Monday, May 30, 2011

Getting excited

I know, I know...it's just a med screening. And I know, I know...I am old and decrepit and might not pass. But I am still excited to go. I will get to meet the guys, have some invasive testing of the lady bits, and have enough blood drawn to feed a group of vampires for a week. What's not to like about that? Do I know how to vacation or what?

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Will I never learn?

I'm a "natural" girl. In general, I don't go for waxing or shaving of the nether regions. But for some unknown reason, every time I traipse east to have my nether regions approved by Dr. D, I feel the need to trim the hedges so to speak. And without fail, every time, I get a rash from shaving areas that are unaccustomed to being shaved. Said rash then turns into pimples. So without fail I present Dr. D. with a pimply ass every time I see him. Will I never learn? Doesn't look like it. Two weeks ago I shaved the nether regions, hoping against hope that either there would be no ensuing rash, or that if there was a rash it would disappear in time. No such luck. Leaving in four days, complete with rashy ass. This doctor must think I am hygenically challenged or just plain stupid. Sigh.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

We have AF

The old gray mare is still functioning correctly for the moment. AF has arrrived. Will start BCP on Thursday. Fly to CT a week from Thursday. I am flying into White Plains, NY this time since I'm traveling alone and I hate navigating out of LaGuardia on my own. We'll see how we like this airport.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

A Slim-Fast experiment

I have never had an issue maintaining my weight. And I used to never have an issue losing weight. But after the last two surrogacies, the weight would come off to a certain point and then stall. I am really not okay with retaining an extra 5 pounds from each pregnancy...when you have six pregnancies that starts to get a tad scary.

So I thought I would try slim-fast last week when I seemed destined to be stuck at what I consider a too high weight. I started last Saturday. I had many naysayers who said I was only losing water weight, that I was losing muscle, that the weight would come back. Blah blah blah.

I tried to counteract the naysayings by doing the following.
1. I drank a ton of water.
2. I continued to work out to keep my metabolism up.
3. I made sure my one meal a day had lean proten in it.

I only did the true slimfast for 4 days. Then I switched to one shake a day and two meals for two days and then slid back into 3 healthy meals. No weight came back and I am happy to report that I lost and have kept off a total of 4 pounds. That is while starting bcps and being ready to start my cycle any day so I do have some water bloat on board. Once my cycle starts (I started to bcp to try to start my cycle...five days of the pill will usually make it start when you stop taking the pill) I think another pound or two will come off. In short I now weigh four pounds less at the end of the day dressed than I did a week ago at the beginning of the day naked. So yeah...slimfast is a great kick start. After I go for my med screening, if I still want to lose a bit more I will do another round. For now I am happy with where I am. I am still four pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight but I tend to lose a bit when I travel (I don't like to eat before I fly) so I anticipate being at my pre-pregnancy weight when I return from my trip in early June. We shall see.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Did I fall off the planet?

The simple answer is no. Pretty sure I'm still here. Life is just ridiculous in alot of ways and I don't like writing Debby Downer posts. Best to not write anything at all.

Let me see what good news I have:

I go for my medical screening in 3 weeks. If I can just get my cycle to start before then, all will be well. I have only had 2 cycles since I delivered and weaned and they have been running 6 weeks. That is really cutting it close. Hope it cooperates.

Second set of surro-twins and their sister are in Italy right now. I can't believe their parents still manage to travel with 3 kids aged 3 or younger. They are braver than I am.

That's it....that's all I've got. I need to email my newest IFs. The relationship so far feels a bit forced but I think that is just because it is so new and because I am just so comfortable with my Swedish dads. Oh well. We have tons of time to forge a better relationship. And in reality, I am not incredibly close with my first IF and I am ok with that. The relationship with my Swedish guys makes any other not so good relationship ok.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

How did I get here from there?

Do you ever look at your life and wonder that? Because I do. I look back on my life and the decisions that build up on each other that lead me to where I am and I wonder what would be different if I just changed one factor.

I met my husband when he used to work at Miller Tire. For a year prior to that I had been taking my car to Wal-mart to fix the tires but on the day we met, I decided to go to Miller Tire since I knew the secretary there and had not seen her in quite some time. Turns out that she had tried to get Joe to date me and he said no...he had had enough of dating. Anyway, I walked in and had a skirt on because it was right after work. He started staring at my legs (definitely my best feature) and Donna, the secretary, told him that I was the one she tried to set him up with. The rest is history. A month later we moved in together. Two months later we got married. 8.5 years later we are where we are now. I had never seen Joe before so had I not decided to go into Miller Tire that day it is safe to say my life would be very different now. Had Joe decided to not date me, our lives would be different.

Another example.....I thought about surrogacy during my first marriage but my husband said no. When I married Joe I thought about it again. After I was settled in my job and we were financially stable, I contacted 3 agencies. The first to answer back is the one I am still with today. Two matches, three surrogacies and five babies later, it was definitely the right choice. What would be different had another agency answered back first?

The twists and turns that life takes will always amaze me. Ten years ago I was in an unhappy marriage, living in Chicago, the mother of an 8 year old and a 3 year old. I worked at my oldest sons' Catholic school in the after school program and lived in one room in the attic of my father in laws house. Ten years later I am in a happy marriage, living in my hometown, the mother of 5 kids ranging in age from 20 to 12. I have had five (hopefully soon to be six) surrogate babies. I work as a chemist at a lab, in what I would have to deem my dream job. I live in a 4800 square foot monstrosity of a house. How did I get here from there?

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Possible meet up?

Guess what? I might get to actually meet a set of IFs before getting knocked up by them. What a concept. They are trying to arrange their medical testing for June 3rd also. If they can rearrange their work schedules, then we could actually meet, in person, before the transfer. I met my first IF the day of transfer and my second IFs the day before the transfer. How strange to have a face to put to a name beforehand. Still no contract or any other surrogacy news but I am so much more relaxed this time. And I'm actually ok if this whole thing doesn't work out (other than the fact that these nice men would then be out the cost of my medical testing).