1 Step Closer to a Match

Tuesday the IPs got our profile and we found out that one of them was out of town, so they were going to need through the weekend to sit down and discuss it. So, we spent the week anxiously waiting for Monday. This morning, our Client Services Coordinator, Lacey (who will be our go to GG person for the rest of this journey) called. When the phone rang, I totally got butterflies because, even though I think I am a pretty good catch (in surrogate terms), I was still nervous that maybe they wouldn't like us.
The good news is, they LIKED us! They want to meet us! Then she proceeded to tell me that we would have to do the match meeting via video conference call because the guys are in London. Then, she told me they just moved there and will be there for a few years. Bummer, but no biggee:o) One of the things I liked was that it seemed like they wanted to be pretty involved. Does this change that? Will they still be here for the transfer? 20 week ultrasound? any other times? Why did they move? What do they do for a living? The questions were flying through my mind. I asked Lacey a couple of them and can ask the guys when we have our meeting. It was just a shift in our thinking. We had SoCal and all of the things that would mean in our head. A few things will be different, but hopefully most of the journey will be unchanged. Lacey told me that the guys are required to meet us in person before the transfer, which is good. It could be a month from now, it could be in conjunction with the transfer, but we will meet them in person:o) Hopefully, we will be able to schedule the "Match Meeting" for sometime next week. I am sure this is just the first of at least a few things that won't go exactly as planned. Good thing I am flexible. We have always wanted to go to London, maybe this will be a good excuse:o)

Med Clearance

We had hoped to hear something about our medical clearance Thursday or Friday, but no such luck:o( I then checked a fellow surros blog and hers took almost 3 weeks, so I had resigned myself to having to wait another whole week, when, this afternoon (yes it is Sunday!), I got an e-mail from the nurse from the fertility clinic saying that Dr. Kolb cleared us and the letter has been sent to GG! YIPPEE! Though I figured we would pass, I think this was the most nerve-wrecking part because we are so close to being able to help a couple build their family. Next, GG will send our profile to the IPs and then, we wait to hear if they want to meet us. Hopefully that won't take too long, but you never know. Fingers crossed that they like us:o)

IP Profile

Until we are officially matched and I have discussed this blog with our IPs, I can't say a ton. I will say that they are a same-sex couple and they live in So Cal. We really liked their answers to the questions. The first time I read the profile, I liked them, but I wasn't super excited like I expected I would be. I think that I was afraid to like them because I don't want to get attached and then have them not like us back. I have read it two times since and I like them more and more each time:o) I reeeaaaaly hope they like us too! GG won't send them our profile until they get the official medical clearance, so even though we like them, we will have to wait at least two weeks to find out if they like us. Hopefully, if they want to meet us, scheduling the match meeting won't be too hard, since they live relatively close to the GG office.

LA Screening Trip

Let me apologize in advance for the poor pictures. We took our point and shoot camera with every intention of taking pictures, but I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off most of the day, so we only got a few pics, taken by DH with his cell phone.


We started our day at 5 am. Early for me, but sleeping in for DH! When we got to LAX, we found our ride waiting for us. DH was pretty excited to be one of those people who has a person waiting for them with a sign. The driver was very nice and the ride was cushie.

Our first stop was HRCFertility. DH was pretty impressed with this waiting room. It was pretty swanky!

HRC waiting room- this pic doesn't do it justice.

 We had held it when we got off the plane, so we would be able to provide a urine sample, so we got to do that first. Then, I filled out some paperwork and we both had our blood drawn. Next, we met Carrie, the GG liaison, who introduced us to the nurse, who went over the consent form and explained the process and the upcoming exam. Finally, we met Dr. Kolb, who asked me some questions about my health history and other stuff pertaining to my ability to be a surrogate. Then, he explained the uterine exam and the IVF profess. All this talk about the sonohysterogram (SHG) had made me a little nervous because they said there might be cramping, but there was nothing:o) Basically, Dr. K stuck a catheter with a little balloon on it through my cervix, then in went the "weenie wand" (as the internal ultrasound wand is called by many surros- I think the name creates the proper picture, especially given its condom attire). 

Waiting for Dr. K to come back and do the SHG- you can kinda see the weenie wand;o)

He inflated the balloon with some saline and examined all of my reproductive organs. He said it all looked good and I am really fertile because I have lots of good looking follicles. For this reason, he told me not to go get pregnant on him. It was pretty funny, especially since he doesn't know how over-resposible I am, and even more so with that:o) Lastly, the nurse answered any more questions and gave me a prescription for the pill, which I was planning on starting again next cycle anyways, but they will use it to synch my cycle with the egg donor's. The results from the urine analysis and blood work will take about 2 weeks to come back. 

We took a cab to the GG office. Let me just say that I am not a fan of cabs and this trip followed suit. Both of the cab drivers we had were not very friendly and a little crazy with the driving:o( We had about 45 minutes before our appointment, so we picked a restaurant nearby the GG building and got some lunch, which we gobbled up quickly.

We went up to the 13th floor and found the GG office. We sat down with Dr. Bergman for a few minutes, then she introduced us to Erica (Big E) and she gave us a profile of IPs whom they think would be a good match for us! OMG! I figured we would get one soon, but I wasn't expecting it to be that quickly! David took the profile and went for a walk while I did the oh so fun computer test. This test was looonnnnggggg:o( 567 true/false questions! This test is basically a personality test and it also looks for possible flags for depression, bi-polar, conspiracy theories, a distrust for the human race, self confidence, friendships and some other things. It took me a little over an hour. Some of the questions were worded weirdly, so I had to read them a couple of times to makes sure I clicked the right thing. It is also looking for inconsistencies so lots of questions were asked several times in different ways. I am glad it is over, but it wasn't too bad. 

We took another cab back to the airport where I finally had a chance to read the IP profile (which I will talk a little more about later). We called to check on the bambino, did some reading and got dinner. It was a busy day, but I am super excited about the journey ahead! This is the beginning of the first 2 week wait (2ww) and hoping for a couple more of them in the near future:o) 

LA here we come!

Monday is the day we will fly to LA for the last part of the application process for becoming a GG surrogate. It is the psychological (which we have already done part of) and medical screenings. The medical screening will consist of a urine test (to check for drug use), bloodwork (to check for STDs or other diseases that we may not have disclosed) and a uterine evaluation. It is going to be a crazy day! We will leave our house at 6 AM and get back home about 9 PM. Hopefully, everything will run smoothly:o) Then, it takes up to 2 weeks to get all of the results from the medical part, at which point, we will know if we can move forward. The next step after that will be GG sending us IP profiles, and once approved from both sides, another trip to LA for the match meeting! Yippee!