North Carolina Bound...

5am came quickly last Wednesday. I can't remember the last time I had to get up so early, for anything.
I sat in the terminal waiting to board an airplane to Memphis, the first stop on my journey to North Carolina to meet E. I had an appointment at Duke Fertility to make sure that I qualified to continue on with this process. 

Before going I told some of my (famous) mom friends that I wasn't nervous. I realized as I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, that I was extremely nervous. I think I was just anxious to get this part of the process over and done with. It's the initial meet that freaks me out. What if E doesn't like me? What if my weight (which I'm still struggling with) is an issue? What if there is something else wrong with me that I don't know about? So many "what if's".

I found myself questioning the strength that I have to go through this all again. Do I want to put my body through all of this again? Can I really handle it? Will I regret it? Is it worth it? 
Having a child is already a difficult decision. Having a child (or two) for someone else makes the decision that much harder. 

In the end I decided that I could only be myself and hope that E would like me. I wished for everything to go well during our appointment and I felt confident in my decision to help C and E out. 

I waited outside of the baggage claim for E to come and pick me up. I didn't mind the wait. It was a tad cold but I started reading this book, Secret Holocaust Diaries, and I couldn't put the book down. It didn't take very long for her to show up anyway. When she pulled up to the curb I felt nothing short of joy and excitement. It was really nice to see her in person.
She took me to lunch before our appointment at this really yummy Italian place. The pizzas that we ordered were extremely large for single servings and the salad dressing was so freaking good! It was really nice having a while to chat before we had to go to the clinic. I learned more about E's "condition" and reasons for needing a surrogate. I guess the easiest way to explain it is to say she has something similar to Lupus. She is really blessed to have her son and so lucky that they both came out of delivery okay. Sadly, it isn't something she can risk again.

The appointment went okay. The doctor and his staff were really nice. The saline transfer wasn't nearly as  uncomfortable as the HSG I underwent before the twins. It was really pretty cool to watch how it worked.
After the procedure we met in a room and discussed the results, my health, and the transfer procedure. First things first. I have polyps. Two of them. They have be removed before the transfer can take place. Next, they "normally" wait 15 months between pregnancies which would move the transfer to May/June time frame. In the end he decided that I was an ideal candidate for a gestational surrogate and that we would double check on everything else and get back to us.
I left there with a bunch of information, no dates, some antibiotics, and orders to have my latest pap smear results sent to his clinic. 

I talked to E and the Duke nurse yesterday. Dr. S has a "friend" here at Texas Fertility that he has discussed the polyps with. I have an appointment with this doctor on November 5th and should have the surgery pretty quickly.
One week after the surgery I can start the patches and other medicines required before transfer and we can go ahead with the transfer in December, we don't have to wait!
It's all coming together!

The next step right now is doing a couple of surveys online for Duke Fertility and to start taking prenatal pills along with some extra Folic Acid. Exciting!

I'm very happy that things are working out and that we weren't forced to wait until next year. The plus side? I get a couple of months to drop a little more weight!

B Introduces Me To E...

On July 1st I got an text from B...

"Hey didn't know if you matched but I have a good friend looking for a gestational carrier. Wonderful couple." 

The next day I got a phone call from E. She was... amazing!! I felt that same instant connection with her that I felt the first time I talked to B on the phone. 

A few weeks later we set up a Skype chat so I could officially "meet" E and her husband, "C'. What a cute couple! They were so easy to talk to and both so sweet. We had a great conversation and in the end we all agreed that we wanted to move forward. 

It took me until the first week in August to get all of my medical records together and mailed to the fertility clinic in North Carolina. It took the fertility clinic another couple of weeks to review all of the records and "okay" everything. 

Once that was done we set up a psych consult with Dr P-D, the same doctor we saw when we worked with B and C. We got in with her the first week of September and got her okay to keep going with the process.

B was nice enough to let E use the same agreement we used which made things a lot easier. We even ended up using the same lawyers.
I had my phone consult with my lawyer today and there were only a few minor changes that need to be made before the contract can be finalized. Hopefully it's all done in the next couple of days. Once all the parties have signed we can schedule transfer 14 days later!

I made an appointment with Liane at Nurture last week for my yearly check up and to get started on birth control. Today is my first day taking my pill. It's pretty exciting stuff. The first "real" step in all of this becoming a reality. 

The next big step has me traveling to North Carolina for my physical evaluation and a sonohysterogram; That is where they pass a thin catheter through my cervix into the uterine cavity. They slowly inject saline into the cavity while a 3-D ultrasound of the uterus is performed. It's really similar to the HSG I had when I went through this with B but supposedly less painful.

I'm actually really excited to meet E in person!! I have high hopes that the evaluation and saline transfer go well and that we will be able to attempt transfer in November. I'm so thrilled to be able to do this again and look forward to sharing my new journey with all of you!