IM had her egg collection on Monday. They managed to retrieve 19 eggs which we all thought was fantastic! But unfortunately only 3 fertilised, one of which was not good enough to use or freeze.
It was a real shame, especially after everything IM went through. But at least we had two good embryos we could use for transfer. The hospital wanted to do a 2 day transfer to get the embryos inside me nice and early. So on Wednesday we all met at the hospital at 10am for our transfer appointment.
The transfer went well. It was a little uncomfortable as I had to have a full bladder for it, but it wasn't painful at all. IM came into the room with me and it was nice to have a familiar face there. It all felt very surreal. I couldn't believe that after months of appointments, we were finally there.
So now there are two little dots inside me. I just really hope that at least one of them holds on. The 2 week wait feels very long! I can't wait to find out if it's worked or not. I really, really hope it has worked but I don't want to get my hopes up too much. I'm just doing my best to be healthy and relaxed over the next few days.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Monday, 3 August 2009
A big update - nearly there!
Sorry for the delay in updating. I have been so busy lately with work. I've also been on holiday and now the kids are home for the summer hols and I need to keep the constantly occupied!
My IM and I started injecting Buserelin in early July. I had to inject 0.5mls a day for 2 weeks. I chose to inject it into my tummy. It was actually okay. I was very surprised that it didn't hurt much and I didn't find it difficult to inject myself! It's now just part of my morning routine!
After 2 weeks we both went in for scans to confirm that we were down regulated. Then we were told to reduce to 0.25mls of Buserelin per day. I then started taking 4mg of Climavel per day and my IM started injecting Gonal F to stimulate her ovaries.
Regular scans showed that IM was producing lots of nice follicles and she was told to reduce her medication in case she over-stimulated.
A recent scan showed that my lining is a nice comfy 9.6mm - they want it at least 8mm for the transfer so there's more than enough there :-)
IM took her trigger injection on Saturday night and went in for egg collection today. The transfer will be later this week!! I can't believe it's come round so fast! I'm so excited and feel really confident that things will work for us.
My IM and I started injecting Buserelin in early July. I had to inject 0.5mls a day for 2 weeks. I chose to inject it into my tummy. It was actually okay. I was very surprised that it didn't hurt much and I didn't find it difficult to inject myself! It's now just part of my morning routine!
After 2 weeks we both went in for scans to confirm that we were down regulated. Then we were told to reduce to 0.25mls of Buserelin per day. I then started taking 4mg of Climavel per day and my IM started injecting Gonal F to stimulate her ovaries.
Regular scans showed that IM was producing lots of nice follicles and she was told to reduce her medication in case she over-stimulated.
A recent scan showed that my lining is a nice comfy 9.6mm - they want it at least 8mm for the transfer so there's more than enough there :-)
IM took her trigger injection on Saturday night and went in for egg collection today. The transfer will be later this week!! I can't believe it's come round so fast! I'm so excited and feel really confident that things will work for us.
Saturday, 20 June 2009
We're off!
IM and I have both started taking the contraceptive pill. It feels good to be doing something productive! We both visited our solicitors last week and have letters confirming our life insurance.
We have an appointment at the hospital on Thursday to sign the consent forms! Then we have appointments on 7th July to both be scanned. Then we will hopefully start our Buserelin injections!
I really can't believe we are finally getting started. Every time we have got past one thing, there always seems to be another hurdle put in front of us. But now it looks like we're finally on the home run. I just pray that everything goes okay with the egg retrieval and the transfer and that we'll have some good news to announce in August!
We have an appointment at the hospital on Thursday to sign the consent forms! Then we have appointments on 7th July to both be scanned. Then we will hopefully start our Buserelin injections!
I really can't believe we are finally getting started. Every time we have got past one thing, there always seems to be another hurdle put in front of us. But now it looks like we're finally on the home run. I just pray that everything goes okay with the egg retrieval and the transfer and that we'll have some good news to announce in August!
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Almost there ...
Sorry it's taken so long for me to update on here. We've had a bit of a rollercoaster journey over the last couple of months so I will try to bring you up to date.
We had our group counselling session. It went really well and we felt happy that the hospital would support our arrangement and do the treatment for us. We then had our visits from the social worker. She visited my IPs first and then us shortly after. The whole time she was at our house, she raved about how lovely my IPs were! So I got the feeling she was very happy with our arrangement.
We all felt really positive and were hoping that the panel meeting would go ahead quickly and we would get the thumbs up. Then we had a huge blow. Apparently, IF's sperm should have been quarantined for 6 months! But somehow they just neglected to tell us this back in October when we went for our first appointment together. We were all under the impression we were having a totally fresh transfer.
Thankfully, the doctor was in support of a fresh transfer with fresh sperm, but they needed to get an adjustment to their licence from the HFEA. So they applied for the exception, and we waited! Finally we heard back and it was a YES! We were over the moon. So the panel meeting went ahead, they gave us the thumbs up, and we are finally getting started!
Myself and my IPs went to see the Senior Nurse a couple of weeks ago and she talked us through our treatment plans. She also gave us our prescriptions for the medication and showed us how to use the syringes etc! That was a bit daunting. We found out that IM's medication for the egg retrieval was going to cost almost £600! But luckily she has a very kind GP who gave all the medication to her on the NHS.
We just need to get letters from our solicitors to confirm that our life insurances are in place, then we can sign the consent forms at the hospital. That should all happen over the next couple of weeks and I should start my treatment in early July. We're hoping for an end of July transfer, but it may end up being early August. But at least we are finally there. We are hoping to get two good embryos to transfer and hopefully at least one will stick! Any extra embryos will be frozen, but hopefully we won't need them!
We had our group counselling session. It went really well and we felt happy that the hospital would support our arrangement and do the treatment for us. We then had our visits from the social worker. She visited my IPs first and then us shortly after. The whole time she was at our house, she raved about how lovely my IPs were! So I got the feeling she was very happy with our arrangement.
We all felt really positive and were hoping that the panel meeting would go ahead quickly and we would get the thumbs up. Then we had a huge blow. Apparently, IF's sperm should have been quarantined for 6 months! But somehow they just neglected to tell us this back in October when we went for our first appointment together. We were all under the impression we were having a totally fresh transfer.
Thankfully, the doctor was in support of a fresh transfer with fresh sperm, but they needed to get an adjustment to their licence from the HFEA. So they applied for the exception, and we waited! Finally we heard back and it was a YES! We were over the moon. So the panel meeting went ahead, they gave us the thumbs up, and we are finally getting started!
Myself and my IPs went to see the Senior Nurse a couple of weeks ago and she talked us through our treatment plans. She also gave us our prescriptions for the medication and showed us how to use the syringes etc! That was a bit daunting. We found out that IM's medication for the egg retrieval was going to cost almost £600! But luckily she has a very kind GP who gave all the medication to her on the NHS.
We just need to get letters from our solicitors to confirm that our life insurances are in place, then we can sign the consent forms at the hospital. That should all happen over the next couple of weeks and I should start my treatment in early July. We're hoping for an end of July transfer, but it may end up being early August. But at least we are finally there. We are hoping to get two good embryos to transfer and hopefully at least one will stick! Any extra embryos will be frozen, but hopefully we won't need them!
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Counselling nearly over
Our counselling appointment on Thursday went really well. The counsellor repeated a lot of the same questions she asked last time which made me wonder if she even remembered out last session?! But towards the end she really seemed to warm to us and at the end she said she was happy that we had completed our couple's counselling. Yay!
On Tuesday we have our group counselling session with IPs and then the counselling will be over. We then have a social worker visiting us and IPs. After this, the hospital will have a panel meeting to decide our fate! Hopefully they will give us the go ahead and we can finally start treatment. We're still keeping our fingers crossed for a May/June transfer.
I'm really looking forward to seing IPs again on Tuesday. Will try to remember to post afterwards about how it went.
On Tuesday we have our group counselling session with IPs and then the counselling will be over. We then have a social worker visiting us and IPs. After this, the hospital will have a panel meeting to decide our fate! Hopefully they will give us the go ahead and we can finally start treatment. We're still keeping our fingers crossed for a May/June transfer.
I'm really looking forward to seing IPs again on Tuesday. Will try to remember to post afterwards about how it went.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
One Step Closer
I haven't posted lately because there hasn't been much to report!
We finally got our appointment on the 5th February. We had some bloods taken and talked through the IVF process. Then dh and I attended our first counselling session. It was quite interesting but I did feel a bit like the counsellor was clutching at straws and trying to find things to talk about! It's very obvious that we've already done a lot of research and have already talked everything through with COTS. But the hospital have a duty of care and need to make sure we complete their counselling programme before we can proceed.
We have our next counselling session on Thursday. Then we need to arrange a group counselling session with the IPs. Shortly after that we should finally be able to start the IVF process.
It's all taking a long time and has been a bit of a rollercoaster. But in some ways that's been good because it's given IM and I plenty of time to chat things through. I feel as though we have become very close over the last few months and I can't wait to help her to have her baby. I also hope to involve her as much as possible in the pregnancy and birth to make sure she can bond with the baby.
There was a documentary on TV last night called "Addicted to Surrogacy". All media is great for surrogacy awareness, but this particular documentary seemed to concentrate on the eccentric surrogates and the extreme relationships. It wasn't very representative of most surrogacy arrangements. It's a real shame because it made surrogates look a little crazy!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the counselling appointment on Thursday. Not so much because of the actual counselling, but just that it is one step closer to our destination!!
We finally got our appointment on the 5th February. We had some bloods taken and talked through the IVF process. Then dh and I attended our first counselling session. It was quite interesting but I did feel a bit like the counsellor was clutching at straws and trying to find things to talk about! It's very obvious that we've already done a lot of research and have already talked everything through with COTS. But the hospital have a duty of care and need to make sure we complete their counselling programme before we can proceed.
We have our next counselling session on Thursday. Then we need to arrange a group counselling session with the IPs. Shortly after that we should finally be able to start the IVF process.
It's all taking a long time and has been a bit of a rollercoaster. But in some ways that's been good because it's given IM and I plenty of time to chat things through. I feel as though we have become very close over the last few months and I can't wait to help her to have her baby. I also hope to involve her as much as possible in the pregnancy and birth to make sure she can bond with the baby.
There was a documentary on TV last night called "Addicted to Surrogacy". All media is great for surrogacy awareness, but this particular documentary seemed to concentrate on the eccentric surrogates and the extreme relationships. It wasn't very representative of most surrogacy arrangements. It's a real shame because it made surrogates look a little crazy!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the counselling appointment on Thursday. Not so much because of the actual counselling, but just that it is one step closer to our destination!!
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Happy New Year
I had to cancel our appointment at the hospital last week because we couldn't get any childcare. It's a shame because it will delay things again. But I've managed to rearrange them for the 21st January so hopefully everything will go smoothly this time!
We've had mixed reactions from our families about our surrogacy plans. My mum is really supportive, my dad is a little unsure but is supportive, but dh's mum is really unsure about it. She tries to avoid talking about it. But we're not going to change our minds now. We really want to help our IP's to have their baby. I can't imagine what it must be like not to have a child of your own and if we were in the IP's shoes, we would want someone to help us. I think dh's mum will come around eventually.
We've had mixed reactions from our families about our surrogacy plans. My mum is really supportive, my dad is a little unsure but is supportive, but dh's mum is really unsure about it. She tries to avoid talking about it. But we're not going to change our minds now. We really want to help our IP's to have their baby. I can't imagine what it must be like not to have a child of your own and if we were in the IP's shoes, we would want someone to help us. I think dh's mum will come around eventually.
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