RN Consultation

One week ago, as of yesterday, was our RN Consultation at the clinic to prepare us for what's to come with this process. It still all feels so surreal, like a dream, and while in the dream, you feel so present and so "there" but then you eventually wake up and pinch yourself because it didn't really happen. Then, you sit there and try to force yourself to go back to sleep because the dream was so magnificent and you want to keep going where you left off but you can't because it was fake. I'm sure this feeling is because nothing has really happened on our end (physically) yet and quite frankly, there isn't much that will happen until the actual transfer. I know lots has happened since we started this process, but it sounds like the donor has all the hard stuff ahead of her and we just get to sit back and wait...again.

At the consultation, we went thru the steps but still nothing is set in stone because it's all based on the donor's eggs, my uterus, and the fertilization process. We can't make any plans, we can't go anywhere, we just get a call one day that tells us it is time. This is DRIVING ME NUTS. I keep trying to tell myself that all well be OK and I just need to go with the flow and let things happen the way they are going to happen. But, I'm going crazy. The RN specifically told me I need to now take a "back seat" approach and have to stop trying to control everything...including my husband.

I'm pretty sure this was referenced because during our meeting, we had to practice drawing up my future shot injections and administering them. Apparently, the donor is going to get a trigger shot of HCG which causes her eggs to complete the maturation process. After this shot, the clinic will retrieve her eggs within a 36-46 hour period and then hubby will need to fertilize them. When they tell us that the trigger shot has been given, hubby gets to start giving me my injections of progesterone. Progesterone is basically the "hormone of pregnancy." It's a steroid hormone that plays many roles relating to the development of the fetus...being my hormones are a little kooky, I have to take progesterone until my body recognizes it is prego and then it will start to make it's own (and don't ask me how it does that because I have no clue and don't get it, but hubby does and reassured me my body will "work").

So, other than the "hormone of pregnancy" injections, I stop taking my BC on the 13th...get a visit from Aunt Flow. Then I go in on the 17th to do a baseline ultrasound to gauge my uterine lining. On the 18th, I start my Estrace and after that I go back in on the 31st to see how thick my lining is. By that point, they said we'd have a good feel for my body and how it's reacting...the donor most likely will get the trigger shot around Sept 4th (that's when I would start my Progesterone), eggs are retrieved around the 5th/6th, hubby pumps and dumps on the 7th/8th and transfer is on the 11th-ish.

Funny story. Being I'm in sales and our fiscal year 2016 begins on October 1st, all of our territory reviews begin the second week in September....I have two territories and my first territory review is Monday, September 14th....Ughhhh. I had to talk to my boss and basically tell her that my schedule is "fluid" and until it gets closer to the date, I may or may not be available.

Sooo much going on...