Monday, October 14, 2013

Surro Files - Break Out The Sticks!

Not a whole lot going on this past week, but the fun does start tomorrow!  Tomorrow I get to break out the pee sticks!  Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK) sticks that is.  OPK sticks look exactly like pregnancy test sticks, only instead of telling me if I'm pregnant (obviously not), they will tell me when I'm going to ovulate.  Right before ovulation your body will have a luteinizing hormone (LH) surge telling your body to release an egg.  Generally this surge will happen about 24-48 hours before you are going to ovulate.  So tomorrow is day one of testing for the LH surge.  I don't expect it will come till next weekend at the earliest, but you just never know what your body may or may not do.  Knowing what my body has done in the past, I know my surge is really quick.  Therefore I plan on testing once a day from Tuesday - Friday, but starting Saturday I'll start testing twice a day so I don't miss the surge.  That's my biggest fear... that I will miss the surge.

So why is this surge so important you ask?  I mean, we're not using my eggs anyways, so why is it important when I'm going to ovulate.  Well, the reasoning is this...  Even though we are not using my egg, we are doing a natural cycle, so we're relying on my body to produce all of the hormones needed instead of taking pills or doing shots to give me the hormones.  In order to rely on my body to make the hormones, we have to time everything perfectly as if I was getting pregnant the old fashioned way.  Once I have my LH surge, I will go in for an ultrasound and labs to confirm ovulation 1-2 days later.  After that we will transfer Belle and Adams's 5 day old embryos exactly 5 days after I ovulate.  This ensures that my body and hormones will be right where they need to be for the stage that the embryos are at.  It's all really pretty simple, yet amazing at the same time!

Today I went for an awesome massage!  Got a great deal on Groupon.  $30 for a 60 min massage!  Awesome!!!!!  I was in heaven!  On a bummer note though... I just found out that the blood lab lost my blood from last week and I have to go in again today to give them some more.  Boo!!!  If you want to know why that sucks so much, just ask the blood draw girls at the lab.  I seriously go in there every week and each time I have to close my eyes, breath deeply, and I sweat up a storm.  LOL!  We just laugh about it now and wonder how I got myself into surrogacy if I'm this scared of needles.  I'm sooooooo thankful that we're doing a natural cycle!  That's all I have to say.

So that's where we are right now.  Peeing on sticks and waiting for lines.  Other than that I'm just trying to stay calm, take my vitamins, keep my circulation going, exercise, and think positive thoughts.  We will do this!!!!!!

Don't forget to check out my "Surrogacy" tab at the top of this page to catch up on any posts you might have missed

*Some of the names in this post have been changed to protect the identities of those involved in this journey*

1 comment:

Thanks so much for taking the time to show your support with a comment! I LOVE reading all of them and will try and answer any questions that you might have. :)