My apologies for the radio silence. Things have been a little crazy and some stuff was up in the air, but I'm back. :)
I had my medical screening on October 3. It went great. I flew into LAX the evening of the 2nd and stayed with a friend, Jackie, who has been a surrogate herself (and also happens to be a doula). She went with me to the medical screening, I was happy to have her input and companioinship. :)
The morning of the 3rd, we went and met a friend of mine for breakfast (GREAT start to the day). Then, Jackie and I went to the fertility clinic. I fell in love with Dr. Ringler and his staff. Professional and knowledgeable, yet friendly and courteous. Dr. Ringler was very personable and happy to patiently answer my questions. The saline ultrasound went great. I didn't feel any cramping when the saline was injected but inserting the catheter inside my cervix was mildly uncomfortable. Still nothing comparable to giving birth though. Dr. Ringler said my uterus looks "picture perfect". My nurse coordinator went over the medication protocols and gave me a lab order for my husband to get his bloodwork done at a lab here at home. Jackie and I had a lovely lunch and then it was time for me to go back to the airport and return home.
Before too long, I heard back that my IP's doctor in their country wanted me to have a specialized bloodtest done to check my HLA-type (a different way of blood typing than the typical A, B+, etc.). I had to get that test done at the local lab, I can't remember whether I went to Lab Corp or Quest Diagnostic, I think it was Lab Corp. Anyways, a couple of weeks of waiting ensued. I finally heard back that my HLA-type[1] was not the type he wanted me to be as he was concerned that my HLA-type might result in my body rejecting their embryos. Sadly, we had to say good-bye WRT surrogacy. We parted on good terms though.
I thought I would be a lot more upset but when it came down to it, I realized that there's nothing anybody can do to change a blood type. I'd be upset if it were an issue of disagreeing on contract items or having a fight, but this is something that makes it apparent that our match was just not meant to be. I wish them all the best and hope they are able to welcome a baby (or babies) soon.
My agency was able to get me matched again very quickly since Dr. Ringler had totally medically cleared me and with my new IP's, we've been able to just go straight into contracts. :) I actually just got off the phone with my attorney after reviewing the changes I was requesting to have made to the contract. She's emailing the contract draft and requests to the attorney for the IP's and hopefully we'll hear back by the end of the week. They're international so that makes for potential for it to take a little longer than in they were here in the US.
So, that's where I'm at. Matched, medically cleared, and hoping to get legal clearance soon (aka: everyone agrees on and signs the contracts). Once the contracts are out of the way, the clinic will make a med schedule and send me the meds I'll be taking. We will be transferring frozen embryos so I won't have to get sync'ed up with anyone else's cycle the way I would if it were to be a fresh transfer.
[1] I *think* HLA type is what their doctor was worried about. I heard the term haplotype used by my nurse coordinator too and I'm still not terribly sure if there's a difference between the two. I'm pretty sure it was HLA-type though. If you're confused, you're right there with me because I'm still not totally sure I'm 100% clear on what he was looking for.
I had my medical screening on October 3. It went great. I flew into LAX the evening of the 2nd and stayed with a friend, Jackie, who has been a surrogate herself (and also happens to be a doula). She went with me to the medical screening, I was happy to have her input and companioinship. :)
The morning of the 3rd, we went and met a friend of mine for breakfast (GREAT start to the day). Then, Jackie and I went to the fertility clinic. I fell in love with Dr. Ringler and his staff. Professional and knowledgeable, yet friendly and courteous. Dr. Ringler was very personable and happy to patiently answer my questions. The saline ultrasound went great. I didn't feel any cramping when the saline was injected but inserting the catheter inside my cervix was mildly uncomfortable. Still nothing comparable to giving birth though. Dr. Ringler said my uterus looks "picture perfect". My nurse coordinator went over the medication protocols and gave me a lab order for my husband to get his bloodwork done at a lab here at home. Jackie and I had a lovely lunch and then it was time for me to go back to the airport and return home.
Before too long, I heard back that my IP's doctor in their country wanted me to have a specialized bloodtest done to check my HLA-type (a different way of blood typing than the typical A, B+, etc.). I had to get that test done at the local lab, I can't remember whether I went to Lab Corp or Quest Diagnostic, I think it was Lab Corp. Anyways, a couple of weeks of waiting ensued. I finally heard back that my HLA-type[1] was not the type he wanted me to be as he was concerned that my HLA-type might result in my body rejecting their embryos. Sadly, we had to say good-bye WRT surrogacy. We parted on good terms though.
I thought I would be a lot more upset but when it came down to it, I realized that there's nothing anybody can do to change a blood type. I'd be upset if it were an issue of disagreeing on contract items or having a fight, but this is something that makes it apparent that our match was just not meant to be. I wish them all the best and hope they are able to welcome a baby (or babies) soon.
My agency was able to get me matched again very quickly since Dr. Ringler had totally medically cleared me and with my new IP's, we've been able to just go straight into contracts. :) I actually just got off the phone with my attorney after reviewing the changes I was requesting to have made to the contract. She's emailing the contract draft and requests to the attorney for the IP's and hopefully we'll hear back by the end of the week. They're international so that makes for potential for it to take a little longer than in they were here in the US.
So, that's where I'm at. Matched, medically cleared, and hoping to get legal clearance soon (aka: everyone agrees on and signs the contracts). Once the contracts are out of the way, the clinic will make a med schedule and send me the meds I'll be taking. We will be transferring frozen embryos so I won't have to get sync'ed up with anyone else's cycle the way I would if it were to be a fresh transfer.
[1] I *think* HLA type is what their doctor was worried about. I heard the term haplotype used by my nurse coordinator too and I'm still not terribly sure if there's a difference between the two. I'm pretty sure it was HLA-type though. If you're confused, you're right there with me because I'm still not totally sure I'm 100% clear on what he was looking for.
