CD1!!!

So I had some spotting yesterday/last night. I told my IP's and warned them that it may just be stress from finally having contracts signed and the negotiations that went on the last few days about it all. Which was very stressful to me since I believed everything had been agreed to begin with. Turns out, my period started a couple days early.

In any case, I woke up with a good flow, and today it has picked up even more (said goodbye to two pairs of underwear and a pair of pants actually). The good news is that my lining was nice and healthy and fluffy last cycle so I can assume it will be this cycle!!

My IP's booked their flights and hotel last night and will be here on the 21st! They are only staying a few days so I'm really hoping that we get ovulation within those days! 

Twelve more days until they're here!!! YAY!!

Insemination Kit Explanation & Update

After a bit of going back and forth and waiting forever (or so it seems), we signed contracts May 21st and June 1st (they signed, then it had to come to me to be signed).
I am currently 10 ish days past ovulation and the mock cycle went really really well.

They are figuring the week of the 25th is our week!

So we are waiting on my period, booking flights and getting ready for the inseminations!!

I ordered the insemination kit online from Ebay (today) to ensure it is here on time.

I will show you what is in the kit!

These are ovulation tests, which I will take prior to anything else here, for days beforehand, to ensure that I ovulate at the time of the insemination. When the test become positive, we will proceed with the other pieces of this kit.

These are the sterile cups that will be used for my IF to collect his semen in.

My IF's "sample" (semen) will be drawn up into a syringe right away after he puts his sample into the sterile cup. Delaying this process could result in sperm dying before we get to insert them.

I will then have my own hotel room, and relax and insert the syringe as high into the vagina as I can to ensure I inject the semen as close to my cervix as possible.

After injecting the semen (which has been thoroughly tested recently) into my vagina, I will then put this instead cup into my vagina, it will be like a cup around my cervix and will keep most of the sperm from leaking out and increase our chances for fertilization. 

I also have both ovulation and pregnancy tests already at home, but they come with the pack so I will explain these as well. Starting at about 6 days after ovulation, I will start to take pregnancy tests and take video for my intended parents to watch every day to see if it is positive or still negative. Starting at 6 days after ovulation, they can watch the first test be negative, and hopefully the following tests will at least have a line that you can see a little bit. 

Our estimated insemination date is June 25 2016. So we are just waiting for my period to start (due in about four days). Feel free to ask questions as we go!

Test!!

This cycle has been so weird!! My period was SO light, I can' ttell where to "start" it at! I'm day 12-13 and I got a positive ovulation test, which means I'm going to ovulate day 13-14/14-15. This is either way a perfect cycle! This is our mock cycle but I wish so much that it was possible to try this cycle!!

We COULD be doing inseminations in as little as 4 weeks!

I went on a 5k walk today and noticed that I had cramps in my 4th km and I felt so disappointed thinking it was a stitch from walking, now I get it haha Silly ovaries!

Cycle Update

May 17th - CD35 - Spotting was pink

May 18th - CD36 - Spotting turned to a flow YES!! 

May 18th - CD1 - all of the normal symptoms you get when you're miserable lol

May 19th - CD2...just chilling out...flow is medium

May 20th - CD3 - Still miserable :) flow is heavy

May 21st - CD4 - Basal temp : 36.6 flow is medium

May 22nd - CD5 - Basal temp : 36.7 flow is light, I see a light at the end of the tunnel!

May 23rd - CD6 - Basal temp : 36.6 flow is down to spotting. 

I will be starting to use the internet cheapy ovulation tests this week for the mock cycle! I'm hoping this cycle is pretty much the same as last month so that we know next cycle will be predictable!! If it is, then I have about 10 days until I get a positive ovulation test!

For those just queuing in, a mock cycle is a practice cycle, I am using the good tests near ovulation, taking temps, completely abstaining from sexual intercourse. I am exercising more this cycle though to try to lose a few more pounds to get to a healthier body (almost everyone can improve on this). I will be exercising lightly through the pregnancy and getting into the habit of doing so now is important!

Cycle Day 34 17-18 DPO

Okay so.

This is my first cycle OFF of birth control after being ON it for like 10 months, so I'll give my body a break. I am getting a bit frustrated (a lot?) though.

My IP's are off from July 9th to 22 so ovulation needs to fall in there or they will have to take time off of work. As of right now my cycle will actually be perfect for that time if next month is like this one (and my cycle after that).

So...now we wait!


Contracts!!

The contracts are DONE!!!
We should be signing it this week and that will also be out of the way! yay! 

It is 28 (twenty EIGHT!) pages long. Yes. 28. I'm not kidding. It's pretty much a book honestly, and I've seen lines for movies be shorter. 

I'm just happy they're finally done! 

Plans a brewin'!

So there is finally a plan of action.

I am tracking my cycle again this month *sigh*, and next cycle we will be trying to make a baby for my IP's!!

They are in the middle of the wild fires in Alberta right now and they don't think that there is a possibility of making it work this cycle at all (the cycle I am waiting to start that is). So our time line is about seven weeks until inseminations...which...is a life time away it seems lol

MATCHED!!!

Okay so I've been pretty horrible at keeping you guys updated. Agreed. Accepted.

Here are my excuses :

I didn't match until about 5 weeks ago, so it's pretty new and nothing before then was "absolute". I also didn't want to tell everyone about couples because...they have a right to privacy as well. I had spoken to a total of 9 couples, 6 of which I didn't match with because they didn't want someone far away from them. One couple I ran away from when they asked if I would be a traditional surrogate and...essentially be a prostitute. They were serious. I came to love one couple, they weren't far away at all and it seemed like everything would work out. The problem was, my other half and I realized that we didn't want to go through another three rounds of IVF the way it was last time. I was so miserable and in pain from allergic reactions. We ended up deciding to do another traditional surrogacy. A surro-friend of mine gave me the name of someone out in Alberta (we'll call her Claire, which is not her real name) who is happily married, they both have great careers and all that they are missing is children. she contacted her lawyer right away and...that's as far as we have gotten. No rough draft. After over four weeks. Yes I'm serious.
We moved at the end of last month and everything was SO hectic, between the kids having to switch schools and me trying to find a way to keep them at their old school for the year, and Gabriel's 6th birthday party, it's been CHAOS! 

I went off of my birth control when we matched, which just happened to be the last pack of my birth control pills anyway. 

I tracked last cycle (this cycle) with opk's and cervical mucous. I got my positive on day 15, so ovulation was day 16/17. I'm on cycle day 28 just waiting around for Aunty Flo to start and I will be tracking my next cycle with temp, cervical positiion, opk's and charting. I'm kind of excited, it's been a year and a half since I've tracked my cycles with so much detail.

With no contracts done...or even SEEN at this point, my next cycle won't be used either, but if nothing else I can track it and see if it's the same as the previous cycle so that we can make plans for it to all work and fall into place.

See? You didn't really miss that much!

I'll figure out how to post my daily tracking info once my period starts, which I'm feeling will be tomorrow (12/13dpo) since I've burst out into pimples, I have the runs (always comes with a period I swear) and I'm moody AF and want to eat all of the kids' school snacks.

We have Willow's first birthday party this weekend coming (four days until she is one!!) so there is so much going on. Then the kids are out for school in June. I was hoping to do inseminations before they were out of school for the summer since it's so much easier to find a babysitter when half of your team is in school all day, but it's not a big deal. We will make it work!

As always, feel free to comment with any questions you may have, I will answer them. 

Now...everyone send me period vibes so I can move on with tracking the next cycle haha