What goes into a clinical evaluation you ask? Really the shorter answer is what doesn't go into a clinical evaluation. I am sure the kitchen sink will even be thrown in there! (I have to remember as I am writing my blog, that I will have people from ALL over the world reading this! Hello international followers! My IPs must have shared because I have some hits from Ireland and many from the UK!! And I really haven't shared outside of them!)
So here is my schedule for tomorrow--
Get undressed,
Get dressed.
Get Undressed,
Get dressed.
Learn to poke a shot in your hip.
Figure out if you are crazy. (We are all a little crazy to be doing this!)
Okay so a better explanation--
I have an HSG I have to do first thing in the morning. They inject dye through your cervical opening, fill up your uterus and fallopian tubes and then the dye pours out the ends there. While your uterus and fallopian tubes are full, they take an X-Ray to make sure everything is squeaky clean and there are no bad things like fibroids in your uterus that would inhibit a little baby embryo from sticking and staying for 9 months!
Then I get dressed and have the clinical consult with Dr. L. During this consult, he is deciding if I am a great candidate for surrogacy. Is my medical history okay? Pregnancy and labor history okay? Things like that.
Then, I get undressed again. (I don't make the rules here!) And Dr. L does a physical examination and puts a catheter through the uterus to make sure that everything can be visualized well through ultrasound and again that everything again squeaky clean in the womb.
Then I get dressed again. Now I have a visit with the clinical IVF Coordinator/Nurse to get my medical directions-- get medication instructions, learn how to give shots etc.
Then I get turned loose to go talk to the Social Worker. (By this time it will be close to 1pm and I have been at the clinic for FIVE HOURS!! I swear making a baby usually doesn't take this long! It makes this one extra special!) Now I go and do an MMPI questionnaire. What does that mean? I am so glad you asked.
Its a personality test. It tells me if I am crazy or not. It tells them if I have obsessive compulsive tendencies (I like to call it consistent!) Questions are asked like True/False 'I hear voices in my head.' Well I mean I do, but they tell me to get up and go do the dishes. So is that true or false? 'I would like to be a singer' Well I like to sing but I wouldn't want to be a singer because I wouldn't want to do with the paparazzi. 'I have nightmares every few nights.' Well that is true. But does that make me crazy?
As you can see this is going to be a fun day tomorrow!!
So some Clinical Eval thoughts-- Because surely everyone who is reading wants to know what surrogates think about the night before all of this happens.
1. I wish I would have remembered my hair brush and razor. Both important parts of tomorrow.
2. I remembered my umbrella, but forgot my hairbrush. How does that happen?
3. This suite I was upgraded to is SUPER nice, but a little lonely because I have this HUGE room but I have only sat on the bed to do school work.
4. DC traffic might make me fail that personality test-- It makes me crazy!!
5. I cant wait to meet E&L in 3 weeks when they come stateside-- that will make all of this stuff tomorrow worth it!
6. Don't oversleep tomorrow!
7. Gosh I hope there is nothing wrong with me :( I think this might go through every surrogate's head. I have never had anyone tell me I shouldn't be pregnant for myself or anyone else, but there is so much hope on the line and I don't want to let anyone down!
8. I know I have put weight on (22 lbs to be exact! from my 3 cycles and blighted ovum over the past 7 months!) I am under BMI standards but I still feel very nervous about my weight even though I have been working hard on it.
9. Hopefully no one looks twice tomorrow at my fat bloody lip. It looks like I either got popped in a mouth or like I have some kind of communicable disease! I was trying to reach Weston's epi pen for the daycare on a shelf I couldn't reach. The sun was shining so brightly in through the kitchen window that I couldn't see what I was grabbing for-- Well a full glass jar fell out and hit me in the mouth from about 8 foot up... GAHHHHH!! Lovely swollen lip!!
Okay that is enough meandering thoughts for one evening! Wish us all luck both here in Maryland and across the pond in the UK-- I am certain they will be waiting for updates throughout the day :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
What a Wonderful World!
Louis Armstrong said it best in his widely known song-- what a wonderful world!
What a Wonderful World
Life has a way of taking you down roads that you never anticipated turning on, let alone taking you to your destination. But sometimes this is what happens. Sometimes there are bigger plans than we are aware of...
My last surrogacy journey sadly ended with no baby born from our futile and persistent attempts over the years. My IPs decided that they would not continue with trying to get pregnant with the remainder of their embryos as they were emotionally done. They feel so fortunate that they do have twins through another surrogate, but just feel that their plan for more babies is not bigger than God's plan for their family to just have their two sweet and handsome boys.
With that being said, I still felt incomplete. My journey to surrogacy is not done! I thought about this and decided that I would put myself out there. I had all of the FDA screening, a letter of recommendation from the RE and my OB and I asked my friends if anyone knew of awesome IPs looking for a surrogate like me!
That is when a friend messaged me and said "I know of the perfect couple, though they are with an agency currently-- are you open to that?" And that is how our little journey got started! It was quite the whirlwind and with my friend formerly working with an agency called Family Forward Surrogacy, she was able to have me read the IPs letter to the surrogate before formerly filling out any applications. Her and I have 'known' each other through the surrogacy world for years... She vouched for me to the agency owner and with that.... I decided I needed to talk to this couple.
This couple brought a whole new perspective to me. I was considering using another wonderful agency and started putting my application together for them when this other match fell in my lap. I had to graciously thank this other awesome agency and tell them that I had found my match... I had reconsidered many things that I thought I wouldn't.
Prior to my last match ending, I would have never considered using an agency due to a really bad experience with an agency in the past. Further, I would have never chosen to match with an international couple. But here I am... with an agency and an international couple and to be honest, I couldn't be happier about the prospective of working with such a fabulous couple!
Meet L (IM) and E (IF) from London! I am so fortunate that these two are still so new to 'infertility' or surrogacy in general because they are just a breath of fresh air. They found out relatively quickly with treatments what was wrong and why she would not be able to carry a pregnancy so they are still just excited about becoming parents rather than feeling 'worn down' due to all of the negatives with infertility treatments. IM has a rare condition where she is horribly allergic to Progesterone-- synthetic or natural so without this hormone, she would not be able to sustain a pregnancy. They tried things such as antihistamines but it was no good-- they needed a surrogate!
L is beautiful, warm, trendy and very ambitious! E is witty and handsome in a Clark Kent sort of way but according to L, he doesn't handle needles very well when drawing blood-- They are quite a lovely couple who deserve so much to be parents!
A few short weeks ago, we met, matched and started on this crazy roller coaster of surrogacy! From there we have set everything in motion for the clinic (we will be using Shady Grove in Maryland) and they have had blood work and psych evals done this week. Next week I go to the clinic for a full day of testing and my own psych evals and in November, we all get together for a group psych session to see how looney we are to continue down this path together as a team!
This has all happened very fast, but the first time we talked to each other, before our skype session with the coordinator was done... we knew we were a match but we were instructed to 'sleep on it' so we didn't make any rash decisions about matching! With the time difference, I told the coordinator that by 5:30am our time, she would have an email from them saying they wanted to match with me and she did the very next morning!
This is all a learning process for them as surrogacy was kind of a brand new idea for them, but with the help of our awesome agency (Family Forward Surrogacy), we are ready to embark on the journey of a lifetime!
I hope my past followers will continue to follow this journey and wish us well!
As for the title of my blog and the post, the lyrics are below to the famous song. It is fitting in so many ways to our journey. Perspective is half the battle in life and if we can focus on the positive, our lives will be so much more brilliant because of perspective!
I see trees of green,
red roses too.
I see them bloom,
for me and you.
And I think to myself,
what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue,
And clouds of white.
The bright blessed day,
The dark sacred night.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow,
So pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces,
Of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands.
Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying,
"I love you".
I hear babies cry,
I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more,
Than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
What a Wonderful World
Life has a way of taking you down roads that you never anticipated turning on, let alone taking you to your destination. But sometimes this is what happens. Sometimes there are bigger plans than we are aware of...
My last surrogacy journey sadly ended with no baby born from our futile and persistent attempts over the years. My IPs decided that they would not continue with trying to get pregnant with the remainder of their embryos as they were emotionally done. They feel so fortunate that they do have twins through another surrogate, but just feel that their plan for more babies is not bigger than God's plan for their family to just have their two sweet and handsome boys.
With that being said, I still felt incomplete. My journey to surrogacy is not done! I thought about this and decided that I would put myself out there. I had all of the FDA screening, a letter of recommendation from the RE and my OB and I asked my friends if anyone knew of awesome IPs looking for a surrogate like me!
That is when a friend messaged me and said "I know of the perfect couple, though they are with an agency currently-- are you open to that?" And that is how our little journey got started! It was quite the whirlwind and with my friend formerly working with an agency called Family Forward Surrogacy, she was able to have me read the IPs letter to the surrogate before formerly filling out any applications. Her and I have 'known' each other through the surrogacy world for years... She vouched for me to the agency owner and with that.... I decided I needed to talk to this couple.
This couple brought a whole new perspective to me. I was considering using another wonderful agency and started putting my application together for them when this other match fell in my lap. I had to graciously thank this other awesome agency and tell them that I had found my match... I had reconsidered many things that I thought I wouldn't.
Prior to my last match ending, I would have never considered using an agency due to a really bad experience with an agency in the past. Further, I would have never chosen to match with an international couple. But here I am... with an agency and an international couple and to be honest, I couldn't be happier about the prospective of working with such a fabulous couple!
Meet L (IM) and E (IF) from London! I am so fortunate that these two are still so new to 'infertility' or surrogacy in general because they are just a breath of fresh air. They found out relatively quickly with treatments what was wrong and why she would not be able to carry a pregnancy so they are still just excited about becoming parents rather than feeling 'worn down' due to all of the negatives with infertility treatments. IM has a rare condition where she is horribly allergic to Progesterone-- synthetic or natural so without this hormone, she would not be able to sustain a pregnancy. They tried things such as antihistamines but it was no good-- they needed a surrogate!
L is beautiful, warm, trendy and very ambitious! E is witty and handsome in a Clark Kent sort of way but according to L, he doesn't handle needles very well when drawing blood-- They are quite a lovely couple who deserve so much to be parents!
A few short weeks ago, we met, matched and started on this crazy roller coaster of surrogacy! From there we have set everything in motion for the clinic (we will be using Shady Grove in Maryland) and they have had blood work and psych evals done this week. Next week I go to the clinic for a full day of testing and my own psych evals and in November, we all get together for a group psych session to see how looney we are to continue down this path together as a team!
This has all happened very fast, but the first time we talked to each other, before our skype session with the coordinator was done... we knew we were a match but we were instructed to 'sleep on it' so we didn't make any rash decisions about matching! With the time difference, I told the coordinator that by 5:30am our time, she would have an email from them saying they wanted to match with me and she did the very next morning!
This is all a learning process for them as surrogacy was kind of a brand new idea for them, but with the help of our awesome agency (Family Forward Surrogacy), we are ready to embark on the journey of a lifetime!
I hope my past followers will continue to follow this journey and wish us well!
As for the title of my blog and the post, the lyrics are below to the famous song. It is fitting in so many ways to our journey. Perspective is half the battle in life and if we can focus on the positive, our lives will be so much more brilliant because of perspective!
I see trees of green,
red roses too.
I see them bloom,
for me and you.
And I think to myself,
what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue,
And clouds of white.
The bright blessed day,
The dark sacred night.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow,
So pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces,
Of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands.
Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying,
"I love you".
I hear babies cry,
I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more,
Than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
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