Last Thursday was my sonohysterogram. This is a procedure wherein a doctor uses a catheter to insert saline into my uterus, and then, via transvaginal ultrasound, they check out my uterus in all it's splendor.
Usually this procedure takes place in the RE's office. Our RE is down in L.A., which is a 5 hour drive, so they were kind enough to let me get the procedure done locally. After a little bit of effort, I found a place just 20 minutes away that could do it. When I checked in, they didn't have the billing information on file. This is something that was supposed to be taken care of ahead of time by my agency, so both the receptionist and I called around to our various contacts to see what was going on. The receptionist had clearly never dealt with a situation like this, and seemed to keep lowering her voice whenever she'd mention "surrogacy" on the phone. It's okay, dude. I'm not ashamed and it's not a secret. I finally got ahold of my finance lady, and it turns out she had taken care of out previously, the imaging place just hadn't made proper note of it. So, yay.
Now, if you're squeamish about, ya know, vaginas, feel free to skip over the rest of this paragraph. :-) So, I'm all set up in the stirrups, ready to go, and the doctor comes in, and she applies some lube or something. And at first it's nice and cool. And then it starts to burn. First a little, then a lot. And I have this running commentary in my head: "Ooooo, cold. Oh, that's uncomfortable. Oh, oh, burning, it's burning. That is not good. Is it supposed to feel like that? Am I being a wuss? Does it feel like this for everyone? This is definitely burning. Should I say something? Am I allergic? Is this worth complaining about? I mean, if it always feels like this, I don't want to be whiny, but what if they're ruining my lady parts?! Does it look as red as it feels?! If so, can't they tell something's not right?" But by the time I had decided to say something, the burning had subsided, and I'm glad to report nothing was ruined.
With the exception of the above and literally a few seconds of mild cramps, the procedure isn't bothersome. The most annoying part was that the performing doctor was not my RE, so I had to wait until Tuesday for my RE to get the images and review and approve them. There's always that irrational fear that something will be wrong, at every step. But I'm pleased to say my uterus has a stamp of approval.
Tuesday I also spoke with my nurse at the RE's office, and we went over my medical history (yet again), and she told me about their med protocol. Since we'll be doing a frozen transfer (as opposed to fresh, where I would have to sync my cycle with an egg donor, and then the eggs would be fertilized and grown out 3-5 days, then transferred. With a frozen transfer, they do everything but transfer, all without me, and then freeze the embryos. When I'm ready to go, they'll thaw 'em and transfer them into my nice cozy uterus.), I already get to avoid the Lupron shot, which seems to be almost exclusively used with fresh transfers, and my new RE does estrogen pills instead of shots, so the only I'll have to be shooting up will be progesterone. But I assure you, that will be plenty. That one is a literal pain in the ass. :-D We talked about getting started on cycling once we get back (Did I mention we're going to Europe? Like, literally right now. I'm in a plane, on airplane mode, composing this. Six hours down, about 13 more to go. And we'll be gone the rest of the month! Woot woot! But, anyway, back to surrogacy. :-D ), and yesterday, before we left, I was able to schedule my baseline ultrasound for the day after we return. They said it has to happen in the morning, so I have it scheduled for 10:30. The office is about an hour away from my house. And this happens the morning after I return from an international flight, probably not getting home until 1:00am. I assured the receptionist. I'd be there. Miserable, but present. :-)
We were also met with a minor unexpected hurdle on Monday. Every surro agreement that I've ever heard of involves a life insurance policy for the surro, ya know, in case of shit. I have never heard of surros having to complete a special physical to be eligible, but that turned out to be the case this time (surprise!). The lawyers received our notarized contract, and gave the insurance underwriter the go-ahead, and she emailed me Monday mentioning the physical and that somebody would be calling me in a few days to schedule that, and I'll want to get it done ASAP. I emailed her back immediately explaining that, if they want it done anytime soon, it would have to be Wednesday. And bless her, she made it happen. Wednesday morning a nurse came to my house to review my medical history (again, in-depth; no I don't remember what month it was when I was diagnosed with mild allergy induced asthma when I was 12. How's April sound? April is a good month.), weigh me, take my blood pressure, make me pee in a cup and draw my blood. It's a good thing I don't eat breakfast first thing, because somebody failed to mention I was supposed to be fasting. So good thing that worked out. And the insurance lady continued to be on the ball, and Wednesday afternoon sent me a travel form, which I filled out and returned, lickety-split.
So that's that. I believe I got all my surro business, at least, 95% wrapped up (insurance lady made it sound like she might need me to sign some things or something) before we left the country. I tell ya, I think it's damn near a record. Chris and Keith were mad on the ball with the legal side, and I was chomping at the bit to get medical all done; between the three of us, we rocked the pre-baby-making business. We should be all ready to start on the fun stuff once I'm back stateside.
Speaking of the future daddies, last Wednesday the kids and I got to had to the City to have dinner at their house. The kids and I had a great time, and Kismet was just about ready to move in: "I'm just going to go lay down in the guest room for a while." I'm really looking forward to our families continuing to cultivate our relationships throughout this journey.
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