My Last Three days

This blog post written by Tiffany, Surrogate Mother

So much is happening, so many good things!   On Tuesday, Natalie went in for her egg extraction.   I unfortunately have been sick in bed most of the week so I could not be there.  Sean was there filming for the documentary and was able to get some good footage.  Natalie did great!

To prepare for the egg retrieval, Natalie had to have eight days of stimulation medications, she took Monopur, Lupron and Gonalf all in injection form to produce egg growth.  During this time, she had to have an ultra sound every two days, to watch the egg growth. Eggs are expected to grow two mm every day. On day eight was the final ultra sound and they had grown up to 20 mm so on Sunday Natalie was instructed to take the HCG shot, to trigger the eggs to get ready for fertilization. 36 hours exactly after the shot is taken, is when egg retrieval has to occur.   So Natalie and James arrived at Seattle Reproductive Medicine early Tuesday morning for the procedure.  They brought Natalie back to the operating room and they put her under for about 30 minutes while they did the retrieval. Dr. Lynn was able to retrieve 16 eggs!   When Natalie woke up, she was in a lot of pain but was happy to hear the great news about how many eggs..  They gave her Vicoden for her pain, she rested for about 30 minutes and my brother drove her hom. Later they did an ultrasound on her ovaries and they were the size of an orange, they will stay that way for about a month, fill up with blood, harden and then shrink down to the size of an olive. Interesting right?  So, about those eggs... within 4 hours of retrieval, the eggs get fertilized.  They used my brother's "donation" and put the sperm and eggs in a petri dish and let them go at it!   Va va va Voom!  Then we waited....

Yesterday (Wednesday) we received the news that out of the 16 eggs, 14 of them matured.  Amazing!  We were also told that out of those 14 eggs, 13 of them had fertilized and become embryos!  A baker's dozen!  Wow!  This was such exciting news.   Now, more waiting.  The Embryologist would alert our doctor and nurses which day to transfer, either day three of growth or day five.   Today, we received THE phone call we have been waiting for, we will transfer the embryos on Sunday, day five of growth!  We were told this is great because this gives them an extra 2 days to determine the very best embryos to use for the transfer.  Since of course, we are not putting that school of embryos into my belly!  Just two will be fine, thank you.

So this means I have three days left of not being pregnant.  Three days left before my life will change forever.  Three day left.  Wow... I am excited, a little scared, and nervous.  What will the future bring?   I'm not quite sure, and really that does scare me, I would be lying if I didn't have fears. How sick will I get with morning sickness? Will it be as bad as before?  Am I really going to try to have all natural child birth for the THIRD time?  However, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, loving family and supportive group of friends to go through all of this with.  The biggest feeling that has overwhelmed me?  Hope.  I am overwhelmed with hope! I feel hopeful that this process will work.  I feel hopeful that things work out how they are supposed to, even in great tragedy.  I believe that when you hope for the best, great things are possible. Actually, ANYTHING is possible, especially when love is involved.  I am hopefully that I will make a difference in this world, not just by the gift of carrying this child, but in so many other ways, for my children and for others reading this. I am hopeful other woman reading this that have struggled do not feel so alone.  I feel hope when I look at my own two children, how precious they are and how so many new wonderful things have come into this world because of them.  I feel the same hope when I see my nephew, Hunter and hope I will give him a sibling he can share his life with.   I have felt the most hope from the people reading this. All the comments, emails, FB messages and support has lit a real fire of hope inside of me.  Without your support and your hope, I would not be as strong, and neither would Natalie.  We had no idea how many people this blog would reach, and with over 16,000 hits, we feel over joyed by the response.  Because of you all, I am stronger, and you are making a difference in my world.  This message from my six year old says it the best:    

Thank you so much for reading, and writing to us.  We are touched by all the comments and stories you have shared with us.  We always call each other with excitement sharing what you all have said.  It means a lot to us and we cannot wait to continue to share our journey with you.   Hopefully the next time I write, I will be pregnant! 

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."
Author:	Anne Lamott

Warmly

Tiffany