It's time!

So much has happened since my last post (I really need to try and be better at updating this). My grandpa got better and out of the hospital, had a couple of the best weeks of his life, or at least in the last couple years and then passed away April 9th. It was a shock to us all and very emotionally challenging. Day by day, things get better/easier. We all still miss him a lot.

For something good in my life, I got all A's and 1 B in my classes! We just started our summer classes and so far it's not going so good, however I just need to pass it, it's a general education class. And for the purpose of this blog, I am starting to cycle finally!!! Yesterday I started my period right on time, received my meds for this leg of the journey and tomorrow I do my first dose of Lupron! I'm nervous about it, I got headaches last time I was on Lupron, but I'll get through it!
In just over 2 weeks we leave for vacation with my dad, his wife and her grandkids and my sister and her family. We've never done a vacation like this before but I'm hoping to make it a tradition. We are going up north to my dad's cabin and going fishing for the week! I'm so excited!! I haven't been up there since I was a kid and I've been dying to go back and now we are, with my beautiful family to boot! We get back on the 18th of July, IM's retrieval is on the 20th and the expected transfer date is July 25th. I won't have much time to relax in there, as soon as we get home I will have to do laundry and repack to leave again, but it will be worth it! Unfortunately I haven't had any dreams yet about this surrogacy journey but I do have a gut feeling about this transfer and it's a good one! I just know I'm going to get pregnant but I really hope its only a singleton. I don't wish to carry twins again for many reasons but if I do, at least I'll know what to expect and I'll be familiar with the clinic and hospital I will deliver at. I'm so thankful that my IP's will be ok with whatever I decide in regards to the hospital and such that I deliver at in the event we have twins. Oh, and that reminds me, I'll also be meeting them when I go for the transfer!!! They are staying longer than they need to (which will be from July 4th until at least July 21st anyway) just to meet me and spend time with me. I'm nervous because she doesn't speak English (and I don't think their daughter does either) so J will have to interpret into Spanish and English for us but I know they are very nice already so we will get through that too!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Since my last update we have officially signed the contract with J & M! I had my IUD out about 4 weeks ago now and am on birth control pills as the first step for cycling. I am applying for my first ever passport in the morning and will hopefully be receiving the medical testing kit in the next day or 2 and then we will be ready to cycle!!! This is such an exciting time but I'm glad to have a bit of time before transfer yet so I have time to let it all sink in that I am actually doing this again, especially since saying that I was absolutely done after my last journey. LOL
I do have something in life kind of overshadowing things right now though. My grandpa's heart stopped this weekend and he is now in the hospital 2 hours away. We don't know why it stopped nor do we know why he is bleeding internally (which is also something we didn't know before this weekend) but I hope we hear some answers in the next day or 2 and that grandpa has some time left with us. I'm not ready to lose my last living grandparent just yet and and my girls aren't ready either.
So I'm doing a lot of praying lately and honestly my head just isn't "in the game" so to speak with the surrogacy just yet.

Finally moving forward!

It's taken quite a while and a lot of back and forth and wording changes, additions, subtractions and more to finally get here. My IP's, now known as J&M, have agreed to the contract as it sits as have I and we will be getting the final one soon to sign and get a move on the rest of things!
I need to have my IUD out and I suppose if I'm doing that I will also have my yearly done and if they would tell me what I needed as for testing I could go ahead and have that done as well. My fear is that it will take for-bloody-ever to get in to get this all done which in a way would suck and yet be a blessing. It will suck simply because, well it will take that much longer to get to transfer but it would be a blessing because if we wait until the end of April or May-ish to transfer then we Ansil goes to Rochester for the pool tournament for a weekend I can go with AND party! Well, no matter how it all falls, it will be for the best.
I'm just happy to say that we are finally moving forward instead of being stuck in a rut or sorts.

Although, I did get some news that kind of makes me sad. My first IP's I guess are almost positively moving forward and I won't be able to help them because, well obviously I'm already matched. :( This makes me sad BUT their first surrogate is available and if they really do move forward she is going to help them!!!

Time to update once again

J&M from Spain decided that they liked me as much as I liked them and want to move forward with me! We have the contracts right now so we are in the negotiation phase. I was really hoping that Keely, the program coordinator, would have included a few other requests but I guess we didn't get that far with the last couple so she probably didn't know all of the changes I wanted.

In any case, I reviewed the contract this weekend, talked it over a bit with Ansil (to which I got the usual response to do as I saw fit, wow, lots of help there buddy LOL) and finally sat down today to write up my contract revision requests. I don't honestly know how this couple is going to react to the requests, although it's not like I'm asking for huge changes that will force them to pay more than they planned, they are basically wording changes which can be harmless enough. But, everyone thinks differently so the simple wording changes might be a big deal to them.

I really hope that this can all be wrapped up by the first of the year or the first week in January so we are ready to move full speed ahead when the RE is back in the office.

Keep your fingers crossed for me and say a little prayer that this goes relatively smoothly! I need some good news again. :)

Quick update

I'm super tired tonight and should really be in bed but I had to make my grocery list for tomorrow's store run to get all I need for Thanksgiving. Then I realized that it's been a long time since I updated this so I figured I could do it quickly.
The possible match with that last couple didn't work out which is fine but I was hoping to be started by now. It's for the best I'm sure.
I just had a conference call with another couple today. They are from Spain and he speaks English fluently, she doesn't speak English. Their situation and reasons for choosing surrogacy are quite similar to the first couple I was a surrogate for and they seem very laid back and understanding just like my first IPs as well. I have a good feeling about them and I hope they feel the same. I will be talking with the coordinator a bit more tomorrow and I hope to hear if we are a match before Thanksgiving however I doubt it will happen that soon. Probably not until next week which makes me sad but the best things in life are worth waiting for!
I'm quite excited though because this really does feel pretty good!
That's it for now, hopefully I'll be back very soon with excellent news!!!

Contract time

Contract is in my hand, well its in my email anyway. Had a chance to quickly look it over last night and lets just say I'm not thrilled with it. For starters, the IPs want me to lower a couple of my fees by almost half and I'm sorry but that ain't gonna happen. Reason they want it lower? Based on the fees of other surrogates profiles they viewed.... Sorry, having been through a multiple pregnancy and never having had that major abdominal surgery called a c-section and never wanting it, I'm not willing to lower those fees.
And, thats just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. So much language crap that I'm NOT ok with. I don't think they should have much of a say in who my doctor is nor do I think they should be able to choose my doctor, I also don't think I should be contractually obligated to having them in the delivery room "if they so choose", especially if our relationship isn't wonderful. As for doctors, well I've worked with 2 OBs and I won't work any others unless I have no choice such as the OB no longer practices and both OBs have been absolutely wonderful with myself, the pregnancies and the IPs at the time.
There are a couple other things that need to be changed but I don't think that will be a big issue.

Unfortunately, I won't have a chance to talk with Ansil about any of this for a while yet so I don't know what his thought is on it.

I'm not very happy right now though and it makes it hard to respond in a nice way. I told the coordinator that those 2 fees are non-negotiable right from the beginning, my decision hasn't and won't change no matter what. I'm afraid this isn't going to work out.

Rolling along, slowly but surely

Today, the contract was sent to S&P. My coordinator was kind enough to make a couple changes she already knew I wanted, although she of course has to let them know what the "template" contract said. I'm not really sure if I will get the contract early next week or not because my PIP's are going on vacation this weekend. I really hope they have time to look it over before they leave so I can look it over. I think it would be nicer if we got it at the same time, thats what happened with my last journey but whatever, I'll wait.
I'm worried that I will have to make several changes to it though but hopefully they won't mind much and will understand.

I also got a new idea about how to get into working with IARC as an employee! Since my coordinator is the owner's daughter and I've talked to the owner several times about this and have been told I have the job I just need to work onsite, I thought I'd try his daughter. LOL She is super nice, understanding and was very open to my idea and also knew that it would be a great addition to the agency. So...........she told me to write up my proposal of what I would be doing, work I could alleviate from the coordinators, how to manage time, how many hours etc and send it to her. Of course, I have no problem logging into something and clocking my time, but some of what I'm proposing won't necessarily "show" results so someone would have to contact the same people I'm supposed to be contacting just to kind of check up on me. Anyway, I'm really hoping and praying that this is it! It's a passion of mine and I know I can do it and do an excellent job at it. It would be a dream come true for me!!!! (Not to mention we could REALLY use this income right now but that only prompted me to find another way to work on the owner about this LOL)