The Match

So I've kind of been carried away in the whole process of becoming a gestational carrier.  My life has been filled with meetings, phone calls, appointments, and paperwork, on top of my already busy life of wife, mom to 3 small kids, and Preschool Director.  It's been hard to find time to blog.  I've also started a private online journal about my journey as a carrier, and barely have time for that.  BUT...here are the cliff notes to catch up to this point:

I was matched with a family!  They live in Louisville, KY.  They have a little boy, 4 days younger than my little girl, who they used a carrier for.  The mom tried and tried but was never able to conceive even through invetro.  They want a sibling for their little boy.   

I started fertility meds and my body cooperated flawlessly!  We had our first embryo transfer on January 14.  We found out on January 25 that it didn't take.  Very sad and disappinting, but we are getting back up and trying again.

I went back to the fertility doctors this past Monday and they found a rather large cyst.  I guess it's a pretty common side effect of the fertility meds I'd been on, but we can't proceed as long as it is there. 

The family has decided to harvest new embryos and switch to a fertility doctor in Cincinnati.  So the cyst is pretty inconsequential at this point.  We have some new hoops to jump through at the new doctor's office, and we have to wait for the mom's body to be ready for an egg retrieval and for embryos to be made and frozen.  We have our first appointment at the new fertility group on Tuesday, February 19. 

In other news, I ran my first official 5K in November.  It was quite an accomplishment for me!  I was pretty proud of myself.  I ran the whole thing without stopping, and it was a very hilly course, which I was not very prepared for.  I ran a few more times after that, but really stopped running altogether by about Christmas.  I had started taking fertility drugs and knew the embryo transfer was going to happen soon.  I kind of went into survival mode and have just done my best to maintain my current weight, which I've managed to do with counting calories alone and no exercise. 

I needed to run (or do something) to get myself over the plateau, but honestly, I don't enjoy it and it's really hard to find time for it in my busy life.  I do want to remain healthy, watch what I eat, and maintain healthy weight, but that's enough of a chore.  Maybe one day I'll be able to exercise just for the fun of it, but it really was just a necessary evil and something I don't feel like I have to do anymore, especially with the process of becoming pregnant being eminent.  I want to stay healthy during pregnancy and not gain a crazy amount of weight.  I am committed to doing that.  I'm glad I ran and accomplished my goal of a real 5K, but running really isn't for me.  It's hard on my body and I'm really not very good at it. 

So right now, we wait...