Drumroll please...

Well, the results are in.  The nurse called this morning and said,  "Congratulations...you are VERY pregnant!"  

My BETA came back with a whopping 797!!!  All I can say is WOW!!!  

I think I am still in a bit of shock.   I am feeling a lot of things all at once.  On one hand I am really excited, happy and relieved that it worked, but on the other I am really anxious and nervous about the road ahead. I am still trying to wrap my head around it.  Nothing like hearing you are probably carrying 2-3 babies to wake you up in the morning right?  My hands were shaking and I felt like I was going to throw up.  Whether it was morning sickness or just plain shock, i don't know.  What I do know is that I am going to try and take this one step at a time and try, try, try to be patient until our first ultrasound.  By the way, we are scheduled to have that on Valentines day.  :)

My IP's are also feeling a bit shell shocked.  Here I am worried about how I am going to make it through the next 9 months, they have a lifetime to think about.   I'm sure that has gotta be a bit overwhelming...

So, I'm curious what other Surro Mammas came in on there first BETA.  I just want to see if there is any kind of rhyme or reason to the number or if everyone is different.  If you don't mind sharing, I would love to hear.  If you don't want to post it on my comments, you can email me too.  { h.grosser@sbcglobal.net }

Well that's all for now,  I've gotta go relax.  It's been a long morning.

I wasn't gonna' do this but...

Well, I was going to wait until I had my BETA on Saturday, but what can I say?  I'm feeling positive.  Excuse the pun.  Ha.I simply can't hold it in!  I did the old POAS test {well 4 actually} and each day my little pink line gets darker.  I am VERY optimistic that all of those sticky vibes worked.  Thanks y'all! 

So, not only are my lines getting darker, but all the symptoms are there too.  From the sore boobs to the nausea, I've got my bases covered.  I haven't felt this way since hmmm, last time I was pregnant!  Not to mention, I was in bed with lights out at 8:45 last night. That does not happen unless I am on my death bed.  

I will keep you posted on my progress Saturday, but I will be shocked if I don't have good news to report.  With that I bid you all a goodnight,  I am sooo ready to hit the hay as they say.  :)

Alrighty...update time.

Well, so much has happened that it seems like a month has gone by since my last post.  So let me start at the very beginning {a very good place to start}. Bare with me here, it's a bit lengthy...

So, we flew down to LA Monday {17th}  to prepare for our transfer on the 18th.  My Ip's picked us up from the airport and since it was after 9, the only places open in Hollywood were straight up club scenes. We pulled up to one place and there was actually a lady outside in a sequin gown.  Yikes!  So not us...We promptly left and opted for a more casual atmosphere back at the hotel restaurant.  It was really nice to spend the time with them.  

The next morning, the Doctors office called and said they were canceling the transfer.  My heart dropped.  The nurse promptly corrected herself and said they were rescheduling for the next morning.  She said the embryos just need one more day.  I of course thought there might be something wrong with them.  The nurse told me  out of the original 18 eggs, there were 6 A+ embryos and a few B quality embryos.  Whew, great news!

So, we got to spend the day touring around the city.  We ate A LOT, did a bit of shopping, a bit of drinking, and we went to the movies.  {True Grit, in case you were wondering and yes, it was really good.}  It was a wonderful day and I am so glad we got the opportunity to spend the extra time together.  We were scheduled the next morning for the transfer so we all had a bit of the nerves going on, but we had a great time.   

The next morning I was definitely nervous.  I kept looking at my phone like it was a bomb ready to go off.  I was so afraid they were going to call and cancel.  But thankfully, they didn't. We arrived at the office and got checked in.  We quickly found out we had a decision to make.  I say we because A and S really wanted me to be involved in their decisions.  

The dilemma:  

Out of those 6 A+ embryos, we only had 3 B quality embryos left.  The doc wanted to implant all three and we were all a bit hesitant to do this, for obvious reasons.  Dr. S played out a few different scenarios for us.  

Option 1: 

Transfer all three embryos for the greatest odds of a pregnancy. 

Option 2: 

Transfer the 2 and freeze the last one.  This could go a couple different ways.  We could have none, one or both embryos stick.  If we ended up pregnant, great!  However,  if they didn't stick...

Option 3:

Try to transfer the last frozen embryo.  Knowing full well that it would be even worse off being frozen and thawed, if it even survived at all.  It could work, but if didn't work out we would all be playing the "what if?" game.  We would regret not going with the 3 embryo option AKA the  greatest odds...

So after much consideration, we decided to transfer all three fresh embryos.  The transfer in itself was not an easy feat.  You know you're in trouble when the doctor says "Bare with me a moment. This may hurt."  Yikes!  He was right, It was not pleasant.  At some points of the transfer it was downright pain.  Pure pain.  I guess I have a bend in my tube or something so he had to use some sort of metal contraption to straighten it out and get where he need to go.  All the men in the room were so grateful NOT to be the ones on the table.  Dr. S finally got the little embryos implanted and wished us luck.  I then spent the next hour inverted on the table head down with a full bladder.  Let me tell you , I barely made it.  I should have been thinking about what an amazing thing we just did, but all I kept thinking was how embarrassing that would be if I peed all over the myself in front of everyone.  Ha. Luckily mind over matter won out.  

The rest of the trip was spent napping, reading, playing dominoes, and Wii.  My husband, A and S took great care of me.  I had all my meals taken care of and they spoiled me rotten.  

Now I am back to reality at home with a few restrictions to my regular day to day activities.  No pools, baths, exercise or lifting over 10 pounds.   Oh, and in the back of my mind I am trying REALLY hard not to start taking home pregnancy tests.  Patience is really tough sometimes.  I'll keep you posted!

Ya-hoo!

I believe my title about sums it up, but I'll elaborate a bit just for fun.  Today was a great day on the surrogacy front.  I woke up with total butterflies knowing how much was riding on this one day.  I got some good news early on from my IP's and the doctor.  The egg retrieval was successful.  They retrieved 18 great quality eggs. That was one HUGE relief. 

Then I took the kiddos to school and went for yet another visit to my local vampire, I mean Lab tech.  On the way there I was psyching myself out ab it and I swear I could feel myself ovulating.  Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best?  I had my progesterone check  and all was good. Whew! I am not ovulating and we are set to transfer on the 18th.  I am so thrilled even the nurse on the phone said my excitement was contagious.  :) 

So tonight I start my progesterone injections.  That means double the shots and yes, double the fun but I've got my eye on the prize.  I'll just have to give myself another pep talk and I'll get through it.  Anyway, we are all so excited!  I'll keep you posted.

Keeping our fingers crossed

Lots to say on this one so here it goes.  First of all, I had my Ultrasound to check my lining.  The doctor that did the u/s was a man of few words, but he did say, "Looks like your ready."  Thanks doc!  

So  on to the blood tests, all looks good there for my hormone levels.  Yay!  Then the Nurse A called with what I thought was just a routine follow up call.  Nurse A told me how the lining looked good and blah blah blah...BUT {with a long pause} she told me that it looks like my frickin' body is trying to ovulate.   Fantastic.  The nurse is hopeful it won't happen based on the numbers {progesterone level}, but I've gotta admit, I am freaking out a little bit.   

Let me break it down for you.

No matter what my body does,  the egg retrieval has been set for the 13th.  {Remember Lucky 13?}  I will also go in for another hormone check on the morning of the 13th.  So that means if all goes well, my progesterone level is still low, and I'm not ovulating,  we will be having our Embryo transfer on the 18th.  Ya to the hoo!!!  

But...If My progesterone level is high that means my body decided to ovulate and we have to scrap the 18th for the transfer.  The embryos would then be frozen.  Then I would have to wait through yet another cycle and do a frozen embryo transfer in February or March.  uugghh...

All I can do is keep my sunny outlook on this and hope for the best.    I have been so excited for this transfer.  I can't even tell you!  The fact that my blood draw will be on the 13th is a good sign.  We've got a lot riding on this day.  So, keep your fingers crossed and come on Lucky 13! 

Happy New year!

We have had a fantastic Christmas and I've got a feeling 2011 will be great!  We had a pretty mellow New Years eve  and stayed home with the kiddos.  One of our boys was sick so we mad the best of it and had a little family game night. 

So now that I am recovered from the Holiday madness, we are moving right along on the surrogacy front.  I started injections Wednesday and you would think it would have been easy peasy.  Like riding a bike right? But sadly I had another freak out.  I got everything all set up and laid out for my Hubby to shoot me up and I kept procrastinating.  I did a face mask, cleaned up the bathroom, put some laundry away and so on and so on.  My Hubby finally at 10:30pm said "Are we gonna' do this or what? I'm  going to bed so it's now or you're on your own." 

So with much trepidation, I assume the position and I can not stop clenching my cheeks together.  So I shook it out and tried again.  Still super tense and had to walk away and shake it out.  uuuggghhh...I don't know what is wrong with me.  It is such a tiny needle and the first few don't even hurt that bad.  { I don't even want to think about when those knots start to form!}  So finally after the third time, I was able to relax and It barely hurt.  Man, I thought I was on the verge of a mini panic attack!  It was quite comical looking back but in the moment not so much. Wish me luck for tonight!