TIRED!

I'm so SO tired! I don't remember feeling this tired during the last cycle, but I am TIRED! It's been 2 days of Progesterone injections (today will be the third) and I've read that the Progesterone is the lovely pregnancy hormone that causes that First Trimester exhaustion. So here I am waking up from a much needed nap and feeling like a need another one! :-)

Transfer is set for Monday morning at 10am. !!

Day at the Zoo

We spent a long wonderful day at the San Diego Zoo today, with our Intended Parents. The girls especially enjoyed the monkeys (and anything similar to a monkey: gorillas, orangutan, lemurs...) and Aly climbed on every rock and statue she could find (like a monkey). We finished the day with giant ICEEs with no lid or straw! The zoo apparently doesn't give out lids or straws due to littering. :-( You can imagine the mess made by a 4yo and 2yo with large cherry ICEEs.... they did surprisingly well though.

We left the zoo just in time to get home right as Jasmine's bus was pulling up. Whew! Now these two little girls are running around the house like crazy sleepless monkeys. A 20-minute nap in the car does NOT suffice! :-)

I'm now taking the full load of medications for pre-transfer: Prenatals, baby aspirin, Progesterone, Medrol, Prometrium, Doxycyline, and Delestrogen and Vivelle patches 2x/week. Yay!

Minor Date Change

Dr. Smotrich called this morning and advised me to stop Lupron injections (yay!). The egg retrieval will be on Wednesday of this week and the transfer is now scheduled for Monday, May 3rd. I was really hoping for April 30th/May 1st because then I wouldn't need to seek out child care for my bedrest, but.... oh well. We'll have a nice weekend and then hopefully get knocked up on a Monday. :-)

I will be seeing Dr. Smotrich tomorrow morning to review the medications for the coming week. This will include the start of Progesterone, Medrol, Prometrium, Doxycyline, the continuation of estrogen, prenatals, and baby aspirin, and... ? There's so many!

I've been thoroughly enjoying the farmer's market just down the street and am eating more fresh organic locally grown fruits and vegetables than I've ever eaten in my life. !

Getting closer!

Uterine lining is at 7.9 (up from 2.9 last week). I'm still taking Lupron daily (at half dose since last week, 5 units), prenatal and baby aspirin daily, Delestrogen and Vivelle patches on Mondays and Thursdays.

Next appointment is next Monday. My Intended Parents are traveling to San Diego this week and we will hopefully have dinner together again. :-) And it will hopefully be SUNNY in San Diego instead of POURING RAIN like it was for their last visit. LOL.

Tip: Keeping Track of Medications

There are so many medications that just be taken in preparation for surrogacy. It can be confusing! This time around I used a printable calendar with each daily medication listed for each day. I then taped my calendar schedule to the inside of my kitchen cabinet where my medicines are stored. I also taped a pen on a string to the inside of this cabinet. Now when I open the cabinet I can clearly see which meds need to be taken for that day and what time (for those meds which are time-sensitive). I cross them off when taken so I no longer ask myself "did I do my Lupron shot this morning?"

Remember to use a heating pad after Progesterone shots, and let alcohol dry before injections.

Update

I met with Dr. Smotrich yesterday and his new nurse practitioner Christina. He just returned from his annual trip to Israel!

My daily Lupron dose has been reduced to 5 units, and I've begun Delestrogen at 0.4 on Monday and Thursday, plus Vivelle patches which will give a localized boost of estrogen.

Next appointment is April 19th for another blood draw and ultrasound. :-)