Finally, things are moving along with surrogacy. Finally. I repeat that. Finally. I have been matched with C&E for 16 months now. We had anticipated cycling somewhere around November/December 2016. Life happened. Something happened -- not sure what except that we know a lot of time happened. The guys selected a donor that was perfect for them. The first one wasn't available so they chose another one. Then she had a family emergency and contact was terrible at best. Finally she got back in touch with the clinic and she is going to do a fresh cycle sometime this summer but while we are waiting, they chose to use her frozen eggs in the bank so we could expedite this cycle.
We finished contracts in May and we should be starting estrogen injections next week sometime with around July 21 (that is just a guess -- depends on when my cycle starts and how the embryos are growing). So yay -- the cycle is on the horizon.
Also, business is booming. I have been so busy writing blogs for work that I have neglected this blog -- but if you want to read about whats going on with Stars & Stripes Doulas, check out our blog. Lots of good reads on there. We have even expanded to 3 other chapters and hopefully soon a 4th chapter in addition to the Home Chapter of Washington DC.
As a run down of some other things that have happened in the last few weeks.
Sweet Aggy is now 18 months! That is hard to believe. She is big and I love the occasional emails of photos or videos her parents send me. There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you see the two parents that have become a family with the little baby you carried (who is not a little baby anymore!!)
In May, I graduated with Honors from American Military University. I received my Bachelors in Emergency & Disaster Management with a minor in Intelligence Studies. This degree took some serious determination and resiliency. There were many times I wanted to quit. But I didn't. My story was even told by the President of APUS during commencement. She mentioned me by name and told my story about being a military spouse -- my story is not unique, but I am glad that she told my story because in that, she told so many other military spouses' stories!
 |
| My husband (an instructor at AMU) and me right before I walked! |
Finally, we just got back from a quick trip to Atlanta. By quick, I mean we drove halfway down on Thursday, we were there Friday & Saturday and drove home Sunday. We went down to watch some Brewers baseball. But in there, in all of the testosterone induced feelings about baseball, I had one request. It was to see my former IFs from 6 years ago! Remember them? I could never forget them. After 6 medicated IUIs, we were never successful but their dreams of becoming parents never left my heart. I wanted to bad to help their dream become a reality and we stayed close friends over the years. I was even able to help them find donor embryos which created their beautiful little girl Chrissy. We only got to catch lunch with them and see their amazing house, but somehow, it completed something inside of me. I may not have been their surrogate, but the pride I felt seeing them just dote on their precious girl is immeasurable. I cannot even tell you how seeing them and her made me feel. They thanked me many times and said that I had a huge part in their journey to fatherhood. It feels minute what I did, honestly it does. I am just so glad I got to see it come full circle. It was amazing to see them again. Leah has decided she wants to be a big sister to another baby just like the happy and never crying Chrissy. Or she wants to live with S&F and Chrissy during the summers and be their babysitter!
With that, I will update as the cycle progresses -- on with the shots!!
