It’s been a while since I have updated this area of the blog and that is because I had been holding out sharing more until we finally had some good news. Thankfully—it was months and not years!
Our 1st attempt with SB and 5th attempt overall—proved unsuccessful. However, it was the furthest we had ever been, so we hoped to build off that momentum. While everyone was beyond disappointed there is no point in crying over spilled milk.
The day after the negative results we spoke to Dr. Kumar. He was a bit crotchety when we spoke to him, but he was assertive with his plan. He spoke to the head of egg donation and presented us with two new egg donors that have historically been the most successful. One was a brunette/brown eyed and the other was a blonde-haired/blue-eyed girl from Sweden. When asked what we preferred – both Grant and I stated blonde. Because clearly, gentlemen prefer blondes.
To prepare for the next attempt two things had to now happen. One, SB had to come off her hormone injections and get her period and, two, we had to produce a male embryo. I wouldn’t say that I had let myself “go” completely, but I was not in the shape I was in before I gave my last sperm sample. I had 7 days to get off medication, get off sugar, eat right, lose 8 pounds, and be ready to give the best swimmers I had. For this kid, I would do anything. I met all those goals and then some.
The one positive of this is that I started exercising again and am keeping up that healthy regimen. On the day of the appointment, I got up extra early and drove from San Diego to LA. Not a fun commute, but I made it by 8:30 am. I immediately had to pee so as soon as I entered the office I went straight to the bathroom. The only problem was that this wasn’t just a “specimen” deposit, but rather a specimen deposit, pee sample, and blood test. No one told me this or I would have held it and overflowed the cup.
Here I am psyching myself up for a specimen deposit and they want me to pee in a cup after I just had. Then I had to give blood. Not just one vial, but 10 vials of blood. Mind you—I woke up early, have been eating less, and had nothing to eat or drink that morning. After removing all the fluids from my body, they escorted me to the “couch” aka the room I masturbate in. A bit woozy—I perform the deed and need a Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes after that workout.
Now we wait. That’s all we can do. Wait for SB’s period. Wait for the results of the embryos. First comes the results from the embryos. Of the 8 that we fertilized, 5 went for testing, and 3 came up viable. Of the three--- only one was male. He is a 3AB, which is the first graded 3 we have had. Lucky 3!
Then we wait for SB’s period. And wait. And wait. Almost a month passes by and still no period. The doctor wants SB to come in and do blood work to be able to figure out what is going on. The doctor checks her out and she is to go on birth control for 10 days. If that is successful, then we can create a calendar for attempt 6.
10 long days go by, and the calendar is created and officially a go! We have an attempt scheduled for June 29th, 2023. From there, SB would be on hormones for about 4 weeks. During this time, we continue to wait. She is doing all of the heavy lifting at this point, and she is exceeding expectations. The base score is 50…she is coming in at 100. She is doing anything and everything she can, and we could not be happier to have such an amazing surrogate.
29th happens and we FaceTime SB during the procedure. One, two, three, and there we go. That’s it. 5x and I still don’t see it. There needs to be some sort of slow motion for me to sit there—look to see what is happening and process it. We thank SB and we go back to work. Not knowing if this is it or if we have another time.
It just so happens that my mother (Grammy) planned her visit for the week the results were going to come out. I thought-- this was either going to be a great trip or a shitty one. She called herself the good luck charm and we were holding her to it. If she didn’t produce, she was on a flight right back to Houston. JK! The first pregnancy test came 11 days after the attempt or on July 10th. These days are always the worst. You don’t want to get excited, but you are. Its soul crushing every time we got the bad news but knew since we were on the guaranteed program that it would happen. Also, if this attempt didn’t take that we would insert two embryos, which meant twins were a reality. Terrifying. This attempt was high stakes for multiple reasons.
On the day of the 10th, I work in the morning and have the afternoon off. The blood test was done at 8:30 am and so we hoped to get results in the morning. No such luck. At 1:00 pm, I sent the first—“Hey have you heard anything?” And our poor coordinator, Steanna, who is an absolute rockstar was quick to say “Not yet.” She followed up with the nurse and was still silent. 2:00 pm—nothing. 3:00 pm—nothing. 4:00 pm—I send another annoying “Hey it has almost been 8 hours since the blood test anything?” With past attempts, the later in the day it gets—the more likely the outcome is negative. Historically this is how it has worked for us.
At 4:14 pm, we get the text. PREGNANT. WOOHOO! Her HCG levels were at 369. Anything above 50 is considered pregnant. For comparison, her last levels were at 78 so this was a lot higher. It took! However, we had been here before. This was exactly where we were last time. We got the news, and got all excited, only to have SB’s HCG levels decreased with the next blood test…signifying a miscarriage. You can’t help but be excited. Bubbling up from inside, I calmly tell everyone, and they are equally excited. But, not outwardly excited because the heartbreak becomes real at this point.
We must wait until the 12th or 2 days later to see what is happening. We want her HCG levels to double to show the growth of the baby. On the 12th, SB goes in. 3 hours later—we get the news. SB’s HCG has more than doubled and is at 964. YES! The number is going up. This is what was missing with Round 5. This is definitely what we want to have happen. I knew what the number was supposed to do, but I had no idea what the number was. For those like me -- Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a chemical created by trophoblast tissue, tissue typically found in early embryos and which will eventually be part of the placenta.
Grant is all excited about potential twins with this high of a number. I think that is a bit of a stretch, but we will find out. Of course, all of the stuff that has been stored in the dungeon is being brought up that afternoon and the following day. The guest room becomes the nursery, my office is shifted to the guest room, and I am working out of the nursery—our whole lives were turned upside down.
2 days from now—on July 26th, we go in and have our first ultrasound. We hope to see a little peanut growing at this point. From there—we keep going. We may have setbacks, but we will do whatever is necessary to keep this positive momentum going!
For Fun—I went ahead and used the apps to craft a photo of what the kids should look like. He may not, but we can look back on this and see how close they were!
