Thursday, August 19, 2010
Third time a charm?
It's official, we had a blighted ovum. Boohoo!! We were really hoping this was going to be the real deal. Thankfully, we have some frozen embryos and can try again in a few months. Third time is the charm, right?
Friday, August 6, 2010
updates
It's been a while, but here are our updates:
We found out earlier this week we did not have a viable pregnancy, we had a blighted ovum. We are upset, but not wrecked like last year. We do have five frozen embryos that we can try with when Ms. S is ready to go. We will have a successful pregnancy sometime this year! I can just feel it!!
I have been offered a teaching job in Wyckoff, NJ. I am rather excited about it and looking forward to the start of school.
We enrolled Stephen in a preschool that I think will fit him well. We toured the school and he seemed to really like it, especially the basement gym filled with toys for rainy and snowy days.
We have not found a house to our liking yet. We have probably walked through 50+ houses now. We are being patient and know that the right house will come along. Thankfully, my parents don't mind that we are staying a little bit longer.
Over the next few weeks, we have a bit of traveling going on. We are headed back to NC to visit Stephen's parents and our friends and I am going to Michigan with my son and dad to visit his side of the family. I am so very excited to be going there. It has been too long and I really miss them.
So, please keep us in your thoughts, as well as our surrogate. I am sure she is very upset also. We know this will happen when the time is right.
We found out earlier this week we did not have a viable pregnancy, we had a blighted ovum. We are upset, but not wrecked like last year. We do have five frozen embryos that we can try with when Ms. S is ready to go. We will have a successful pregnancy sometime this year! I can just feel it!!
I have been offered a teaching job in Wyckoff, NJ. I am rather excited about it and looking forward to the start of school.
We enrolled Stephen in a preschool that I think will fit him well. We toured the school and he seemed to really like it, especially the basement gym filled with toys for rainy and snowy days.
We have not found a house to our liking yet. We have probably walked through 50+ houses now. We are being patient and know that the right house will come along. Thankfully, my parents don't mind that we are staying a little bit longer.
Over the next few weeks, we have a bit of traveling going on. We are headed back to NC to visit Stephen's parents and our friends and I am going to Michigan with my son and dad to visit his side of the family. I am so very excited to be going there. It has been too long and I really miss them.
So, please keep us in your thoughts, as well as our surrogate. I am sure she is very upset also. We know this will happen when the time is right.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Coming Clean...
We have been dodging our blog for the last week, but we are ready to come clean. We received our results last week about our attempt with SI to get pregnant again. The results came back positive! We just received our first ultrasound report and it noted a single embryo that was well-defined. Our betas were great all week and we are so excited. We were a little reserved telling everyone, but we want to share our happy news with our friends and family. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for an easy pregnancy. Looks like we'll be back in Mumbai in March. Just wanted to say thanks to all of our supporters, it helps us more than you know!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Say Goodbye to Bollywood!
I am sitting here in our hotel room, get ready to pack up our things in order to leave this evening. We have tried and tried to change our flight with no avail, so we will be on the late night-16 hour-get me back to the US-so we can see our little man- flight. I am a big believer that things happen for a reason and feel that we are supposed to be here for the transfer today. We did not stay for the transfer last year because at that point we were away 11 days and we were really home sick. But today has just marked a week in Mumbai and although we are home sick, it has been much easier to manage.
Being a believer in signs and things like that, I just want to add that I did see two butterflies while I was here. The first was a few days ago while we were driving back from the doctor's office. The second was on my egg pick up day. The day before EPU, I watched The Secret. This is a way of life for some and I have tried to adopt these beliefs as much as possible. Stephen is following, slowly. Anyway, I used the visualization technique and kept visualizing positive results, a pregnant Ms. S, and good egg numbers. Like I said, all week, we were told I had only 8-9, but I kept saying in my mind there would be more. I also asked for a sign to suggest my prayers/thoughts were being heard. Fast foward to 7am on EPU day. SI sent a representative to help "navigate" the admission process. She was a lovely young woman who did speak some to us, but not much. While I was talking to her, on her finger, she wore a butterfly ring. At that precise moment, I knew that everything was going to go smoothly and things were lining up for us. I know I am going out on a stretch here, this is typically a taboo subject, but I am a believer of the "secret", of God's intervention, of the stars aligning in the universe for us.
Anyway, shifting gears, in a few hours we will be off to Lilavati Hospital to meet Ms. S again and tell her how much we appreciate her doing this for us. Ms. S is a beautiful, young mother of one. Her husband is very genuine and caring. They are very much in love and still giddy. Mr. S carries a world load of problems upon his shoulders and feels the pressure of the economy daily. He is doing the best to support his family and knows that this will help ensure his daughter has a great education which will hopefully perpetuate some success for their family. With that being said, our meeting was sincere and sweet. We told them how we longed for another baby or two. They told us how they wish better for their family. We were both very grateful to each other for different reasons. That is what I love about surrogacy in India. The families are so appreciative and humbled at the same time. They feel like we are doing them the greatest service, when we, IP's, feel the exact opposite. I would never be able to tell Ms. S enough what this means to us.
During our meeting, we spoke back and forth about careers, family, and hobbies. She is a stay at home mom now and cares for their daughter. It seemed as though we hit it off right away and we couldn't have asked for a better match. Ms. S told me that she "would take care of our baby" and I just lost it. I teared up through most of the meeting and it really warmed my heart when she said that. She is going to be a great surrogate and I am looking forward to seeing her again this afternoon.
Otherwise, we'd like to report that this has been a welcome adventure as always. We enjoyed our time here in Mumbai and at the Novotel Hotel. We especially enjoyed watching the waves pound into the beach from our room and also from the lounge. It is amazing how soothing the sound of the crashing waves can be. Stephen has faired very well on this trip. He has been very relaxed. It seems that it is time to come home because we are starting to dream and talk about the food we want when we get home. I know that most people are not as crazy as us when it comes to trying the food here, but we both had a horrific time last year after sampling food at the hotel restaurant. We, especially me, like to stay with safe foods while traveling abroad. Call me a wimp, but I like to feel good when I am away from home.
Finally, we would like to take this time to tell all you readers how much we appreciate and are grateful for your love, support, help, and wonder about our lives. We have always tried to share and be real about what is going on in our lives when it comes to India and our baby mission. Some people receive it very well, some not so well. But, again, a big thanks to you all. We love you and will talk to you again when we are back in the States!!!!!
Being a believer in signs and things like that, I just want to add that I did see two butterflies while I was here. The first was a few days ago while we were driving back from the doctor's office. The second was on my egg pick up day. The day before EPU, I watched The Secret. This is a way of life for some and I have tried to adopt these beliefs as much as possible. Stephen is following, slowly. Anyway, I used the visualization technique and kept visualizing positive results, a pregnant Ms. S, and good egg numbers. Like I said, all week, we were told I had only 8-9, but I kept saying in my mind there would be more. I also asked for a sign to suggest my prayers/thoughts were being heard. Fast foward to 7am on EPU day. SI sent a representative to help "navigate" the admission process. She was a lovely young woman who did speak some to us, but not much. While I was talking to her, on her finger, she wore a butterfly ring. At that precise moment, I knew that everything was going to go smoothly and things were lining up for us. I know I am going out on a stretch here, this is typically a taboo subject, but I am a believer of the "secret", of God's intervention, of the stars aligning in the universe for us.
Anyway, shifting gears, in a few hours we will be off to Lilavati Hospital to meet Ms. S again and tell her how much we appreciate her doing this for us. Ms. S is a beautiful, young mother of one. Her husband is very genuine and caring. They are very much in love and still giddy. Mr. S carries a world load of problems upon his shoulders and feels the pressure of the economy daily. He is doing the best to support his family and knows that this will help ensure his daughter has a great education which will hopefully perpetuate some success for their family. With that being said, our meeting was sincere and sweet. We told them how we longed for another baby or two. They told us how they wish better for their family. We were both very grateful to each other for different reasons. That is what I love about surrogacy in India. The families are so appreciative and humbled at the same time. They feel like we are doing them the greatest service, when we, IP's, feel the exact opposite. I would never be able to tell Ms. S enough what this means to us.
During our meeting, we spoke back and forth about careers, family, and hobbies. She is a stay at home mom now and cares for their daughter. It seemed as though we hit it off right away and we couldn't have asked for a better match. Ms. S told me that she "would take care of our baby" and I just lost it. I teared up through most of the meeting and it really warmed my heart when she said that. She is going to be a great surrogate and I am looking forward to seeing her again this afternoon.
Otherwise, we'd like to report that this has been a welcome adventure as always. We enjoyed our time here in Mumbai and at the Novotel Hotel. We especially enjoyed watching the waves pound into the beach from our room and also from the lounge. It is amazing how soothing the sound of the crashing waves can be. Stephen has faired very well on this trip. He has been very relaxed. It seems that it is time to come home because we are starting to dream and talk about the food we want when we get home. I know that most people are not as crazy as us when it comes to trying the food here, but we both had a horrific time last year after sampling food at the hotel restaurant. We, especially me, like to stay with safe foods while traveling abroad. Call me a wimp, but I like to feel good when I am away from home.
Finally, we would like to take this time to tell all you readers how much we appreciate and are grateful for your love, support, help, and wonder about our lives. We have always tried to share and be real about what is going on in our lives when it comes to India and our baby mission. Some people receive it very well, some not so well. But, again, a big thanks to you all. We love you and will talk to you again when we are back in the States!!!!!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Baker's Dozen
Today could not have gone any better! We arrived at Lilavati Hospital on time and got into a room in a rather timely manner for India time standards. Right at 10 am, they took me to the OR to get ready for egg pick up. The procedure takes longer to prepare and recover from than the actual egg pick up. All week, my scans were showing 8-9 eggs, but today they retrieved 13 eggs!!! I was in shock when I woke up and Dr. Yash told me. I started crying and looking at Stephen in disbelief. Thirteen beats my number last year and far surpassed our expectations for this attempt. Since I am another year older, had a cyst, showed smaller numbers in the scans, this was a welcome surprise.
We feel very confident with our surrogate and the transfer will take place on Monday. Because Continental doesn't have "M" class tickets (a code for a coach seat at a certain price point), we will be here for the transfer. We are both anxious to get home to our little man, but it is ok that we will have to wait. I am glad that we can be here for the transfer and see our lovely surrogate again.
Please keep us in your prayers, as this is the time when we need them most. We have done all that we can possibly do to increase our chances, the rest is out of our hands. Tomorrow will be a relaxing day for us and we are looking forward to it. I didn't post yesterday, because we slept all day. Literally. We came back from breakfast with another SI couple here around 11 and slept until 8 pm or so. We did sleep through most of the night, but were disturbed by a 2:30 am knock at our door from the laundry man (?!?). We told him to go away and had a hard time getting back to bed.
We have been eating pizza every night for dinner. Breakfast is usually at the buffet downstairs. The eggs are made to order and we grab a ton of fresh fruit. Lunch is usually a microwave meal that we brought with us. We are out of ravoli, so it looks like tomorrow is macaroni and cheese. Yum!! While we were waiting to be discharged this afternoon, we started talking about the meals we want when we get home. Stephen wants a big juicy porterhouse steak and I want some chicken. It has been almost a week since we have had meat. It is starting to affect our thoughts! :) haha.
Thanks for all your support and comments. We have received a ton of emails and facebook comments also. We try to get back to you all, but the internet is in and out at the hotel. We love and miss you all. Can't wait to see you when we get back to the US. Stevie told us this morning as we skyped, three days left!!!!
We feel very confident with our surrogate and the transfer will take place on Monday. Because Continental doesn't have "M" class tickets (a code for a coach seat at a certain price point), we will be here for the transfer. We are both anxious to get home to our little man, but it is ok that we will have to wait. I am glad that we can be here for the transfer and see our lovely surrogate again.
Please keep us in your prayers, as this is the time when we need them most. We have done all that we can possibly do to increase our chances, the rest is out of our hands. Tomorrow will be a relaxing day for us and we are looking forward to it. I didn't post yesterday, because we slept all day. Literally. We came back from breakfast with another SI couple here around 11 and slept until 8 pm or so. We did sleep through most of the night, but were disturbed by a 2:30 am knock at our door from the laundry man (?!?). We told him to go away and had a hard time getting back to bed.
We have been eating pizza every night for dinner. Breakfast is usually at the buffet downstairs. The eggs are made to order and we grab a ton of fresh fruit. Lunch is usually a microwave meal that we brought with us. We are out of ravoli, so it looks like tomorrow is macaroni and cheese. Yum!! While we were waiting to be discharged this afternoon, we started talking about the meals we want when we get home. Stephen wants a big juicy porterhouse steak and I want some chicken. It has been almost a week since we have had meat. It is starting to affect our thoughts! :) haha.
Thanks for all your support and comments. We have received a ton of emails and facebook comments also. We try to get back to you all, but the internet is in and out at the hotel. We love and miss you all. Can't wait to see you when we get back to the US. Stevie told us this morning as we skyped, three days left!!!!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sweetest Day
Today is going to be a sweet day because we get to meet our new surrogate!! We did a last minute switch upon the doctor's advice. The first surrogate we picked was on the smaller size, so they suggested someone a little taller. We were fine with that and had two women to chose from that will be ready for egg implant on Monday. Yay! Fingers crossed!!
Stephen went for a massage today at the spa. He said he really enjoyed it. He came back smelling like a satchel of spices. It was pretty funny. The room stills smells of the scent because it is on his clothes. He is asleep now and snoring a bit. Haha!
Good news on the egg retrieval, but bad news from Continental. We tried yesterday to change our flights to Saturday night, but they don't have the same class ticket in inventory. So, if we wanted to fly Saturday night, it would cost us a fare difference and change fee. That was over $3000!!! So unless "m" class seats become available, we are hanging in Mumbai until Monday night. We are going to keep calling Continental, hoping for a miracle to happen!!
I'll post more when we get back from meeting our surrogate!! :) :) :)
Stephen went for a massage today at the spa. He said he really enjoyed it. He came back smelling like a satchel of spices. It was pretty funny. The room stills smells of the scent because it is on his clothes. He is asleep now and snoring a bit. Haha!
Good news on the egg retrieval, but bad news from Continental. We tried yesterday to change our flights to Saturday night, but they don't have the same class ticket in inventory. So, if we wanted to fly Saturday night, it would cost us a fare difference and change fee. That was over $3000!!! So unless "m" class seats become available, we are hanging in Mumbai until Monday night. We are going to keep calling Continental, hoping for a miracle to happen!!
I'll post more when we get back from meeting our surrogate!! :) :) :)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Good News!
Good news!! Good news!! Egg pick up is on Saturday!! Yay!! That means tomorrow is my last day of injections. Tomorrow night is my trigger shot and then it's off to Lilavanti hospital Saturday morning. Woohoo!! We are happy with our egg count prediction and our odds of success!
We had a last minute change in our surrogate selection. Dr. Yash suggested a different surrogate because our first pick is a very, very tiny woman. She suggested someone (who is still tiny) but a little larger than they first in height and weight. We will meet her tomorrow when we head off to the doctors' office.
If everything goes well, we will try to head out Saturday night on the late flight and arrive home in the US on Sunday morning. Stevie will be so excited!! We are both drained, so we are taking a late afternoon nap. I am starting to feel some discomfort from my ovaries being so full. I hope a good nap will dull the aching for a while.
Thanks for reading... more later :)
We had a last minute change in our surrogate selection. Dr. Yash suggested a different surrogate because our first pick is a very, very tiny woman. She suggested someone (who is still tiny) but a little larger than they first in height and weight. We will meet her tomorrow when we head off to the doctors' office.
If everything goes well, we will try to head out Saturday night on the late flight and arrive home in the US on Sunday morning. Stevie will be so excited!! We are both drained, so we are taking a late afternoon nap. I am starting to feel some discomfort from my ovaries being so full. I hope a good nap will dull the aching for a while.
Thanks for reading... more later :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)