Transfer Date Changed

Before we get to the good stuff, I thought it might be good to give a little run down of embryo making options.

To make a baby, you need sperm and you need an egg.  4th grade health 101 right? 

For this surrogacy, there are two men.  Two dads.  We have the sperm part covered. 

But Melanie, which dad is using his sperm?  Well we plan on doing a sibling journey in the future so one will create embryos now and one will create embryos later.  It doesn't matter who the first biological dad is because they will become daddies at the same time to the same baby. And again when that baby has a brother or sister.

But where do eggs come from with surrogacy?  Is it your egg Melanie?

Not this time.  There are two different types of surrogates.  Traditional and Gestational.  Traditional surrogates use their own egg and IUIs or home insemination (this does not involve sex!)  Gestational surrogates have an embryo transferred into their uterus.

In order to prepare a uterus for a cycle, a surrogate must suppress her ovaries -- this either happens with birth control, Lupron or estrogen.  Different doctors have different protocols.  The quiet ovaries allow the uterus to accept this precious little embryo easier.

The embryos can come from a lot of different methods.  If you have a traditional couple, the eggs may come from the mother if she is able to produce viable eggs.  Otherwise you can find a known or anonymous egg donor or you can get eggs from a frozen egg bank.  Finally you can also adopt embryos (known or anonymous) where neither parent will have a biological connection with the baby that is born <--- this in no way makes the parents any less of parents -- biology does not make parents.

The options that Intended Fathers have don't include producing eggs so they have to choose which route they will go.  We have been matched for about 18 months with the anticipation of transferring around November/December 2016.  As you see that date came and went and we are still... anticipating?!

Finally they selected a donor to do a fresh cycle.  Once the embryos are created we could do a fresh transfer or they could freeze the embryos and then thaw them to transfer them at a later date.  There are benefits of each.  The fresh is said to have slightly higher statistics for success - but that has changed more recently because the frozen allows the doctor to continue working with the lining of the uterus that the embryo will be transferred to so now the success rates are virtually the same.  We were set to move forward then the donor had a family emergency and was out of town.  Never contacted the clinic to schedule when she came back in town.  We were at the mercy of a donor to move forward with the cycle.

Finally, they decided to use frozen eggs.  These eggs are ready to be thawed, injected with a sperm.  Fertilized and left to grow before being transferred into my willing and ready uterus.  The downside is that the success rates with frozen donor eggs is not high at all.  The upside -- the eggs are ready to be thawed and create embryos.  They are opting to use frozen eggs now and a fresh retrieval soon with the same donor for future embryo use.

So with all of this being said -- our transfer date changed.  It had to because the eggs need to be thawed on a Thursday or Friday to be fertilized due to the lab protocols.  So that means I start progesterone this Thursday when they thaw the eggs and transfer is moved up to Tuesday, July 18,  Like a WEEK FROM TODAY.  It just seems like it all sneaked up on me!  It seemed so distant in the future until it fell flat on my lap.  

So wish us luck.  Pray for my butt for these progesterone shots.  And think positive and sticky thoughts!