08.30.08
Today’s delivery
I’m now the proud possessor of a bunch of drugs… Not sure how to use them, but I’ve got a box full. 
I have:
1 dose of Ovidrel (trigger shot?)
20 vials of Menopur (stims?)
5 boxes of Multi-Dose Gonal-F 450 (from C)
1 box of Multi-Dose Gonal-F 1050
1 Lupron kit (starts 9/17)
and TONS of syringes!
The first pic is the box of what was delivered. The second is combined with the drugs I got from C.
From what I’ve gathered reading about others’ experiences with getting their meds, it’s “normal” to be excited… Guess I’m NORMAL! (that’s unusual.
) 
Now I just have to be patient (ha!) and wait for 9/17 so I can learn how to use all this stuff. For those who are counting, that’s 18 days away.
I’m HOPING that N and I can go visit LD and family before then. I miss her! I know I talk to her almost every day, but I just love her so much I wish she was my next door neighbor so I could SEE her every day too. I’ve asked N to look at his schedule and decide if he’d rather go 9/7 or 9/13. I hope to know that answer tonight.
08.27.08
Got dates!
We got our dates today! 
Still don’t have the actual calendar, but Ronda gave us some of the important dates.
LD starts Lupron Sept. 10th
I start Lupron Sept. 17th (I also go in at 2:30 for patient teaching)
LD starts estrace Sept. 24th
I have a sono either Sept. 25th or 26th
I start stims Sept. 28th
Then there are a bunch of bloodwork dates and sonos…
Egg retrieval should be Oct. 9th
which makes transfer either Oct. 12th or 14th.
Beta Oct. 23rd
I also talked to Freedom Drug today to get our meds delivered.
Woo hoo!!! It’s getting closer and closer! It seems so unreal.
08.26.08
Master plan
LD and I have agreed it’s time to gang up on Ronda. We’re anxious to find out our calendar and we didn’t hear anything today. Seriously, how long should it take? Isn’t it pretty standard? Okay, maybe we’re being a little overanxious. At any rate, LD is going to call in the morning (probably leaving a message, as we’ve yet to actually get her when we call) and I will email her. I plan to also ask about the meds and the ordering status. I had told her that we could go ahead and order the meds last week and I’ve heard nothing. I figure that will sound less anxious and more inquiring. Since I would have expected to hear something by now. Hopefully we’ll have some news to report by tomorrow’s end!
08.25.08
Back on track
I got a text this afternoon from LD. AF returned full force! She talked to Ronda and will start BCP on Wednesday. Ronda said she’d be getting a calendar to us this week. It’s quite a relief to know we’re back on track.
It’s somewhat bittersweet, though. N’s grandmother is dying. 
They are talking about hospice and she has said more than once that she’s ready to die. It’s been very emotional. It’s sad to know she won’t be here to meet her great grand baby. But at least she knows about it (I talked to her about it a month ago) and perhaps she’ll be watching from Heaven and helping everything along the way.
Ugh. Never mind.
Well, AF is apparently being illusive. Even though LD thought AF was here, she stopped and skipped town. She hasn’t come back yet. This means she did not start BCP and we are back to waiting.
Today her son is having his tonsils removed, so as much as I’d love for AF to come back today, I hope she doesn’t have to deal with her on top of this stress. Which, I suppose, could be why AF left in the first place. Hopefully things will get moving along soon. Until then, we wait…
08.22.08
Getting closer…
LD texted me today to say AF had snuck up on her (she expected her tomorrow). So she called Ronda and will be starting BCP on Sunday. Ronda will be getting a calendar to us early next week. This evening she said that AF disappeared, though. I’m fairly certain it will return by tomorrow, so I don’t think it will throw us off much. I can’t believe we might actually get a calendar in a few days! Things are going to start flying by, I’m sure. And with school starting up, we’ll be super busy. That’s good and bad. Good because we can keep our minds off the “hurry up and wait” game. Bad because it means working around schedules. But fortunately, LD says that Ronda will be trying to work things around her nursing school schedule. She has clinicals and a major test the first week of October. I’m glad Ronda thinks she can maneuver things around that. I’d hate to make things difficult in that regard. Even if she does say it’s okay.
08.19.08
Wholehearted support
Today was a very pleasant day. We had convocation for our School District today, so our school staff met and rode a bus to the Special Events Center. While on the bus waiting to leave the coworker sitting next to me happened to say “I wonder who’s red VW Beetle that is over there.” I said “It’s mine.” And she started asking me questions about it because she says she would love to get one. I made a comment that I love my bug and hope I get to keep it after we “get our kid.” A coworker who was sitting in the seat in front of us turned around and said “Oh? Are you getting a kid?” I said “Hopefully. We’re working on it.” She asked if we were adopting and I said that we were actually going to be using a surrogate. Her eyes lit up and she said it was so exciting and asked if it was okay to ask questions. I said “I love to talk about it. Ask away!” So she started asking questions and the people in the seat next to us turned and joined the conversation. I soon had the attention of about 6-8 people around us.
Every single one of them was nothing but supportive and EXCITED for us. They asked me to keep them updated as things progressed. One asked if I was keeping a journal or diary of all of this and I told her I actually had a blog. Several asked for the link so they could keep up with things even if they don’t see me often. They also offered prayers, which I am ALWAYS willing to accept!
I have to say that I am SO pleased with the support I have gotten from everyone I have talked to about the surrogacy journey. It is amazing to me that others I know have had negative responses, as I’ve encountered nothing but excitement from all fronts. I’m thankful for that. I would hate to think I’d have to hide this huge part of our lives from the people I work with. I hope, if they read this, they know how much I appreciate them.
08.17.08
Two milestones in one day!
So not only am I starting BCP today, but we also have one more thing we can check off of our list. The contracts!!! They’ve actually been ready for weeks now, and LD and D signed them back on July 31st, but it’s taken us this long to finally get it done. It’s not like we’re lazy (okay, maybe a little), but we needed two people to be witnesses and every time we were actually with two people who weren’t already mentioned in the contract or otherwise related (which only happened once, I think) we forgot about it. So finally I called up my friend J, who lives only a few minutes from us, and asked if we could come over and have her and her husband be our witnesses. We just got back from there and have the signed documents ready to send off to LD! We are completely legal now.
08.15.08
She’s ba-ack!
AF has made her August appearance, and with a crampy vengeance. It figures it’s (once again) on a Friday afternoon. Guess I’m just lucky. I put in a call to Dr. C’s office (left a message with the answering service) and I imagine I’ll start on BCP Sunday or Monday. If I don’t hear from them this weekend I’ll call Monday morning. I’m not too worried this time around, since last time they didn’t seem to be worried about Sunday vs. Monday. ETA: I heard back from someone at Dr. C’s office! That was the fastest ever. At any rate, I start BCP on Sunday and call the nurse on Monday.
I’ve also started back to school. It’s been a lot of drama, let me tell you. But I’m not going to dwell on the bad stuff. Instead, I’ll focus on the good stuff. For example, everyone at school is super excited about our journey. I even had several people ask me how it was going as soon as they saw me. It’s so encouraging to know that everyone supports us in this path. You never know how people are going to react and I hear so many stories of people who get rude responses to the fact that they are using a surrogate. But honestly, all I’ve ever gotten are positive responses.
Another “good stuff” to bring up is my cardiologist appointment from today. I’m very excited to report that my heart is doing wonderfully and the doc who reads my annual MUGA scan even called my cardiologist to ask “What’s she been doing?” because my heart has improved so much! So apparently all the hassle of going up to the Mayo Clinic for that bi-v ICD was worth it in the end. I am just on cloud nine about that. It’s been such a long time since I came away from a cardiologist appointment with positive news. I really needed that. Things are really looking up!
08.11.08
Missing my stand-in baby
W went home last night. I miss him!!! He was exhausting at first, but it got easier as the week progressed. By the time his parents came to get him I wanted to keep him forever. He’s such a laid back baby and so happy all the time. N loved having him here as well and said “If our kid is half as easy to take care of as W, we’ll be lucky!” The added bonus to having kept him for this week showed me that I can adjust to the mommy lifestyle. I wasn’t so sure after the week with him in April, since I was working AND taking care of him. Of course, I’ll apparently still be working some, but it shouldn’t be as bad as it was in April, since that was a week I was at a conference too, which is super exhausting by itself. Also, N was GREAT with him. He took care of him without complaint and frequently did things for him without my even asking. Granted, I still fed him all meals and gave him his bath every day, but that was mostly because I wanted to. I feel confident that N will occasionally when it’s our child.
Tomorrow I go back to work. I don’t work on Wednesday, but I’ve got a ton of errands to run, so it looks like things are going to be busy from here on out. Hopefully that will keep my mind of things. I SHOULD be starting AF by the end of the week or early next week. At which point I’ll be starting BCP and we’ll be getting the IVF train started. I am so freakin’ excited and nervous all at the same time! Is it really possible that we could be parents this time next year???
