Baby Via Gestational Carrier Journey Update 7

December 20, 2012
During those couple of weeks since I had got those first horrible prolactin results, that made me want to kick and scream and throw a tantrum, I did everything possible to help lower my levels before the next test. I took the Dostinex my RE ordered. I ate a diet high in zinc and B6. I avoided artificial sweeteners, limited my caffeine intake, and stopped taking my antidepressants. I pretty much did anything and everything that my Dr. and Dr. Google told me to do that had the potential to lower my prolactin. Well folks, I got my prolactin checked again and the results were AWESOME! Just a few weeks prior they were at 132.5, which was way out of range, but now they were at 2.4! I was so worried that it wouldn't even be close to the 20 range, which is what it needed to be at or below, but 2.4, holy crap, its like a Christmas miracle. I was literally jumping for joy. That is exactly the news I needed to help me get through the holidays.

December 27, 2012
It was finally time to get my labs done for infectious disease, so that is what I did that morning, and then shipped them to MN.
About a week earlier I had received a huge packet in the mail regarding all the meds that I was going to be taking, a calender of when to take them, and other paperwork with the rest of the stuff we needed to get done before we could proceed. I had a phone appt. with one of the nurses at our fertility clinic to discuss those meds and the calender with me. I feel like I am going to screw this up. It is a lot.
After my appt. I called one of the specialty pharmacies, on the list I was given, and ordered my meds, all $3200 worth of them. I will be injecting Follistim, Ganirelex, and Menopur. My HCG inj. is Pregnyl, and if needed I will still need to buy and inject Lupron. I also had to buy Doxycycline to prevent infection after the egg retrieval.

December 28, 2012
Jessica's meds arrived and she started them today.

January 2, 2013
Our IVF payment was due, all $12,035 of it.

January 3, 2013
Contract is finished, signed, and a letter was submitted to our clinic stating that we are working with a lawyer and have a contract in place.
This was also the last day that I took my Northindrone- birth control.

January 4, 2013
My meds arrived! My meds arrived! This is really going to happen isn't it! Yikes! I seriously have a lot of respect for the women that have had to go through this process more than once. It really is a lot to take in!

Tomorrow Jessica and I will both be getting an u/s to check everything out one last time before the injections begin. If everything looks good the injections will begin Tuesday morning and evening for 10 days. The plan is to fly to MN on the 12th and get the rest of my u/s at our clinic there. The egg retrieval is planned for sometime between the 19th-21rst depending on how things go. Then hopefully the transfer will be 3-5 days later. So if all goes well Jessica will be pregnant by the end of this month.

I was starting to really get annoyed with my clinic, but it looks like things may just work out after all! I will do my best to keep everyone updated through this process but this next week is going to be a busy one and then we will be off to MN for another busy week ending with hopefully a very successful egg retrieval and then transfer. I know many people have gone through the gestational carrier process and even more have done IVF, but I am scared! If this doesn't work then we have to wait another two months until we can do either another egg retrieval or transfer again. If everything does work out this time though, then holy cow be prepared for the next 9 months of me freaking out at the chance of anything and everything going wrong.

Wish us luck that all goes well and we have a healthy living baby(s) in our arms by next fall!

"Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent."

-Mignon McLaughlin-