The last month has been a complete whirlwind in terms of the whole baby making surrogacy process.
I guess I should start around Thanksgiving since that’s when everything really started. On 11/30, I got this email:
Dear Anwar,
Greeting from SCI Healthcare!!
We hope you are doing fine.
We would like to inform you that we have started your donor on down regulation.
We will do a blood test and scan for the donor on 28th November and update you on 30th November, 2012.
So you know, I went into complete research mode.. what was this down regulation?
So it is basically it is the synchronizing the menstrual cycles of the donor and recipient. This is accomplished with a drug called Lupron that quiets, or ‘down-regulates’, the ovaries completely. Once down-regulation of both donor and recipient has been confirmed, an artificial common menstrual cycle is established. On the first day of this "artificial" menstrual cycle, the recipient/surrogate begins taking medication that will prepare the lining of her uterus. Six days later the donor begins medications that will cause multiple egg-containing follicles to develop within her ovaries.
Both blood tests on 11/28 and 30th were fine and things progressed. Still at this point the processed for me is totally removed and distant.. and kinda not real.
As Christmas approached, it was time to select my surrogates. This list was less exhaustive as the egg donors. I was given a list of 5-6 surrogates that had the same cycle as my egg donor. I choose a woman by the name of Jeenat who had two children 7 and 4yo. It was important that the woman I chose had a child above 2 so that she could be housed in the ‘surrogate dormitory’ where they are looked after 24/7 with medical professionals/psychologists/etc.
It turns out that the surrogate I chose was already taken, so they sent me a second list of surrogates, and I then chose a beautiful woman named Fatima but, the doctor suggested I accept Laxmi, a separated 31yo with a 10 yo child because her lining scan is better. I trust the experts, so I told them immediately that I’m on board.
All I was waiting for now was the egg retrieval…
I guess I should start around Thanksgiving since that’s when everything really started. On 11/30, I got this email:
Dear Anwar,
Greeting from SCI Healthcare!!
We hope you are doing fine.
We would like to inform you that we have started your donor on down regulation.
We will do a blood test and scan for the donor on 28th November and update you on 30th November, 2012.
So you know, I went into complete research mode.. what was this down regulation?
So it is basically it is the synchronizing the menstrual cycles of the donor and recipient. This is accomplished with a drug called Lupron that quiets, or ‘down-regulates’, the ovaries completely. Once down-regulation of both donor and recipient has been confirmed, an artificial common menstrual cycle is established. On the first day of this "artificial" menstrual cycle, the recipient/surrogate begins taking medication that will prepare the lining of her uterus. Six days later the donor begins medications that will cause multiple egg-containing follicles to develop within her ovaries.
Both blood tests on 11/28 and 30th were fine and things progressed. Still at this point the processed for me is totally removed and distant.. and kinda not real.
As Christmas approached, it was time to select my surrogates. This list was less exhaustive as the egg donors. I was given a list of 5-6 surrogates that had the same cycle as my egg donor. I choose a woman by the name of Jeenat who had two children 7 and 4yo. It was important that the woman I chose had a child above 2 so that she could be housed in the ‘surrogate dormitory’ where they are looked after 24/7 with medical professionals/psychologists/etc.
It turns out that the surrogate I chose was already taken, so they sent me a second list of surrogates, and I then chose a beautiful woman named Fatima but, the doctor suggested I accept Laxmi, a separated 31yo with a 10 yo child because her lining scan is better. I trust the experts, so I told them immediately that I’m on board.
All I was waiting for now was the egg retrieval…
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