12-weeks Down!

On Monday (July 27th) we had our 12-week ultrasound and our first appointment with our OB. 12-weeks is a big pregnancy milestone, since the risk of miscarriage greatly decreases at this point because all the baby's major systems have been formed at this time in the pregnancy. We are breathing a little easier now!

We were all (me, Chris and Kira) a bit nervous about the appointment because we had gotten comfortable with our fertility doctor, Dr. Sahakian, and now had to start a new relationship with the OB, Dr. Poliakin. As soon as we got into the examining room (well, after Kira completed the MOUNDS of required paperwork), our fears melted away. The nurse was super friendly and as it turns out both she and the doctor are from New York. That created an instant connection! They spent a lot of time with us (the appointment lasted from 2:30 - 4:30 PM) and answered all our questions. The doctor took GREAT ultrasound pictures, including several 4D images (the baby looks a little like an alien in the 4D pics but they are super cool!) and gave us each a copy of one of the books he's written. It was a really positive experience.

The baby looked GREAT! On Monday, we were exactly 12 weeks pregnant but the baby actually measured at 12 weeks 4 days! Looks like he/she is going to be a tall little boy/girl! During the ultrasound the baby was very active and we caught him/her sucking their thumb several times. It was sooooooo cute and sooooooo amazing. It's hard to believe that in 6-months the little baby we are watching on the screen will be in our arms. Wow.......

Kira is still battling the morning sickness/all-day sickness that she's been dealing with since about week 5. It's been a bear, made even more challenging by the fact that she has a 2 very active kids to keep up with (3-year old Liam, and 1-year old Ellie). She has the best attitude about it though and knows that this is all part of the process and WILL end soon. Dr. Poliakin gave her a prescription for medication to help with the nausea, etc. so we are hopeful that help is on the way! Hang in there Kira....you're the BEST!

Kira, her kids and her mom are coming out to visit in a couple of weeks! They are going to fly to NY from the west coast and we will spend about a week together on Fire Island. Kira has never been to NY so it should be a great trip. We will make sure she gets plenty of time for some much needed R & R and know that the kids and her mom will really enjoy the beach, pool and beauty and serenity of Fire Island. 

Chris and I continue to be grateful and thankful to be on this wonderful journey together. It has been an amazing experience to share together and has reinforced for us just how much of a team we are. I could not imagine doing this with anyone else and am so thankful for my wonderful husband and the family we are creating together. 

We are in awe of this process and continue to pray that all continues to proceed positively for everyone. Please keep Kira, the baby and us in your prayers and thoughts.

Love and light to you all!

Graduation pics

Graduation

Yesterday, we had our 10-week ultrasound and it went great! The baby looks good and measured at 10-weeks, 2 days so he/she is growing a bit ahead of schedule. As I've mentioned before, each time you go in there's a little anxiety in anticipation of what you'll see so seeing the baby growing and hitting all the benchmarks is really a BIG relief!

Yesterday was also our last appointment with our fertility doctor, Dr. Vicken Sahakian. He has been with us since we started our journey with our initial medical screenings. He has been amazing and though we are THRILLED to be moving forward to the care of our Obstetrician, we will miss seeing Dr. S every couple of weeks. Thanks to Dr. Sahakian for all his help and support!

Kira is battling some pretty intense morning sickness but is handling it like a trooper. She never complains and is staying positive as she waits for it to pass. Generally, it disappears around the 12 - 14 week period so we all have our fingers crossed! We are really thankful to Kira for her positive attitude and are saying our prayers that the m/s passes sooner rather than later! 

We are looking forward to our first appointment with our OB on Monday, July 27th which is also the END of the 1st trimester! After that Kira will only be seeing the doctor once a month.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support! Keep them coming!

Hugs!

A MOVING Experience!

Today we are 8 weeks 2 days pregnant! Time is moving by really quickly and it continues to be an incredible experience on so many different levels. 

On Monday (June 29th) we had our 8-week ultrasound appointment. Each time we go in for an appointment, there is a certain amount of anxiety and nervousness as you wait to see the doctor. We ALL (me, Chris & Kira) believed that everything would be fine but we have that little voice (of reason I think) in the back of our heads reminding us that sometimes things go wrong. OK, now that I've honored that feeling, let's move on! Kira and I waited for the doctor to come in to the exam room to begin the ultrasound and were excited to see the growth of the baby since the 6-week ultrasound.

The doctor started the ultrasound and told me to come over so I could see the screen. I couldn't believe how MUCH the baby had grown in 2-weeks. At 6-weeks, the baby looked like a little pea but at 8-weeks, the baby looks like a baby (well sort of!). Then, it happened.......the baby MOVED! Not just a little move but a BIG (but very uncoordinated) MOVE. I almost burst into tears! It was amazing to see! At this point in the pregnancy, the baby moves almost non-stop and only stops moving for very brief intervals so I guess it's to be expected that I saw the movement BUT to me it was the coolest thing ever. 

The doctor gave us the baby's vitals. The baby's heartbeat is 156 beats per minute and the baby measured at 8 weeks and 3 days even though we were at 8 weeks on Monday (in other words, the baby is growing a little ahead of schedule). We were also able to identify the yolk sac  and the placenta and could see the blood flow throughout the baby's body. WOW!

It's hard to describe all the emotions we are feeling right now. We are grateful, joyful, humbled, reflective, inspired, scared and excited all at the same time. We are trying to remember everything we are feeling and to document it so that we can share this with our child when he/she is old enough to understand how much we wanted them and how excited we were to bring them into the world. 

This continues to be a MOVING (pun intended!) experience on every level.

Stay tuned and keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Seeing is believing

It's a miracle! That often overused expression is the only way I can describe what I felt when I saw the ultrasound of our baby. I know he/she doesn't look like much right now but that little being is growing, even as we speak, into his/her own and that's truly amazing to me. The miracle of creating life has always been a powerful reminder to me of just how fragile we all are and of what a blessing children are. I am truly amazed by this process!

We have been in the process of creating our family for quite a while now and getting to this point (as you know) has been a challenge. Now that we are here, there are all sorts of things to consider (and no, I'm not talking about decorating a nursery or picking out cute little baby clothes). As we approached the 6-week mark, we were all extremely nervous about what the ultrasound would show. We hoped for and were blessed to see our baby growing (on schedule) and were able to see and hear his/her little heartbeat. Let me tell you, I've never heard a more beautiful sound! At this point in a pregnancy, things are still fairly precarious and there are many things that can go wrong. I mean, a whole human being is being created and we are complicated creatures and lots and lots of things must go RIGHT for a pregnancy to be viable. At 6-weeks, you can GENERALLY see the heart beat but sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can hear the heart beat but sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can see a sac but have no baby. The list goes on and on and all these things run through your head as you approach the ultrasound appt. We were blessed to have a great result.

The other question on our mind was, how many babies we would see. IVF (invitro-fertilization) increases the chance that you'll have a multiple pregnancy. We had transferred 2 embryos, so if both had taken we could see twins or even triplets or quadruplets if the embryos split. We had had 3 beta tests (beta tests measure the level of HCG, or pregnancy hormone) and our numbers were on the high side so we didn't really know what to expect?

A pregnancy with multiples posed a couple of concerns for us. We were all (me, Chris and Kira) fairly comfortable with a twin pregnancy but what happened if there were more than 2? We had initially agreed that if there were more than 2 babies, we would selectively reduce. That sounded good in theory but as we got closer to the ultrasound date, Chris and I started to have serious doubts about making that type of decision. Kira had agreed to carry up to triplets so we had some flexibility BUT carrying that many babies is a risky proposition of several levels: risky for Kira; risky for the babies; and risky from an insurance/financial standpoint.

We worried about what impact carrying triplets would have on Kira's health. Would there be complications? Would she need to be on bed rest? How would she and her husband care for their son (3 year old Liam) and daughter (1 year old Ellie) with the added strain of a triplet pregnancy? 

What about the babies? Would all 3 be healthy? Would they develop normally? Would there be problems that caused them to deliver earlier than they should and how would that affect them long-term?  

Insurance! We had to purchase a special insurance policy to cover the pregnancy BUT if we proceeded with a triplet pregnancy, the policy would void. That's right, that would mean, if we opted to continue a triplet pregnancy, we would have to pay for all pre-natal expenses out-of-pocket. Wham! We had no idea what our potential financial exposure was? 

So, going into that ultrasound last Monday, we were a little anxious! As it turns out, we saw one healthy, developing baby and that's perfect! We would have been happy no matter what we had seen and know that we would not have been blessed with anything we couldn't handle but we still felt a big sense of relief after the appointment. 

Now, we were very quickly reminded by good friends that they had twins and one of the twins didn't show up on ultrasound until the 8-week check so there could still be a surprise ahead for us. We will wait and see but for now, we are happy with what we saw and feel immensely grateful to be on this beautiful journey together and with such a wonderful surrogate (THANKS KIRA!). 

Why I chose Victor & Chris as My Intended Fathers

Let me start off by saying, not in my wildest dreams did I think that I would "fall in love" with the first couple's profile I was given. I was under the impression, that I would be given several profiles simultaneously, and that I would get to pick and choose who I wanted to work with. Luckily for me, I knew immediately that Victor & Chris were "the ones."

On 2-19-09, I was presented with Victor & Chris's profile...The first thing that attracted me to Victor and Chris is that they are an inter-racial couple. For some reason, I assumed that I would be given a Caucasian couple's profile & I was pleasantly surprised when this was not the case. I myself, grew up in an multi-racial family(Mom: Caucasian, Dad: African-American & Japanese,) so I felt an immediate connection to Victor & Chris on that level.

As I continued to read their profile, it was clear, that Victor & Chris are in a loving, caring, committed relationship, and have a huge support network of family and friends. Also, the fact that they are both openly gay in every aspect of their lives, showed me that they loved and respected themselves, and are proud to be who they are.

In addition, it was apparent that Victor & Chris were going to be appreciative of the surrogacy process. I definitely wasn't looking for a couple that thought of me only as a "womb for rent," or thought of surrogacy as strictly a business transaction. It was obvious that Victor and Chris didn't feel this way :-)

Victor and Chris had said in their profile, that they are going to be truthful, regarding telling their children how they were created, which I feel is extremely important. And, are supportive of the role that my family and I will play in all of their lives as their children grow.

Lastly, after we met on 2-27-09 we confirmed that we felt the same way, regarding the important issues of surrogacy, such as how many babies I would carry(fetal reduction,) abortion for medical reasons, communication/contact during the pregnancy, testing on the baby while in the womb, etc.

Choosing Victor & Chris as my intended fathers, is one of the easiest decisions I've ever made & I consider myself extremely lucky to be their surrogate! I love you guys! :-)

Cautiously Ecstatic!

Wow, life is really amazing and creating life is an even more amazing process. We are pregnant and looking forward to all that the experience has in store for us over the next few months.

We couldn't have been more excited to get the call from our fertility clinic on Monday (June 1st) afternoon. They are on the West coast so we had to wait all day to get the results of our beta test. OK, a little background for those of you who may be wondering what a "beta" test is? The beta test measures the amount of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) or "pregnancy hormone" that is being made by the developing placenta. A beta test that indicates a number higher than 0 indicates pregnancy but our doctor looks for a beta of at least 100 following the beta test which is done 10 days after the embryo transfer. During our first pregnancy (which unfortunately ended in miscarriage), our initial beta was 103. This time our initial beta (taken on May 31st) was 305! Because of what happened during our last pregnancy, we asked that a follow-up beta be completed 2 days later (beta numbers should double every 48 - 72 hours). Kira went in for the 2nd beta test yesterday (June 2nd....my birthday!!!!) and our beta was 985!!!!! Our beta more than tripled in less than 48-hours! So what does that mean??? Well, our doctor and MANY others think it means our surrogate is carrying twins (multiple pregnancies usually, not always, have higher beta levels). We won't know for sure for a few weeks but in the end all that really matters is that we have a healthy baby (or babies!). 

So, it's been a good week on the pregnancy front! We are thrilled that things are moving in the right direction but are also keenly aware that things can go from good to not-so-good quickly during pregnancy. The first trimester can be especially challenging so we are thinking only good thoughts, saying lots of prayers and believing that things will go well but also being conscious of the fact that we're still early in the pregnancy.

Key Upcoming Dates:

• June 15th - 6-week ultrasound (we get to hear/see the heartbeat or heartbeats!)
• June 29th - 8-week ultrasound
• July 13th - 10-week ultrasound
• July 27th - END OF THE 1ST TRIMESTER
• February 8, 2010 - DUE DATE!!!!!!

We have a long road ahead and are looking forward to enjoying every minute of it! We have each other, a GREAT surrogate in Kira, a wonderfully supportive network of family and friends and the universe on our side so we know good things are heading our way. In the meantime, we'll keep you up-to-date and we ask that you please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

We are CAUTIOUSLY ECSTATIC and looking forward to the next few months of this journey!