2nd Ultrasound and bloodwork

I had my second ultrasound and estradiol test today. The clinic just called and said my estradiol came back a little low so we are upping my shot from .2 to .3 of delestrogen for this Saturday and next Wednesday.

I'm not surprised it was low beings that AF didn't leave until today. *sigh*

I don't know what my lining thickness is yet because my OB's office didn't send the images. UGH! I have to call them in the morning to get it faxed over ASAP.

Praying that next Friday my ultrasound and estradiol shows perfect!!!

2 weeks from today....

I will be on a plane headed for CA! I am so excited and ready to get going. :) I'm looking forward to some time away to relax and just have some me time. However I will miss my Husband and Son terribly. I try not to think about that too much though.

For this week it's a shot tomorrow and then an ultrasound and bloodwork on Thursday.

I've been emailing the coordinator alot lately. AF came on Saturday and has yet to stop, but the coordinator keeps reassuring me that everything is fine. What can I say???? I'm a worry wart. ;)

First shot done!

This evening my husband gave me the first delestrogen shot. It wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Obviously it's just the first one so I expect they will get tougher, but at least this one wasn't too bad. It hurt going in, but after that I didn't feel a thing.

I iced the area with an ice pack for a few minutes while I prepared the shot. Then Hubby took over and after the shot was done I used a hot rag and massaged the area. It all went pretty quick.

Moving forward!!! My next u/s and bloodwork is this Friday. Hope everything comes out like it needs to!

I am thanking God today for this opportunity to not only adopt again, but also to carry my babies and keep them safe.

A little about my family

I was reading through some of my posts and realized that I've hardly mentioned my family and their thoughts on this. Since I've started sharing this blog instead of keeping it only for myself, I'll tell a little about my family.

My husband is SO excited. He asks me at least once a week what is next. He is one of 3 kids in his family so he's always wanted 3 kids. I think the thought of twins is SO exciting for him. This past weekend he hugged me and said "I'm going to protect you like Fort Knox.". At first I laughed because I didn't understand. Then he tells me he wants to make sure nothing happens to me or the babies so when I get back he's going to do everything for me and make sure no one stresses me out. :) How sweet is that.

My son doesn't know what's going on really. He'll be 8 next week and while we would LOVE to share with him, we feel it best to wait until after we have a confirmed pregnancy. Also we have told very few people so we wouldn't want him going around telling people right now. After we've been pregnant a few months we'll start telling people (including our son). As for me going to CA, he of course knows I'm going, but we told him it's to take care of some business. He's ok with that answer for now.

He does know that we are adopting again. (he's adopted and is fully aware of it) He is SO excited to have a sibling. He goes back and forth as to whether he wants a brother or a sister. Then sometimes he says he wants one of each. He just might get his wish. LOL

FedEx delivery

My meds came today! It was a fairly large box full of all sorts of goodies. Delestrogen, progesterone, valium, doxycycline (an antibiotic), and lots and lots of syringes and needles. (OH MY!)

Thank the good Lord for insurance. My portion was $50.95. I've heard without insurance, these meds are about $300.

So Saturday is the big day. Well the first big day anyway. I start my shot that day.

Now just waiting for AF to come.

Last BCP!!!

Tonight I take my last birth control pill!! Hopefully it will be the last for a VERY long time.

My dear blog friend who referred me to my clinic informed me that I do still have the twice a day progesterone in oil (PIO) shots on top of the delestrogen shots I'll start taking Saturday. Oh well. :(

Of all the things in this adoption/fertility stuff the shots are what I'm scared of more than anything. My husband swears he will have no problem giving them to me. Guess it's time for me to finally trust him to take care of me for once. I'm such a control freak that it's hard for me to let go. We'll see how long I let him do it before I start just doing it myself. LOL

moving forward

I got a call this afternoon from the coordinator saying she received my lab and u/s results and it all looked good!!!!! So she called in my meds and about an hour after talking to her, the pharmacy called. They are filing on my insurance so hopefully I won't have to pay much. My meds will arrive on Wednesday.

My protocol was emailed to me this afternoon too. I had a GREAT surprise too. I will be taking my shots twice a WEEK not twice a day!!! I don't know where I saw that it was twice a day, but I had myself all worried about all those shots. What a nice surprise to find I'll just do them every Wednesday and Saturday. LOL

I also booked my hotel and flights today!!! Now just need to book that town car to take us to and from the airport. :~) We'll be flying from Memphis to Dallas and Dallas to Burbank.

Now to wait for my meds to come!

My first ultrasound and bloodwork (baseline)

This morning I went for my baseline ultrasound and bloodwork. I don't know why, but it never dawned on me that it would be a VAGINAL ultrasound!! ACK! That was a weird feeling. LOL The U/S tech said everything looked good. She did have a little trouble getting images of the back of my uterus because I have a tilted uterus. I didn't know that until today. My Mom and sister have it so I expected I would too, but today it was confirmed.

Then I had my bloodwork done. It was called an Estradiol test. If I heard right, that's to check the hormone levels in my body before they start me on any hormones.

I was in and out in 30 minutes!

Once the lab gets the bloodwork done and sends it to Dr. Carney (my OB) then she will fax it to my clinic in CA along with the ultrasounds. Then they'll call a pharmacy and order my meds. So my next step is to wait for the pharmacy to call me so they can FedEx me my meds and I can pay for them.


28 days and counting!!!!!!!!

I have a DATE!!!!!

I finally got tired of waiting and called the clinic today. The coordinator called me back a couple of hours later to tell me she had my schedule!!!

I'll have my mock transfer on Aug 12th and have the transfer on Aug 13th. Yep, that's FRIDAY the 13th!!! LMBO

I'd have been upset with what most would consider an unlucky day. However, for my family, the 13th is QUITE a lucky day. Both my Dad's parents were born on Friday the 13th, my husband and Dad's favorite number is 13, AND August 13th is my Grandma's birthday!!! Now how much 'luckier' could I be?!?!?

Let me clarify that I personally don't believe in luck, but instead I believe in God's will. With all these matching dates and numbers, I think I can say this is God's will for my family. :~)

So I'll be in CA on the 11th and leaving on the 16th. A day longer than I expected, but that's ok. More relaxing time for me and my Mom. Unfortunately more time away from my son and husband too though.

I go for a baseline ultrasound and bloodwork tomorrow morning and take my last bcp on Monday. My shots start on the 24th. I'm waiting now for the pharmacy to call me about paying for my meds.

Just FOUR weeks!!!!

A sign I read today....

As I was on my way to work this morning, I passed a church and the saying on the sign caught my eye. It said, "Having faith means trusting in God."

You know that saying really hit me this morning. I've been really stressed and annoyed that the clinic is taking their sweet time to get me started on my cycle. They've had all my paperwork since last Wednesday and I've yet to hear from them on when we can start my cycle. That saying struck me because I need to just have FAITH that all this is God's timing. Of course I want it to happen right NOW, but that may not be God's timing. So I need to remember to have faith that God will see me through this and we WILL start my cycle, but in God's time, not mine. :~)

Getting ready for stupid comments...

Today I was talking to a co-worker who knows about our embryo adoption. He was asking a bunch of questions just curious about how everything works. That was fine. I don't mind sharing my story especially if it means another child (or embryo in this case) gets adopted.

So then he says, "I bet you'll have more of a connection to this baby than you do to Zach since you're carrying it and he was already born.". Huh??? I calmly explained that Zach is my son no matter HOW he came to my family. I can't even imagine being more connected to one child than another. I just don't see it.

I know he didn't mean to be hurtful, but it did hurt my feelings. Zach means the world to me and I NEVER want to hear someone say something like that in front of him. I'd chop their head off!

I expect ignorant questions, but good grief!!! I've only told a small handful of people (as little as possible) and I'm already getting these sort of comments.

Now I will say that everyone (including this person) had been very supportive and mostly just interested in learning more about the process.

I already know we're going to get some ignorant comments from certain friends and family members, but I'm prepared for that. It's these that slip up on me that gets to me.

OMGosh!!!

Tomorrow the coordinator will be back in the office and I should be hearing about getting my ness and hopefully what my cycle schedule will be!!!!

This has all happened so quickly. Just last Christmas I had no clue where we would adopt from and no here we are!!!!

We haven't told many people about what we are doing. I can't wait to finally share with everyone!!!! Especially with our son. :)

Talked to the coordinator!

The coordinator emailed me back (even though she's on vacation) and told me to please not have a period. So I was right to keep taking the next months birth control until she gets back in the office on Monday.

Just a few more days and we'll be starting my cycle!!!!!

Another person on vacation...ACK!!!

Well I waited for a day and a half before finally emailing the coordinator at the clinic to see when we could schedule my FET. I didn't hear back from her all afternoon yesterday, but wasn't sure why.

I've been talking to another lady using the same clinic and in our conversation she mentions that the coordinator is out of the office all week on vacation. ACK!!!!

I understand everyone needs a vacation, but do they all need it during MY process??? My goodness!!!

Then to add to it, the way a cycle of FET works is that you are taking birth control until it's time to start the cycle. Then you go off the birth control, have a period, and then your start the whole bloodwork and ultrasound bit until your lining is thick enough to support the embryos. Just my luck, I'm at the end of my month of birth control and it's time for a period. If I have a period now, it'll be weeks (maybe even another month) before I'll be ready to have another one which means my cycle won't be started for another several weeks or a month.

So I had decided yesterday that I'd go ahead and start my next month of birth control and keep myself from having a period until the coordinator is back on Monday. Well Greg went yesterday to pick up my prescription for more birth control and find out insurance won't cover it because it's too soon. UGH!!! I ended up getting it, but it was a long hassle.

The good news is I have the birth control and so I'll just take some from the new pack for a few days until the coordinator is back in the office on Monday and can tell me if I'll be able to schedule my FET soon.

Now I'm just hoping and praying that the DOCTOR doesn't go on vacation next!!!

Legal Consent complete!!!

I got an email today from our attorney saying she faxed our legal consent to the clinic this morning!!!

I called my OB's office and they faxed my bloodwork results to the clinic as well. So now the clinic has everything we need to start the meds!!! (also known as cycling)

So while I am super excited that we are in the home stretch of this adoption, I am scared out of my mind too. I'm realizing this is all becoming real and that scares me.

I'm really worried about the shots. I have to do 2 injections a day for about 12 weeks. That scares me the most.

Anyway I need to focus on the happy part and that is that I will be meeting our babies in just a few weeks. :)

Next step is a travel date!!!

The costs

I was going through our expenses so far and so I thought I'd list them here to help me remember them as well as to help others when I share this blog with the world some day.

So far we have paid:

$300 - to sign with an agency we ended up not using
$150 - to sign with Miracles Waiting which we also didn't use
$260 - for orientation with Dr. Kumar (our clinic)
$750 - to our attorney to write our contract
$350 - to the donor parent's attorney to review the contract with them

Total: $1810


The things we have yet to pay: (some are my estimates)

$2575 - FET fees (includes donor bloodwork, assisted hatching, and the FET)
$600 - storage fee for any extra embryos we have left (good for 1 year)
$1500 - airfare & hotel for 2
$300 - food for 2

Total: $4975

So still alot yet to pay, but we already have the money for all of that. We have cash for the food, airfare, hotel, and storage fees. The FET fees will be put on my parent's credit card until we pay it off. Praise God for my parents. They have been SO kind in offering that card to us.

So total I'm expecting to have spent about $6900. We could have skipped the agency and MW fees if we'd known about the clinic, but Hey! It's all a process. :)

Oh really??? You have to be on vacation????

I was so expecting to have our contract from the attorney notarized, signed, and in hand sometime next week. We have waited all week thinking the donor parents were getting that done. Well yesterday I get an email that no only has the contract not been sent to them yet (we did our part on Monday), but their attorney is on VACATION!!! ACK!!!

Oh well, nothing we can do but wait for the attorney to get back and for her to complete her part by sending the contract to the donor parents. *sigh*

At least we have a nice long weekend to enjoy with family. :~)

Happy 4th of July!

get bloodwork done.....CHECK

Today I went and had my blood drawn and a culture done so they can prove I don't have any STDs. No doubt this will all come back negative so I'm not even worried about it. It's just one of those procedures that has to be done. Dr. Carney (my OB whom I love by the way) said the results would be back Monday, but since they are closed, I'll get them on Tuesday. Her nurse will then fax them to my CA clinic on Tuesday. YEAH!!!

One more step down and just a couple more to go. Now we just wait for the the blood results and wait for the donor parents to sign and notarize the contract. Then it's hello baby glue (i.e. shots). LOL