Hi there! It's me. Slacker. Procrastinator? Avoider? Eh, doesn't matter. I'm back now and should update you on my surrogate journey since I left you hanging for over a month. I would like to tell you no new is good news but sadly that is not the case. My body once again rejected the hormones after the increase with injections, once again I developed fluid in my uterus and once again had the huge disappointment of letting my IP's down. Needless to say I was a bit of a mess the day of my disappointing appointment. It was made even worse by being told pretty abruptly by the doctor that the IP's will probably need to find a new surrogate. Talk about heart breaking hearing that. They did mention that we could try and do a natural cycle but they don't typically go that route with surrogates and would need to talk to the parents. I left feeling awful and sick even though I knew I had no control over what my body was doing. I took the day to be sad and begin to morn the potential end of my journey. I felt more at peace with things in the morning even though I knew it could be a long wait to hear from my IP's on their course of action. I consulted with my surrogate support group to see if anyone has gone through this. I mostly got "I'm sorry" from the other surrogates but a few ladies wrote me telling me about their natural cycles that had worked. But one women replied a few days later saying she had my exact problem, lining not thickening and fluid, until they switched clinics, way lessened her meds and then things worked like a charm. This news lifted my spirits more than anything! Even if my journey was done with my IP's there would be hope I could work with another family.
That was on a Monday and on Wednesday I got a call from my intended mother. We chatted and laughed for a while before getting to the matter at hand. She is so easy to talk to and we had a great conversation about how yes, it was shitty things weren't going how we hoped but they wanted to stick with me and make it work however needed. I'm very lucky that I live close to the IVF clinic so the natural cycle sounded amazing to both of us and we both wished we had known about it to begin with (I'll explain why in a moment). We both had independently thought that we should give my body a little break - time to get all the drugs out of my system before trying again. I'm trilled they want to stick with me on this and I want to give them a baby more than anything. So the last month I've been med free and just living life, which actually worked out great because work has been insane, Kendall was finishing up school and summer craziness has already begun.
So natural cycle IVF. This is becoming a more common practice with some clinics as it is typically less expensive and more families like the medication free approach. It has not been studied as much as traditional IVF at this point, but the studies I could find say there really isn't a difference in success rate choosing one over the other. Clinics just tend to prefer traditional medicated IVF because they are more in control of the timing and are able to adjust things along the way. So what is "natural" IFV - In short, the clinic's track a women's cycle with daily ultrasounds to monitor her uterine linings thickness without the added assistance of hormones. Hence why me being close to my clinic is important. This monitoring usually begins shortly after her menstrual cycle begins and continues through ovulation. Since our bodies are designed to prepare for implantation of an embryo the lining should be thick enough for implantation during that time. That is the hope anyways! I should be beginning this process within the next week and find out way more information on the process at my first appointment. Please send prayers and thick lining vibes my way. Even though my IP's say they want to stick with me, I worry if this doesn't work our options become extremely limited :(
That was on a Monday and on Wednesday I got a call from my intended mother. We chatted and laughed for a while before getting to the matter at hand. She is so easy to talk to and we had a great conversation about how yes, it was shitty things weren't going how we hoped but they wanted to stick with me and make it work however needed. I'm very lucky that I live close to the IVF clinic so the natural cycle sounded amazing to both of us and we both wished we had known about it to begin with (I'll explain why in a moment). We both had independently thought that we should give my body a little break - time to get all the drugs out of my system before trying again. I'm trilled they want to stick with me on this and I want to give them a baby more than anything. So the last month I've been med free and just living life, which actually worked out great because work has been insane, Kendall was finishing up school and summer craziness has already begun.
So natural cycle IVF. This is becoming a more common practice with some clinics as it is typically less expensive and more families like the medication free approach. It has not been studied as much as traditional IVF at this point, but the studies I could find say there really isn't a difference in success rate choosing one over the other. Clinics just tend to prefer traditional medicated IVF because they are more in control of the timing and are able to adjust things along the way. So what is "natural" IFV - In short, the clinic's track a women's cycle with daily ultrasounds to monitor her uterine linings thickness without the added assistance of hormones. Hence why me being close to my clinic is important. This monitoring usually begins shortly after her menstrual cycle begins and continues through ovulation. Since our bodies are designed to prepare for implantation of an embryo the lining should be thick enough for implantation during that time. That is the hope anyways! I should be beginning this process within the next week and find out way more information on the process at my first appointment. Please send prayers and thick lining vibes my way. Even though my IP's say they want to stick with me, I worry if this doesn't work our options become extremely limited :(
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