Make a wish...

I had a wonderful birthday weekend...(one day just doesn't cut it :-)  I obvi can't reveal what I wished for as I blew out my candles...but I'll let you guess ;-)  Sure hope 36 is my lucky #

5 sleeps until we venture half way around the world and get this really officially started!!!!!  It's all I've been thinking about pretty much every second of every day.

(somehow Google knows it's my birthday...which is funny and creepy at the same time)

Stimulation

A belated Christmas present for us!

We received an e-mail from SCI this morning to let us know that our egg donor's scan/ results are all fine and that she has started the stimulation phase.  I've heard from a few friends that this isn't the most pleasant phase of the IVF cycle...so we're sending a huge virtual hug to our ED and she's certainly in our thoughts. I realize we still have a very long way to go - but with every positive milestone we are one step closer to having our dreams realized.

9 more sleeps and we'll be on our way to India :-)  I don't have a whole lot figured out just yet on what to do in Delhi for the week we're there (Agra/ Taj Mahal day trip?).  I'm a planner by nature - typically when D and I travel, it's not that unusual for me to already have our plane tickets purchased close to a year in advance - so this last minute trip is going to be a new experience in every single way possible. 
We're very fortunate that both D and I have several Indian friends and colleagues that have been kind enough to give us a whole lot of info and ideas on what to see/ do.

The Stimulation Phase:  To encourage growth of multiple follicles on both ovaries, stimulation drugs are used to stimulate the ovaries to produce more follicles than would be produced in a normal menstrual cycle.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.  

The next update will be on the 26th when the results of the scan of our lovely egg donor come in (must come up with a better name than that).
Oh...and we leave for India in two short weeks - everything is in place - both of our Visas, flight, hotel, appointments with our clinic - check, check, and check.

The Spellings

Oh my lord - could the days go by any slower?  I truly don't think it's possible :-)

My VISA for India arrived today - so while a small milestone, it's still better than nothing.  Darren is still waiting for his as there was was some sort of mishap.  I can only imagine the (frustrating) hilarity that will ensue when we eventually have to go for "baby pickup".  I can picture D and I trying to navigating our way throughout the streets of Delhi with our newborn attempting to get passports and DNA tests, etc... Oh dear.  Again - it will all be more than worth it.  I can't even begin to express how excited I am to start a family with D.

After 14 Christmases of it being just the two of us...if we're blessed with a baby on our first attempt, we'll get to start a whole set of new traditions next year.  Wow!  I am trying so hard to not make any purchases for the yet to be conceived baby - but it's so difficult.  Let's see how much longer I can last.  And I will just have to pick up a trinket or two in Delhi to pass along as a keepsake ;-)

We have started the conversation, perhaps also a bit premature, of whether or not we should move.  We can certainly stay put for quite some time, even after the baby arrives, but I have to admit our house is not at all child friendly.  Lets begin with Exhibit A - our staircase (which is all decked out with bling for the Holidays)

There was a time that I thought this was our forever house...but with the help of SCI and a bit of luck - we'll likely need a house with a few less hazards and a bit more space...and I have always wanted a gift wrapping center just like Candy Spelling (yes, Tori's mom)... LOL.

3 weeks today and we'll be en route to Delhi, India.

Down Regulation

We received a confirmation e-mail that our egg donor has started the down regulation (‘switching off’ the woman’s natural cycle of egg production in the ovaries)

Up next:

• 24th December blood test and scan

• 26th December we'll receive a status on the development of the follicles
  

That's all for today - just wanted to share :-)

Thanks

On Sunday - a woman who lives half way around the world is going to start the "ovulation cycle" of the IVF process which will help in producing multiple viable eggs.  I can't believe that one of these eggs will one day be our baby. OMG!!!  I just got goosebumps typing that.  OMG!!!

Ever since D and I selected her as our egg donor, I have opened up her profile every day and without fail her pretty and happy face makes me smile.  While we'll never know her name and never get to meet her, she is going to play one of the biggest and most important roles in our lives and we are eternally grateful for the gift she is giving us.

Exciting times ahead folks :-)

Next stop...India

This time next month we'll be arriving in Delhi, India.  Not something we were planning on at all - but under the recommendation of our Dr., we've been advised that a fresh sample would be better than shipping the frozen goods.  All things considered we'll have a greater likelihood of success if we can be there in person. We're going through all of this to start a family after all, so we may as well do what's right.

In the end, I know there are going to be advantages to going to Delhi in person aside from the medical reasons.  We'll get to familiarize ourselves with Delhi, get to meet the Dr. and everyone else at the clinic, and get to squeeze in a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal (which is something we won't be able to do on our next trip to pick up the baby).  This will certainly take the stress out of our second and more important trip :-) 

Fortunately, Darren and I work for an amazing company that is accommodating our last minute need to travel.  We both have 6 weeks vacation per year and are carrying over 2 weeks, so vacation time is not going to be a concern.
So - the plane tickets have been purchased, the hotel has been booked, and everything is quickly coming together. Just need to get our VISAs and we'll be all set.

Leather chair - how fancy!

We made our first visit to the fertility clinic today.  First of all, I can't believe how huge it is - I expected a typical doctor's office size operation - but this was more like a hospital - the place is massive (and they're apparently building another wing).

There are so many stories I could share about the experience today - but in the interest of keeping this PG, I'll just say that mission accomplished.  That said, I'm so glad that I brought my own "material" with me - who wants to look at a magazine that a ton of other guys have held while doing you-know-what...ugh!?!  I can barely bring myself to look through the latest issue of Elle Decor at the Spa during flu season.

If you're curious...this is what the room looks like (I couldn't resist taking a pic):

Hannah and the sperm

I was watching Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters last night, which I had never seen, and there's a scene early on where Woody Allen's character finds out he's infertile...of course being the neurotic person that I am, I instantly thought "Hope this isn't a sign".  Side note - I had no idea Barbara Hershey, aka Hilary Whitney from Beaches, was in Hannah - I hardly recognized her without the collagen lips!

Bright and early Monday morning Darren and I are off to the fertility clinic to make a "deposit" to find out just how fertile we are.

In preparation for the test I've been sticking to a fairly restrictive (and boring) diet for the past two months - chicken and salad, virtually alcohol free, increased exercise, vitamins... and doing everything in my power to not get sick (worried that a high fever would not bode well for the little swimmers).
The last few nights I've been tossing and turning in anticipation of what the results will be...It's not entirely beyond the laws of the universe that both D and I are both infertile.  Of course there's no sense in over analyzing it...I've done what I could and now the rest is up to luck...or I suppose genes.

Monday is the test and Tuesday we're supposed to find out the results.  So every possible combination or finger and toes will be crossed for positive news.  If all goes well, there will be 3 more trips to the fertility clinic to make 3 more "deposits" to send to Delhi (the cost in shipping is exorbitant - more then the cost of one of us actually flying to India - so better safe than sorry and send as much as we can upfront).

And the waiting continues...get used to it

As expected no news to share :-)

We had our blood taken last Friday and should have the results by the end of this week.  Both Darren and I are being tested, even though ultimately only one of us can be the bio-dad, while we have an idea of who it will be...the sperm analysis will ultimately make that decision for us (unless of course both of us have mega-sperm).

For those of you interested in the process after the spermies are flown halfway around the world...and without getting to scientific:
The egg donor will start fertility medications about 4 weeks prior to the egg collection (the meds will help to produce a decent number of eggs). Once egg collection is complete, around the 10th of January, we will be advised of the number and quality of eggs collected.  We will then receive an embryology report showing fertilization and embryo quality, number of embryos transferred, and number of embryos frozen. Transfer takes place two days after egg collection, and blood test for pregnancy happens 12 days after transfer.

Oh....and I showed complete restraint during the cyber-Monday sales and didn't purchase a single baby item...yay me... lol!!!

Time goes by.....so slowly

This process is going to test my patience like nothing ever has before....I better get used to waiting.

Not a whole lot of progress to report at the moment.  We made our first payment to secure the egg donor and I'm going to rack up some serious airmiles.  By the time we actually have to go to India we'll be flying business class ya'll haha!

A few minor date changes:
Dec 3rd: Sperm analysis
Dec 4th: Consultation at the fertility clinic
Dec 14th: Sperm will take a very long (and expensive) flight to the clinic in Delhi

We've come across a really really really great forum that is going to be a truly valuable resource for us as we move along in the process.  We've actually been in touch with quite a number of couples all willing to share their experience...some even from Toronto.  I can't imagine having been one of the first few people to have gone through this without all of the info that's readily available today...yikes!

Now time for a confession...and to anyone that knows me this won't be too much of a surprise.  I made my first baby related purchase (I know this is waaaaayyyy to soon) but I saw it and I couldn't help myself.  Please don't let this be the start of what could be a very slippery slope.  I was in San Francisco for work last week...and came across the cutest Christmas stocking at Anthropology.  I thought about it for 5 days before going back and buying it.  I'm bad, I know.  Oh well, what's done is done.

Not a lot of action for the next week and a half or so.  But if there are any exciting stories to share, I'll be sure to post it.

Dates...

We have so much to do in so little time - We've been asked to confirm if we are OK with the tentative cycling date of  8^th /9^th /10^th January, 2013.  As someone who's terribly impatient, yet very organized, I better get moving!  I suppose we could push this off to February but once I make up mind that I want to do something, even yesterday isn't soon enough (and yes, I realize I've created this sense of urgency and unnecessary pressure on myself...I must like it subconsciously).

To do list:

- blood and semen analysis December 4th

- arrange for semen collection/ freezing ?

- have the frozen sample shipped to the clinic in Delhi ?

 

 

 

Here we go!

Now I feel things are starting to become real.  We received the full list from SCI of almost 200 possible egg donors yesterday.  We ended up spending most of the evening trying to narrow it down to our top 5.  Narrowing it down to 20 was relatively painless but getting down to the top 5 was quite difficult.  Of the top 5 I was actually hoping only 1 or 2 would be available because even though we had the list down to 5, there was something special about each of them so I had my fingers crossed that fate would help choose for us.
 
As we were putting the list together I said to Darren that this is a total Sliding Doors moment (I forgot how much I love that movie....must watch it again soon).  The decision we make now is going to take our life in one direction or another.  Of course it's impossible to predict which decision will lead us down which path, but it is a little intimidating to know that this is truly a life changing the decision.

Up next...

Dr. S will start reaching out to the egg donors to confirm availability. We are pushing for a cycle start date in January.


Couldn't be more excited that we are finally on our way to starting a family!!!!!!!!!!!!