Preparing for the Transfer

We have a transfer date!!! December 13, 2017. I can't believe it!!

Basically in a sentence.... 1 embryo will be put inside and hopefully implant and I will be pregnant!!

So first comes all the hormone replacement/supplementation....

This is my protocol:

2 Estrogen patches every other day
2 Estrogen vaginal inserts a day

After 2 weesk I add the Progesterone to the protocol

2 vaginal inserts and 1 nasty injection of oil every night.

This protocol is different than preparing for the egg retrieval as I will stay on these hormones until we find out we are pregnant or not... if we aren't then I stop it all and get my period. If we are (which we will be) then I take all of the above for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and possibly longer if the doctors think I need it...  So its going to be a VERY hormonal Holiday Season, but it will be so worth it!!

Again, as always with my life and the infertility world it has been an emotional rollercoaster getting to this point... I was supposed to start my protocol on Friday (11/24), but when I went for my suppression check (make sure the birth control did its job and nothing is happening in my ovaries), everything looked great....however I had not started to bleed from my period yet... so the doctor wanted to delay a day...sure no biggie... until he says and "if you don't bleed tomorrow, then we will have to cancel till next month"...wait...WHAT DID HE JUST SAY??? I didn't even know this was possible.. it always takes me like 6-7 days to bleed after the BC,  I would have said something earlier when I received my protocol had I known this was an option! But as usual, I was prepared for so many things... expect this one..

So now comes the excessive googling and searching infertility groups on what the hell to do to induce my period... after a hot bath, raspberry leaf tea and a good nights sleep... nothing... So after crying, I realize this is yet again something that is out of my control and I just need to accept it... its either not my time or we were meant to be delayed a day... so I went for a walk since it was 55 degrees in November... and decided to do some jumping jacks with one last attempt to "shake up my uterus" (oh the things we do to make a baby) and low and behold I started to bleed!! Never thought I would be so happy to see that when I have been TTC for over a year!!  I call the doctor and update him and he gives me the official word to start the protocol... crisis averted... until the next one!!!

But seriously, the rollercoaster is starting to take its toll on Chris and I, so we have decided to take it easy, relax and try to just enjoy each other.  Its very hard to keep yourself calm, positive and relaxed throughout your infertility process but my hope is to wake up every day and remember that I am loved by my husband, it is all out of my control anyway, and I WILL be a Momma one way or another. So much easier said then done, but I plan to give myself A LOT of self- love, self-care and self-compassion over this next month.  I also plan to give my husband all the rest of the love I have to offer because I often forget that he is going through all of this too... he may be stronger, more positive and always calmer than me,  but it is affecting him just the same.

Picking up the Boys!

Things are official!! We are the proud parents of 2 embryos! As a matter of fact, 2 male embryos! That's right I'm the proud Momma of 2 boys. But first I will walk you through the steps.

First- we needed to go through all the legalities.  It was actually fairly easy for the Donor family and Chris and I. We all agreed pretty easily. We just want whatever is best for the boys.  We hired our lawyer, they wrote up a "standard" agreement and then recommended a lawyer to the donor family at our cost. We all agreed to the terms and sign.. simple.. but took SOOO long!!

Next- comes all the "red tape" of NYS.  I have to say we couldn't LOVE our Fertility Clinic any more than we do.  They truly care about their patients and are beyond supportive.  They have helped me so much through this whole process. I have heard so many horror stories that embryo donations are just not possible in New York.  But they helped me through the process and were willing to put in extra work and steps on their end, all to make our dreams come true. Basically, its all about the testing that was done to donor families and the embryos, NY is very strict on this and wants to make sure the embryos are "safe" to cross into the state... which is a little bizarre considering their are already ours and going into my body willingly... but whatever.  It took many weeks of emailing back and forth before we were finally given the ok to get our babies.

Then comes the pick up! We decided again with the help and support of our clinic to go pick up the embryos ourselves! Which meant we would literally picked up a nitrogen tank from the office, drove to Morgantown, WV (thats right MORGANtown!!), went to the donor's clinic and they placed the embryos inside the tank and we drove back to NY.  This was about a 7 hour drive, so we left on a Sunday, picked them up Monday am and headed straight to our clinic.  The boys had a successful first car ride and remained perfect little snowflakes.

Here is a picture of our first family road trip.