And So the Adventure Begins…
Our profile was only live for a couple of days before we got the call that a couple had expressed an interest in working with us. After our introduction to this couple, that was it. Match made. Another “Just like that” moment. The process slowed as we gathered all of the information for legal clearance. Family Creations connected us with a lawyer in our area and this took another huge weight off of our shoulders. We’ve never had to work with a lawyer before and didn’t even realize that there are lawyers who specialize in surrogacy contracts. It was nice that Family Creations had done all of that work for us and I fully trust their recommendations. One of my favorite things about this agency is how thorough they are. Every “what if“ situation has a plan. It brings peace of mind knowing that everything has been considered. The process moves so quickly that even I, the over thinker, would have missed some things.
Once we had legal clearance the medications began. I admit, the med calendar looked a bit daunting at first, but everything is so planned and organized that it takes a lot of the edge off. Plus knowing what it meant made it all worth it. The first few shots took a little nerve building, just to get it done. After that it becomes second nature. You know what to expect and will pick up little tricks that make it a breeze. There is also a huge surrogate community out there and they provide some amazing insight to the whole process. You will discover that you are not alone. You will make shot buddies…a different kind of shot buddy than you had in college (haha). See what I did there?! Eventually, you’ll have belly buddies during the pregnancy. Again, the amount of support is great! Take advantage!
A few months after the initial match with our IPs, all of the paperwork, blood tests, and medications our transfer day was finally here! We had to travel out of state for our transfer and were gone for about four days total. We had dinner with our IPs and spent some more time asking questions and getting to further know each other. I felt so good about pairing with them to bring a beautiful child into this world. They are sweet as can be and so deserving! The actual transfer itself was quick and painless. We were able to watch everything on the monitor and left feeling confident with a picture of the perfect little boy embryo that was nestled in my uterus. We were told to take it easy for a couple of days following the transfer so my husband and I took full advantage of the extra sleep without toddler toes in our faces and enjoyed a break from SpongeBob Squarepants. I ate a lot of pineapple (I’ve heard it helps) and we waited and waited some more. The infamous two week wait. Up until this point all blood work results had been same day and we’d been a little spoiled by this. One of the hardest parts was being on medications with the same side effects as many pregnancy symptoms. It can definitely play tricks on you.
Eventually our Beta test day arrived. The results were same day, but that day felt like a year. The nurse finally called, but unfortunately had some bad news. My Beta levels were low and this was not a viable pregnancy. My heart broke for my IPs and a little bit for myself too. I had never had a negative pregnancy and I wanted this to work so badly and, in all honesty, I expected it to. I expected it to be easy and to work on the first try. This was not the case and has been emotional, but has only brought additional perspective as to why I wanted to do this in the first place. I am so incredibly thankful to have been blessed with my boys. We will be doing another transfer for our IPs here shortly and I am so elated to have this opportunity with them. Send every positive vibe imaginable and I will be over the moon when my next update is nothing but good news!!