Hunter Turns One and My Uterus Gets a Lining!

This blog post written by Tiffany, Surrogate Mother

Much and little is happening!  My sweet nephew, Hunter (Natalie's baby) has turned one!  We cannot believe a full year has gone by since his birth, since we almost lost Natalie, since we decided to start all of this surrogacy stuff.  It started out slow, but lots and seems little, has started to happen.

                                                                Here is Hunter, from his one year photo shoot! 

Let's talk about my doctor appointment.  I won't get too graphic, but I will get some details out there and questions answered.  I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago to get my IUD out.  It was not as painful as others have said (thanks Yahoo answers! You all are liars!).  I also had another fun procedure called a Hysteroscopy. This is a way for doctors to look at the lining of the uterus.  They can check for abnormalities like fibroids, and can also check to see how my uterus is tilted. Most women have a tilted uterus, it is helpful for implanting in January for the doctor to know which way mine is tilted and where exactly to place the embryos.  My doctor used a catheter with a camera on the end of it.  My uterus had it's 15 seconds of fame up on the screen and I was very pleased with it.  Although this procedure does not last long, a few minutes, it does hurt!  It feels very invasive, nothing should be going UP your cervix and pushing water into your lovely uterus.  It was very unnatural and needless to say I did not like it.  However, my doctor was very quick, and the pain was not long lasting. Plus I received some apple juice right after.  :)    When we implant the embryos in January, this process will happen again.  They will (if i remember correctly) take the catheter that will have a syringe and pull in the embryos, then slide the catheter up, and place the embryos in the spot the doctor has mapped out.  So yes, this pain will happen again, but hopefully it will be quick and it will be so exciting because those little embryos will be going into their new home!  How strange yet thrilling.  Here is a drawing I found online that helps explain what happened (don't be jealous!): 

After the lovely visit where my lady parts were rocked, we set up a plan to go onto what is called a "Mock Cycle."   I take hormone patches and pills for two weeks to increase the lining of my uterus. This is to see how many hormones my body will need when it comes time for implantation.  Doing this mock cycle gives us an idea of how thick the lining in my uterus will get.  I just saw the doctor yesterday, we did a blood test to check my estrogen levels and an ultrasound to check my lining.  They called back today and said everything looks good! I can start stepping down from the hormones (I was taking patches, multiples, now I go back down to one) and a progesterone pill now once a week.    Both my husband and I have not seen any change in my moods, which is exciting.  Although my boobs got randomly HUGE.  I hate it, my husband is pleased. 

All this hormone stuff really made me nervous in the beginning. I really thought they took a syringe of the embryos and stuck them into my belly and into my womb and my body would just be like, "Welcome!  Stay for 9 months!"   Apparently, that is not the case.  So I am on board and want to do whatever I can to make those babies STICK.  Think sticky thoughts!

Hopefully, the next step is that in one week my period will start, and Natalie will hopefully be ovulating (she is peeing on ovulation sticks every day), then the goal would to be to sink the two of us up on birth control for around 6 weeks.  After that, egg retrieval!   2-3 days after egg retrieval, implantation....  I cannot believe it is almost here! Thank you everyone for the overwhelming amount of support!  We are getting really excited!

On a side note, Sean and I are looking for funding for the documentary right now.  A company was suggested to us and we are excited to try them out. If you know of any places that help small films be made, please feel free to email us! 


As always, if you are just landing here, please check out "How We Got Here" tab above to read how we decided on surrogacy! 


Happy Holidays, 
Tiffany

Monday Monday

This blog post written by Tiffany, Surrogate Mother

Monday I will head to Seattle reproductive Center to get my IUD out, do a test on where the embryo will be implanted and a few other things.  We will get the hormone schedule most likely, and the schedule of when my husband and I cannot... be as intimate as we used to. :)  I am excited and nervous!  I really want to get to the point where the embryos are ready to go in!  Soon Natalie will head to her appointment for egg extraction.  Also, we spoke with SRM and they seem on board for filming the documentary!   Natalie and I will start filming some video diaries at home to post soon.

In the meantime, our biggest struggle so far is deciding how many embryos to put in.  What is the most embryos you think someone should put in? What are your reasons? Would love to see your comments in the comment section below.

Thank you for stopping by, more updates to come soon!

As always, if you are new and want to hear how we got here, please click on the above link "How We Got Here" to see both mine, and Natalie's story of how we decided to do surrogacy. 

Warmly,

Tiffany - Gestational Carrier