What's next?

I'm one week away from the next step in starting this process. Next Monday, Mike and I will meet with a psychologist, Leslee, a licenced social worker who specializes in fertility issues. We will be doing about a one and a half hour long session to discuss "what ifs" and be evaluated for surrogacy. After our session, I will be doing an MMPI, which is a personality inventory to assess and screen for personality and mental health issues. I hear its very long (I think around 600 questions) and takes a while. While I'm doing that, Mike will be taking more of my OB medical records over to Fertility Resources (the surrogacy agency) since I didn't have all of them when we met before. After this, our next step is being "matched" with a couple. Wendy (the CEO of the agency) has told me couples are already asking about me and she is hoping to find the perfect match so that this will be a wonderful experience. When she finds a couple or couples that seem to be a good match, she will send me their information, then from there I can decide whether I think its a good match, and can start communicating with and meet the potential IPs (intended parents).
I'm still learning all the details but I will try to explain as much as I can about the process. Once we have been matched, the legal and clinical process starts. Each party will have their own attorney, and we will have a contract detailing everything, medical costs, possible problems, etc.
The clinical process in a nutshell for me, starts with medical tests, ultrasounds, and starting meds. I will go through a mock cycle first, which is basically all the steps leading up to an embryo transfer minus the actual transfer at the end. I may or may not be put on a birth control pill, and likely Lupron injections, and Estrace. After the actual embryo transfer happens, I will be on progesterone oil injections up until about week 10 of the pregnancy, which, I hear are quite painful. I will either do the injections myself or have Mike do them for me. Up to week 10 I will be seeing a reproductive endocrinologist, then my OB/GYN will take over my care. Although I felt like I asked a billion questions when I met Wendy, I still feel like I have a ton to learn, and as much research as I've been trying to do, I think I'll still be learning every step of the way. I am so excited to be starting this process, and to possibly be bringing a baby into a family! How awesome is that gonna be!?
I haven't told Olivia yet about our plans, but I'm certainly curious as to what her reaction will be! She has said things lately that let me know she understands more of the baby process than you might expect a preschooler to understand!

Here are a few common acronyms used in the process, since I will be using them in my blog I figured I'd list them.

• SM - surrogate mother




• GS - gestational surrogate (carries baby that is not biologically hers)




• IP, IF, IM - intended parents, intended father, indended mother




• RE - reproductive endocrinologist




• ED - egg donor