Hurry up and wait...

 

   Hurry up and wait seems to be the big theme with Surrogacy. I officially got all of my paperwork in one week ago today and I am still waiting to hear back.
     I have a doctors appointment Tuesday to get on the birth control pill that is part of the clinics protocol. I know it sounds silly you are trying to get pregnant why would you get on birth control. Surrogacy has a whole lot of complicated processes going on so I will not even pretend to know what is going on.
      I seem to be seeing so many more pregnant women now though. It is like when you are waiting to get pregnant you notice them everywhere! It sure doesn't help that my little sister and about 50 other people I am close to (ok like 3) are all pregnant. I am going crazy waiting! I can not wait to give this couple the baby they have been dreaming about!

     So what is going on in my life right now? I am planning my little sisters baby shower (so not helping with making wait in the surrogacy any easier)! I am excited that I have a niece coming this May. The baby shower is tomorrow (Saturday) so I have been very busy cutting out cute little monkeys and wrapping baby shower prizes. I have been dealing with so much hot pink and lime green "Mod Monkey" stuff I think I could do this in my sleep at this point. It has been fun though and I can not wait to see the look on my sisters face when she sees it all come together! I will make sure to come back and share pictures of everything once it all comes together!


    Have you even been in a Hurry up and wait situation? What did you do to keep yourself from going crazy from the anticipation?

The Prenatal Problem

     I have been having the hardest time finding a prenatal pill that I like. I figured I should leave a review of the ones I have tried so far... I will be trying more brands by the time this surrogacy is over but here are my unbiased, uncompensated reviews.

    I first tried the Spring Valley Prenatal Multivitamin Multimineral (but these are cheaper to buy at Walmart). I bought these first because they were cheap and I was in a hurry. They are not huge horse pills (well compared to other prenatal pills) so that is a plus! BUT these make me so unbelievably nauseous it is not even funny. 

    I am not even pregnant yet so I would not want to put these on top of morning sickness once I am pregnant. 

     The next prenatal pill I tried was Vitafusion Prenatal DHA and Folic Acid Gummy Vitamins These did not taste bad at all (in fact I may have ate an extra on some days) Then I realized I didn't read the label very well these didn't even have iron in them. 

    Most people are ok without extra Iron, but me not so much. I have a Iron deficiency so I would have to add a extra pill to remember every day and if I can't find a regular prenatal pill I like this might be my only option but as of right now I would like to not do that. Plus I hate the cherry flavor so I would end up with a bunch of cherry flavored gummies at the end of the bottle that I would just waste because I wouldn't take them. 

    Right now I am trying to give the One a Day Women's Prenatal with DHA These I will admit I do not like so much. I knew buying them that there were two pills to take daily, but I do admit I would rather have a all in one pill so that way I am not dragging around 2 pill bottles in my purse. 

    The pills are fairly easy to swallow and I am not feeling sick after taking them, but I am breaking out like a teenager (I heard this is a side effect of the DHA but don't quote me on that) and after I started taking these I have a almost constant metallic taste in my mouth that is driving me crazy. 

     So back to the drawing board I go... I have a feeling that in the next few months I am going to have a bunch of prenatal pills with only a few taken out of them laying around. If only I could find a prenatal pill sampler. If they don't already exist someone please make one and send one my way! 

    Also what prenatal pill worked best for you? I am open to any and all suggestions!

Paperwork Check!

     We seemed to have problem after problem getting the surrogacy paperwork ready to go.
     The first set of paperwork I filled out I sent through the mail and just my luck it never made it to the clinic.... Thanks USPS.
     The second set I was going to scan and Email to the clinic that way we didn't have to worry about them getting lost in the mail again. But my scanner/printer died....
     So we ordered a new scanner/printer and were just waiting for it to get here, when the snow storm hit. My pretty new scanner was still not here...
     Finally we got the printer and everything was going perfect, but me being the super smart lady I am could not figure out how to get the printer to scan to my computer... I could make a copy like no ones business but scan to my computer just was not working for me... FINALLY after way too much time I got my scanner to work the way I wanted it to. It was a lot easier than I was making it to be.
     So I get it all scanned and send it in and my ink didn't show up clear enough in the scans, So I had to go through all the paperwork and write over it in black ink. Then scan it all over again. At least scanning it this time took a lot less time because I knew what I was doing.
     BUT paper work is finally in and 100% accepted it all looks good! Now we are just waiting for the RE (reproductive endocrinologist) to get and go over my medical records and we will hopefully be ready to go!

Getting to know me!

Hello!!

     I  you have not already guessed my name is Shanda and I am in the process in becoming a surrogate for a pretty amazing couple. I will not be sharing much information on them in order to keep their privacy!
     I can say they are not from the United States they live in a country where surrogacy is not exactly legal there, because of the legal issues they have they have to use a surrogate from another country that is where I come in! I am going to bake their baby in my tummy for 9 months!

     Now for a little about me. My name is Shanda, I am married to the love of my life and we have two little girls Ellie 6, and Emma 4. I am a student going to school for a degree in Human and Family services. I have a very close very supportive family, and a wonderful group of friends who I can count on if I ever need anything.
     I love to dance! I danced and coached in high school, and would love to get back into dancing some time in the future. I also love to cook, one of my favorite things is finding a recipe and then tweaking little things here and there to make it better!
     I also am the family dessert maker, my red velvet cheesecake cake actually won a dessert contest in December! Baking helps me relax when I am stressed out, my first term at school I ended up with so many cupcakes I ended up bringing them in to every class and still had a ton left over.


Now for a few questions I have gotten asked so many times I might as well put the answers in one place.

Why are you doing this?
To be honest because I want to help a couple become a family! I have fairly easy pregnancies, and I love being pregnant! We are done having babies of our own but I would love to have another pregnancy so this would be a way for me to do that.

Are you still going to school?
Yes, I am determined to get my degree in Human and Family services! Right now I am going to school part time so I can give my family the attention they deserve while I do the surrogacy.

What about when you have the baby, or go on bed rest how will you do school then?
Well an amazing thing about college these days is there are TONS of classes I can take online. I plan on taking most of my classes online during the surrogacy so that if god forbid something goes wrong I can still do my classes!

Are you getting paid?
Yes, but I have to say that is not why I am doing this.

How much are you getting paid?
NONE of your business, The amount I am getting paid is what the parents and I both though was a fair number and that is all you need to know!

Do you think you are going to have a hard time giving up the baby?
No I do not. I am going into this knowing that this baby is not mine. I will not be setting up a nursery or buying baby gear to get prepared. I will be bonded with the baby of course BUT the baby is not mine and I know from the beginning that I just want to help out this couple!

Are you using your eggs?
No, I am what you would call a Gestational Carrier. The baby will not be biologically related to me in any way.

How are you going to end up pregnant?
I will be going through IVF (in vitro fertilization) So that is how we will transfer the Embryos to my uterus.

Embryos? How many are you transferring? Could you end up pregnant with like 10 babies?
We will be transferring two high quality Embryos. There is a chance I could end up carrying twins and if the Embryos split there could be more but the likely hood of that happening is low and we have a plan for if that were to happen.

How could you do that? I could never do that.
Ummm ok? Surrogacy is not for everyone and that is fine, but it is something I have thought about for a long time and I have done tons of research on. I can do it because that is the kind of person I am, there is nothing really else I can say to that.

Is your husband ok with this?
My husband is amazing and supports me in this. I would not be doing this is he was not ok with it.

You have to go 9 months without drinking how could you do that?
Well the truth is I don't drink much as it is so I am really not going to be missing anything. I can still go out with the girls, and it will be nicer on the wallet water and sprite is a LOT cheaper than drinks!

I am sure I missed some questions so if I missed one just leave in a comment and I will add it to the post!