Let the meds begin!

So, the time has come!  Tomorrow is when I will start my Estradiol injections for my mock cycle!  My first injection is tomorrow night, so stay tuned for how that goes.  Luckily my mom is a nurse and so she is going to come over and give me the first one & I will decide from there if I will have her continue to administer them or if I can do them myself.

Also, since this is a mock cycle and the results are VERY crucial to the entire surrogacy, the clinic has decided it is best if I fly to them for them to perform the ultrasound versus seeing a clinic here in Iowa and having them send the report.  So, on Monday, November 24 I will be headed to Oregon!  This is my first time there so I am very excited!  It will be a very short trip, just there and back for the big ultrasound and I am praying I come back to Iowa with wonderful news about a 'fluffy uterus'.  Haha.  Some of you might be laughing but I am SO serious!  That is all we can hope for... a fluffy uterus!

The meds I start tomorrow are estrogen that will help my uterine lining grow.  This is what I had issues with the last go-round two years ago when I was set to be a gestational carrier.  So, we can just hope, pray, and say all the positive thoughts in the world that the protocol this doctor uses will work better on my body then the last time!  So.. grow uterine lining...grow!

So far this clinic and doctor have been amazing to work with!  I cannot say one bad thing about them.  The clinic is called Oregon Reproductive Medicine & they are just outstanding!  You can tell they work with a lot of gestational carriers because everything has been completely smooth.  Our coordinator is so quick to respond and always on top of everything we have to complete on our 'to-do lists'.  They are even who recommended our attorney to write up the parentage agreements (contracts).  Which reminds me... we signed those last week!  So, thats another step that is completed!  Feels good to have that part done and I just adore my attorney!!  She has been doing traditional & gestational carrier agreements for 15 years so she really knew her stuff and she was just thrilled about the whole process & so excited to follow along.  She gave us some of the information about how the 'adoption' process will work when the babe is actually born.  Adoption?  I know.  It's a crazy word to use but it's technically what it is.  This baby will NOT be related to me at all.  But, in the state of Iowa, the intended parents & us will technically have to go thru an adoption hearing just for formality and legality.  The nice part is, the attorney knows how to stay ahead of the game & will be sure to get everything squared away during the later part of the pregnancy so that as soon as the baby is born, everything will be very smooth and easy for all involved.  It should just be a brief hearing and since the IP's live in another state, she said it might even be possible for them to be telephoned into the hearing so they don't have to be present.  The baby will not need to stay in the state of Iowa, so the IPs can leave Iowa after the birth, whenever they are ready!  That's a relief because I wasn't sure if they were going to need to stay in Iowa until the hearing happened.  The attorney assured me that this whole process is very simple, especially if we get ahead of it when I am still pregnant.  So, that was really helpful and eased my mind.  And again, this is just formality.  It's not like the IPs would be denied ...it's just so that the IM can be on the birth certificate and my name will be removed.  Our hope is to get the IF's name immediately on the birth certificate and never have my husbands name on it.

Next week I will go to a local lab for some initial blood draws that will show how much estradiol (hormone) is in my bloodstream.  It's my understanding this tells the doctor if I am getting the correct dose of estradiol for my body or if they need to adjust.


Well, that's about all for right now!  I will update once I start the meds tomorrow and let you know how thats going. Thanks again for all the support.  Now... send myself and the IPs LOTS of positive thoughts and prayers over the next 2 weeks.  We are praying for good news at this ultrasound.