Scan Day

What a way to spend Valentine's Day I know.

The tech was very respectful and quick which was much appreciated!

I have to wait for the official report but she said that she saw no abnormalities or anything worrying. Phew! And that my endometrial lining was 11 which is good for where I am in my cycle. She said one ovary had cysts on it, which I knew since I have PCOS but the other had a dominant follicle and nothing else - meaning no PCOS type cysts on it. Strange when back in 2002, both ovaries were covered in them.

I pushed her and asked if that meant I'd ovulated and she nodded. I'm not entirely convinced that she was sure but that could just be me being cynical!

I've been Googling and looked up scans and I did see the dominant follicle so I have a good idea what I'm looking for. I think, had she said she'd seen a corpus luteum I'd be far more convinced. I'm holding onto the fact that my lining was thick, which only comes with the production of progesterone. No ovulation = no corpus luteum = thinner lining.

So, just the blood test to confirm that tomorrow and we'll have a better, more complete picture of my cycle health and where, if anywhere, we need to go from there.

OPK Experiment - Post Originally Begun 14th Feb

And yes, I do need to get a decent pen if I'm going to show my writing. It's not easy writing on something so small, with a dodgy biro but there you go.

I decided to do an experiment this cycle but you won't see this until either AF arrives or I get a + HPT as I'm hiding it until I know one way or another to avoid anyone giving me any advice, me getting my hopes up publically and it being wrong!

Basically, we know if you're ttc, you're always itching to pee on a test of some sort. Having a bulk lot of IC OPKs, I figured that if I'm going to pee on something, these are the perfect thing to use.

I've read a lot that a + OPK after ovulation, can be a sign of pregnancy. Of course it can also be a sign of other things - like PCOS (when you'd have a high level of LH in your system almost constantly) or ovulating later than you thought.

Anyway, to know what's normal for me, I need to know what my OPKs look like post-ovulation to then be able to see any difference in following cycles.

I do have PCOS but I also know that I do not have an elevated level of LH so that as a cause for + OPKs the entire cycle, can be eliminated. And also, at the start of my cycle, I have a clear negative OPK to back that up.

Below is a picture of my OPKs from CD19 - CD22.

Note :: I had positive OPKs, ovulation pain AND fertile mucus. Also I had an u/s scan today that showed a 'dominant follicle' and an 11mm endometrial lining - all indicative of ovulation having already occured.

Now, as you see, the tests do seem to have a 2nd line on them. It also seems to be getting a little darker - consider I'm only 7dpo, that's a good sign possibly but we all know how that works. I guess we'll know what it meant for me, if and when AF arrives.

ETA :: I had this post saved from 14th February (it's now 18th March) but have only just decided to post it after all. And we know how this cycle ended.....I guess there is some truth in the OPK as HPT thing.

I can't show you the photo with the rest of the cycle's OPKs as my computer died and I'm on a borrowed one whilst it's repaired but you get the idea!

Love 'Em

I love the fact that my IFs and I are so relaxed, it's entirely different from what my first experience was like. It's feels very real and not just fake niceness, which was more than could be said for last time.

And I miss them when they're not here too, which is a strange concept but it's because we're friends by choice, rather than a forced relationship through necessity.

Such great guys, really wonderful. Which inturn reassures me that they'll be great parents. I love that we're able to be so open with one another too. And boy, do they make me laugh. A lot!

Really important to me is that my husband likes them too, as do my children who they met in full force this week. And they still like me afterwards too, not a bad result I say. LOL.

Basically, this post is just to gush a little about how fortunate I am to have found what is basically a perfect match, especially when other surrogate friends are not so fortunate right now it seems.

And to end - K, no, nothing to report. ;o)

All Smiles

That's figuratively and literally. LOL.

We're all done for this cycle though! Ovulation, well the tests, continued through into Monday evening and the timing couldn't of been better once again.

IFs have rented an apartment this time around, rather than a hotel and it was such a fantastic idea in the end. We've had 3 days of being relaxed and comfortable in the environment and spent a lot of, what I reckon, was quality time together. Even my husband was more involved this time around and did some bonding with them which was really good to see. Sometimes it's so focused on the IPs and the surrogate and the poor partner just gets swept along as an after thought.

This time around sometimes we did 2 insems a day, rather than just the 1. Odd situation arose and we worked round it and actually it seemed to make things even better in a way. Yes, I'm being deliberately vague at this stage but will share more at a later time.

FB cull is now complete and IFs have now begun their own blog. I'm so excited, it'll be great for them to have an outlet during this journey but also, it'll be great for us to keep up with one another on yet another level. It was very strange reading about myself though!

On the test front, I tried to book my progesterone test today, now we know that ovulation should of occurred but they were fully booked for Friday and Monday so I went with Tuesday morning. It's all a bit annoying really as I'm due my ultrasound the day before so I'll possibly know from that whether I've ovulated this cycle or not - depends if I can sweet talk the sonographer into giving me that information!

I'm sad that another visit has come to an end, it's been so lovely knowing they are just down the road but whichever way the cycle goes, we'll be seeing each other again soon!

And so, another 2ww begins. :o)

I Was Wrong!

And happy to admit it! I am indeed ovulating on time it seems, I got the :) on the digi, backed up by the IC.

My IC was what I thought was positive last night but the digi was negative. I am begining to wonder if we should maybe aim for doing an insem when the IC starts being positive, which is the day before the digi is. That way we'll be making sure we fit an insem in before the surge which is recommended.

Anyway, I'm very pleased. Timing is great as IFs are mototing their way here and hopefully we can get together later on and get things started. I'm so busy tonight but I'm more than happy to ditch those things, this is more important!

I Spoke Too Soon

Yesterday, the day after my post below, the dreaded stomach bug got me too. So, I spent all day feeling very sorry for myself. Being ill with a very sore throat was a double whammy and one that I won't forget in a hurry. Today, I just feel like I've been run over by a large bus.

Anyway, this has meant that I'm now convinced that ovulation will indeed be delayed. I hope I'm wrong of course but you can't have that much stress and illness going on and your body be all geared up and ready to make babies.

IFs are all booked up, ready to come down. This was before I fell ill yesterday of course so we're just going with the flow and I'm hoping my body will surprise me and I'll indeed ovulate whilst they are here next week.

I've been thinking lately about taking a step back from the surrogacy online community, sometimes the overwhelming feeling of everyone having their eyes on your cycles can be quite overbearing. I'm not talking about this blog but more about the forums I am on. I will no doubt still read them, to keep up with friends, but I just think maybe playing things closer to my chest might be a good idea. Relieve some unnecessary anxiety maybe. I'll also be having a Facebook clear out where surrogacy is concerned, for mainly the same reasons.

Think of it as semi-hibernation, well until good news comes along which hopefully won't be too long coming.

Rough

The entire family has been ill in one way another for coming up for 2 weeks now. It started with coughs, colds and sore throats, we then went though a virus or two, a chest infection, a lot of sickness and ended with probable pharyngitis. It's been ROUGH around here I tell you.

Luckily this has meant my mind's been taken off of surrogacy stress for the past nearly 2 weeks. I had my blood test (Day 1-5) and the results came back as normal/satisfactory. Of course they don't mean much on their own, it's once all the tests and the scan is back, that a picture might emerge.

We're planning on ovulation being the begining of next week but very aware that I've been under a lot of illness and stress which could result in it all being delayed and insems pushed back. At this point, we're playing it by ear.

I have a blood test once I've ovulated and then I've got my scan booked for the 14th - Happy Valentine's Day to me indeed! Exciting in a way though and it means we've something else to focus on in the 2ww also.

IFs are doing well, excited for our next meet up and to see what Cycle 2 brings. We're all going to attempt to play it cool this cycle, last one was just a total mind fuck if I'm honest. I hope none of us go back there this time.