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Guess who's surrogate is pregnant? Ours! We are having a baby! I can't believe it. I really, really, really can't believe it. I think I am still in shock. Our surrogate's Beta number is 2049 (14dp 5dt). From what I understand that is pretty solid.

B and I are completely elated. I feel dazed. I can't believe we jumped over this big hurdle and landed on our feet! I am so happy that this worked not only for us but also for our surrogate. I hope that our surrogate has a healthy, easy, and uneventful pregnancy.

I just wanted to thank everyone who has supported us through out this journey. Your kind words, thoughts, and gestures helped us through really difficult times. We are so lucky to have you all as our friends and family. Thanks a million!

Rock My World

I just experienced my first earthquake! It was 5.4 magnitude. I was just sitting with my dog when everything started shaking, and then all of the pictures started swaying. It was pretty scary. B called in from his office to say that his building was swaying back and forth. Scary!

Are We There Yet?

The waiting has been the worst part of the entire process. I have thought of every possible thing that could go wrong. I have thought about crazy shit, like teenage pregnancy and that maybe it's not such a bad idea. I have thought about how fertile drug-addicted prostitutes can be and questioned my career and life choices. I have gone back and forth with my thoughts on asking a woman in prison to carry our baby. This is the most surprising argument that I have had with myself! I have actually rationalized that a woman in prison gets access to health care, in a controlled environment, while getting a well-balanced diet. They are in a disciplined environment that might actually benefit the fetus. Think about this - what would lockdown mean to my child? I bet our child would always go to bed on time! Also, we would never have to send our kid to one of those "Scared Straight" programs. It would also make a great essay topic for future college or reality TV show applications. Just imagine reading an essay titled "I Was Born in Prison." Seriously, this is where my tortured mind wonders off to when left to its own devices.

We are still anxiously waiting to hear from Dr. Patel about whether our surrogate is preggers or not. It has been an excruciatingly long wait. I can't help but torture my mind. One second I am thinking of baby names and the next I am looking at fertilty clinics. It is making me feel bipolar.

We have hatched a Plan B. We would probably go to India again, but next time, we would start our treatment here in the States. It sucks to have to think like this, but it would suck even more to get the bad news and not have anything to move forward to.

Waiting

So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, "The Transfer."

Transfer Day- We said good bye to our BFF/ B's dad's doppelganger, Hershrane. Then I went to have the letter I wrote our surrogate translated into Gujarati. As we were getting a rickshaw, I almost (we're talking centimeters) got shat on by a bird. I'll take that as a sign of good luck. We got to the hospital, I took some pictures with the nurses, and then we waited for Dr. Patel to take us to to see the embryologist. And we waited. And then we waited some more. Every time the door opened we would JUMP out of our seats, only to be disappointed by a nurse leaving something on Dr. Hitesh's desk. There were a few times that someone would be on the other side of the door, turn the knob as if they were coming in, and then walk away. Have you ever watched a door knob turn and had your heart race? I felt like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. We waited like this for about two hours. Finally, Hansa (my favorite nurse) came in to get us. We went upstairs to yet another waiting area except this waiting area had other couples waiting for transfer. I was all "WTF? Who are these people? Why weren't they here the whole time with with us?" It seems they were all second rounders that did their IVF cycles back home (Bangladesh, UK, Bay Area) and came to Dr. Patel for retrieval and transfer. We were instructed to put on surgical masks and hair nets, which, by the way, is a really great look. Then B and I were called in to see our five remaining embryos. Dr. Patel pointed out the three best and said that those were the ones that she would be transferring. Two of them were excellent quality, and one of them was good quality! B was so overjoyed he almost hugged a "scrubbed in" Dr. Patel. Then B went back to the waiting area, and I went into the O.R. for the transfer. I held our surrogate's hand as the nurses prepped her for the transfer. I watched her as she prayed and couldn't help but think how much she must want this to work. We both continued to pray as they did the transfer. After Dr. Patel finished the transfer, I kissed our surrogate and thanked her at the very least 5,000 times. I went out to see B and we hugged. It's the same kind of hug Rocky gave Adrian after he beat Apollo Creed. Completely exhausted, emotionally wrecked and deliriously happy - that's how I will forever remember feeling at that moment.

Believe it or not, we had to wait some more after that - this time to pay for our treatment. While we were waiting we met a Jamaican woman from NYC who's surrogate is pregnant with her child. We found out that she had undergone 14 failed IVF treatments and she finally found success with Dr. Patel and a surrogate. She decided that after trying for so many years for a baby that she didn't want to miss out on one bit of her surrogate's pregnancy. She has moved from NYC to Anand, India to be there for every moment. Truly amazing! Finally, after we wrapped everything up with Dr. Patel, we started our long journey home (31 hours door to door).

We have been home for a few days now. We had Chipotle as our first meal back, and then I had McDonald's breakfast the next morning!

After a three week hiatus, B went back to work yesterday where he found a congratulatory "It's a Boy" cigar on his desk. It seems someone he works with had a baby. I hope it's a sign!

We are back to another cliffhanger, except this one will be much longer...about 11 days longer. I'm sure the time will pass about as quickly as it did when Meadow was parallel parking in The Soprano's series finale.

Transfer Day!

Last night I couldn't sleep at all. I had this dream that B and I were in the lab with the embryologist and he was showing us the DNA of Ted Bundy and Ted Kaczynski. He said that our embryos carried that type of DNA and we shouldn't bring a child into the world. Can you say nightmare!

I stayed up the rest of the night thinking of how today would be. I hope that the embryologist explains (or dumbs it down for me) everything in full detail. I hope that our surrogate's uterus is a welcoming environment for our blastocysts and that the blastocysts are coated with glue (non-harmful and environmentally safe) before the transfer. I also hope that Dr. Patel is playing the Rocky soundtrack from movies I-IV just for motivation. I think that "Feeling Strong Now" or "Eye Of The Tiger" would do.

We probably won't be updating the blog tomorrow as we will be travelling home. It is like the ultimate cliffhanger. Sort of like not knowing if Tony got taken out on the final episode of The Sopranos. You are all going to wonder how many did they transfer? Did T pass out? What was their first meal back? When will they find out if their surrogate is pregnant? Oh, I actually know the answer to that one. We find out on our wedding anniversary, July 31. Wish us luck!

Potpourri

We have so many things to address, so this post is going to be like verbal diarrhea or, if you prefer, a potpourri of topics.

1. Feeling Better and Keeping It Together:
I am feeling about 85% today, which is way up from the last few days. I honestly felt better after having my hysterectomy, although I'm sure it was the pain meds that helped then. They didn't give me anything for the pain this time. I was on something like 5 different other meds, so I'm not sure how they could have been effective. Also, I haven't been able to eat since Saturday morning. Last night was the first meal that I was able to "hold onto".

2. Our Laundry REEKS!
We had our laundry done by the hotel twice while we were here. The first time it smelled fine. This past time it smelled like a dirty jock strap. F'ing disgusting. In my "can't hold onto any food state" I made B stay far away from me because of his shirts' aroma. He too is so disgusted by it that he has been wearing fragranced lotion on his upper lip.

3. We Are Making Friends:
A few more (talkative) couples have arrived. It has been really lonely here, and seeing other people that want to socialize is like being freed from solitary confinement! We all chatted in Dr. Hitesh's office yesterday and today. Then B and I went to Cafe Coffee Day (think Starbucks with Britney Spears music), and we met up with another couple from Germany. They are both surgeons and this is their second time here.

4. Ganesha:
Ganesha is one of the main Hindu gods. Today we figured out that he is a god of new beginnings and remover of obstacles. We found it to be interesting and appropriate that we are here in India to remove the obstacles that we have been facing and, in doing so, to start a new beginning in our lives.

5. Transfer Day:
Tomorrow at 12:30 PM we are doing our transfer. We are both ecstatic that we have made it to this point! Dr. Patel will hopefully be transferring 3 blastocysts (as of today we have 5 left) to our surrogate. I brought her a gift bag filled with lotion, nail polish, lip gloss, some earrings, chocolates and money. I have also written her a letter that we will have someone translate for us. We get to go in the lab to see the embryos beforehand, and then I will be allowed to be there with our surrogate as they transfer a part of our life to her. It is so emotional for me just to write this that I can't possibly imagine how emotional tomorrow will be. I hope that we will have luck and God (and Ganesha) on our side!

Golden Arches

I am still feeling really awful. I can't wait to get home and eat meat. I have been planning my first meal back (which is common for most prisoners and hostages), and it is either going to be McDonalds or Chipotle. I am a big fan of the #2 value meal (2 cheeseburgers, fries, and a Coke) at McDonalds, but I think this homecoming deserves more. Perhaps I will stick with the #2 and then add some McNuggets to the mix, followed by a hot fudge sundae chaser. I might even put the McNuggets on my burger. If I go with Chipotle (no coincidence that used to be owned by McDonalds) I will get the barbacoa tacos, chips and guacamole, and an extra taco just to treat my body right. The only curveball is if we get in before10:30 AM (and there is a McDonalds in the terminal). That would be a dream come true! I would totally get 2 Egg McMuffins and 2 hashbrowns with an OJ. I actually like to put the hashbrown on my McMuffin. It really surprises me that I am not 400lbs. I am so over mango juice, curry, naan, rice and anything spicy. I just want the tastes and comfort of home, which for me is McDonalds. USA! USA! USA!

Retrieval Update

Dr. Patel got 15 eggs yesterday, of which 12 are "excellent" quality. I am still pretty sore, but my mobility has greatly improved since yesterday. B has been an angel. He has been taking very, very good care of me. Tomorrow we will find out how many fertilized and which day they are going to transfer the embryos to our surrogate.

Retrieval Day

Hooray! Hooray! Today is retrieval day! Let's hope that we make some kick ass embryos!

We're In The Home Stretch

Dr. Patel came back from London yesterday. Honestly, I was so happy to see her I could have piddled. I felt like Sully, our dog, who is so thrilled to see us every time we walk thru the door that he can't stop panting and wagging his butt. She gave me an ultrasound which showed 24 eggs! That's a great number, but it seems like I have OHSS - not cool. I am taking some meds to reduce the effects of OHSS. I have tons of gatorade, protein bars, and salty snacks to help with the bloating. One of the best things to come out of this is that Dr. Patel wants to fertilize half of the eggs using ICSI and the other half using IVF. She also wants to do a 5 day Blastocyst transfer of 2 or 3 embryos. This morning at 6:00 AM Hansa (my favorite nurse) came to our room to give me my very last shot, the trigger. Tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 PM, I will have my retrieval. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Bizarro World

Do you remember that Seinfeld episode where Elaine meets Bizarro Jerry and everything is exactly the opposite of real Jerry? That is kind of what my life seems like here in India. Back home in Southern California the extreme weather is wild fires, and in India the extreme weather is monsoon season. The place where we spend the most time here is the hotel restaurant that happens to be vegetarian. The place that I spend the most time at back home is work, which happens to be a steakhouse. The restaurant here does not employ female waitstaff, while the restaurant I work at employs mostly female waitstaff. Gujarat is a "dry" state, wheras back home I am surrounded by alcohol (I am a bartender...not a drunk).

As Bizarro Superman might say, me am craving meat!

Starting to Go Bananas

Ggggrrr. I thought that I was supposed to have another ultrasound today but instead I got my meds and then all of the important information that I needed. Why do they mess with my mind like this? The way I would have liked for it to happen would have been for us to walk into Dr. Hitesh's office with him actually being there, and then for him to tell us that he spoke to Dr. Patel who thinks I need one more day of meds. The way it actually happened was we walked into Dr. Hitesh's office, he wasn't there, the nurse started to give me my meds, I said "No way, Jose." I then asked her if I was supposed to have an ultrasound and then my trigger later, and she said "no, you ultrasound tomorrow," I got my shots and then wanted to throw a chair at someone. I later found out from Dr. Hitesh that Dr. Patel would perform my ultraround tomorrow. That's fine, but it would have been nice to know that in advance. Someone could have gotten hurt by that chair that I was about to throw.

Speaking of throwing things, we saw a few monkeys today during our day trip to Vadodara. For those who aren't trained in zoology, monkeys are a furry species that like to throw their own feces at people. We captured some footage of a monkey with its baby; luckily we were not hit with any flying poo.

Speaking of monkeys, while we were in Hong Kong, we had a reflexology treatment. The woman treating B told him that he was furry "like monkey."

Feeling Better...Until My Next Hormone-Induced Rant

I feel much better today. We went in a bit early today to speak with Dr. Hitesh (Dr. Patel's husband). He had a nurse lead us on a tour of one of the surrogate mothers apartments. There were about 15 pregnant women there; most were either nine months pregnant or had just had a transfer. About 1/3 were pregnant with twins. This apartment is on the third floor of the hospital building and is reserved for high risk, just transferred, and late term pregnancies. There is another house with about 20 more surrogates off campus. After the tour he patiently answered all of my questions. The drug that was just added to me regimen was not bleach as I had assumed, but is instead Luveris. Luveris works as an enhancer with Gonal F. I will, in fact, have another ultrasound tomorrow, possibly followed by my trigger shot later that evening. I will also have another ultrasound on Thursday when Dr. Patel comes back, so she can see "what's up." He also said that ideally they transfer nothing smaller 18-20mm. I am right on target for where I need to be. I also asked him if there were any eggs smaller than 10mm yesterday, and he said that it was "irrelevant". I feel much better knowing more info and I have come to terms with the fact that I may only have nine eggs come retrieval. After all, it only takes one!

How Would You Like Your Eggs?

Eggs. It seems that my thoughts and belly are consumed with them. I had my day 5 ultrasound yesterday. It showed 4 eggs in my left ovary measuring 11mm and 5 eggs in my right ovary measuring between 10 and 11mm. It's great that all of my eggs are measuring similiar in size, and that I am responding to the stimulation, but I had grand delusions that I would be like mother hen and would produce tons of eggs. I feel like it is the only thing I can do since I can't carry a child and have a vast amount of space in my "girl parts" since my uterus and cervix have been taken from me. Yesterday, after the ultrasound, I felt discourged by my number. You know when you have worked really hard on a project for school and you get a B- and you just berate yourself? That is how I felt. I felt like I deserved an A for all that I have been through already. It doesn't mean that I won't get an A in the end, it just makes me feel more grounded, I guess.

I am a little bit annoyed with Dr. Patel and her staff. Dr. Patel had a speaking arrangement in London this past Saturday and has yet to return. When you travel half way across the world to be treated by a "specific" doctor, you want to be treated by that doctor and not anyone else. When I ask when Dr. Patel will return it is either July 10th or July 12th depending on who you ask. I have been told that she will be here for my retrieval which may be bumped up to July 11th. I don't know how that is possible unless she is in London cloning herself.

On a post-related side note that I am sure everyone wants to hear, I have also been eating eggs everyday as my daily source of protein.

Everyone Has A Twin

Have you ever been told that you look like someone else? I have been told on occasion that I look like a young, blonde, Liza Minelli, and more recently Lisa Ling. B has been told that he looks like Jim Carrey, the guy from CSI: Las Vegas, and Harry Potter (when wearing his glasses). Neither of us really likes these associations, nor do we see the resemblance. Could you imagine what a Liza Minelli/Harry Potter baby would look like? Well, hopefully we'll find out in about nine months.

We were coming back from dinner a few nights ago when B turned and asked me who I thought our server Hershrane (who is not afraid to tell us that he likes to make love to his wife, listen to Shakira and watch Arnold Swarzenegger movies) looked like. I was stumped. "Umm, I don't know" I said. B answered with "my Dad." I was all "dude, you think Hershrane looks like your Dad!!" I was blown away by this statement. Then B said "imagine if my Dad was 30 pounds lighter, 30 years younger, a few inches shorter, and Indian." No, I can't imagine that. It's about as possible as me looking like Lisa Ling or Liza Minelli.

Hershrane , a.k.a. B's dad's Indian doppelganger

Sikh Celebration

We were coming back from the hospital last night and we happened upon a large group of people just outside our hotel. Many of them were either wearing orange or carrying orange flags. We went inside of our hotel to ask what was going on. They said that the Sikhs were celebrating the arrival of a Guru who had not come to the area in many years (either thirty years or thirteen years - this detail was lost in translation). We stepped outside with our camera and saw one of the servers from the hotel restaurant. He was there celebrating with his family and invited us to come and join the crowd, although I was also asked to cover my hair with my scarf. We went across the street where there were groups of men and women dancing, men playing drums, and people shooting colorful smoke into the air. People were handing us bunches of flowers to throw in the air when the Guru drove by. It was total sensory overload! We were very grateful that they welcomed us into their celebration (except for when some little kid grabbed my ass).

Keep Your Hands Inside the Vehicle, Kids!

Rickshaws are a major form of transportation throughout Anand and the rest of India. This is how we get to and from the hospital, shopping, etc. It is a little bit frightening at first, and the fumes can be nauseating, but it is a lot of fun! The drivers come within inches of other motorists, donkeys, cyclists, cows and dogs (our driver the other day almost ran over a dog laying in the street). The drivers do not care if there is a person or vehicle in their way; they just power through and somehow manage not to hit anything, while I try to figure out if I just shit in my pants (Nope, that was B who just did). I guess we are thrill seekers. Then again, what is the alternative?

By the way, rickshaw rides are dirt cheap. It costs us 20 rupees (less than 50 cents) to get from the hotel to the hospital. A similar ride in the states would cost about eight to ten dollars. We spent about an hour shopping today. The rickshaw driver drove us from store to store and waited outside for us while we shopped - all for the low low price of 60 rupees (about $1.40)! It should be noted that this was his asking price. We probably could have talked him down to 40 or 50 rupees, but it just felt wrong.

We have attached a video to help paint a better picture of the rickshaw experience. Enjoy!

Caution: If you tend to suffer from motion sickness do not watch the video.

Meeting Dr. Patel

We had our first meeting with Dr. Patel and her staff on July 2. This came as a pleasant surprise seeing that our scheduled appointment was for July 3. Dr. Hitesh (Dr. Patels' husband) called our hotel room and told us to come by and meet everyone, as he was sure we had nothing else to do. Boy, was he right! Dr. Hitesh sent Mr. Uday (sometimes referred to as Ha Ha because of his exuberant laugh) over to our hotel to pick us up. The hospital is only a five minute ride from our hotel. I was overwhelmed with emotion when we arrived. It solidified everything that we had come here for. We were whisked into Dr. Hitesh's office. It felt like we were intruding on something important. Another patient, Mr. C was in the office signing papers. Mr. C was waiting for his wife who had just had her retrieval done. It felt rude to be there while someone was signing personal papers, but Mr. C said "You all will see, nothing is private here. Everyone knows everyone else's issues." Dr. Patel's nurse called for us. We went into her office and I was stunned by how beautiful she is. You know when you meet someone who has "good karma?" Well, she has it. There is just something so serene about her. She pulled our e-mails, asked me when I had stopped the pill, weighed me, and then had her nurse take me to the exam room. She gave me an ultrasound and saw nine follicles in my right ovary! My left ovary was hiding, but Dr Patel was confident that with the drugs, my left ovary would also produce. She seemed very pleased by my ultrasound. I am going to quote Bret Michael's here with "Awesome!" She had a technician draw samples of blood (to test for HIV, Hepatitis, and hormone levels). The technician also had to take a sample of blood from B to test for HIV, and Hepatitis. We went back to Dr. Hitesh's office and said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. C, and Dr. Patel told us to come back at 4:30 to start "the junk." How great is that!! I get to start a day earlier! We arrived back at 4:30, chatted with Dr. Hitesh about cricket, and I got my first injection of Gonal-F at 5 PM. The strange thing about the injection was how it was administered. I was just sitting there on a plastic patio chair, mid-conversation, when - SHAZAM! - I got poked. No warning, very stealth. The nurses could lead double lives as cat burglars. I haven't seen or felt any side effects yet except for my acne and track marks which make me resemble Amy Winehouse. Who knows what tomorrow has in store? A beehive, perhaps? Sexy time.

We're Finally Here

After months of planning and anticipation, we finally arrived in Anand the evening of July 1, 2008. We flew through Delhi, which is where our introduction to India officially began. We got off the plane and found our way to immigration without too much trouble. We then entered the immigration "line," which was actually more of a cluster. The next thirty minutes involved constant jockeying for position as we slowly inched our way to the front. The thirty minutes is only an estimate, as the world clocks on the far wall all indicated the wrong times. We eventually made it through immigration. Looks like we won't be starring in the sequel of Brokedown Palace. Bummer. Next stop- baggage claim.

***Disclaimer: Baggage Claim in Delhi is not for the impatient***

I kept imagining us as one of the couples on amazing race, frantically waiting and waiting for our bags. B's head would have exploded! Luckily all of our bags finally made it to the luggage belt. We breezed through customs with all of our drugs and contraband and tried to find signs for the interterminal tram to get to our connecting flight to Vadodara. Hmmm...I guess we didn't realize that the airport was undergoing "renovations" and that tram wasn't quite built yet (or conceived of, perhaps). We finally were able to find our way to the "interterminal lounge." Picture a Jiffy Lube waiting room with a statue of Ganesha, and you have a good picture of this place. We had some time to kill before the next bus to the domestic terminal, so T went to find the ladies room. Picture a Jiffy Lube bathroom with a dirty diaper in the only toilet stall and women eating on the floor, and you have a good picture of this place. The bus finally arrived and took us on a leisurely thirty minute ride/scenic route to the domestic terminal where we caught our connecting flight.

Side note: I think Bob Barker might have taken up a post-retirement gig as the head talent scout for Jet Airways flight attendants. They all looked like Bollywood actresses - much hotter than Barker's Beauties.

We arrived in Vadodara to find Mr. Uday waiting to take us to our hotel in Anand. It was nice not to worry about finding transportation to the hotel. This is just one example of the many things Dr. Patel has done to make things easier for us during our visit. Mr. Uday helped us check into La Casa Inn and had the staff first show us the different room options so we could make an informed decision about what level room to select. This helped us save $13 a night. Thanks, Mr. Uday!

Our room at La Casa was a pleasant surprise. It has most of the amenities that American travelers are accustomed to. The air conditioning works very well; the TV has a lot of channels, including HBO and Stars, which plays shows like Seinfeld and Friends; and the bathroom has Western-style facilities.

The hotel staff has been extremely friendly and helpful. T believes that they would build a spaceship for us if we asked them to. The hotel restaurant, which is vegetarian, is also very good. They serve many different cuisines including Indian, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese and Thai. Our room rate also comes with a free American-style breakfast.

We have been here for three days now and are growing accustomed to our new surroundings. We're still finding ourselves staring at the cows, camels and donkeys roaming the streets, but maybe after two weeks of being here even that will seem normal to us.