Positive!!!!

The test was positive. The beta HCG was 109. Wooo hooo.

She will have another test on Friday to make sure it is doubling like it is supposed to. I am remaining cautiously optimistic. But really I am thrilled.

I will post more when I know more.

Blood draw

They drew Tierney's blood at 8:30 her time. We should know in a few hours. If it is positive the first sonogram should be in about two weeks. I am going to try to go to Little Rock, Ark to be there for that. Still waiting, waiting, waiting........

Update......looking good

My awesome carrier Tierney said some food smells are making her nauseous. She did a test this morning and it was negative. But, she did one tonight and it looked like two lines which would make it positive. It is still a bit early. The official blood test is on Wednesday.

When I was doing fertility treatment I tested a lot. It can make you crazy though. There is a whole website dedicated to the different types of home pregnancy tests. It is http://www.peeonastick.com/ if anyone is interested.

I will update when I know more. I am sure Tierney will test again to see if the lines get darker. waiting, waiting, waiting........

Waiting......

The waiting continues. I do have to say I think the waiting is a bit easier this time than it was with my 8 ivfs, 9 iuis and 1 fet. I think it is a little easier because I am not trying to decide if every little twinge I feel is anything. Since it is not inside me I can't feel it but it will still be upsetting if it doesn't work. It has taken so much to get to this point. I started the surrogacy process in February. It has taken until now to get to transfer the embryo. If it doesn't work we will do a frozen embryo transfer (fet) but I am hoping to find out it did work by Christmas. The test is on Wednesday.

Julianna and I went to see the Nutcracker at Hofstra yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Julianna LOVED the ballerinas. She got a bit antsy just before the end but we did have a great time.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season!

Embryo Transfer Completed!

Well, the embryo has been transferred. They called me just before to discuss the embryos. None of them were perfect. A few were just under perfect. They asked me again if I wanted to try two. I did think about it for a minute but decided to stick with one. They froze two yesterday and three more today. The rest stopped developing. That is normal. They tend to weed themselves out. So I have 5 frozen embryos if this doesn't work. If it does work I will find people to adopt the embryos. I do not want to destroy them.

We will find out if it worked in 8 days. My carrier said she may test early. I hope she does.

Here is a picture of the embryo. It is a 5 day blastocyst. I think it really looks a lot like Julianna did at that age. She has changed a lot since then though. We will know before Christmas. It is pretty exciting.

Things moving along

Today is our embryo transfer. As of Friday there were 11 embryos growing. They are going to transfer the best one into my gestational surrogate today. She made the trip from Arkansas to Texas safely. We are all excited that today is finally the day. They will call me just before the transfer to talk about the embryos and give me one last chance to decide on transferring one or two. I am firmly on the side of one. One healthy baby is best in my opinion. That will reduce the chances of complications and premature babies. I am hoping it works. I will know before Christmas.

We have been enjoying the season. On Saturday we went to breakfast with Santa along with Grandma and Pop- Pop. Sunday we went to the children's party for my job. Julianna had a ball and couldn't believe that Santa knew to give her the Rapunzel doll and horse that she wanted.

I know I am feeling better because I braved climbing up to the top roof on my house to get lights up there. I am not as spry as I used to be but I still managed to do it. Our house has tons of lights and Julianna loves it. Of course the roof will probably be a solid sheet of ice when it is time to take them down, then I will find out how much balance I have.

I still have residual issues from the breast cancer treatment. I still have the hernia and that will have to be fixed at some point. I still have neuropathy and some GI damage. I still do not have eyelashes. However, they are all things I can try to ignore and move on. My ovary scan showed a cyst on my ovary and fibroids in my uterus. It does not appear to be ovarian cancer or a metastasis of the breast cancer. I still have to go to a gynecological oncologist. I would still like to have my ovaries removed. I will see what they say.

I am thrilled that Julianna should have a sibling at this time next year. I had so many issues with the idea of her being alone. I know everyone says she will be fine. I am sure that is true. She doesn't have the issues, I do. She is also very happy about the idea of a new baby. She would prefer a sister. I explain that she could get either a brother or a sister but she is sticking to sister.

Keep your fingers crossed for a successful transfer!