Its a match, its a match!

I have those words stuck in my head to the tune of "I'm the map, I'm the map" from Dora for some reason. :)
We are matched! Yesterday my husband and I drove about an hour and a half to meet halfway with potential IPs and also with Denise who is working for the agency now. I'm not going to give too many details about them at this point until I hear that they are OK with being "blogged" about. (is blog a verb now?) Basically, we hit it off and conversation seemed so natural between us all. Their need for a carrier is different than many cases, but I really like the situation and their reasons. They already have 3 "embies" stored (from previous IVF procedures) and feel that these are their babies (which they ARE!) and want to give them a chance to join the family even though their mommy can't bring them in the same way she did with the children they have already. They seem to be a strong, stable, loving, Christian family and I am excited to starting this journey with them!
The next steps are to get all the legalities (contracts) done so we can start the medical process. We will be starting everything pretty quickly!

matching time!

I'm so excited! I've been "cleared" for the medical and psychological evaluations and am moving on to the matching process! I'm praying things go smoothly and that everything is in God's timing and His perfect will!

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

The starting point

When I first heard about surrogacy, I was intrigued. After my pregnancy with my daughter, Olivia, the thought entered my mind that maybe it would be something I could do. I never persued it, it was just a thought. After my second child, Conner, was born, I started thinking about it again. He is now 8 months old, and my husband Mike and I have decided we are going to do this. I feel like is is part of God's plan for my life. Last night Mike and I made notes of questions to ask, concerns, etc, and today we met with the president of an agency in Houston. After our meeting, we knew it was something we are going to try to do. Having no personal experience with infertility, I know that I don't truely "understand" or "relate" to those that do, yet I can only imagine the pain. I know this will be a blessing. I also feel I'm a great candidate for this seeing as I really enjoyed my pregnancies for the most part. I'm very excited to see what is to come this year. Our next steps are to continue getting some of the technical (ie paperwork) stuff taken care, and as of today, to start the process of being matched to a couple seeking a surrogate.