The End of this Road

Well our journey to becoming a surrogate has come to an end. The process has ended because "T" and "E" have been dealing with marital problems and they decided to not go forward with the surrogacy. So this is a sad conclusion but we are at peace with it. I recall having prayed and telling God if it is His will then let it happen, if not then let it fail. So we are just accepting God's final authority and thinking perhaps we may be embarking on another journey soon....

Waiting...

Last I heard, "E" was going to be on the new medication for 6 weeks. Thinking it had been about that long, and not having heard from Marisol, I emailed "T" and "E" to find out what was happening and this was "T's" reply.

Hi Jacquelyn,

I hope you are doing well.

I'm so sorry that you've been left out of the loop.  I thought that 
either HRC of Shelley's office would have updated you; had I known 
otherwise, I would have let you know myself.

That said, the medicine (DHEA) that Dr. Feinman thinks may help is, 
according to the prevailing study, supposed to be taken for 4 months.  
E started taking it at the beginning of December, which puts us at 
late March/early April for the next (hopefully successful) try.  
Unfortunately, there's no way to know if it's effective until the next 
stim cycle.

In the meantime, we're doing the best we can not to think about it too 
much.  It's beyond difficult (a friend described it perfectly as 
demoralizing) not knowing what will happen and seeing all our friends 
with their children, but we are still hopeful.  I just don't believe 
that E's ovaries have given up.  And moreover, I truly believe she's 
meant to have a child.

Hopefully you can hang in with us for just a few more months.

Best to Sean and the kids,
T

So it looks like we have a few more weeks to wait. Oddly enough, March is the month I always get pregnant so maybe that is a good sign!

Sad News...

Well I'm sad to say it has happened again. "E" went in today for her retrieval, after having 3 large follicles spotted, and when they went to retrieve the eggs, there was nothing there.
We were planning for a Tuesday transfer but that will not happen now. I have to stop all my medications and wait for further instruction.
Last week, we had received a call from a television producer who was filming an ongoing reality show about surrogacy for Lifetime Network and Oxygen. They were going to come out for interviews and film the retrieval and the transfer for the show. So in the middle of church today, I got a call from Shelley Smith, the head of the Surrogacy Program, and she was at the retrieval with "E" and "T" and the entire film crew as they all watched the retrieval fail again. So Shelley puts me on speaker phone to tell me the sad news (film is rolling). My Hollywood debut begins with me on speaker phone while "T" and "E" recieved another heartbreaking blow. I was very sad and dissapointed and completely unable to think of anything exceptionally comforting or wise to say to make me sound great on television. Mostly I just mumbled about how sorry I was.
I heard from "T" later on and he said that the doctor feels that "E" is not getting enough blood to her ovaries because of her hysterectomy so he said he has one more treatment he can try in order to get her to produce real eggs. This treatment is supposed to begin immediately for "E" and will take about 6 weeks. Meanwhile, I just stop the prenatals and the shots and just wait. Shelley said she is confident that if someone would just throw an embryo at me it would stick so she said to hang in there. There was some concern about me continuing this journey with "T and "E" and I said of course I would. I am out very little discomfort throughout the process in comparison to the frustration they must be feeling. So yes, I will continue to work with this couple until they get a baby or decide to quit trying...

Moving Closer...

Being employed during the cycling part of a surrogacy, as opposed to not being employed like the last time, is a little harder. Scheduling all the days off for doctor appointments, transfer time and bed rest with two different employers, babysitters and spouse is challenging enough. So when, last week, the whole calendar shifted forward by 3 days, and I had to completely change everything with my employers, my schedule, Sean's schedule, and the people lined up to babysit during the transfer, I was a bit stressed. However, with situations like these, you have to be ready at a moments notice to shift gears based on how the medicines are working. In this case, 'E' had been following a proposed 'new' calendar and I was unwittingly on the 'old' calendar so when it was finally discovered, she had already stopped her birth control pills 3 days sooner than originally planned so that made it crucial for me to adjust my calendar as well. Which is OK, I am clear to be off work from the day of the transfer, which is now November 19, 20, or 21st and I will go back to work December 2nd. This will give me a nice long rest and hopefully a positive result before returning to work.
The injections are the same. Only now I have to do them before leaving for work so I no longer have the luxury of spending the whole morning getting up the nerve to do the shots or taking them to Kelley. If I do that, I will be late!
Last cycle, 'T' and 'E' had me taking a prenatal regimen of 12 pills a day. So this time around, I did not breathe a word to the pharmacy about sending more prenatal pills. Fortunately for me, 'T' and 'E' are right on top of things and 'E' dropped me a note saying the pills were in the mail. The day they came, Sean told me I had a present. There was a large box from 'E' with happy faces all over it and it was marked fragile. So I opened it and inside were 8 boxes containing glass bottles of all different kinds of vitamins including a chart on the directions for taking them. So this cycle the prenatal pill regimen has increased to 16 pills a day. The bright side is that now my daily M & M intake has been counter balanced with a healthy offset....

I'm Back...

After a long wait, we are back for round 2. I begin Lupron injections Sunday, October 26th. We are scheduled to have the embryo transfer the weekend before Thanksgiving and then I will have bedrest the 3 days leading up to Thanksgiving Thursday. It's taken this long due to the cysts not dissolving and then the doctor's vacation time being at the end of October (we could have done the transfer then) and just our individual schedules pushed it to the end of November. However, we are ready to go now and praying for a positive outcome this time!

Nothing New...

I have nothing new to report. "E" has had several doctor appointments and her cysts are not completely dissolved yet. So she is now on some medication to hurry the process up. Once they dissolve then we can begin our calendar and set some dates.
I received a beautiful bouquet of roses FedEx from Shelley Smith's office and a card thanking me for being patient. There were two dozen roses and half were orange and the other half were read and orange. Very nice. I took some pictures of them and so did Jubilee. The were so fragrant!
"E" goes to the doctor again tomorrow to see if she is making progress. I ended one pack of birth control and, skipping the inactive ones, went on to a new pack so the doctor is still keeping my body ready to start a new cycle soon.

Waiting..Waiting...

Well the new transfer is going to be in October now. (maybe)
It would have been in September but 'E' had some cysts when she went to the doctor and they have to heal first before we can start again. We are also working around 'E's' work schedule because she has a lot of business trips coming up and she has to plan the retrieval around those. 'E' will be going to the doctor again this week and she will have some more news on when we might be able to officially try again. Until then I am on birth control pills and just waiting for the next round to start, we don't even have calendars yet. Maybe by next week we will have some official dates. It's easier to wait when you have a time frame!
On a good note, the doctor told 'E' that he is sure now that she had produced the eggs last time and they now know that they just missed them, so everyone is confident that she will do it again this time, hopefully the doctor will monitor her better this time. She also started her acupuncture and she is beginning to enjoy it. I'm glad it's 'E' who is having to do that and not me!