Drugs while on vacation are a good thing

Thought that title might get your attention.

    Christine, who is our donor coordinator, called me up to give me the date for the start of the medication. Anne had ordered all of the medications for the entire process and they came in the mail. April 3 is the start date. Perfect. That is while I'm on vacation. No big deal, I can just take everything with me. As long as I can remember to take it, right? Riiiiiiight.

    I forgot the first day, but so did Anne, so it's all good.  She started a week earlier than me. It's a drug called Lupron and is used to suppress our own natural cycle. Apparently we were only a week off. It has to be administered by a needle into the stomach on either side of the belly button. It kinda hurts. And once in awhile, I hit a blood vessel or something and end up bruising pretty badly. Here's the proof.

Sorry you had to see that, I really am. I actually have a different bruise right now that is 2 1/2 times bigger than this one. I thought I would spare you and not take another picture of my stomach to put on here. You've seen enough already.

     It turns out I looked at the wrong paper when I started the Lupron. I was supposed to be starting at 20 units, not 10. So when I went in for my blood test to check my Estradiol levels, they were way too high. I told Christine it was my fault because I was taking the wrong dosage. She said "I know we talked about doing 20 units". Yes, we did Christine. We talked about a lot of things that day. Remember when I said "information overload"? Well, that was the day she told me how much dosage to start on. Along with me worrying about softball and getting everything done before we left for vacation! (I told you I'd come back to this) But it is no one's fault but my own. It turns out God worked it that way for a reason though. The transfer will happen a week later than it would have, which works out better timing wise.

New instructions- Up the dosage to 20 units and do another blood test in a week.
Oh man, not another blood test. At least I didn't bruise as badly this time.

I think I worried Anne a little. I assured her I would not mess this up anymore!

Sonogram/Mock Transfer

We have a photo to make the post a little more interesting.

    So the first appointment after getting the results back from the personality profile was coming in for a new patient appointment with Dr. Young. It was simple enough. They got my measurements (it was interesting learning what my BMI was!) and did a simple exam. Then they sat me down and talked about the entire procedure and any ifs or buts that could occur. I had to sign a few papers and then was sent home with all the paperwork, including a stack that had to be signed and notarized by me and Scott. Talk about information overload! This was a somewhat stressful time for me. I had just started coaching JV softball and worrying about having enough girls to have a team. We were also getting ready to go on vacation for 10 days in the next couple of weeks. (I'm building this up to make a point at a later date).

     So Scott and I got all the papers signed and notarized. Next step was a blood test. We made it a family outing and brought everyone along. A lady with a heavy accent was the one that helped us. I don't know how experienced she was but she had to wiggle mine around quite a bit. They needed a lot of blood from me. She filled 5 or 6 different bottles. Scott was hilarious to watch. He tried to put on a brave face because the boys were watching. My elbow bruised so badly, it hurt for 2 weeks afterwards.

     The next appointment was a week or so later and was a sonogram and a practice transfer (or mock transfer). Anne came with me so that we could be on the same page and experience everything together. I also thought this was the appointment where I had to take a Valium, but this wasn't the case. She practiced driving all the way there because she was going to be trying to get her driver's license soon. She doesn't want to always be waiting on us to take her where she needs to go, apparently. What's the deal, right? I'm joking, of course.

    Both procedures went very quickly and was quite easy.  For the sonogram, they filled me up (I'll spare you specifics) with water to check for any problems. Everything checked out great. They used something called a probe and that is what our picture is of. Isn't that nice for us to illustrate that for all of you!

    They also did the mock transfer. This is the exact procedure they will use when they do the actual transplant.  They did a practice to measure how long of a distance it is to the perfect drop off point. They need to know this ahead of time so it is exact and not a guessing game.

    I was nervous for no good reason. Everything went smoothly and was very easy. Poor Anne got an eyeful, but it isn't anything she's not going to see for the birth!

Game On

I'm not sure if anyone caught that movie quote. If you did, you're pretty cool.

So, after the roller coaster ride of decisions and emotions, the plans to carry Dave and Anne's baby is back on.

    Anne has already been partway through the first phase, but for me it's all new.  The first step for Scott and I- counseling. This was an interesting introduction to the whole experience.

    When I approached the counter at the fertility center, I let them know I was there to be a surrogate for Anne DeWitt. I was abruptly corrected at the use of the term surrogate. I learned that surrogate usually means your own egg is being used in the procedure. This is not the case for us. So I learned the new correct term- Gestational Carrier. That's what I am.

    Scott, the counselor, and I sat in a little room where she probed into every detail of my life- past and present.  She wanted to know about my parents and each of my siblings and my relationships with them. She wanted to know why I hadn't even told my mom about what we were doing, about my parents whole messy divorce, about how we were raised, and about what my family is like now. Then she got into more personal questions (if that's possible) like asking if my husband is abusive and what our sex life is like. Scott was sitting right there with a beet red face the entire time. He remained pretty quiet for the most part. She had given us the option of having him leave when she got to those questions, but we did not feel it was necessary. He was probably wishing he had chose to leave!

    Then Scott went to the waiting room and I took a personality profile test for an hour. It was over 300+ questions. A lot of the questions asked the same thing but the wording was different. I was chuckling at quite a few of them. 'Do you hear voices that no one else can hear?' 'Do you often feel you are being followed or someone is out to get you?' 'Do you or did you love your father and think he was a good person?' There were some pretty strange questions. We already got the results back. Turns out I'm not crazy because they gave us the go ahead. I believe Dave and Anne had to go through the same rigorous process, but I'm not sure.

Next appointment- The sonogram and mock transfer.

The Saga Continues

Sorry if I left you hanging from my last post. I figured it was a good place to stop since I tend to get a little long winded.

I make this outlandish offer to Dave and Anne and I'm not quite sure anyone took me serious. So I said it again but with more determination. Scott said, "Isn't this something you should talk to your husband about first?"

     Scott and I had tentatively decided we were done having babies after the birth of our fourth son. I think he was ready to move on to the next stage of life and away from the baby stage. And in a way, I was too. I was ready to get my body back into shape and be able to enjoy my older boys a little more. Being pregnant or having an infant kind of ties you down. It makes it difficult to do activities with your older children. But those things couldn't stop me from wanting to have a baby for Dave and Anne.  There was a single thought that kept me steadfast in my decision. A thought that I couldn't even fathom.

What if I hadn't been able to conceive? How would that feel and how would it have affected my life?

    When I told my family about our decision, it was met with some skepticism.  In fact, there were some family members that were a bit negative about it.  But that didn't deter me one bit.  I believe it was their lack of knowledge that led to their attitude. Most of my family was very receptive and supportive.  So it was settled and proceedings began.

    Dave and Anne grappled with the decision they were making. They were putting off surgery that would eliminate the cancer growth from Anne's body.  This was a risk, they were told, they could take for a short period of time.  So, Anne started the drugs that would help her body produce a large number of eggs that would then be harvested.  In the meanwhile, Dave and Anne did a lot of investigating and praying. The doctors informed them that Anne would have to have a full hysterectomy, including her ovaries. This would leave no chance of children of their own after the surgery. After weighing many factors and looking at total costs for everything included, Dave and Anne decided to stop pursuing this route.

    I was heartbroken for Anne. I knew this was something she wanted so badly, but together they decided they weren't willing to risk her health in order to achieve it. They also knew that for the cost involved, they could do even more by going with adoption. We were all saddened for them. They would not have children of their own......

...but why would I start a blog if that were the end?

God is awesome. We received word from Dave shortly after Anne's surgery- the cancer was only in the cervix. That meant she would still have her ovaries when all was said and done. That meant the decision was still theirs to make. They could still have children of their own, just not in Anne's body.