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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Time For A New Heating Pad

I have done a horrible job keeping people informed on what’s going on with the Davis Klan.  As I was typing that I read “Davis Kah-n” and then thought Donkey Kong and suddenly feel the urge to play some old school Donkey Kong.
Anyway, I have not been good at keeping the people the care and read informed.  I just have lost my urge to blog.  I’ve been overwhelmed by how behind I am and it makes blogging less enjoyable.  And I primarily do this to be a brain dump of everything going on so I can look back later and be like “oh yeah!”
Maybe I’ll get better at posting.  Maybe not.  But at a minimum I should let you all know where things are with Growing Asian Babies part 2 or GAB for short.  I totally just spent 3 minutes trying to think of a fun acronym and GAB is all you got…I’m sorry I have failed you.  By my next blog maybe I’ll come up with a better name.  Or just forget that I made up a lame acronym…that is far more likely.
SOOO as I was saying – or not saying and just rambling and getting easily distracted – things are moving with my next surrogacy!
Tonight Justin will stick a medium sized needle into my rump…hopefully his months of practice from a year ago will kick in and it will go well.  I have Dr. L again (I actually requested that whatever Intended Parents (IP) I match with I wanted to work with Dr. L).  The medications are pretty much the same except no progesterone suppositories, instead injections twice a day instead of once a day.  Sad Day.   But in the end Dr. L says the results are better this way and it will be worth it to help those babies stick and grow!  I'll need a new heating pad to warm my rear end to reduce the pain (1 for home, 1 for work).
The schedule is below if you want to see the details and you can go here to see what all the drugs are if you are interested.
The summary is:
·         March 5th I’ll go in for an ultrasound to check the “triple lining”…in other words my uterus is ready to catch some babies
·         March 12th I’ll have 2 embryos transferred via IVF.  I’m not sure the gender yet.
·         March 14th I’ll start my 10 day countdown with blogs about all the random crap I’m thinking about or doing in those 10 days (it helps me not stress)
·         March 24th I’ll have a blood test done to see if I’m pregnant
For those of you that are new to my blog, or new to me (HI! I’m Rachael, nice to meet you). During my last surrogacy there was some drama.  Drama from people who didn’t understand what I was doing.  And for that reason I’ve decided that at the bottom of each Surrogacy Blog I will provide a little disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER aka THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Click here for my Surrogacy FAQ.  As always PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE contact Justin or I if you have questions or concerns.  We are open and willing to share everything.



Monday, February 2, 2015

Sister Surrogate

I’m now an “experienced” surrogate.  That feels odd to me.  I still feel like I’m slightly stumbling my way through all of this.  Maybe I should have paid more attention the first time.  It is hard to focus on all the random…seemingly mundane things that are involved in the surrogacy process when all you are really looking at is the excitement of what is to come.
Sign this form, fax this here, call this person VS soon I might be pregnant, soon I’ll find out if I’m having 1 or 2 babies, soon I’ll be giving this baby back to it’s mommy and daddy.
The 2nd half is FAR more exciting.
I remember enough to feel comfortable with the terms and a general idea of what is coming.  But I also know enough to worry more about things that I didn’t even think about before (since I didn’t know it was a thing).
 Like the fact the injections gave me SEVERE nausea…I lost SO MUCH weight that first trimester.
OR
What if there are placenta problems again? That was painful.
All that said, I learned a new term this time around.  Sister Surrogate.
I almost had a Sister Surrogate the first time I did this (without knowing it – or what that term was).  This time around I found out after agreeing to work with these new IP (Intended Parents) that I would have a Sister Surrogate.
And my “Sister” is an experienced Sister Surrogate.
So what is it?  The IP have selected 2 surrogates to carry their babies at the same time.  They are hoping for 4 babies…all…at…once (I told you in my last blog they wanted a lot of kids).  HOLY MOLY!
I think this is the part that makes this surrogacy feel slightly uncomfortable.  What if they like her more? What if she emails them more?  What if she sends them more pictures?
I think women (as a generalization) are uncomfortable (let’s be honest, HATE) being compared to other women.  We do it to ourselves constantly and assume others are doing it too.  I feel like this is a forced comparison situation.  How could you not have 2 of something and not compare them?!  I have to apples, one tastes better.  I have 2 shoes, one definitely feels better on my left foot.  I have 2 sisters (I don’t, but if I did) there is probably 1 I like better.
I KNOW it’ll probably come down to a situation that is more like how you feel about your children.  I love them all tremendously, but in different ways.  Some days I like some of them more than others.  Other days the one I liked yesterday is not the one I like today.  So if that situation is OK it should be ok with my Sister Surrogate too.  BUT that doesn’t help the fact that it still feels a little uncomfortable.  I think it would be just as uncomfortable if I was the 2nd surrogate for a family that had a surrogate before.
This doesn’t make me feel any less excited for the end goal – providing a healthy – super adorable – baby (or babies) to a family that wants them so badly.  That is awesome.  That is why we do this.  That is why we go through all the sickness, pain, and discomfort that next year will bring.  I wouldn’t be so bold to say that God has called me to surrogacy, that doesn’t seem right.  But I am so bold to say that doing this gives me a way to show them God’s love.  That the reason I am willing to do all of this to myself is because God has commanded me to love others and this is a way I can do that. This is a way for me to minister and serve a family who needs to see God’s love.  THIS IS NOT THE WAY EVERYONE SHOULD DO THAT!  I just want to make that clear.  Just like donating $1,000,000,000 to charity is not the way everyone should do it.  Or just like fostering 5 kids isn’t for everyone.
So let’s begin my prayer requests:
  • That the next few weeks as we deal with “Paperwork” goes smoothly and I it will not be a struggle to get everything in the contract I want to ensure this baby (or babies) will be protected
  • That the baby (babies) will be healthy from day 1 (or day 6-ish technically since they are already about 6 days old)
  • That every time I interact with my IP they see Jesus in me