Ok here's the update.

So, funny story. Long story but funny. My last miscarriage was in March. I was only 6 weeks along so it was fairly easy to deal with physically, not so much emotionally. I had a harder time with this one then I did with the one before at 9 weeks. I was pretty much falling apart when my sister called. We will call her C because, well, both my sisters names start with C. So, C called me and reminded me that when Wayne and I started having fertility problems she had offered to let me use her uterus whenever I needed it. She offered to be our surrogate; to keep my last little embryos safe so they can grow! It was the one thing that got me through the loss. It was hope and it was a plan, it was something to look forward to. We put the plan in motion.



Seems having a surrogate carrying your embryos is a lot more complicated than one would guess. They ( being the state government) have their own set of requirements. Blood work, tons of papers, lawyers and a psych evaluation. The blood work was brutal. Nine Vials Of Blood. I said NINE!! The psych evaluation was kind of fun. It was all about our relationship as a couple, my relationship with my sister, and my feelings about our fertility issues. It was nice to talk about it, anyone who knows me knows I like to talk.... about myself! We had finally gotten through all the requirements except for the lawyer, that comes at the end of the pregnancy. It was time for C to have an exam by my RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist). There we hit bump number 1. Her exam was abnormal. So now she had to go back to her doctor and have them do another exam and possibly a procedure. We were delayed.



Bump number 1 didn't last long. C's doctor confirmed all was well and we were back on the road. We now just had to wait for her cycle to start. Meanwhile, she was going out of town for a few weeks, but no need to fear, she would be back before her cycle was due. In the meantime, I decided to get a few things taken care of that I couldn't get done while I was trying to get pregnant. One of those was to have my tonsils out. I won't go into the details of why, just trust me. So I went to my primary care physician to get a referral to an ENT. While at my PCP she suddenly pulls out of the air that she would like to check my thyroid levels again. OK, so I get my referral and some blood work. The next day I go to the ENT. We plan on doing the surgery and while he steps out to answer a phone call I suddenly remember that I found a weird lump in my neck (now, before you jump down my throat about not having it checked I should tell you that I had several people check it whom may or may not had any medical experience and they all told me it was nothing.) So the Doc checks my lump, its in my thyroid and its large. Well, we just happen to have my thyroid levels drawn and surprise they are in my chart now!! Yippee! Seems my TSH level is high which means my thyroid is not working up to snuff. Its not horrible though. Just need to start a low dose of thyroid replacement and oh, by the way lets do an ultrasound of this lump and a biopsy and send you to an Endocrinologist.



Ok sum up. Ultrasound done, lump has taken over the entire left side of my thyroid. Biopsy done, no cancer found. Endocrinologist seen, the first thing she says to me after she finds out we have had fertility problems is "I would not be surprised if you were pregnant in the next 6 weeks." I smiled and said "whatever." We ultrasound the lump again and it is revolting from the needle biopsy by growing half a centimeter. Endocrinologist says we need to take it out because the bigger it gets the more of a chance of cancer. "But", she says "we can always wait until after you have the baby." Baby?!? what baby. I haven't gotten pregnant on my own in 3 1/2 years a little pill is not going to get me pregnant now.



We make the appointment for the surgery. July 14th. In the meantime, bump number 2. C's cycle starts 2 weeks early, while out of the state. Now we have to wait another month to start the surrogacy. Oh well, now I can just concentrate on losing half or maybe all my thyroid. Surgery comes and goes and all is well. A little sore, a lot tired. The results are in.... I have thyroid cancer. ooh sounds scary..... really not. It was a tiny little spot called a microcarcinoma, and it was in the center of the mass. So, this means I got to keep the right side of my thyroid and I don't have any followup treatments. The type of thyroid cancer I had was very slow growing and does not metastisize outside of the thyroid very easily. Surgery is curative!!!! YAY!!! Crisis averted, time to start replacement meds. Beginning of August I get my levels checked... Oh, so much worse. My right side is not picking up the slack so more meds. In the meantime, C starts another cycle and she can get started on the first round of meds which is just birth control.



Fast forward to August 31. I am out to dinner with Wayne. In two days is C's next appointment with my RE. That's when we bring out the big guns. We start heavy duty drugs and we pay for this all! I start feeling really crampy. Thinking my cycle is starting, I check, no go. hmmmm..... we go home. The cramps are so bad I need to lay down. I start thinking maybe I somehow got pregnant and now I am miscarrying again. I get up and grab a pregnancy test to just stop thinking about it. Before I can leave the bathroom BIG FAT POSITIVE!!!! Never had a test so dark in my life!!!! The cramps stop. No miscarriage. I call my Mom, then I call the surrogacy coordinator, then I call C. They are all ecstatic!! Now i am the one seeing my RE and getting blood work. Long story short. I got pregnant about a week from the time my endocrinologist told I would. As long as I keep my TSH within normal limits I may be able to keep this one!!



15 Weeks and 5 days. That's me! I'm 15 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I think this little one is a keeper! I get to be pregnant!! I get to feel my baby kick!!! I get to hold them in my arms sometime around May 8th, Mothers day. I get to shop at Babys R US for ME!! I cant put it into words how this feels. Its beyond me. The point of telling the entire story is that had we not hit bumps 1 and 2, C would be pregnant by the time we found out we were and we would be expecting two or three!! This is better. God knows that. So I'll just end there. This blog was supposed to be about our infertility journey and eventually about the surrogacy but it has all completely changed! now its about my pregnancy and, hopefully, soon about my first child. YAY lets go!!!