Ugh. We lost the babies again.

Jane's hormone levels dropped.

No babies again.

Ugh.

Now for the NEXT hurdle!

So...

As you might suspect, there are many hurdles two gay men need to overcome in order to have children. The next hurdles consist of blood tests to verify that the pregnancy is moving along properly.

On Monday, 8/23/10, Jane goes to the Clinic again for more bloodwork. They will be looking for her hormone levels to have doubled since Friday's bloodwork.

On Thursday, 8/26/10, Jane goes to the Clinic again for more bloodwork. They will be looking for her hormone levels to have doubled again since the 8/23/10 tests.

Typically, if the numbers triple or quadruple anywhere along the line, that would suggest that there are multiples (as in twins or triplets)...

If all is fine on Thursday, 8/26/10, then we schedule the ultrasound to determine just how many babies we have!!

:)

I'll update everyone Monday once we know how the bloodwork went!

Potato #1

Looks like good things DO come to those that wait!

Just posting quickly while on the road...

Jane had her bloodwork this morning at 7am...

Results were available around 9ish!

Her Beta bloodwork numbers were 29 which are good for frozen embryos (though of course it differs from woman to woman)...

So...

WE ARE PREGNANT!

Woohoo! :)

More info coming soon!

Cycle #3 Update, 8/11/2010

Oops... I just realized that I forgot to post the updates that I had been editing - sorry!  But here is the latest!!  :)

Cycle #3 Update:

1. Lupron start date: 7/4/10
• Started!
2. OCP (birth control pill) stop date: 7/9/10
1. Done (and many thanks to Jane's husband)!
3. Approximate date of suppression check: 7/15/10
• Done, all looks okay!
4. Estrace start date: 7/16/10
• Started!
5. Approx. date of endometrial lining check: 7/30/10
• Done - Jane's lining looks great!
• Slight schedule adjustment... Embryo transfer originally scheduled for 8/9/10 has been moved to 8/11/10... all good!
6. Last dose of Lupron: 8/2/10
• Stopped!
7. Begin progesterone & prometrium: 8/3/10
• Started!
8. Begin prednisone and doxy: 8/4/10
• Started!
• Spoke to the clinic and confirmed the embryo plan.
• Potato #1 and Potato #2 each have one(1) pair of "Grade A five-day embryo blasts", with each pair coming from a different egg donor.
• Following an extensive review of each egg donor's "proven productivity", Dr. H. suggested that we start off with (2) of Potato #1's embryo blasts, and (1) of Potato #2's blasts.
• Once the (3) embryos are thawed out, the geneticists and Dr. D will review them, and if any of the embryos appear to have any "issues", then we will thaw the 4th embryo.
• Yikes - learned that Jane is experiencing morning sickness - something she didn't go through with her own children... :(   Gosh, thanks so much for doing this for us!!! :)
9. Embryo transfer is scheduled for Monday, 8/9/10 Wednesday, 8/11/10
• Transfer scheduled for 10:30am... Jane needs to be there by 10:00am - we will be there too!
• When we got there, we found Jane wearing green nail polish (mani/pedi) and a green tshirt... according to other surrogates wearing green "helps"!
• We also met a couple from NY, that were also having their first transfer done today - good luck guys!!
• FYI: Vitrified/Cryopreserved embryos thaw within 90 minutes or so, as they are moved from dish to dish within the incubator(s).
• According to Dr. H. and the geneticists, all three embryos thawed at "100%", so the decision was made to move ahead according to plans!
• Potato #1's embryos are displayed below:

• Potato #2's embryo is displayed below:

• Note, that the Clinic waits until at least the surrogate is in the office before they start the embryo thawing process (which makes total sense, if you ask me)!!
• Dr. H. transferred the embryos to Jane; everything went well!
• Jane rested for a little while to let gravity "help"...
• We ran out and got her some french fries (another "surrogate helper")...
• And then we all went out and had a REALLY GREAT MEAL/TIME at Joey Garlic's Pizzeria, where we got to not only enjoy great company, but an awesome and yummy meal!!

Next steps:

1. First Beta on Friday, 8/20/10 (9 days out)
• Note that it takes longer for the body to actually generate the hormone levels that are measured by the Beta, so it is considered somewhat "unwise" to do a home pregnancy test, since it is looking for much higher hormonal levels.
2. Subsequent Betas, scheduled as appropriate...
• And will be reported here as soon as we know!!

All in all, we had a really great day, and are REALLY excited.... statistically speaking, it looks like we are "due"...

:)