Now it is real!

Ever since I saw the two eggs, it has all become very real for me.

I have been telling everyone. I am just super excited. Cyncere and I even watched ‘A Baby Story’ and ‘Bringing Home a Baby’ on Monday night to continue our hugh exciting baby mood. Bringing Home a Baby really hit me hard because the episode we saw had a gay couple who brought home twins.

NEWSFLASH, it will be a ton of work! I am sure the first 3-6 months will be a true blur. I am glad to know that I have the support of my family and friends, who have been so thrilled for me. I know I am quite early in the process but I can only be nothing but optimistic of the outcome so far.
I am soooo excited for my Mom to be coming on next Tuesday. Not only will she get some time to just relax, but she will also be super helpful in getting me together to prepare for my ‘jelly beans’. Cyncere coined the term jelly beans for the current growers in my surrogate, so that’s what I will be going with until they start to look like human beings. Anyway, Mom, Cece, and I will sit down and strategize on everything that is needed to prepare, books, classes, equipment, etc. Exciting!

This week has been a busy one at work, especially because I have still been a bit under the weather, but I am feeling great now and working is starting to ease up. I’m looking forward to this weekend. On Saturday night I have a Gay Tennis Gala and on Sunday is the Superbowl! Go SF 49ers! The city is going crazy! It will be amazing to go 2/2 MLB (Giants) and NFL (49ers) CHAMPS. We will see!

Relief! Two sacs!

What a sigh of relief I experienced this morning.

I woke up to the following email!

Dear Anwar,

Greetings from SCI Healthcare..!!!

We hope you are doing well!

We are happy to inform you that as per our schedule we have done Laxmi's USG scan to check the number of pregnancy sac.

We would like to congratulate you once again as Dr. Jolly has noted two pregnancy sacs during her scan.

Please note that Dr. Shivani has reviewed the reports and noted that everything is growing well as per this stage.

In regards to the same we are now moving forward for the heartbeat scan which will be done within one week.

Once it will be done, we will get back to you with reports as soon as possible.

We will keep you updated with her further progress & new status.


Two sacs! Yay! So exciting! To be honest I was a little bit worried because of the relatively low beta levels, but I guess my ‘bryos’ were slow growers. Anyway, my joy is quiet and confident. I’m excited that things are going according to how I envisioned thus far.

I can only think about how grateful I am to have had this process done in India where they transfer 4 embryos instead of just one or two. I told my Mom and she could not contain herself or her emotions. She was, in her words, “Over the Moon!”

I want to thank everyone for their support. It has meant so much throughout this process, especially in the last week, where my doubts began to take over.

The next scan will be next week where we will be looking forward to hearing the heartbeats!

My Process is my Process..

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been a little under the weather. I think I am still recovering from traveling and remnants of Vegas, I guess. I'm feeling much better, so no need to worry. I wanted to give a quick shout out and congratulations to Michael and his beautiful daughter Isabella. What a beautiful video of him holding his daughter:
 http://michaels-surrogacy.blogspot.com/2013/01/ok-meg-ok.html

Truly beautiful! It is amazing because Michael has been a huge inspiration for me in pursuing this process with SCI. It is amazing that his child has finally come. I can only think about the very near days that I will be holding my children. What a joyous time that will be!

As Michael moves forward on his journey as a real father, I am again inspired and motivated by the many connections I have made through the blogosphere. So many people, both single fathers and couples have been so supportive and motivating. It feels like a real fraternity/sorority of sorts, since we are all going through the same thing.

Well, my beta level this past Monday were around 650 (week 3). It seems a bit lower than others but the doctor says to think I am in normal range, so I will go with that. My levels are doubling so I can be very optimistic about that (which is the most important thing). The clinic said that they will be doing another scan either tomorrow or Monday. I am hoping for sacs to be seen or present and beta levels over the 2500 mark! If I receive a report with those two things I will be happy. I made the cardinal mistake of looking up beta levels of others online (ala WEDMD), which gave me mini freak out moments. Huge mistake. I will never make that mistake again. My sister had to calm me down and make me promise not to look up any other beta levels of other surrogacy bloggers or of women in IVF forums until I hear back from the clinic. I have come to the conclusions that they are slow growers but will be picking up the pace in this week.


I will obviously let you all know how everything goes...

Lesson Learned: My process is my process. I cannot nor should I compare it with the process of others.

-Anwar

So Much Support!

Last night I continued my dating run. This time I went out with a guy I had been emailing for about two weeks named Emlyn. Interesting name, right? He’s Australian, 28, PhD student of Philosophy and teaches philosophy in St. Quentin Prison in his spare time. Really nice, fun, and funny guy. Gotta love a guy who responds the following way after I tell him I’m running 15 minutes late: “No problem. I have plenty of work to wade through while I wait. I’ll be the preppy-looking douchebag on the Macbook!” Love it. Needless to say, I walked up to him and said… “Douchebag???” That’s what you call breaking the ice….. =)

Cute, eh? Anyway, he paid for my go-to Starbucks drink – Carmel Apple Spice Cider, which was nice. I really enjoyed our conversations about travels, education (in America/Australia/Finland), languages (he’s fluent in Mandarin), pets, histories, mothers, passions, and his odd jobs he has taken as an adult student. We left date having laughed, thought, and expressed. He left the date wanting to walk with my dogs in a park this weekend. I thought this was sweet and nice. Depending on how things go I might invite him out this weekend to hang out with friends. We will see.

After the date, I came home and wanting to relax after my first day back from my Vegas trip. Before I began watching TV, I checked my Facebook and found a friend request from Rhea (the father of two who had given such great advice and energy to my decision to become a (single) father. Below you will find remnants of the touching FB chat I had with him:

Rhea T
• I so enjoyed my time speaking with you this weekend. I know I don't know you very well but I am THRILLED for you. It was fantastic connecting and I can't wait until the next time I see you! Congrats on your win this weekend. Hugs, Rhea Tay

Anwar White
• Girl, I was just telling my sister about our interaction. It was amazing and truly motivated me. Thanks for your energy and joy. It means a lot to me.

Rhea T
• No thanks necessary ... I find you and what you're doing amazing. I'm here for you if ever needed ... sounds a little crazy I know ... but I feel that we, gay fathers and fathers to be, need to help each other process and move forward with our families, keeping it positive for our offspring ... knowing the battles we've fought against our whole life and what we expect our little ones to battle as well ... Unfortunately, I feel, there will always be something or someone detracting ... but perhaps that's a conversation for another time. {tangent}

Anwar White
• Thank you, my sister. I will be hitting you up for sure! I'm not shy, please believe!

Rhea T
• LOL ... Gros bisous!

Rhea brought up a great point that I haven’t thought about(i.e. the challenges or prejudices of being a gay father or even a single father). What will that mean for my children and how will I overcome that and teach my children how to overcome it? All great questions…. questions I am currently thinking about. Beyond that, it was great to have his support and his willingness to put himself out there for a fellow gay father. I can’t wait to meet many more gay fathers. There was a SF Future Gay Dads meeting but I missed it because RC was in town that weekend and I was too tired to go. I promised myself I wouldn’t miss the next one though. BTW, Rhea’s children are bilingual (French and English). They go to a French immersion school (Yes, Mom, I’m not the only person doing this) and also his partner is French. What cracked me up is that his kids are starting to get fresh with him in French. I told Cyncere about this and told her that my children will be doing the same in German and to get ready now.

New update: I have decided to do the Aids Lifecycle. A new friend of mine Kevin, whom I met while hanging out with my bestie Francis, told me he has done the event 9 times and that I could use his bike. How amazing is that! That expense was the major thing that was deterring me from participating. I am so excited. I have made the decision to put basketball on the backburner while I train for this event. Craziness! Warning… my legs and butt are going to be AMAHZING by June! But seriously, I know it will be a life-changing experience.

Vegas winning and other stories of gambling pregnancy odds

What a great weekend! What happens in Vegas, definitely does not stay in Vegas! We won our basketball tournament.

My team played so well and kept calm and collected throughout our games all weekend. I’m super proud of us! I don’t think we had won a tournament in a while so it was good to get another trophy under our belts. These tournaments remind me of all the camaraderie there is in the league. Even though I have been doing these tournaments for the past 6-7 years, I always seem to meet some amazing guys and make tremendous connections with people.

There is a tournament in Chicago this April. I am not sure if I will make it, but this tournament exceeded my expectations. If this Vegas tournament becomes my last one, I will reminisce with a smile on my face.

A special moment I had this weekend was with Rhea, a legendary player who has been in the league off and on for nearly 20 years almost. He has 2 children, 4 and 5 years-old with his partner. My friend Jeff had, of course, mentioned that I will be a parent soon and that I should talk to him (he is so excited for these babies to come). Once I told him what I was doing as a single parent, he was soooo stoked. He was so encouraging and told me about his path to children. He was going to be a single parent as well but met his partner in the middle of the process. Apparently, he told his potential partner on the first date, that he wanted a family and kids, and , and I quote, “ Are you on board?” What balls! I wish I could be so up front and matter of fact about the process with men. I think I will be more upfront once I get to 12 weeks without complications.

Speaking of a mini emotional roller coaster ride, I got this email on Monday morning (while still drunk leaving Las Vegas):
Dear Anwar,
Greetings from SCI Healthcare...!!! We hope you are doing well. We would like to inform you that as per our schedule we have done a USG scan for Laxmi. Please find attached herewith her scan reports. We would like to inform you that Dr. Shivani has reviewed the reports and noted that " No sac seen ar present". With respect to the same, we will repeat her Beta HCG and will get back to you by tomorrow with the reports. We will keep you updated.

Ummmmmmmm, first of all, I’m gagging on the ‘ar’ typo! Second of all, What! I sent an email immediately asking if my Surrogate Laxmi De was still pregnant! I was under the impression that the expectation as to see a sac at this point. Well, so much ran through my mind. I wouldn’t say it was disappointment. It was more like shock and disbelief. In my heart of all hearts, it just didn’t seem right to me. In my head, I was saying to myself, “This is not how things are going to go.” Luckily, my sister, a mini expert on female biology mentioned to me that that was ok. After doing some more research I realized that sac are normally seen at the 6-8 week mark (we are only in week 3).

The next day I received the following email from the clinic:

Greetings from SCI Healthcare !! We would like to inform you that we have received her repeated beta HCG report which is 653.11. In regards to the same we are happy to inform you that Dr. Shivani found beta value within normal limit. Her beta value is rising as per our expectation. In regards to the same we have planned to do her scan within 6-7 days to check number of pregnancy sac. We wish you good luck ! We will keep you updated.

Still preggers! Whew! I told myself I would discuss every email with my cousin Monique, the new family nurse, as this will be her specialty soon enough. I didn’t know how much I wanted these babies until this point. I’m thankful.

Full Court Press (Off to Vegas)

Well this week has been a whirlwind. Most of the week, I was trying to catch up on rest from the fun filled weekend. And today I will be flying to Las Vegas for a basketball tournament. I’ll spare you all the drama that prevented 2 of our players going, but I am glad that I have the opportunity to go, compete, and spend time with dear friends. I know that when the kids come, I won’t be able to do many more of these tournaments in the future, so I’m trying to make the most of them now. Please believe I will let you all know all the messiness that happens this weekend. It is sure to be a doosy(sp?). Wish me luck! I feel great and have been playing well (as have my teammates) so I know we will do well.

Speaking of YOLO (You only live once), I have also been considering doing the Aids Lifecycle. Again, I’m trying to do things that I always wanted to do before the babes come. If you aren’t familiar, the Aids Lifecycle is a bike ride from San Francisco to LA in the span of 7 days. Every rider needs to raise at least 3000 dollars and train for the event. Although I really wanted to do it, I decided against it. The expenses were just too much in terms of time and finances. Training at least 3 days a week and having to get all new bike gear which would be close to 1000 dollars. I really don’t have the money for that as I am saving for when the babes come. Also I really only have time in my life for 2 sports right now and I want to continue to play tennis and basketball, especially because I am on the Board of Directors for each or the organizations.

So Cyncere did a really nice thing this week for me that really touched my heart. She gave me this card.

What she wrote in the card hit home so hard. She basically said that although we knew the babies were going to come we need to celebrate this moment and all moments big and small. I think I go through my life and want to accomplish my goals. I rarely sit back and revel in the achievements I have made. I just go on to the next goal I have to reach. This card and its message were definitely needed. =)

So now to the dating part of my life…

Last night I went on a date with Michael (for whatever reason I think his name is Kevin in my head). It went well. We had coffee and had some stimulating conversation about a variety of things. He is an owner of a bookstore (YOU’VE GOT MAIL, much?) so he reads a lot and is also an avid runner. Two things I am not a huge fan of. I think I will see him again but I don’t know if there was a huge sexual spark there. We will see…

So look who is putting on the full court press…. Last night I came home and had a box waiting for me.

FLOWERS! OMG. I have never received flowers before. I have sent many boxes to the women in my life but have never received them. It was a touching gesture from none other than Mr. Rob. As Cyncere asked last night.. “ So is he back in the race?”… I’ll never telllllll.

I am... therefore I date.

I’m still awaiting to hear back from the SCI Clinic but I know everything is going well. This blog post I wanted to focus on my life and what’s currently happening. I mean, I can’t talk about surrogacy all day, everyday, right? The new thing that I told myself this year is that I would be more open to love. So I recently, joined match.com right before the beginning of the new year. I was actually going to give the a gift subscription to a friend but realized that all the (unfounded) reservations he had about the site and taking the plunge, I had as well. Why would I give this gift to him and not to myself. So, I decided to take the plunge. It has been going well so far. I told myself that I would go on one date a week, which I think is totally doable.

The week before Christmas, I went on a date with this cute guy named Jeff, 6’3, 28, architect, lives in Sacramento. The date was cool. I drove up to Sactown and almost died a couple of times because the torrential rain literally had its way with my car for the hour I was driving. We ended up going to a Sacramento Kings game since we are both basketball fans. After that, he drove me around Sacramento and showed me around. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant and talked for a couple of hours. He was a nice good guy but there was no spark there. At the end of the date, we kissed, hugged and went our separate ways. We decided to be friends.

The next date I went on was in LA during my time at my Gma’s house Xmas week. I had been messaging back and forth with this guy named Rob. It happened that Cece and I were going to be in LA, and once I told Cyncere about the potential, she helped organize our schedule to make the date happen. Sometimes I think she wants to see me partnered up more than I do. Anyway, Rob and I met at the Beverly Center and had Pinkberry while walking around the mall. We talked a lot and had a really good chemistry about us. He is also 6’3, 43, landscape business owner, and really into sports. We had great conversations and at the end of our date we kissed (and he is a great kisser). At the end of our date we left it open and told each other that we would definitely see each other again. He actually wanted to come up to SF for New Years Eve but couldn’t get away from work, so we decided to postpone it until a weekend that worked for us both. We decided that the second weekend of January would be good.

The second weekend of January I went out with two guys I had been chatting with on Scruff (a gay phone app used anywhere from meeting new friends to hooking up). The dates with Jeff/Paul (early 40s) were just ok. These guys were more interested in telling me about their lives and had no interest in mine. Again no spark. Guys who don’t ask me questions about my life/experiences raise a huge ego red flag to me and I pretty much don’t ever contact them again. This was the case with these guys.

Last weekend Rob came up to SF. I picked him up and we got something to eat at my favorite food court… Emeryville Public Market. We then went to a Golden State Warriors game on Friday night. Below is us with our free hats:

The next day he ran some errands with me and we walked the dogs together. Then we went to my bball practice where he briefly met my bball friends. We later met up with my friends at the new Gay Sports Bar Hitops , where we watched both NFL playoff games. That was a ton of fun! We all got along great. Sunday morning we went to Glide Church with Francis; the space was beautiful:

and then brunch with Cece. Below you will see a pic of us waiting for our Chicken and Waffles at Brown Sugar Kitchen:

After that, he tried to turn up the full court MAN press and started fixing tons of stuff around the house, like my bathtub drain and my outside fence! Ohhhh, so this is how it feels to have a man around the house! Got it! Me like-y! We then went to Home Depot got new plants and took the rest of the afternoon redoing my small garden in front of my house. It looks gorgeous now. This was also the same weekend I found out that I was pregnant, which made things a little weird. I ended up telling him about the amazing news, which completely blew him away. He thought I would make an amazing father, which was very nice of him to say. He also said I was beaming when talking about it. I probably was!

Although he was a great, nice guy, I was unsure if I was completely attracted to him so I let him know that I would like to get to know him more, but that I would continue dating as this was a priority for me at the moment.

Tonight, I have a date with this guy on Scruff named Kevin (40, 6’2, Retail Business Owner). I will definitely tell you how it goes in the next post. Also, I have just joined Okcupid, which I absolutely love. I have been chatting with some interesting guys so I will probably be dating some guys from there as well in the near future. Stay tuned.

Ummm, I'm Preggers!

Wow, what a weekend. I cannot believe I am pregnant! No really, I can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel real. Perhaps because I am a bit removed from the process or maybe because I’m not showing =) This is definitely happening! I will be getting baby books tonight at Barnes & Noble. Everything is very real now. My time to research everything has started now. I am very excited, but my excitement is one of calmness and peace. There was no doubt in my mind that this day and result would come. It is a quiet confidence that I have with this entire process. When I told my Mom and Cyncere, they were excited, but emotional, they were not. I believe they also have this confidence in the process and what will be in 9 months.

I’m currently re-reading the Alchemist and a major theme of the book is omens. I truly believe in them. There have been so many in the last year regarding my children. On the day that the embryos were being transferred I saw two billboards. The first one said, “ Be a Dad today” and had a black man walking down the beach with his two sons. The second one had twins on it. I forgot what it said and I was in too much of a hurry to take a picture of it. But I took that as a sign that I will be having twins. I have always thought that I will have twin boys (well, it is on my vision board) but my Mom thinks (or wants) twin girls. Just last week, Cyncere had a dream that I had twin girls so now she thinks I will be having twin girls. Ahhhhh, you guys…. Craziness! I think girls will are lovely but just much more complicated. Hair, periods, boys… I can’t take it! I know one thing… If I were to have girls, I would do my best to ensure that they don’t subscribe to the BS gender roles in our society.

Anyway, I morphed specific sexes to see what a boy or girl could potentially look like. What the boy will look like ( I think he looks like Jaden Smith, what do you think?):

What a girl will look like:

Anyway. I have decided to expand this blog to all things going on in my life besides the surrogacy process. The next post will be about my dating experiences since joining match.com, my sports endeavors, and anything else that I think will be gagalicious!

-A

No Words... Heart Sings!

Dear Anwar,  

cOnGrAtULaTiOnS...!!!

We would like to inform you that as per our schedule we have done a Beta HCG test for Laxmi.

We are happy to inform you that her beta value is 54.41.

Please find  attached file for the same.

We would like to congratulate you as you are pregnant now.

We will now do a USG scan for her within a week to check the pregnancy sacs.

Once her scan will be done, we will get back to you at the earliest.

SCI wishing you good luck for this beautiful journey ahead.

With Best Regards,

Jyoti

SCI Healthcare

Cyncere ‘the Godmother’

My sister Cyncere has always been someone that has been very close in my life. I usually say to myself that our souls are intertwined.

It was kinda a no-brainer that I would ask her to be the godmother of my children.
Although I am 8 years older than she is, many people think we are twins and she is the older, which speaks to her maturity, grace, and poise.

She is a natural nurturer and a motherly figure to all of her friends. I noticed this while visiting her in Atlanta. Most of her friends ask her advice and she will probably be doing their hair or their makeup before a night on the town. She gives great advice, loves to empower others, and is a lot of fun. I am still in awe of her documentary where she chronicled the history of Black Lesbians (something that hadn’t really been done before). I will never forget the energy of the room and the appreciation of many Black Lesbians in the premiere showing of the documentary. She had given a voice to those who historically hadn’t had one.

I admire her ability to have a vision and to see it through. In 2011, our family came together for what we call Tamale Day, where the women of the family spent the entire day making hundreds of tamales for the family. It’s a tradition our Latina Aunt Helen brought to us. Sadly, this tradition fell by the wayside after she divorced our Uncle. Well, Cyncere wanted to bring this back and partnered with our cousin Monique to make this happen. It was a great success. She had brought all of our family members together again and continued an important tradition in our family.

She also has a very sensitive soul, whether she is crying over a recent bad dream she has had or an emotional episode of Downton Abbey or Parenthood. Her empathy and sensitive soul enables her to easily form bonds with a wide variety of people. It is her sensitivity that is her strength.

I can go on and on about Cyncere, but I just wanted to talk about some examples of why she is amazing.
Our relationship is part sibling and part best friend. We challenge each other to be our best selves. When I was doubting myself in applying to the best schools in the business school application process, she asked me a question I will never forget… “ What does your heart say?”All in all, I can just say that… she gets me. When I’m being moody or my tongue is a little sharper than it should be, she laughs in my face. Not many people can do that , and also put a smile on my face at the same time. We recently got a tattoo that represents our love for one another: infinite.

Thank You for your Support

So I just added a link to this blog to the closest people in my life. Most of them knew about the process I am going through, but some didn’t. I am touched and a bit overwhelmed by the support and love I have received from you all…. so thank you! Thank you so much. I am so utterly grateful for all of it. Everyone has been so great! I am happy to share this part of my life with you all. If you would like to be kept in the loop for sure about everything that is going on, please follow this blog (which can be found on the right hand side of this page).



With nothing but love,

Anwar

What a way to bring in the New Year!

As the year comes to an end, I can only be grateful and think about the lessons I’ve learned.


1) The Universe has and will always work in my favor

2) Everything that happens, happens for a reason

3) Be grateful for everything… everything

4) Value myself for the truly amazing person I am

5) To follow my joy and do the things that will make you happy

This was a year of transition for me. A year where I took full control of my life and began to find my inner peace. This is exactly why I was able to make this big decision to begin the surrogacy process (with no hesitation or doubt). It was such a natural decision/feeling I had, it felt like the right thing to do at this moment in my life.

I was reminded how right my decision was 10 minutes before New Years, when I received this email:

Dear Anwar,

We thank you for your email.
We would like to inform you that your embryo transfer has been successfully.
We will get back to you soon with the treatment summary which will give you the details for number of embryos transferred.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further queries.

With Regards
Jyoti
SCI Healthcare


Yes.
What an amazing way to close 2012 and begin the new year!

Happy 2013 to everyone.

My 2013 goal is centered around love:

Be more loving
Showing more love
Receiving more
Having more love
Feel more love

And I know my children will help me with this.

-A

Merry Christmas to All - Especially my Christmas babies!

The original date of the egg retrieval was 12/24 but I received an email saying that they wanted to wait a little longer to make sure there were the maximum amount of eggs retrieved. This didn’t really alarm me. I completely trust the clinic and I know they know exactly what they are doing.


That’s why I got this email the day after Christmas:

Dear Anwar,

Greeting from SCI Healthcare!!!
We hope you are doing fine.
We would like to inform you that your donor's egg collection has been done successfully today.
Please note that 17 eggs were collected during the egg collection and ICSI has been done.

Once embryo transfer is done we will get back to you soon with detailed treatment summary which will give you the details for number of eggs collected , number of eggs fertilized, number of embryos , number of embryos transferred, number of embryos frozen with their quality etc.
We will get back to you soon with the further updates.

With Best Regards,

Jyoti


17! OMG, are you serious, 17! ELATION!

That’s great… and no, I know what you are thinking… I refuse to be the next Octomom. I guess the normal amount is 10-15 eggs.

So ICSI had already been done! Great! ICSI is when the sperm is directly inserted in the egg to create the embryo, as opposed to IVF which lets the egg and sperm do their own thing in a petri dish. =)
What a great Christmas present! It topped off an already amazing holiday season. My sister Cyncere and I spent Christmas together. This year we opened presents on Christmas Eve while our Mom watched via Facetime (I love technology). I got a ton of dvds, socks, and underwear which are like my favorite things in the world. I was a very happy camper. It was also this Christmas that I asked Cyncere to my the Godmother of my children… and she said yes!

Pic of the front of the card:

Cyncere and I also went down to Oxnard to see our family and spend time with our Grandma Margaret (GMA). It was an amazing time where I not only got to see family, but tons of old friends, got a tattoo, and went on a date. So many things done in only 3 days. It was great! I am so grateful for everything in my life. What an amazing year it has been!

Its all starting to get a little bit real...

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…

India Pics

So my sister read my posts and called me out that I forgot to post my India pics... so here are a few of them...

Typical India Breakfast

Typical Lunch

Where I deposited!

Ummm eww.. not necessary thanks!

Where I stayed and where the clinic was! A nice part of Delhi. =)

There you go. My sister also commented on how rushed my blog seems at the moment. You are probably thinking the same thing. I guess I can explain this in two reasons. 1) I am playing catch up to where I am now in the process and 2) At this point, the process is very business oriented with tons of little details that must be taken care of. instead of bore you with these, I thought I would go over the more important things. Also, I believe that once I receive a confirmed pregnancy, you all will start to read more emotion in my words. -A