"Pretty Uterus"

Our day of appointments is done and we are headed home. Well, more like stuck in traffic on our way home. Nothing like a little fire on the side of the road to slow traffic down. 

We drove up to Maryland yesterday so we would be ready bright and early for all of our appointments. M was able to get his bloodwork right after we drove into town, we hoped that would help scheduling for today. 

We stayed in a beautiful hotel on the lake where Micah proposed!  We had a view of the very spot!

On the other side of the lake there was an awesome playground for the kids to play and get some energy out. 

We were also conveniently located over a yummy frozen yogurt place, a candy store, and my favorite cupcake place. Needless to say, we had some treats!  We also were able to have dinner with my sister and her family!

The next day we had to be up bright and early to meet the agency owner at 7:45 at Krispy Kreme. We had a nice little visit then off to my appointment!

I got there at 8:45. First up was bloodwork!

Meanwhile, this was going on back at the hotel...

Next up, was my mock transfer. This is where they use an ultrasound and put some fluid in my uterus to check everything out. It helps insure that everything will go smooth on transfer day. They said I have a "pretty" uterus!!

After this I met up with with my super awesome clinic visit coordinator. She took me up to register and to get ready for my hcg. This is where they use dye and some kind of X-ray type machine to make sure my tubes, ovaries, and uterus are all free of issues. I have to say, the stirrups and foot covers kind of scared me on this one. Luckily the nurse and doctor were very nice and calming during the whole procedure. They were nice enough to put the images back on the screen so I could get a good picture!

Everything looked perfect!!

Next stop was talking to Dr. L. He is super nice and so easy to talk to. I'm so glad he will be doing the transfer. 

I must mention, while doing this, M and the kids were eating at one of my favorite restaurants with the IFs. So jealous!  My IFs, G and K were kind enough to bring me some yummy food (and some Swiss chocolate that was amazing) so it was all good!!

Last appointment was for all 4 of us to meet with the social worker. This was actually pretty fun!  Not quite sure she got our sarcasm, but she could easily tell that we get along great!! 

We are so thankful to my parents for babysitting during the group psych. They tired the kids out!

What's to come?

The egg donor will have retrieval in the next few weeks. Embryos will be created, grown to 5 days, tested, and frozen. 

While this is happening we will be working on contracts, which hopefully go smooth! 

Hoping for early to mid June transfer!

Quick update!!!

I had my phone consult with the clinic today.  I expected it to last 30 minutes to an hour, to my surprise it only lasted 7 minutes. The doctor asked a few questions about my past pregnancies, then started to discuss the process. I mentioned that my sister is a surrogate with him right now and he pretty much stopped and asked if I had any questions. I didn't so that was the end of the call!

He did say in all of his years as a doctor we are his first twin patients!  He said we should be interviewed by a magazine!  

Next week I will have my medical screening, M (my husband) will have bloodwork, then we will meet up with the guys and do our group psych eval. Not looking forward to everything during the appointments but I am looking forward to seeing K and G again and looking forward to being approved by the clinic so we can move on to contracts!!!

Home Visit and Psych Results!

What is the most efficient way of making sure your house is spotless?  Have a home visit scheduled!  Two days ago CE (our agency coordinator) flew up to NC to do our home visit so we could be approved by the agency. I was actually really excited about this because I really like her and have enjoyed working with her. It was more like having a friend come to visit!  I told the boys we were going to pick up my friend from the airport and they were super excited. Little M asked if we were flying to India, not quite sure where that came from.  Little E asked if she would sit next to him in the back seat.  (Picture was taken the day before when I was a passenger in the car.  We drove up so I could know how to get there.)

It sure is nice having an airport only 15 minutes away and not crowded at all!

I was a little nervous I wouldn't know who CE was since I couldn't see her during our Skype call and she barely had any pics on Facebook!  Luckily it was easy since there was barely anyone at the Airport. 

I picked her up and we headed back to my house. M worked from home that day so she could meet him too. CE was super sweet and made these for the boys and I. 

There were more little bunnies, but I couldn't find them for the picture.  Of course the boys wanted my bear, but it is now my lucky bear and they can't have it!!

Somehow the boys were able to be well behaved while she was here. Don't get me wrong, they are typically pretty well behaved. But since we had just gotten back from our trip to MD they were still a bit cranky. 

CE and I had sat down and talked and I mentioned that it would be cool if the clinic called while she was here to tell me about the MMPI results. Well the social worker must be psychic because she called just a few minutes later!!  She said I am within all normal limits, maybe slightly positive, whatever that means. Important part was, I PASSED!  That means we can schedule the medical screening and group psych. Yay!!!!!!!!

After the phone call I could relax so much more!  After talking for awhile our next plan was to drop the boys off at drop in daycare. Got there and it was closed!  Luckily we could change plans a little, go to a different one and get some yummy food at a sushi/Asian place. We had a wonderful lunch and then it was time to take CE back to the airport. I hope she enjoyed her visit because we really loved having her!  Here are a couple pictures from her visit. One is her holding the bag of chocolates we got for her. The guys, K and G, mentioned that CE only likes European chocolate (she is from France) and offered to take it for her.  Unlucky for them, she liked it!!!

The next picture I took to send to the guys!

Thanks for a great home visit CE!!!

We have also enjoyed talking (more like texting and emailing) to K and G some the last few days and getting to know them a little better.  Happy to say they have a similar sense of humor to us, which should make a for a very enjoyable journey!  I've read laughter is really really good after embryo transfer, so they better keep me laughing!!!

Next up is a phone consult with the RE then medical screening and group psych with the guys, M, and myself!!!  Thanks again for my sister babysitting so we can make that happen.  I am so excited for everything that is to come!!!

A few steps closer!

After this weekend we are a few steps closer to getting this journey started!

Since it was going to be Easter and we were going to meet the guys I decided to try my new Jamberry's. My sisters IM had sent me these and my others hadn't come in the mail yet so figured why not have the good luck green! 

Thanks to our very helpful coordinator at the clinic we were able to get an appointment for our psych evaluation and the MMPI. It was perfect timing since we were going to be in Maryland visiting family anyways!!

The first part was a meeting with a social worker. M and I both had to go and discuss multiple parts of the journey. We discussed our past, our relationship, and our expectations of the journey. I actually thought it was rather enjoyable talking to the social worker, she was really nice. I was going to ask for a pic but I was afraid she would think I was crazy!

Next step was for me to take the MMPI. This is a true/false test that consists of over 500 questions. I was so nervous about the test and was afraid to read up about it in advance. I did hear a lot from friends though and I was worried!  I know I'm not crazy but it consisted of some really weird questions and I'm afraid I interpreted some different than I should have. One asked if I feel bad for asking for help from friends if I can't reciprocate. I never ask for help from friends unless I really am stuck in a situation. I always offer to reciprocate, but when I can't then it's ok. I don't feel bad about it because I know I had no other choice!  That's really just the relationship that I have with my awesome group of friends. We always help eachother when we need it, it's not about returning favors or anything like that. Looking back I think that makes me look like a jerk, and I totally should have answered differently!  Then another asked if I think I'm attractive. Well I don't think I'm ugly so hopefully saying I'm attractive doesn't add to me looking like a jerk.  A third that I remember is it asked if I secretly feel good about someone I don't like getting what they deserve when they do something wrong. Well yes, I do feel better when that happens. Is that a bad thing?  That's just three examples of the questions that I've been overanalyzing!  I am eager to hear how I did and should find out by the end of the week. She did mention if I don't get scores they approve of I can take another test, but hoping it doesn't come to that!

Let me say a big thank you to my sister and her husband for babysitting the kiddos while we did all of this and the next day for our meet up with the guys!  We couldn't have done it without them. 

Here is a pic of Micah and I right before the psych eval. 

And a picture of the donuts we had to have since we were near a Krispy Kreme!  The "air filled treat" as our IF K says.

Speaking of treats, I brought some of the Easter cookies that I made for our clinic coordinator. 

The next day was the day we got to meet our IFs in person. We were so excited!  

We made a little gift basket full of stuff from NC for them. Well I put it together, but M helped pick out the stuff. 

This meeting was so important to us because we want the opportunity for a good relationship during and after the journey so it was important that we really felt comfortable and got along with them.  The plan was to meet them at Starbucks without the kids then bring them back to my sister's house to meet the rest of the family. Little M (our middle son) was not in a good mood so he came with us. Here is us right before we left. 

My husband, M, insisted on wearing his superhero tshirt since that's how he usually dresses when not at work, and he said they would have to accept that!

They ended up getting to Starbucks a few minutes early. They were super sweet and offered to have our drinks ready for us when we got there!

Now before I talk about meeting them I must say that I was really nervous about deciding if I should hug them or not. I am not a hugger normally and it sometimes feels really awkward. My friends would be super proud of me because I did hug them and I am happy to say it felt completely natural!  That started everything off perfectly!

We talked for an hour and a half about so many things. They were so easy to talk to and we really enjoyed the time we spent with them. We have a lot in common!  Probably would have talked a lot longer if I wasn't worried about leaving my sister with the boys for longer.  I rode with the guys back to my sister's house. Kind of nice riding in a spotless car, I made sure to inform them it wouldn't stay that way when their baby comes along.  

We got back to my sister's and I was a little nervous about bringing them into a house with 6 kids under 7 years old.  They were so sweet and generous and they brought Easter baskets full of candy for all of the kids!  Trying to win the kids over maybe?  I think it worked!  They really feel like good friends already and I am so excited to be on this journey with them!  Thanks G and K for being such a great match!

Next up is a home visit from our agency coordinator, CE. So excited about her coming to visit because we get along so well already. 

Also this week I will get the MMPI results, praying to "pass" and not have to worry about that anymore!

I'll end with an Easter pic of my family. Happy Easter everyone!!