Crazy train

We received the package from India yesterday containing the medication I need to take before we arrive in Hyderabad. It got here just in time because I had to start some of the medication today. The package included: 42 tablets of Duolution-L (birth control)to regulate my cycle with the surrogate(very cool).I'm to take these twice a day for 14 days finishing one week before we arrive at the clinic and 2400IU's of Gonal-F to be self injected @ 450IU once a day. This is to stimulate my ovaries to make more eggs so they can be extracted, fertilized and implanted in the surrogates womb.

Word of caution to all my friends and family... I may be back on the Crazy Train for a couple weeks because one of the recorded side effects of the Duolution-L is "mood change".

Again we have decided to start the medication here so that it will free up some of our time in India so we can go and explore the country. So if anyone has any idea's of were we should go please let us know but keep in mind we will be there during the hottest time of the year.

P.S.- I had some people inquire about what I meant about the "two week wait" in my last post. This is the period between the time the egg is implanted into the surrogates womb and the pregnancy test. This period can be emotionally draining and a challenging time for assisted reproduction patients due to the suspense and uncertainty of a cycle outcome. Hope that helps>

Till next time,
Kathryn

Another step closer

We're another step closer to fulfill our dream of become parents, we wired our deposit to the clinic today. Everything is falling into place and we are very exited!

We will be traveling to India in 4 weeks with plans to stay for 3. We have decided to start the shots in Canada because we plan to explore the country for two weeks after. This will hopefully keep us occupied during the 2 week wait!

So far we have told our immediate family as well as a couple close friends. The response has been surprisingly positive which was just a reminder of how fortunate we are to be surrounded by such great family and friends.

Kathryn

Results are in

So we received my Pelvic Ultrasound results as well as my FSH and TSH blood lab results. According to Dr. Samit my FSH are slightly high at 8.9 which is normal given my age. As for the pelvic ultrasound they found a cyst which they don't seem to concerned with. According to the Dr. they should be able to extract 6-8 good quality eggs.

As for the contract we have hired Sherry Levitan who specializes in Third Party Reproductive Law here in Canada. She has had some great feedback so I'm confident we are in good hands.

Next week we will be applying for our Multiple Entry Medical Visa to India. We are actually going down to the office to apply because I don't want to screw this up!

Then it's just a matter of getting our vaccinations, booking our tickets and making the 30+ hour journey to Hyderabad. We have chosen to do the whole cycle in India so we will be there for 12-14 days. I'm a little nervous given the fact that we are going down during the "warmest" time of the year with an average temperature of 36 Celsius. It's not so much the 36 that scares me it the high of 45 Celsius. Our hotel better have a nice pool!

India it is

So after much deliberation we have decided to go with surrogacy in India. We ran the numbers and analyzed the pro and cons for both country's and in the end India just had more to offer.

I am really looking forward to this adventure. We are hoping to go down at the end of April which should be interesting because it's the hottest time of the year!

All we have left to do is get our vaccinations, Visa's and fork over the deposit.

Oh ya we also told our parents.... which went over surprisingly well. So thank you Grace, Frank, Paula and Leo for supporting us in the decision, it's not a guarantee but it's a step closer to getting you another grandchild or two.

xoxo
Kathryn and Dan

A rock and a hard, far away place

Well we are still getting all our ducks in a row concerning surrogacy in Canada and I have to say so far my gut says India, especially since the clinic in Hyderabad is ready for us. All we have to do is say when.

Now is this just me being impatient?

I will give it till next Friday and if we haven't even got a consultation lined up with a clinic here, I'm going to push for India.

I'm so confused

Well we had an interesting day today. We had a meeting with our lawyer here in Canada to review the clinics contract. Our lawyer specializes in reproductive law so she knows a lot about surrogacy. After going over all the logistics she asked us why we have chosen India over Canada to do the procedure. We explained to her cost and the wait times were our two biggest issues.

So after much debate she has convinced us to explore the possibility of give Canada another try. I have a meeting with a couple surrogacy agencies tomorrow so hopefully we will know by the end of the week what we are going to do.

I would love to do surrogacy in Canada because obviously it would be a lot more convenient. So I will give it one more chance just to be sure we are making the right choice in going to the other side of the world to make our dreams come true.

Why India

I'm going to be honest.... We choose India over Canada because its quite inexpensive, has shorter wait times and lets face it they know what they're doing. Currently in Canada surrogacy itself is not banned, but payment of consideration or the offer of payment to a surrogate is a prohibited act. Also it is quite a long process here and there is a long waiting list.

We did have one amazing friend offer to carry a child for us and I can't express to her enough how honored we were. If we ever do decided to try in Canada she is our number one choice.

So after much research we have decided to go with the Kiran Clinic. There are so many great clinics to choose from but in the end we went with our intuition. There was just something that drew us to Dr. Samit and his Case Manager Anjani Kumar and the package they offer.

Dan and I have so much to give so follow us on this amazing journey.