Friday, June 06, 2008

Ahhhh, the joys of being a surrogate....

I got a ton of meds delivered to me yesterday so that we can finally get this surro journey started. This supply will be used for about 4 weeks (leading up to transfer) and then we will need to order more for the first 10 weeks after transfer providing that I get pregnant. I am a bit dismayed at having 4 different types of injectibles this time but I will just have to deal. 2 are subcutenous and will be injected by a tiny diabetic needle into my stomach and the other 2 are intramuscular. The 2 intramuscular ones will go into huge syringes with 22G needles. I have to inject those into my rear. The needle is 1.5" long and it has to be completely inserted to work correctly. Sounds fun, huh? Actually, I prefer the big needles over the little ones because they don't seem to hurt at all. They glide right into the skin easily and almost effortlessly. Sometimes the little ones don't seem to be sharp enough and I really have to jab them. Anyone interested in becoming a surro now?

For those that are curious, here is my med list:

Heparin-subcutaneous injection twice daily (blood thinner)

Lupron-subcutaneous injection daily (puts me in menopause-stops ovaries from production)
Estradiol Valerate (Estrogen)-intramuscular injection twice weekly (builds uterine lining)

Progesterone in Oil (Ethyl Oleate)
-intramuscular injection daily (this hormone keeps pregnancy viable-you can't carry a baby without this and since I won't be naturally pregnant my body won't make this on its own initially)
CitraNatal DHA (prenatal vitamins)-1 gel and 1 tab daily (promotes health)
Doxycycline-twice daily for 10 days (Clayton and I both have to take these so that I hopefully don't get sick during the cycle-they make us both throw up though, lol)
Cipro-twice daily for 5 days around transfer (to keep me from getting sick)
Prednisone (steroid)-twice daily (suppresss my immune system-keeps my body from attacking the embryo after transfer)
Aspirin-daily (keeps blood thin)
Folgard-once daily (adds extra folic acid for baby's growth & development)
Calcium + Vitamin D-once daily (helps with my bone strenth)
birth control pills-once daily (gets my cycle in line with the egg donor's cycle-we must be in sync for everything to work correctly)

3 comments:

Sherry said...

Holy cow...that's a lot of shots and meds! I had no idea. I love reading about your experiences with surrogacy. thanks for sharing. :)

Melanie said...

I found your blog from 2peas a little while ago. I think it is amazing that you are willing to do this for someone else. My dh and I struggled to get pregnant for over 6 years and did many fertility procedures, so alot of those meds look familiar. Good luck to you and the couple you are doing this for!

Sandie said...

Brandy I think that you are one pretty amazing woman! How wonderful the world is with women like youself willing to help others couples to have a family.