So, we have been home since early Friday morning. Since then, I have not had a full night's sleep. I am suffering from the worst case of jet lag ever! My husband is fine and dandy. He sleeps through the night without a problem. My usual waking time is 2 am. I have to sleep through the night tonight, even if it means taking a swig of NyQuil. That should do the trick.
Some other, better news: we have transferred three, grade 1, 8 cell embryos into our surrogate. We are beyond excited at this possibility of this pregnancy. We have about a week and a half or so until we get "the call." We are remaining very positive for our pregnancy and for the other couples that we met transferring right around our time also.
There seem to be a lot of babies due within the next 4-6 weeks, so Mumbai should be hopping! Good luck to you all and best wishes for happy, healthy babies!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Goodbye, Mumbai!! We will be back in 9-ish months for baby(ies) pick-up!!! You have not seen the last of the Craters!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
EPU
On my way to Lilavati, will update this afternoon. Say a little prayer for many, many, many good looking eggs and successful fertilization rates!!
After a long day at Lilavati, I am happy to report a collection of 12 eggs. We are overjoyed and anxious for transfer news.
Also, had a lovely dinner this evening with our friends from Canada (on baby pick-up) and Dr. Sudhir and Dr. Yashodhara. What a perfect way to end our trip. Stephen and I have agreed this time was the most enjoyable yet. Next trip will be enjoyable also... it will be a baby pick up!!! (everything crossed!!!)
More info and pics tomorrow. We are exhausted! Thanks for all the love from our comments and also on FB. Feels so good to have so many people wishing good things for you!!
After a long day at Lilavati, I am happy to report a collection of 12 eggs. We are overjoyed and anxious for transfer news.
Also, had a lovely dinner this evening with our friends from Canada (on baby pick-up) and Dr. Sudhir and Dr. Yashodhara. What a perfect way to end our trip. Stephen and I have agreed this time was the most enjoyable yet. Next trip will be enjoyable also... it will be a baby pick up!!! (everything crossed!!!)
More info and pics tomorrow. We are exhausted! Thanks for all the love from our comments and also on FB. Feels so good to have so many people wishing good things for you!!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Grow Embies, Grow
Today was a very, very good day. Not only is my husband here, but we had a second scan. Even with my sluggish left ovary, I am currently hosting my highest embryo count since we have started this baby making marathon! They are able to see 16 eggs. I am beyond ecstatic! If my left ovary was a team player, it would've jumped more to the neighborhood of 20 or so. Can you freakin' believe that!! We are super excited for the next few days to come. Tonight is my trigger shot (wooohooo) and Wednesday is EPU.
Tomorrow, is the best day of this entire trip. It is the day that we meet our surrogate. Being that this is our 4th attempt, we wondered if we really wanted to meet our surrogate. It becomes so personal and there is a great emotional attachment. Especially when you hear why they are volunteering their bodies to this. We were really touched by our surrogate this past summer and it was hard to let go of her when we did our FET. We waited and waited for her body to get ready, and it just wasn't. We had to let her go and select a new one. It was almost like a break-up. We wanted so badly to help her family, like she wanted to help ours. That is the beauty of this deal. I know I say it every time we are here, but there is something about helping the people who are helping you. They want this to happen just as badly as we do, but for other reasons.
Switching gears, Stephen and I had a fun time by the pool today. We were only there for an hour or two. He is already winning the tanning contest. I have been laying by the pool for five days now and he beat me in two hours. We have very different skin tones. He is a bit red, but it will tone down tomorrow. He suggested I share a funny story I told him today. The first day I was here, my driver was bringing me to the clinic for my initial scan. While we were driving there, he hit a car and motorcycle. Now, if you have been here, you know how easily this can happen because of the erratic driving and ignorance of those white lines that form lanes. haha! All joking aside, he tapped the car and threw the motorcycle man off balance. He had to jump off to regain his balance. I was getting nervous at this point, but didn't say anything. He kept peeking in the rear view mirror to see if I was reacting to his driving. It was pretty funny.
All in all, we are enjoying our time together. It is always nice to have time to recharge our batteries and reconnect. Life just gets so busy at home and we tend to overlook those moments we should savor.
Thanks for reading and talk soon!
Engagement party
Engagement party
Local florist
Local General Store
Produce Stand
Man Transporting Stuff
Local Barber
Another Produce Stand
Woman's Clothing Store (where I got my dress)
Fast Food (Indian, of course)
Local Chemist (Pharmacist)
Taxi, anyone?
Road for Hotel
Tomorrow, is the best day of this entire trip. It is the day that we meet our surrogate. Being that this is our 4th attempt, we wondered if we really wanted to meet our surrogate. It becomes so personal and there is a great emotional attachment. Especially when you hear why they are volunteering their bodies to this. We were really touched by our surrogate this past summer and it was hard to let go of her when we did our FET. We waited and waited for her body to get ready, and it just wasn't. We had to let her go and select a new one. It was almost like a break-up. We wanted so badly to help her family, like she wanted to help ours. That is the beauty of this deal. I know I say it every time we are here, but there is something about helping the people who are helping you. They want this to happen just as badly as we do, but for other reasons.
Switching gears, Stephen and I had a fun time by the pool today. We were only there for an hour or two. He is already winning the tanning contest. I have been laying by the pool for five days now and he beat me in two hours. We have very different skin tones. He is a bit red, but it will tone down tomorrow. He suggested I share a funny story I told him today. The first day I was here, my driver was bringing me to the clinic for my initial scan. While we were driving there, he hit a car and motorcycle. Now, if you have been here, you know how easily this can happen because of the erratic driving and ignorance of those white lines that form lanes. haha! All joking aside, he tapped the car and threw the motorcycle man off balance. He had to jump off to regain his balance. I was getting nervous at this point, but didn't say anything. He kept peeking in the rear view mirror to see if I was reacting to his driving. It was pretty funny.
All in all, we are enjoying our time together. It is always nice to have time to recharge our batteries and reconnect. Life just gets so busy at home and we tend to overlook those moments we should savor.
Thanks for reading and talk soon!
Engagement party
Engagement party
Local florist
Local General Store
Produce Stand
Man Transporting Stuff
Local Barber
Another Produce Stand
Woman's Clothing Store (where I got my dress)
Fast Food (Indian, of course)
Local Chemist (Pharmacist)
Taxi, anyone?
Road for Hotel
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Off to Market
Not too much exciting news today other than Stephen is arriving tonight!! Yay! I miss my hubby a lot and I can't wait for him to join me. This trip has been so relaxing and peaceful that I can't imagine not sharing it with the love of my life. We don't get to lay by the pool and soak up the sun very often at home without taking turns watching/playing/swimming with Stevie. I love nothing more than to lay in the warmth of the sun and read a book. And, with all that has been going on in our lives lately, Stephen could use a few days to relax.
Once he gets here though, things will start picking up on the medical side. Monday I have another scan. I can tell the eggs are growing because I am having some discomfort. For those of you who have gone through this, you know what I mean. Also, I have been receiving a second shot to help the eggs develop. That shot is intramuscular, so SI sends a nurse here every day to poke me. I am really sore from that shot. They alternate sides and I am dreading the shot this morning. So, I am up to three shots a day, hopefully for another day or two only. After my scan, I have the fitness test with the anesthesiologist. I believe after that, we will be done for the day.
I'm sure we will visit our friends (who are moving to a different location today) and hang out with them a bit more. They invited me along last night to walk around the local streets and markets. We ventured into a woman's clothing shop and we had a great time try on some dressing and such. Funny thing, I had a hard time getting my "big" head in the small neck openings of the dresses. I finally settled on one and they are tailoring it for me. I will be able to pick it up today. I am very excited to wear it later this week. We also went up to some local street vendors. They have American movies on DVD. They put four on a DVD and sell it for 100 rupees (just over $2). What a bargain. We also bought some books of the street. I bought two books for 250 rupees (about $6). They are photocopied and my friend said hopefully the whole book will be included. She has purchased books that have not ended at the ending, but before that. Haha! Such is life in Mumbai. Overall, I had an excellent time with them. I am going to miss their company when they leave today.
Saying that, it is time for breakfast. I have been loading up on breakfast. It is just fabulous here. Most days I skip lunch because I'm still full from breakfast. Then pizza for dinner or one of my meals in the microwave from home. I've still got a lot of snacks and I'm sure Stephen and I will take care of them this upcoming week.
Thanks for reading and to the new followers/commenters: enjoy our story!!
Once he gets here though, things will start picking up on the medical side. Monday I have another scan. I can tell the eggs are growing because I am having some discomfort. For those of you who have gone through this, you know what I mean. Also, I have been receiving a second shot to help the eggs develop. That shot is intramuscular, so SI sends a nurse here every day to poke me. I am really sore from that shot. They alternate sides and I am dreading the shot this morning. So, I am up to three shots a day, hopefully for another day or two only. After my scan, I have the fitness test with the anesthesiologist. I believe after that, we will be done for the day.
I'm sure we will visit our friends (who are moving to a different location today) and hang out with them a bit more. They invited me along last night to walk around the local streets and markets. We ventured into a woman's clothing shop and we had a great time try on some dressing and such. Funny thing, I had a hard time getting my "big" head in the small neck openings of the dresses. I finally settled on one and they are tailoring it for me. I will be able to pick it up today. I am very excited to wear it later this week. We also went up to some local street vendors. They have American movies on DVD. They put four on a DVD and sell it for 100 rupees (just over $2). What a bargain. We also bought some books of the street. I bought two books for 250 rupees (about $6). They are photocopied and my friend said hopefully the whole book will be included. She has purchased books that have not ended at the ending, but before that. Haha! Such is life in Mumbai. Overall, I had an excellent time with them. I am going to miss their company when they leave today.
Saying that, it is time for breakfast. I have been loading up on breakfast. It is just fabulous here. Most days I skip lunch because I'm still full from breakfast. Then pizza for dinner or one of my meals in the microwave from home. I've still got a lot of snacks and I'm sure Stephen and I will take care of them this upcoming week.
Thanks for reading and to the new followers/commenters: enjoy our story!!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Relaxing Again
Today was a great day, very enjoyable and very relaxing. I had to go to the Lilavati Hospital for a scan around noon. I was supposed to see the anesthesiologist but that was postponed until Monday. It seems that my EPU will be on Wednesday. Good news though, they found more eggs!! Yay!! I am hoping this will be my highest count EPU yet. So they still have some growing to do, but otherwise things are progressing well. The rest of my day was spent by the pool. I stayed in the sun a bit more. It wasn't as hot as yesterday. I found out that yesterday was 97 degrees. Today was much more enjoyable. Tonight I will be hanging with my two friends to watch a movie. Good thing I packed popcorn! ;)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Sun Day, Fun Day
As I predicted yesterday, I sat by the pool today and read a book. I arrived at the pool shortly after 1 pm and stayed there until about 5 pm. It was so hot in the sun, so I ducked under cover and sat in the shade. I will slowly work on my tan over the next few days. The pool area is very relaxing. I was able to read an entire book today. I am running out of books, I have read two since I've been here (thanks, Tiff!). I may have to venture out to a book store tomorrow to buy some more. This is almost starting to feel like a spa vacation: pool, sun, books, etc. The only things missing are my family and some pina coladas.
The room I am staying in is comfortable. It is your standard hotel room, king bed, tv, smaller bathroom. Looking outside the window, directly below is a dirt pit of some sort that some Indians are excavating. They excavate all day, every day. It is loud and bothersome. Not good when I am trying to take an afternoon snooze or think. To the right of the huge dirt pit are some "slums." Makes me really sad to see the people walk in and out of this area all day long. There are adults and kids and random dogs that walk the path from their shack to the road. It is cute to watch the little kids try to climb the huge dirt piles they are making. They have no fear, they will try to climb up the piles as the machines are swinging their huge crane arms around loaded with dirt and rocks. Makes me nervous as a parent, but the kids are often under loose supervision.
For the evening, I will be catching up on the Bachelor, London Calling. That's right, Brad Womack hasn't struck in India yet. I am watching the reruns of Shayne Lamas and Matt, the Limey from London. There sure is some drama on this series!!
On the agenda for tomorrow is a trip to the hospital. I need to be approved by the anesthesiologist for my egg retrieval and have an egg check up/scan. Dr. Yash found 10 eggs hiding out yesterday in my ovaries. I hope that a few more pop out like the did in the summer. I'll keep ya posted.
Thanks for reading!
The room I am staying in is comfortable. It is your standard hotel room, king bed, tv, smaller bathroom. Looking outside the window, directly below is a dirt pit of some sort that some Indians are excavating. They excavate all day, every day. It is loud and bothersome. Not good when I am trying to take an afternoon snooze or think. To the right of the huge dirt pit are some "slums." Makes me really sad to see the people walk in and out of this area all day long. There are adults and kids and random dogs that walk the path from their shack to the road. It is cute to watch the little kids try to climb the huge dirt piles they are making. They have no fear, they will try to climb up the piles as the machines are swinging their huge crane arms around loaded with dirt and rocks. Makes me nervous as a parent, but the kids are often under loose supervision.
For the evening, I will be catching up on the Bachelor, London Calling. That's right, Brad Womack hasn't struck in India yet. I am watching the reruns of Shayne Lamas and Matt, the Limey from London. There sure is some drama on this series!!
On the agenda for tomorrow is a trip to the hospital. I need to be approved by the anesthesiologist for my egg retrieval and have an egg check up/scan. Dr. Yash found 10 eggs hiding out yesterday in my ovaries. I hope that a few more pop out like the did in the summer. I'll keep ya posted.
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)