Sidehop's Journal - Surrogacy and more...

[sidehop]

I finally decided to start this journal on surrogacy that my wife is currently going through. The journey began over a year ago.

 

Just some basic information on surrogacy:

 

Surrogacy basically involves a surrogate mother who intends to carry someone else's baby in two methods:

 

- Traditional surrogacy is where the surrogate mother's own egg and the donor (or intended male parent) sperm is used to produce a baby.

 

- Gestational surrogacy involves taking a donor egg and donor sperm and fertilizing them before being implanted inside a surrogate mother.

 

Various reasons determine which method is used; some reasons include the intended mother not able to get pregnant due to health reasons, intended parent's egg and sperm is not healthy or suitable for surrogacy, or the intended parents state/country they reside prohibits surrogacy.

 

For any surrogacy, if the mother want to become a potential surrogate, she needs to determine if it will be through a private agency/organization or directly with the intended parents. Often times, agencies handle clients from different countries where surrogacy may be illegal.

 

Aside from the pregnancy, the mother obviously needs to be healthy and can provide the best environment for the baby. With gestational surrogacy, she also needs to be aware of various medications and hormone shots (discussed later) that happens before the implantation.

 

In the end, the intended parents have a new life (or sometimes two or three!) which would have been difficult or impossible for them to have their own child.

[sidehop]

With that said, the surrogacy idea started about a little over a year ago. It was my wife's dream to be able to help couples that physically cannot produce their own babies. As a couple who cannot havir their own children can be a very difficult situation.

 

Initially deep down I was against it. The fear of unknown, the risks involved and when we will have a child between us. After long talks and weeks of discussing the matter as well as educating ourselves, we decided to go forward.

 

What we didn't expect was the amount of information and process that's involved to even find a potential parents wanting children. The private organization we contacted was helpful and we started to get an idea what it could be like.

 

The first few months of learning and understanding how surrogacy worked and dealing with this particular organization was quite daunting to say the least. In the end, the process did not work out in finding couples that were looking for surrogates. For my wife it was mentally and emotionally draining.

 

Aside from the paperwork, medical history of hers as well as mine, blood testing and standard health checkup was necessary. The surrogate mother have to be healthy, no STD's, cannot be smoking, doing drugs or drinking and have steady environment that provide safe and comfortable place for the mother to grow the baby.

 

One day, my wife was looking through various websites that catered to private surrogacy and contacted this particular couple that were looking to have their second child. Since the couple (intended parents) already had a surrogate child, they wanted to keep their future children's genetics related by using the same donor egg and sperm. Using my wife's egg was out of the question as she did not want to give up her own eggs. We decided to proceed in getting to know the couple.

 

Gestational surrogacy had more steps and consideration to be taken. Because the donor eggs and sperms have to be fertilized than implanted, it came down to two methods. One was to take the already frozen eggs and sperms from the original parents, thaw them and within days as long as they pass PGD (genetic testing of the embryos), the grown embryos are implanted inside the surrogate mother. Another method is to match the 'cycle' of the surrogate mother and the mother donating the egg for extraction. This involves hormone medication and shots that have to match with the cycle of the egg donor. When the egg extraction is completed, the egg and sperm is grown, complete genetic testing, and the healthy embryos are implanted few days after.

[Seraphim]

I think you are both so unbelievably kind to do this for another person. As a woman that can no longer carry her own children people like you and your wife are a blessing to the world. Thank you for your gift of hope and love to another family. You both have truly given them something very special in life.

[sidehop]

I think you are both so unbelievably kind to do this for another person. As a woman that can no longer carry her own children people like you and your wife are a blessing to the world. Thank you for your gift of hope and love to another family. You both have truly given them something very special in life.

 

Thank you Vic, after the whole process we found out her aunt was going through the same thing. Had we known that she was trying for almost four years in having a baby, my wife wouldn't have hesitated in carrying her and husband's baby. They are such wonderful people, we even talked about doing this after her current pregnancy.

[sidehop]

The couple we met were very wonderful people, for privacy reason I cannot discuss them in details but we all felt this will work out together through this journey.

 

Initially they had some frozen eggs and sperm that were ready to be thawed and grown before being implanted.

 

But before all that took place last year, let me explain how and what happened from the beginning.

 

Because where we live, surrogate babies cannot be delivered by law, we had to make plans in delivering the baby out of state. The clinic involved in the implantation also was in a different state. The intended parents were also few hours away from where we live. The communication with the clinic especially became frustrating very fast.

 

One thing we had to do all over were the blood testing and the process we've gone through. The number one concern was the psychological evaluation that had to be given by the psychologist that represent the clinic. This particular psychologist were known to reject a lot of intended surrogate mothers and play all sorts of mind games to determine if she is fit and have the best intentions. Knowing this fact, we all including the intended parents prepared mentally and emotionally. Without the approval of the psychologist, everything else would've gone down the drain.

 

Now some people really do this for money and the psychologist tries to test people for it. I won't get into the financial matters as my wife's intention was always for the parents and though medical and other expenses are paid, we aren't really getting any significant amount of money nor care as long as my wife can produce a happy healthy baby.

 

The initial process up until the implantation took months. Even then it wasn't guaranteed that the embryos would stick and keep growing.

[sidehop]

The first cycle began around summer of last year.

 

With gestational surrogacy, the surrogate mother is put on hormone pills first, followed by Lupron shots, then with Progesterone shots that continue through the first few weeks after the implantation takes place. This is all to simply trick the body and not reject the embryos once they are implanted.

 

Many woman find this stage the most difficult and often times they do not go forward with gestational surrogacy. The Progesterone shots that takes 10-weeks make many women very sick, including daily nausea and exhaustion.

 

The Lupron shots which are given on the stomach, is a small needle that's about the same as the needles used for insulin shots. My wife actually hates this than the Progesterone shots that are basically sesame oil injected with hormones that go in the muscles on the buttocks. The Progestrone needles are quite large which I believe are 22~25 gauge (vs. Lupron needles that are about 28~31 gauge) that looks like 3~4" in length since the sesame oil is thick.

 

Both the Lupron and Progestrone shots are administered by me which was quite frightening in the beginning to say the least as I've never injected myself nor anyone. I always joke that I could become a professional druggies overnight!

 

After the first cycle, the implantation and the pregnancy tests were positive within days after, we were very sure the embryos were growing rapidly.

 

Unfortunately, the first cycle ended after the six-week mark when the first Ultrasound confirms the pregnancy. The Ultrasound tech only saw a big blob and indicated this may be blighted ovum where the sack grows without the embryo. The second ultrasound confirmed this ending with a very disappointing cycle that my wife had to go through DNC to 'clean' the inside of her uterus.

 

This was about eight months ago when she was in recovery and talking with the intended parents in the next step to see how we can go about the process differently. My wife and the intended parents wanted to do a fresh cycle without doing any frozen embryos as the egg donor recently been producing multiples for other couples.

 

The new cycle began just couple months ago and recently we took another trip down to get the implantation completed.

[sidehop]

When the embryos are implanted, the surrogate mother is considered to be two weeks into the pregnancy.

 

Within four to five days after the implantation, the pregnancy tests (we buy the fast result type) become positive and the lines get stronger. Here I am going to Rite Aid and picking up boxes of pregnancy test kits. I should've grabbed bunch of yeast infection creams, latex gloves and jars of Vaseline just to throw off the cashier.

 

Progestrone shots are administered for ten weeks and we have about another four weeks to go. But the big day will be next week when the six week Ultrasound that will confirm the actual pregnancy. Steadily my wife's hormone level is going up and she's feeling more sluggish everyday. We're doing everything we can to make sure she's not feeling unnecessary stress and eating healthy.

 

Of course two embryos were implanted this time, one is a boy who was growing rapidly and a lone girl that survived the cycle. We're all crossing our fingers both the girl and the boy will keep growing. Twins of course will mean my wife will regulary come downstairs to eat at 2AM, which happened during the previous cycle, and then some! I told her we should probably get a mini-fridge for upstairs. She's probably eating more than I am already so we have a very good feeling the twins are growing unless they split for some reason for triplets or more which is always a possibility.

[metrogirl]

Sidehop, I just really want to say that this is such a lovely journal and it's very exciting to read. I feel like I am watching a documentary. I keep checking to see if you have added more.

[sidehop]

I'll try to update often Right now is a waiting game but focusing more on how my wife's feeling and doing a lot around the house. I was being the housewife all weekend with cleaning the house inside out, taking care of our daughter, cooking and just allowing my wife to relax. She does them all day when I'm at work so it was a nice change for her. It's also used as an excuse when I want to go for a ride for few hours on weekends.

 

Our daughter spent much of the yesterday up until 7:00PM last night even while we were watching a movie (Fast & Furious 4 lol...) she was out in the backyard that's now completely fenced in but being the nerve wreck I am about her safety in the town of 9,000 with almost no crime, I kept close watch on the little monster at the same time. More so of her little evil tendencies of digging near the fence sticking her arms in the neighbor's yard, eating grass and screaming "GRAWRRRRRRR" when she sees a...bird. Looks are really deceiving to the say the least.

 

It's becoming second nature in giving her the 'shot'. The Lupron cycle doesn't last long while the Progesterone shots takes just minutes for the preparation of my wife warming up her butt with a heating pack to loosen her muscles to me administrating the shot.

 

Now I cannot believe some mothers do this by themselves. We watched number of YouTube videos of women giving the Progestrone shots without any help, I for one could never stick myself with a needle! My daughter takes out her toy needle and will want a shot since she sees us doing this every night. She's so mesmerized by the whole deal while some nights she's freaking out because of the giant needle going into mommy's butt.

[sidehop]

My wife should get the result back tomorrow from her blood draw to see where the hormone level is. I would not be surprised if it's shooting off the chart.

[tiredofvampires]

This is a really interesting journal, sidehop.

 

My older sister (one year older) was a surrogate mother -- by the traditional technique. So it's rather fascinating to see the differences in procedure, and how much more is involved medically, bureaucratically, and I suspect even emotionally, in your case.

 

My sister's situation was one of a win-win: she had had longstanding reproductive pain and issues, and a doctor told her the only way she could significantly reduce them was to become pregnant. She knew she could not raise a child for many reasons, but her medical problem was taking such a toll on her life, she felt she really had no good alternatives but to hope that a pregnancy would do what the doctor said it would. She went through a few artificial inseminations at first with medical oversight and through sperm donation, going through rosters of descriptions of anonymous sperm donors (their physical traits, their cultural and educational background, even their careers!). But those never "took", and so finally, she started the home turkey baster method (not a turkey baster, obviously, but a medical syringe.) When that didn't work either, she went totally naturelle: basically, one of her friends agreed to become a FWB for this purpose. He was perfect for this, since he cared about her a lot and wanted to see her get better, but also he never felt he'd want children and didn't like them much, so he knew he could remain emotionally non-attached to his offspring.

 

I have to say, like you, at first I was very against this. For one thing, she didn't even have parents picked out, and what if she carried the baby to term without adoptive parents being found yet? She was already working with an adoption agency as a client who would be using their services once she was legitimately pregnant and due. But I was really, really worried about the unknown and the future of this, as it seemed like a lot of luck was going to have to come into play on cue for this not to become a disaster -- a kid being family-less, basically. I also wondered about the emotional impact, because she already had some significant psychological issues and depression. I know I was partly projecting onto her though, because I have always wanted children more than anything in the world, and I knew that it would be UNTHINKABLE for me to conceive a child, only to have it ripped out of my hands and taken away from me. I mean, I would never get over that as long as I lived, knowing myself. My mom was the only family member who sided with her decision, and finally after a lot of soul-searching, I realized I had to be supportive of this, too, for her sake and just pray everything would work out.

 

Well, several months in, a couple in her state was located by the adoption agency -- the mother had had a hysterectomy, so she wasn't even capable of producing eggs or anything. My sister reviewed them as candidates, and they matched up perfectly with the kind of people she was looking for. They met and hit it off really well, and the couple was overjoyed to think they'd be getting a baby from my sister.

 

So she went through a regular pregnancy, carrying a healthy boy to term as any biological mother. The parents were present at his birth (which was not in a hospital, and through a midwife). My sister nursed him a bit for a couple of days and then the parents took him home. Then she bought a breast pump so she could continue sending her milk (through a service that does this) to him, frozen. She did this for many months, so he could continue to receive breast milk from his biological mother.

 

Three years later, this couple decided they wanted a sibling for their son, and so my sister went through the same process again (only this time, her friend/FWB was a different guy -- though these guys know eachother and are on decent, friendly terms). And to everyone's delight, this time it was a girl! So technically, these kids are only half brother and sister, with only their mother's genes being the same. Again, she was delivered naturally with a midwife and the couple being present. They took along their now 3-year-old son, who they had prepared mentally by saying my sister had his new sister inside her tummy. He was very excited for this.

 

For some reason though, she didn't take to the breast milk the way the boy did, and seemed to have some allergy -- so they ended up using formula for her soon after.

 

Now, my nephew is going on 11 years old, and my niece, 8. And while everyone agreed that an open adoption was what they wanted from this experience, and philosophically they were paired with this couple partly for that reason, I've only seen their family a few times. The door is always open for contact, and there have been periodic visits over the years. My mom is really friendly with them, especially, and she always sends birthday presents and they share holiday updates.

 

So with a sigh of relief, in retrospect, I have to say...this was a blessing. A total miracle of a blessing. As promised, my sister's reproductive pain got much better. This family feels they have the best kids in the world, and are fabulous, stable, loving parents. I couldn't be happier for everyone. (The fathers are both much less in touch with the family, but they're not completely forgotten either. The second father was a little more bonded emotionally to the idea of having a child, but all parties have respected the boundaries.)

 

The only downside, to be very honest...is that my sister has never completely recovered from the grief she had when the babies were taken away. Which she had prepared herself for, and which I worried about. She knew it would come with the territory, but it's been painful for her, even though now she accepts it and has moved on in her life...there's still that sadness.

 

Which I think would be much different in the case of your wife. First, because she's starting off a lot healthier psychologically and physically than my sister (who, like me, has multiple health issues). And your wife has an amazing support in you, as a partner. I think it must be drastically different to be a mother carrying a baby that SHE has conceived with her own eggs, vs. serving just to incubate/gestate another couples' egg and sperm. I think if I were physically able to, emotionally I could do what your wife is doing, but NOT what my sister did. So there is a really mysterious and mystical element there that makes the two types of surrogacy quite different, it seems, from a creature instinct perspective.

 

I really hand it to you both to go through so much formality and bureaucracy for this venture. As you can see, in my sister's case, all she needed was an adoption agency to try to match her with a couple she would want to adopt to. She didn't have to qualify by some psychological evaluation, she didn't have to do anything invasive or take hormones -- it was just an agreement between her and the adoptive parents.

 

Which makes me kind of wonder about your state law prohibiting surrogate birth. Like, what if someone just decides to bear a child and give it to someone else who wants it, in adoption? How can they possibly enforce anything about that? I won't go political here, especially since you're a mod, lol, but I'll just say that it seems these decisions should be up to the parties involved. I don't even see where they can draw a line between what my sister did and what your wife is doing, except for a few technicalities.

 

I also don't know how you'd know the children your wife is carrying are a boy and girl yet! They are only embryos, so their sex is not yet formed!

 

Anyway, I hope this wasn't too involved about my own situation -- I just thought since this is such an unusual topic, you might be interested to hear about another surrogacy story that was done a bit differently, and some of the differences. I think the most stark difference one being that your wife is not a MOTHER to these babies -- and therefore, will not have those same bonding and attached feelings. Whereas my sister was one, biologically at least. I wonder if your wife will do the breast milk thing, too? Since it's so healthy for babies to breastfeed.

 

Anyway, this is such a tremendously unselfish thing for her AND you to do. You're incredible to do this, as a partner. Lesser men would have all sorts of issues about this. I can't even imagine going through all the physiological tampering she needs to deal with to achieve this, but it's nothing short of amazing.

 

I'll be interested to see how this moves along. I hope her hormones are high and juicy!

[HouseKitten]

This is pretty different from the usual threads but I'm enjoying it - I hope everything goes well for you and your wife Sidehop! Looking forward to hearing more

[sidehop]

Thank you for the story TOV! I honestly never heard of the open adoption until very recently. It's one thing for us guys to learn about pregnancy, then throw in the surrogacy and whole the process, I'm quite amazed how a precious life can be produced.

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your sister though, that's a tough one and it has to be completely natural for any mother to give away part of her life; probably the reason why my wife never wanted to see this child who has half of her genetics.

 

Which makes me kind of wonder about your state law prohibiting surrogate birth. Like, what if someone just decides to bear a child and give it to someone else who wants it, in adoption? How can they possibly enforce anything about that? I won't go political here, especially since you're a mod, lol, but I'll just say that it seems these decisions should be up to the parties involved. I don't even see where they can draw a line between what my sister did and what your wife is doing, except for a few technicalities.

 

I didn't get into the whole details there but there are written contracts, lawyers involved and everything is laid out of the what if's including miscarriage, and everything from start to finish.

 

As far as the delivery goes, because it's prohibited in this state (I won't go into details here), we already have a clinic accross the state line that will handle the delivery. I only have this imagination of when that day comes, we jump in the car and fly down to the clinic which is about 20 minutes from here.

 

I also don't know how you'd know the children your wife is carrying are a boy and girl yet! They are only embryos, so their sex is not yet formed!

I believe there are number of methods but as far as I'm aware during the genetic testing process they could tell the sex and said to be 99% accurate.

 

Healthy egg retrieval is one thing, genetic testing is another, and by the time the embryos are grown, the selected embryos for implantation become very limited. Luckily we had plenty of boys and one surviving girl and decided to go with boy and a girl. Of course they can split but generally two is implanted and sometimes three.

 

Anyway, I hope this wasn't too involved about my own situation -- I just thought since this is such an unusual topic, you might be interested to hear about another surrogacy story that was done a bit differently, and some of the differences. I think the most stark difference one being that your wife is not a MOTHER to these babies -- and therefore, will not have those same bonding and attached feelings. Whereas my sister was one, biologically at least. I wonder if your wife will do the breast milk thing, too? Since it's so healthy for babies to breastfeed.

 

Anyway, this is such a tremendously unselfish thing for her AND you to do. You're incredible to do this, as a partner. Lesser men would have all sorts of issues about this. I can't even imagine going through all the physiological tampering she needs to deal with to achieve this, but it's nothing short of amazing.

 

I'll be interested to see how this moves along. I hope her hormones are high and juicy!

My wife will deliver the baby and the intended parents will take the baby (if not babies!) hope the same day. They are great people, it's been a quite the journey already and just crossing our fingers we can give them the great news by end of next week.

 

We can only help so many people at a time but hoping and if my wife is still healthy and able to carry her aunt's baby I'm sure we'll be going through the same process. Her aunt's story is short of amazing. There are people out there that just deserves to have and raise a child but just cannot physically. Long story short her aunt tried for so many years that by the end, she simply put it, "I wanted to hang myself". We never knew the autn and her husband been trying to have a child all this time. If not us, we're hoping she'll find a suitable surrogate to create a life for them! She even started a support group locally to meet once a week with mothers and intended parents that are looking to go through surrogacy.

 

It's definitely not your typical Journal, some have asked it would be a great idea and while we keep track of the progress I figured why not, it would be an experience to share

[sidehop]

Good news!

 

hCG level is quite high for the five week mark at over 4,000 which was double the previous cycle. It means nothing until the ultrasound confirms the heartbeat but even the nurse told my wife that there's a possibility the two embryos that were implanted, one of them could've spilt making it a triplet. Both embryos may just be growing rapidly.

 

No matter the result we're hoping the intended parents will have at least one child if not two (or three). There may be an early ultrasound due to the very positive result. My wife is feeling sluggish but very relieved at the same time. She's feeling 'something' is going down there and wasn't like the last cycle.

[Catdancer]

Woo Hooo!! I'm glad that things seem to be going well.

 

Actually I just wanted to subscribe so that I could keep up with your and her progress.

[sidehop]

The nurses are now talking about how it's 'possible' that there maybe just more than two since the hCG level is so high. Three is possible though we are hoping that two are taking.

 

At this point my wife is eating more than I am. If twins, I'm sure she'll be eating around the clock! We had some ice cream tonight and of course she wanted a pizza afterwards. A bit of a junk food night but when a pregnant woman is hungry, you let her eat or feed her!

[sidehop]

Lately I keep hitting the 'right' spot when giving my wife the Progesterone shot. No bruising but a bit of blood comes out which was fairly rare. No problems although sticking someone with a needle is still a bit uncomfortable.

 

I had to tell my wife until the needle is in the same position after it's taken out, DON'T MOVE. So afraid she'll swing her arm and pierce herself with it About four more weeks of the shots and we're done.

 

We are pretty convinced at this stage she has the two embryos growing at fast pace. She's never seem this tired and she definitely ate more than I did yesterday. We ended up at Friendly's tonight. Waffle fries was on her mind the entire night. Took a trip down with our daughter and satisfied her cravings.

 

There are things you can't say NO to and pregnant woman is being one of them!

[BellaDonna]

This is a very interesting journal.

 

Wow- you even give her the shots... that's supportive!

 

When will they be able to figure out for sure, how many babies she is carrying?

[sidehop]

The Ultrasound will confirm the pregnancy which will be the 'official' confirmation that she is in fact pregnant. We are all excited, all that my wife's been talking about is this 'weird scratchy feeling' down there every time she sits. That didn't happen with the first cycle so we are just keeping our fingers crossed that by mid next week we can give the intended parents the best news

 

She's downstairs roaming around the kitchen right now looking for food. Fifth week and you could already see the stomach bulging out a tiny bit! I'm assuming the body is starting to storing more fat and considering my wife's figure (the French in her?) allows her to carry large babies it will be interesting.

 

Twins are highly likely, I believe the last two different parents that had the same donor had multiples. Of the two embryos implanted, it'll be interesting to see if any of the split. This cycle is definitely different from the first in many ways.

 

From the time of the implantation until the first six weeks are critical on the way she goes about her day. She cannot lift more than 30 lbs (which includes our daughter), twist her body suddenly or forcing in any direction, less time on her feet and try to avoid unnecessary stress as much as possible. In that sense the last five weeks been packed but great to see we made it this far with no issues other than her exhaustion.

[sidehop]

Will update mid-week on the Ultrasound results

[sidehop]

What a crazy morning.

 

Last week one of my wife's good friend offered to come by to watch our daughter so we didn't have to wake her up and get her ready. I normally would go to work right after with these routine Ultrasound but just two of us going in would make things easier.

 

This morning though her friend just does not show up! It wasn't a huge deal as if anything I can stay home and wait for my wife to come home. By 6:40am rolled around I told her she should just go by herself. Of course right when she was about to close the door she says "oh she's here!" We both run out the door and find out she was stuck behind the school bus.

 

We're on the way, two vehicles following each other, and head to the clinic. We're pretty anxious at this point to see if any embryos kept growing or if any of them split. My wife's fear was that she will only see a blob like the first cycle or multiples.

 

As soon as the Ultrasound begins (internal), we could see a big blob and a tiny bean shaped object on the screen. We were thrilled! The Ultrasound tech says "yep there's ONE heartbeat!" My wife just wanted to go so she can call up the intended parents. I'm very very VERY happy for them, after all they've gone through, second cycle involving the original egg donor to fly out and worst of all the waiting period for each stage.

 

Now is just a matter of time in keeping a very healthy and low-stress environment in the house. A lot of time is being spent at home cleaning and getting things done ahead of time on my part although some days we are both so exhausted we decide to do absolutely nothing (which is kind of hard with our three year old daughter).

 

A lot of happiness, excitement and planning a lot ahead of schedule at this point.

[BellaDonna]

So there is one baby. I'm sure the intended parents will be thrilled.

 

Once a heartbeat is seen at the 8 week mark the risk of miscarriage reduces significantly, and of course at 12 weeks it reduces even more.

[sidehop]

Once a heartbeat is seen at the 8 week mark the risk of miscarriage reduces significantly, and of course at 12 weeks it reduces even more.

 

That's good to know. It's probably a boy as he was very healthy from the very beginning at the time of transfer (5-days old) and my wife is just exhausted craving meat and food all day.

 

The baby will be fed well and healthy as my wife is very health conscious but all the other things that would impact to her in any negative way is something we're trying to reduce.

 

I guess the real fun begins now, she's very sensitive to smell already, cooking bacon in the morning and not airing out the place was a big mistake! I got a lecture about that last night lol...

[sophie274]

That's good to know. It's probably a boy as he was very healthy from the very beginning at the time of transfer (5-days old) and my wife is just exhausted craving meat and food all day.

 

The baby will be fed well and healthy as my wife is very health conscious but all the other things that would impact to her in any negative way is something we're trying to reduce.

 

I guess the real fun begins now, she's very sensitive to smell already, cooking bacon in the morning and not airing out the place was a big mistake! I got a lecture about that last night lol...

 

Ha ha ha, my mother HATES the smell of meat in the morning, and when I'm at home I get a BIG lecture if I ever decide I want some bacon. She hates it so much it wakes her up!

 

Great news! So excited to hear there's a heartbeat, and I'm a little relieved for you guys that it's just one. I was worried your wife might start eating you, the way she was going. It's just so wonderful that you're doing this for another family, and I'm glad the universe is rewarding you by having things go smoothly so far. It sure puts my "charitable donations" to shame! I'm sure your wife will be glad when you're done with the shots.

 

TOV, what a story about your sister. I'm quite curious as to what this reproductive problem that could only be cured with pregnancy was. Gosh, I can't imagine what I would do if a doctor told me that. What a position to be in. I'm happy to hear that it went well, but sad to hear your sister still grieves over those children. Is there any chance that she'll have children of her own (or does she?)?

[BellaDonna]

TOV, what a story about your sister. I'm quite curious as to what this reproductive problem that could only be cured with pregnancy was

 

I know that some women with severe endometriosis are told that pregnancy and birth can help the condition.

 

I guess the real fun begins now, she's very sensitive to smell already, cooking bacon in the morning and not airing out the place was a big mistake! I got a lecture about that last night lol...

 

Hopefully the morning sicknes with pass once she is done with the first trimester. Some women have it for the whole pregnancy. Keep your fingers crossed!