Countdown to FET 8-10 Days

We are either 8 or 10 days out from our FET! The embryos are going to be thawed on June 6th and from there we just wait (as usual, more waiting!) to see how many grow and how well they grow.. So the nerve wracking part is far from over for us.. This next week is going to be so exciting and terrifying! Right now we are just making sure everything is taken care of and everyone knows the game plan and what needs to happen when and where.. We have decided not to be at the transfer.. Some of you will think we are horrible for that, but it is what it is.. Since it is an 8hr drive WITHOUT traffic ONE WAY, we have decided to save DH's days off for the 6wk ultrasound visit and the many other important milestones.. My friend was the one that suggested we just stay put.. I felt terrible and told her I wanted to be there for her and for her to know that we supported her and she assured me she does know that we do, but insisted we didn't need to drive 8hrs for a 15 minute procedure... So instead I made her that cool basket from this post and hope she knows how much we love and appreciate her and her family! In as little as 8 days, my friend may be pregnant with our child.. I am in total amazement!

The Kindness Of Strangers: A Thank You

Over the last few days, I have learned that sometimes, people you have never met can have such a HUGE impact on your life! My faith in humankind has been restored.. I have been struggling with some things and girls that I am on a support group with have come to my aid and helped me solve problems that I thought were insurmountable. These women who I call friends are just that.. Even though we have never met, these girls went out of their way for me and I am ever so grateful to them for all of their help, support and love. THANK YOU for being amazing women and for making my walk through this difficult journey a little easier! LOVE YOU ALL!

In countdown news, we are 13 DAYS away from Transfer Day!!

We Have Delivery!

The embryos made it to our new clinic in Atlanta bright and early this morning! So thankful that we made it through this part of the journey, such a weight has been lifted off our shoulders this morning! Next stop my sweet friends uterus! So this is what we are looking at time frame wise:


6/6- Embryos thawed

6/8- Embryos evaluated to see if there are any breakout stars, if so transfer today
*If all embryos look equal, they will be grown out and evaluated 2 days later/

6/10 Embryos evaluated and the best 2 or 3 are transferred, depending on what we are left with from the original "FAB FIVE"

So we are 15 or 17 days out from transfer day! Getting closer!!

Houston, We Have Liftoff!

The embryos has left NJ! They were picked up about a half hour ago and will be in Atlanta tomorrow at 8:30AM! I will rest easy once they have arrived safely, but for now I am very happy that we are that much closer to Transfer Day!

DOC 1: A New Phase In My Journey

Today is DOC 1. That means "Day Of Cycle 1" This is a HUGE DEAL for us! We have really NEVER been THIS CLOSE before.. As you know from last time if you read my blog from HERE, then you KNOW we really never had a shot back then... But this time things are MUCH DIFFERENT! We have an unbelievable surrogate who we love and trust and who is for all intents and purposes, like my sister and we know she is doing everything in her power for us to have a positive outcome. That makes a world of difference in this journey folks, lemme tell ya.. So anywho getting back to it.. Today is the day that "J" starts her Estrace and baby aspirin and we countdown from here until DOC 18 - DOC 21 because one of those days is THE DAY!!! I will know more on DOC 18 of course, but the train has officially left the station today!! So countdown with me so I don't lose my mind! I made the cutest basket for "J" and I sure hope she likes it! I am mailing it tomorrow so she has it well before Transfer Day! (Don't worry she doesn't read here so I won't be spoiling the surprise! Notice the SIX pregnancy tests? YUP, we are NOT patient people (her nor me) and we are definitely testing before BETA.. We both know it ain't over til it's over so we will just test regardless and then get the official answer whatever it is from the Dr...

   




Will update tomorrow once I know the precious cargo has shipped and is en-route, stay tuned!

Oh.My.God. I must've done SOMETHING right!

New clinic were embryos are in the process of moving to called me to give me an update. So um.. Yeah.. Nurse lady (who is my new favorite, by the way! I know I'm an easy sell) says that friend started AF yesterday (we know this already) and that she starts her meds SUNDAY for the cycle! I was like "OK". She said do you want to know the protocol or just receive updates? UM NO, I want to know EVERYTHING and I already have it anyway, HA! Anywho (I ramble when I'm excited!) so yeah as we go over the protocol she says "So your embryo transfer will be June 10th" I said "WHAT!" I thought it was June 15th or June 17th? Then I quickly realized I was being a dumbass and said, "UH, we are perfectly ok with EARLY!" I know, I played that off so well, didn't I? So yeah we have officially been MOVED UP A WEEK! Transfer is now June 8th or June 10th!! (The nurse said 11th, but this is a Saturday and they do transfers on Fridays if it's day 5 so I am going with I'm right and she's wrong) A FREAKIN WEEK EARLY PEOPLE!! That is the best news ever!! Now I just the totsicles to get shipped already and received! The nerves are really kicking in now! Will update when I know something more!

Most IMPORTANT FEDEX Shipment Of My Life!

FET countdown is at 3 weeks and 6 days! The cryo shipper (the tank containing nitrogen or whatever super cold freezing agent it is) that will safely carry our embryos from NJ to GA has been sent! It left GA today and will arrive in NJ tomorrow.. It will then be loaded with our FIVE embryos and FEDEX will overnight them to GA. The embryologist called me to give me all the deets and before we were done he said "Hey, do you have a pen so you can write down this tracking number?" I was driving but whipped out a sharpie and a receipt I had just wrapped my gum in (so classy!) and said YEP GO! (chill out dudes I was NOT on the highway I was pulling into a parking lot) I got the 12 digit tracking number and just stared at it.. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FEDEX NUMBER I HAVE EVER HAD! Not even my kids Super Train Megazord was this important (well not to me, to him it was more important I'm sure) 

 

So needless to say Monday I will be entering that FEDEX number FURIOUSLY all day checking until it is in the system and my babies are on their way.. Please send a positive thought, a prayer or whatever it is you do up for me, my hubby and the "Fab Five" we could certainly use it!

 In other surro news, my friend started her AF (Aunt Flo aka period) today so we are officially on schedule! She should be starting the Estrace on May 29th and the embryos are scheduled for thaw June 13th.. We are getting so close and we are equally terrified, happy and several other emotions all rolled up.. Stay tuned folks, it's about to get interesting!

Countdown to FET 30 DAYS

Even though the FET MIGHT be 32 days out, more than likely it will be 30 days from today.. I had a nice long talk with Mr. Yummy (the embryologist) after I got myself together and he explained to me that since I have FIVE embryos he would thaw them all out and take a look at them two days later (this would be day THREE) he said the reason they are grown out to day 5 is to get a clear view of the strongest ones and transfer those back to the uterus. Well, if all things are equal on day three THEN you end up going to day 5, but if 2-3 stand outs are already visible on day three there is NO REASON to grow them out 2 additional days (makes tons of sense right?!) and you would just have the transfer on day 3. SO, this is what I believe will happen with our embryos and I am happy with that, hence the post title 30 days countdown because JUNE 15TH is SOOOO close! I am super excited about this upcoming transfer.. Even with my last doom and gloom post, the good that I kind of let fall by the wayside is my eggs are still good quality since someone just got pg with them! I know I know, each person is different but it gives me a great feeling of hope that we will have our BFP (big fat positive) and a baby on the way too! OK off to consult Dr. Google about the pros and cons of day 3 vs. day 5.. I know, I suck..

Touchy Post

***FOREWARNING****
Some of you are probably not going to like this post, so please don't read if you don't want to see my ugly side.. This is something I need to get off my chest though..

As you know I donated half my eggs for a shared cycle this last time.. Well right after the transfer my friend shut me out. No calls, didn't tell me how the procedure went, nothing.. She gave me some poor excuse that she didn't want to excite her uterus and that she was just keeping to herself and not talking to ANYONE.. OK, how the hell am I just "ANYONE?" To give you some back story, she had NO real knowledge of egg donation and really only basic IVF knowledge. We met by chance through a blog I was reading and she commented on it as well. A conversation struck up as a result and from that what I THOUGHT was a friendship. She wanted me to donate and I agreed, but her finances fell through and she just stopped talking to me after that.. A few months later she started talking to me a gain out of the blue and I mentioned it to her that she kinda just kicked me to the curb and that it was hurtful. She said she didn't mean it and that she was sorry, yada yada.. So we moved on from it.. Well all while the drama of getting cycle ready was going on, I was emailing the clinic on her behalf (6hr time difference) and forwarding messages from her as well as medical records and assisting her any way that I could since she was green to the process and this was going to be #4 for me under the "knife".. Anywho, this was NO EASY TASK.. Imagine trying to convince your child that there IS a Santa, after they catch you putting gifts under the tree.. Yeah, that's how hard it has been dragging her towards the finish line of this cycle.. Anywho back on the current days events: I texted her and let her know I was hurt by how she was treating me and that I felt she just used me (even though she covered majority of the IVF costs in exchange for the eggs, we have been talking on the phone or IM'ing or texting EVERYDAY for a year and we had built a friendship or at least I thought we had..) Well after my text still nothing, so I emailed her about 5 days later.. I got a very formal email back from her saying her other RE (she has a local one since she traveled for the cycle) put her on bedrest for the entire week (even though she was out and about right after transfers, sometimes facebook can really hurt your case, ya know?) and that she was instructed to not talk on the phone much or get on her computer and that she really was not ignoring me or using me. That was EIGHT DAYS AGO.. I emailed back to let's finish the last part of the cycle (there was a balance due she was responsible for) and then we could just go our separate ways since she was cutting me out. (I also can see plain as day she had been on facebook posting and folks mentioning it was nice to talk to her, so obviously she just didn't want to talk to me) This was a week before her beta.. Well she had it yesterday and she texted me at 330AM to tell me it was positive and that she didn't mean to shut me out. I am still angry and I have been crying all day.. I am sad she already has her bfp well over a month before I even go to transfer.. And I feel like a horrible person for it.. I have an awesome track record as an egg donor, (I am now 3/3) and don't get me wrong, I am GLAD she got pregnant, I am just upset by how this entire thing has played out.. The thing that bothers me is she never has apologized for treating me poorly.. Saying you didn't mean something is NOT an apology in my opinion.. Also I did make my feelings known 8 days ago and she ignored me until today... I texted her back and said congrats, but please just resolve the money issue so I can concentrate on my cycle now. She said it's 3AM here and it's late I am going back to bed.. OK, she had NO problem texting me at that awful hour and waking me up! I just feel terrible today.. Am I overreacting? I don't want to talk to her anymore because I don't want to be sucked in to her pregnancy and become invested then have her shut me out again and do this whenever it suits her.. Prior to the egg retrieval she couldn't call me, text me or email me enough, ya know? The day I came out of egg retrieval I noticed a change but I thought it was me being loopy from the anesthesia.. I guess I should have seen it coming, no? Am I wrong here?? Give me your honest opinions, I can take it

UPDATE: The money owed was in my mail today, so at least THAT part of it is finished.. I think my apology got lost in the mail, still haven't gotten on of those..

Well alrighty then Mr. Sexy Voice!

Some more progress! So FINALLY got a call from the embryologist at clinic B. Remember how I was mad at him for not calling me back since last week so I could get the rest of the info I needed?? Uhhh, I sure wish someone would have warned me that he had the sexiest voice in the world,LOL!!! He has an accent,(sounded British or Australian to me, but I was more focused on not drooling into my phone..) Yeah...I TOTALLY almost forgot my questions and why I even wanted to talk to him when he called! I got my thoughts together and wiped the drool off my bottom lip and then asked my questions, hehehe!! So my embies are scheduled to ship to clinic B 5/23 and should get there 5/24-5/25! YAY!! He said he may be able to get another shipping container from another clinic, cuz he has a friend (I bet you do Mr. yummy!) and if so he will do it sooner.. He said he would keep me posted (he called me Love,,*sigh*...) So there ya have it, my embies are officially in the "system" and getting ready to be moved to their new home at clinic B until they are move to their new home in my friends tummy! 5 week countdown begins!

A little blog construction

I finally merged my two blogs in to one. I have had issues with easyjournal being down for MONTHS on end. The last time it came back online I copied all my posts and saved them. Well finally I got them all added here and they are in order as the events happened over the years. So, with that said, if you want to know the story from the beginning that got us where we are today go HERE

Starting to think we are really gonna DO THIS!

Here I am with the FRIDAY update as promised! So you know what that means right? YUP, the stars aligned and I got MOST of the answers I needed from the clinics! I have all the paperwork I need signed, NOTARIZED and in envelopes ready to hit the post office in the morning (because I am too anal to just drop it in the box, I MUST have delivery confirmation on my package, I'm no fool I wanna make damn sure it is DELIVERED!) OK so anywho, here is the breakdown of what is gonna happen now:

1. Papers are sent to clinic A (clinic we are dumping) saying RELEASE my embryos!
2. Paperwork sent to clinic B (we love them!) saying ACCEPT my embryos!
3. Clinic B contacts clinic A and says here is our container, SEND us the embryos!
4. Clinic A carefully put embryos in clinic B's shipping container and SENDS.
5. Clinic B receives embryos in hopefully a ONE DAY turnaround time.
6. I receive call that embryos have been received and all is well
7. I consume copious quantities of WINE

I am hoping all of this takes place by next Friday, so say a prayer and wish me luck! feel free to consume wine in my honor too, if you think it will help!

Shipping Embryos

And so the quest to embryo transfer continues.. I need to have our embryos shipped from their current rest stop to our new clinic which is in the same city as our surrogate! Who knew this would take an act of Congress!! So much red tape!! Ok, I am kinda glad there is a lot of red tape for that aspect, would be kinda sad if you could just say "hey ship my embryos and they were all, ok no prob will do that riiight now", with no fanfare, ya think? Anywho.... Yeah so the crappy part is we need them moved ASAP so we can make the transfer time we want (middle of June) and it seems like I am going to be cutting it SUPER CLOSE! That's the part I don't like.. I am hoping to have a better handle on things by the end of the week, so I may not update until then, when I HOPE to have something new to report.. If anything changes before Friday you all will be the FIRST to know!

Egg Retrieval Part Deux

Egg retrieval went better than expected! The ultrasound tech said I had 5 good ones, but when I woke up my RE informed me she got NINE!! I was thrilled with this news. I got 4 and my recipient got 5. Of my 4 I had 3 that were mature and 2 fertilized. So now I have 5 frozen total that we will thaw in 6 short weeks and transfer to our surro! Chill out, not all five.. We plan to transfer the best TWO and pray we have something left to freeze, but who knows, this whole thing is such a craps shoot! We are just happy to be moving on with the next step and getting closer to our dream!