull them all out just for the picture.

I had my first monitoring appointment today. This will be the first of many monitoring appointments throughout this cycle and leading up to the transfer. These appointments consist of blood work and a lovely transvaginal ultrasound.

Say hello to Mr. Weenie Wand....complete with a condom and lube!!

I received confirmation today that I am to start the Lupron injections this evening!! Holy hell, can you believe it!?! I'm already clenching my teeth at the thought of giving myself a shot on a daily basis. Thank goodness the needle is small!

    

Anyhow. I was going to video tape my first injection, but I have decided against it. My belly, where the injection site takes place, is not pretty enough for all to see. So instead, I have found a Lupron injection demonstration on YouTube.  Enjoy!

***One year ago I had a BIG announcement!!

Preparing my womb for a successful embryo transfer

I've had many questions from family and friends about how this next step works: The Meds and Injections.

I've been on birth control for over a month now, and this will help to regulate my menstrual cycle and will also make it easier to sync my cycle with the egg donor's cycle. What?? You didn't think I'd be using my own eggs, did you??

In about a week I will be starting an extensive medication protocol that will help to prep my womb for the embryo transfer. The lining of my uterus will need to be super, super thick in order for the embryo to "stick" and get nice and cozy for a nine month vacation. This will all be accomplished by taking oral pills, vaginal suppositories, and injections, on a daily basis. This step will take approximately one month.

Also, during this time the egg donor will be working hard to prep her body for the egg donation. She will be required to take both oral and self-administered injections as well.

Once eggs are retrieved from the egg donor, they will be fertilized in the lab and then transferred to my uterus 3-5 days later. I will stay on bed rest for 24-48 hours in order to give my Intended Parents' embryo the best chance at sticking around for a while. Also, after the transfer, I will continue on medication, daily and throughout first trimester. This will cause the embryo to implant and help to simulate pregnancy.

My golden box of meds should be here any day now. It will be like Christmas in August and I can not wait. I'm thinking about recording my very first self-administered injection. Would you be interested in watching me poke myself for the first time? Eeeeeeek. I hate needles.

Oh my goodness, and how could I forget!! I met up with a few of my closest surro-sisters last week and we enjoyed a lovely dinner together. Yaaay for surro-sisters!!!

Clockwise from the bottom left: 
Stacie
Misti and her son
Myself and my daughter
Laura

Between the four of us, we have birthed 15 babies (one set of twins)!!!

 

Signed, Sealed, Delivered.....

...I'M YOURS!!!!!!!

Contracts are D.O.N.E!!!

I can now move forward in helping to create a family for my Intended Parents!!

These past few weeks have been so fun. I talk to the guys a couple of times each week, both via email and phone, and I am really enjoying getting to know them. Every time I get an email from one of them I have a perma-smile on my face for the rest of the day.  I love that we are on the same page with everything--it has made the legal process go so smoothly.....and quickly! Growing Generations really does a nice job at matching surrogates with Intended Parents. This could not have been a better match and we are all VERY excited to be moving forward!!

My son, Aiden, has been very curious of the guys since I announced to him that we are going to help two men become daddies. At first Aiden was all giggles and wasn't quite understanding why the baby(ies) will have 2 daddies and no mommy. He even asked if I would be living with the guys. I assured him that I will not. It helped to remind Aiden about our close family friends, Sue and Maria, who are gay--married--and live together with their children. He now gets it (YAY!!!!!). His next questions were: When are the guys giving us their (baby) egg? Who puts the egg in my belly? How is the egg put into my belly and will my belly be cut open? (THAT was an interesting conversation!) Can he watch the transfer? (OMG, so cute!!) And what are the guys' dog's names (they have two pooches)? So, so cute. He's all full of questions now....I love it. Last night Aiden had the chance to talk on the phone with the guys. He really enjoyed it. So much so, that towards the end of the call he started being silly and was farting. If you know Aiden, then you know that when he farts around you that means that he likes you. ;)

And I'll leave you with this......Word on the street is that I will be starting meds and injections NEXT WEEK!!! You heard that right people. I am well on my way...and I could not be more thrilled!!!

On To Contracts!

We are in the beginning stages of contracts everyone!! Our goal is to go from "beginning" to "finalized" at lightening speed. I LOVE that The Guys and I are on the same page in that we would like to transfer as soon as possible. OMG, I can't believe this is all happening....and quick!

I'll be pregnant for The Guys in no time!!

Looking for other surrogacy blogs to follow?

In the far right column of my blog page you will see "Surrogacy Blogs That I Follow". I have recently updated this list to include my most favorite blogs that I follow (Sorry if i've accidentally missed anyone!). There are a lot of them. In my list you will find both Surrogates and Intended Parents blogs. Some are just starting their journey, others are getting ready for the arrival of their precious baby(ies), and some have successfully completed their journey. I really enjoy reading and following these blogs and I hope that you will too.  

Matched For A Modern Surrogacy!!

I am very excited to announce that I am matched with a pretty awesome set of Intended Parents. Words can not begin to describe how I am feeling right now. It took me over a year to get here and I wouldn't have it any other way. This is where I am meant to be. All of the past struggles and hurdles that I've dealt with have lead me to where I am at today. Does it get any better than this?? Absolutely. It gets better and better!! This is just the beginning of an incredible life-changing journey. A journey that I am so very honored to be a part of. A journey that my family and I will be on with a pretty amazing set of IPs. A journey that will end with a baby in the arms of his/her rightfully deserving parents.

I am helping to create a family. I am assisting two men in their journey to Fatherhood. This is my body and their baby that I will be growing in my tummy. My name is Andrea and I am a gestational surrogate helping to create a modern family. This is my story and it starts now.


A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, home happier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.

Match Meeting!

We had our match meeting today! (well, yesterday because it's after midnight as I'm writing this now)

I was much more nervous this time around compared to my first match meeting. I think it was because I've "known" of these Intended Parents (IPs) for over a month now (I received their profile over a month ago), and I've had quite a bit of time to soak them up and really fall in love with them and their story.  I didn't want to screw this up, and I was so nervous that I was going to. On the car ride to our match meeting I felt myself starting to breathe a little funny as we turned on to the street that the agency is located. It was almost like I was panting, taking in deep breaths trying to control it. It felt like I was going on a blind date and I didn't know what to expect. What are they going to think of me? Is my hair ok? Makeup on good? Do I look too fat? Did I chose the right outfit? Maybe I should have dressed up a bit more? I wonder if they are going to notice the two zits that mysteriously formed on my chin the night before? So many things were going through my head. I also hesitated to walk off the elevator on the 13th floor. Not because we were on the "13th floor" (isn't it illegal to have a 13th floor anyways?), but because I knew the IPs were on the same floor as me now. I knew they were right behind the doors of suite 1330. And I knew this was it. This was the beginning of something that will be so beautiful. But, I'm not going to lie, I was scared out of my mind.

Eric and I proceeded through the doors of suite 1330, Growing Generations. We were greeted by staff and then taken back to meet the IPs. A hug was definitely in order for the both of them!! It was so nice to finally meet the guys that I've seen pictures of and read their profile 100 times over. I couldn't believe that we were actually in the same room together! As we sat down across from each other I felt my nerves reaching a peak, my body shaking and I was jumbling my words. I had to take control or I would surely scare these guys away. Deep breathes did the trick. We ended up having a great meeting that was facilitated by a psychologist who kept us on track and made sure that we were all on the same page compatibility wise. All of the important points of surrogacy were covered, and we agree on everything.

After our meeting, we were released to go have lunch together as a way to get to know one another on a more personal level. Lunch was wonderful and Eric and I both agreed that this couple would be a great match for us. We were sad to see them off, as they had to catch a plane back home but, we were very happy with how this match meeting went.

We've already given our "yes of course we'd love to work with these guys" answer to Growing Gen this afternoon. In fact, after lunch we walked back to Growing Generations to let them know in person of our exciting decision. We'll that, and we needed to get our parking ticket validated. ;)

And now we wait to see if the guys feel the same way. I have a good feeling about this.

Ready. Set. Match Meeting!!!!

Not only did I receive an email today saying that my husband and I are medically cleared for take off (Yessssss!!), but I also received another email saying that the couple who's profile I received a few weeks back (and loved!) would like to meet my husband and I. Our match meeting is set for Tuesday, July 26th. Gah!!! I can't wait.