Tomorrow is the big day!!!!

Well, our appointment to retrieve the eggs went as expected. Our awesome egg donor was a real trooper. She gave 17 eggs, 15 of which were good. We have not heard how many embroys we have yet. We should hear today.
I have been spending all morning getting ready for tomorrow's transfer. I have had my pre-transfer procedures and my medicines are working just fine. Doc said all my insides look super good.
I have to pack for my 2 kids who are going to a friends house for the weekend. I have to pack for myself because I will be at Jeffrey and Jennifer's on bedrest for the weekend. I also have to worry about my wonderful husband. He is awesome for letting me do this. He hasn't complained at all and has been super supportive. He will work all weekend so I won't even get to talk to him much.
I am super excited to do all of this. We will go back to the doctor in 12 days for a pregnancy test. I can't wait to see the results of all our hard work!!

To Jeffrey and Jennifer,
Thanks for the awesome chance I have to do this. I have always thought it would be so awesome to do something like this, but never thought it would happen to me. I am so glad God put this in our lives. Thanks for being a friend as well as the mother of the baby I am carrying for you. I know we will be forever connected no matter what!!!!
Love, Valerie

WOW!!

This is just so awesome!! I went to the back with the egg donor(no name for privacy) and sat with her for a minute before retrieval. When she got out of retrieval is was quite emotional!! She cried because she was so happy for us I cried because I WAS so happy it was just awesome!! SHE IS AWESOME! We all got our appointments completed and we'll see how it all goes! Knowing God is in this makes it so much more....at peace...I mean Jeffrey and I just know that this is God's Plan!! It all has worked out so completely! Everything just happened and fell into place without much effort from us! Valerie and the donor are such a blessing to us! We love you both!

Everyone is Important

Jennifer and I were talking the other day about the whole situation. Jennifer made it very clear to me how much she appreciates everything the egg donor and I are doing for her and and Jeffrey. In our situation, it is taking a lot of people to pull this off. We have mom and dad, egg donor,and gestational carrier. We also have my hubby and egg donors hubby. Our parents have helped with taking care of our kids while we have been to the doctor. We have worked really hard at getting our schedules to jive with the doctor visits. We all want to go together to appointments so we can chat and spend time together. We have made approximately 10 trips to Kentucky. We enjoy our time together.
Obviously, you can't have a baby without an egg. Our egg donor is awesome. One of the reasons Jennifer chose her is because of her personality. She is funny and outgoing. She has had a medicine regimen to follow to prepare her body. Last night Jennifer gave her a shot to release the eggs for retrieval tomorrow. She will be finished with her part after that. We really do appreciate what she has gone through to get ready.
We have to leave for the doctor at 5:30 am and I have tons to do, so I gotta get busy. We will post about the retrieval tomorrow!!!!!

Valerie

Save The Date

The dates have been set!!! yippee!!! Our egg donor was not getting her eggs excited until they upped the meds. After that her ovaries were working hard and she knew it. She went to have an ustrasound today and things look AWESOME!!! Plenty of eggs to choose from. We officially are going Tuesday for egg retrieval and transfer to me on Friday. I also have to go on Tuesday for an ultrasound. They did tell me last ultrasound that I have an 'awesome uterus', so I am confident it still is awesome. Please pray for all of us. The donor has a family and will be in bed for a day or so after retrieval. My hubby has to work all weekend and my kids will be staying with my friend. Jeffrey and Jennifer will be taking care of me for my 3 days of bedrest after procedure. I will update on Tuesday after all testing is done and eggs are taken!!!

Valerie

Are the eggs good???

Today we went to the doctor for bloodwork. They are checking me (valerie), egg donor and Jeffrey for any communicable diseases. I'm 100% sure they are not going to find any!! If they were to find something, that would halt the process. Assuming all is well with the bloodwork, we will go back next week for the transfer. We are also keeping an eye on the egg donor. Her folicles look good, but the eggs aren't as excited as hoped for. Doc increased her shots and that is helping. Hoping to have excited eggs on Friday this week so we can do retrieval on Tuesday next week and transfer on following Friday. It was a very short visit, but we had fun in the van chatting during our drive. We travel about 3 hours to the doctor. We really like her. We wanted to be able to trust the doctor completely and even though it's a bit of a drive, we were willing to do that for this doctor. It's nice to have a peace about the doctor you are putting in charge of building your family. I will update on Friday so we can plan for the transfer:)

No Pain, No Gain!!!

Well, I am proud to say that the shots are going extremely well!!! I have taken them every day with the meds and all is well. I did take my shot yesterday and it did hurt a little. Very temporary. I have a slight bruise, but it will go away. Monday morning I will increase my estrogen pill to 2-2mg pills per day. I was really thinking I would feel somewhat different because of the medications, but I feel perfectly normal. The side effects are the same as PMS and thank the good Lord I don't feel like that!!!
You know, some of you out there may be afraid of the shots and meds, but i want to tell you that this sacrifice you are making for someone is huge. I don't even know from Jennifer and Jeffrey's point of view. In my opinion, I wanted to do this for them. Not for me. I hear people say 'I could never do that'. But, you can. When you know you are doing something for someone else, you want to do whatever it takes. I don't want any glory for this or people to tell me how nice I am. I am doing this because I want to. I want to help people whom I have grown to love. They have a need that I can help with. If you have ever thought about doing something for someone...do it. You will make such a difference in their lives. You may may have to something like shots but the way I see it............NO PAIN, NO GAIN.

Valerie

Shots!!!!

Well, I did start my shots yesterday. I was not nervous about the shot at all. I was nervous about messing them up and ruining the whole thing. I am a visual person, so Tuesday night before bed I got out all the meds and supplies. I looked at all of them closely and sorted them out on the counter. I read directions and re-read directions!! Wednesday morning I got up and felt totally confident I could do this. I got the shot ready and double checked the medicine amount. I used the alcohol pad to clean the area and.....shot it in there! Quick and painless. Ok, let's clarify. I am not afraid of needles and I have a high pain tolerance. I did feel the needle go in, but I would not describe it as pain. A slight, pokey feeling in the belly. For any of you doing this, I hope yours is painless too. The needle size is 28 guage. It's the same needle diabetics use.
So, here are the medicines. I take 1 shot, 10u or 1cc, of Lupron daily. The shot goes in the belly under the bellybutton. Since I will do 15 shots all together, our doc, said to do each on in a different spot across the belly.
I also have a patch to wear now. It's called Climara and it's an estrogen patch. It is a transparent, flexible patch that I put on the top of my thigh. Be sure to shower first so the patch will stick to skin and not dirt!!!! I will replace this patch in 4 days with a new one. There are 3 of these. These are completely painless:)
The last thing is 2 pills. The first one is the birth control pill. We are relaxing my ovaries. I only have 2 of those left! The other pill is called Estradiol. It's an estrogen pill. In 4 days I will have to increase the dosage from 2 mg to 4 mg.

Well, I hope that helps any of you who are curious about the process. I wish I could explain all of this. I am just trusting the doctors to do what is best for us. I know I have said this before, but we have put this in the hands of God and I know he will protect us too!!!!

Valerie

Med Training!!!

OMIGOSH!!! I LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!!!! I got a little emotional when they had all the needles out and were practicing!! I am in awe of how awesome all of this is!! God is so great to have introduced me to such great people!! ESPECIALLY, girls willing to take shots EVERYDAY for me and Jeffrey!! This whole experience is just so touching for the both of us!! Things are moving FAST!! I can't believe it!! Pray all goes well for us and the girls are ready on the 27th and 30th of APRIL!!! The donor and I go for bloodwork and ultrasound April 14th, 19th, and the 23rd. Val, Steve, Jeffrey, and the donor all have an appt on the 21st of April. Val, donor and Jeffrey have bloodwork and donor has another ultrasound that day!!