The Ludicrousness of It All

Husband and I met with a new doctor at a new clinic on Friday to discuss surrogacy. I used to be a gynecological patient with one of the doctors in the clinic, and the gyn office used to be the office where the clinic is now, so it was a little disconcerting to be back for very, very different reasons.

We had to wait a long time to see the doctor, which was a little surprising since the waiting room was empty. The appointment went pretty well I suppose. It was sort of humorous going through our IF history: Oh year, I have half a uterus. And stage 4 endometriosis. And I don't ovulate and probably have PCOS b/c my testosterone is slightly elevated. And I spot all the time. And I have an endometrioma right now. And my right tube no longer functions and was cauterized. No, it doesn't sound very funny, but I guess it struck us as funny or unbelievable that one person could have so much stuff wrong with their reproductive parts. You have to laugh b/c the alternative is crying or jumping off a building.

The doctor agreed that it sounded like we were good candidates for surrogacy and sent a nurse in to talk with us. I was happy to hear that the clinic is doing more and more work with surrogates and estimates their success rates to be comparable with their donor cycle rates: about 70% or higher.

The only bad part of the appointment was that the nurse told us that it is unlikely we could cycle with our potential surrogate until at least June or July because of her pregnancy. The possible surrogate is due in early December and plans to pump breast milk for the Intended Parents for three months. The clinic wants her to be at least three months removed from lactation so her prolactin levels have fallen and cycles have resumed. I had my heart set on starting a cycle in May, but if we use the surrogate with whom we've been talking, they won't be possible. I know it's just a couple of months delay, but I hate waiting. So we may need to look into finding another surrogate. But I really like the one with whom we are talking. However, I have worried about whether cycling with her so soon after her current surro pregnancy was a good idea. Will her body have had enough time to recover? I really don't want to worry about her body still being stressed from pregnancy and that impacting our cycle.

Definitely stuff to ponder. Off to class...Only 3 more classes left this semester after this one!