Boys on Ice: Last Thursday part of our future babies started their long journey! My husband went back to the lab for the last part of his "donor" process. He had to have blood drawn, give a urine sample, and he gave his collection of sperm - which will be washed, tested, and frozen until we need it to fertilize my eggs (sometimes in Jan/Feb 2013). If we weren't planning to use my sister - he would just give his collection the day of the egg retrieval. But since we're using her - they need to test his sperm to make sure it's safe for her. Kinda weird to think that his piece of the whole process is done - but we just do what we have to do. Good job, Honey! :)
My Lab Results: So my period showed up on 11/17 and I went in on 11/19 to have my blood drawn. They ended up taking 4 vials of blood that day. Nancy called me on 11/26 to tell me that my cystic fibrosis tests came back negative and that I was not a carrier for it. Then McKenzie called me last Thursday to give me the rest of the results. All of the STD tests came back negative. My AMH level (estimate of remaining egg supply) was at 3.7 and they want it to be over 3. My FSH level (used to evaluate egg supply) was 6.4 and they want it to be under 9. My thyroid was at 2.4 and they want it to be under 3. And my rubella antibodies was at 9 - which she said was an unequivocal level (not necessarily indicative of good or bad). She said I could opt to get a vaccine for it, but didn't recommend it - so I think we will pass on it. The one item of concern was my Prolactin level which was at 30.5 and they want it to be under 23. They check the Prolactin level to see why someone isn't having their period or to diagnose fertility issues. McKenzie said that my levels for Prolactin have always been within the expected range until this test. She also said that stress can cause this number to go up and that it can be quite finicky. Since I tested before I took my big exam - I'm wondering if maybe that caused the higher number? I definitely was a bit stressed out about the test. McKenzie recommended that I just re-do the blood test and see if it's back to the normal range. If so, then we know it was just a one-off thing. If it's still high, then it doesn't mean that it's a deal-breaker - it just means that they may have to give me some additional medicine. I'm going in tomorrow morning for my blood test - so think calm and non-stressful thoughts for me. ;)
Contract Update: Tomorrow night, we're planning on reviewing the gestational carrier contract with my sister and her husband. Once we review it together, we'll meet with my IVF Buddy to get the updates officially written into the contract and figure out what else we need to do to finalize it.
We had a great Thanksgiving holiday - as we always do! On Thanksgiving, we hosted my husband's parents, his granny, his one brother's family, and my parents. We had a lovely meal together - party of 12. :) Then on Friday we headed up to Michigan to my aunt/uncle's house for Franksgiving with my extended side of the family. During Franksgiving, we learned the wonderful news that another one of my cousin's is expecting a baby in 2013. The Royal Oak Kortlandts are due with Baby Kortlandt on June 3rd! Since two other cousins are already pregnant - everyone kept saying how we could have anywhere from 4-7 babies joining our family in 2013 (including our potential babies). We would be thrilled to be adding one (or more) babies to the Johnston & Kortlandt families in 2013. Good night!