A very long journey - to offer hope

[wishfull27]

all crossed for scans on wednesday - wow and 12 weeks tom - how sweet of nurse to add your name to scan - what a lovely thoughtful touch

hugs and love to you all

carolyn xx

[jackoa21]

Carolyn
I am so happy to read about you.. I have checked back on the board over the last year and I am so happy to read your news.. You are a true insperation and you have been a wonderful friend to so many of us on this board.. Best wishes and I can not wait till I read about you holding that sweet little baby in your arms..
Love and hugs your old May buddy
Jackie

[CarolynB]

Thank you all for continuing to read and offer support.

Well we had a private scan on Thursday to run the nuchal testing and also see our little one again! DH could not come which was a real shame but he has had so much time off work.

They dated the little one forward 5 days, just like Birmingham Woman's Hospital, but we are sticking with the ivf dates for now and a due date on 23rd June which is our Mum's birthday.

Everything was in place. Two arms. Two feet. The downs syndrome risk was 1 in 90 because the eggs were frozen when I was 3-9 but based on the bloods from my sister and the neck measurements that has now moved to 1 in 870. We would not have changed anything but it offers us some reassurance. The other tests were moved to 1 in 3,000.

They made a dvd so my dh could see our little one wiggling around.

ARGC have taken my sister off the horrid gestone injections. I am so happy that she no longer has to do them. She is also stopping the prognova which means she does not have to stay up til 12.30am every night to take them. She just has to carry on with the cyclogest for a couple of weeks more. Then she is done. Phew for her

No scan now for 7 weeks - 3rd Feb 2009. Not sure how I will manage as we have had 5 scans in the last 6 weeks! We will see my sister at Xmas which is lovely.

So we took the plunge and started telling people. People have been largely gobsmacked. Quite a lot of tears. Think that the surrogacy thing is outside most people's sphere of knowing. Nobody we have told has ever come across a surrogacy arrangement before. Most people seem to assume that it is my sisters egg so it does take some explaining. But may be we will also help raise awareness by telling our story. Would be lovely if it helped some one else to have a family.

Off to see my niece (14) and nephew (11) this afternoon who have no cousins. Hope that this will go well. Taking dvd and pics in case they want to have a look!

Feel a little bit more relaxed. May be it will really happen???? CRICKEY

Love to you all.
Carolyn xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[LauraLou]

Carolyn-

I am thrilled everything is going so well! You made it past the biggest hurdle, the first trimester. Going forward is the fun part, buying baby things, decorating the nursery, thinking up baby names.

Just think, next Xmas you will be holding your beautiful miracle baby!

Love,
Laura

[jen babes]

carolyn

fab news

Hoping you manage to relax soon and enjoy that this time next year you will have a big fat 6mth old baby in your arms...

Love and many hugs for 2009

jeni
xxxxxx[/b]

[CarolynB]

Thank you for continuing to cheer on me and my sister. You are very kind.

I hope that 2009 will be a really good year for all of us.

Not much to report at my end. My sister was with me for New Year which was nice & we could help her with her children and take some of the load off her. I took her to buy some maternity clothes. Her hair is really glossy. Her skin looks great. You could not tell that she was even pregnant unless you knew! Surreal.

She saw the midwife on Tuesday. 16 weeks. Almost 4 weeks since the last scan so nerve wracking yet again. Well all well. Midwife could hear the heatbeat and the little one was kicking and punching away. So I am more reassured at least for a few days. I have moments when I am sad that it is not me and that I am depriving my dh of the experience. I said this to my dh and he said that it is still the most exciting time of his whole life. How sweet is that! Bless

Next milestone is 20 week scan which is 25 days away. Nothing like wishing your life away.

I love the fact that we are now in 2009 and this is the year (fingers and toes crossed) that we will FINALLY be parents. Must be starting to believe as bought some bits in the sales and even started talking tenantively about names. OMG - this might actually happen!!!!!!!!

Love to you all.
Carolyn xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[AuntyPebbles]

Hi Carolyn just checking in see how your beanie was doing...oh you too of course

It's getting really exciting isnt it....what names are you thinking of? promise i will try not to steal them. we have been talking about names in case we need them but cant agree might have to take a poll ...LOL

love Debz

[lara312]

Hi carolyn glad to hear everything is going well are you going to find out what your having or wait for the surprise take care and keep us posted
lots of love Rachel x x

[Angie65]

Hi Carolyn - just popping in to say HI as I've been away for Christmas. Very happy to see everything is progressing wonderfully for you and your sister. I've been thinking about you. Keep the updates coming - I love reading them.

[Kate350]

What an amazing story. I am new to the site and at the start of our infertility journey. I'm sitting at my desk at work crying my eyes out! Congrats. Fingers crossed and best of luck.

[nimble]

Carolyn, just popping in to see how things are going and so pleased its looking good. It's amazing how you wish your life away to reach the next milestone and then when they are finally here, you wish that life would slow down as it goes so quickly.

It's just so exciting!!!!

Take care and roll on the next scan.

Nimble xx

[wishfull27]

soo pleased that all is good and hey what the hell about wishing your life away.. baby will be here very soon

Are you going to find out the sex at next scan ??

Love and hugs to you, DH and your amazing sister xxx

[CarolynB]

LauraLou – we have started to clear out the spare room. Get some bits and pieces and think of names. It is exciting and I am less stressed but it all stills feels very tentative. May be I will never relax??? Hope all well with the little lads

JenB – thanks babe for coming on here to read the news. Know it is not easy. Big hugs to you for 2009

Aunty P – we like Sam for a boy and may be Chloe or Emily for a girl. Hope that all is well for you, Sammy and little Rosa. Thanks for all your support

Rachel – we plan to find out what we are having at 20 week scan. Think that it will help me envisage things especially as I am not carrying. I am also like to plan and figure why not get everything in pink or blue rather than yellow and cream!!! Cannot believe that you are over 14 weeks already. Whizzing by although probably feels like a lifetime for you. 2nd trimester girls

Kate – good luck with your journey. You have come to the right place for support. The ladies on here are great and always some around who will be able to answer questions. Let’s hope that your journey is WAY shorter than mine

Angie – hope that you all had a wonderful 1st Xmas away with your little one. Thanks for continuing to cheer me on.

Nimble – that is so interesting that things suddenly speed up. Right now it feels like it is going at snails pace. I am on countdown to 20 week scan. Hope that all is well with little Eva

Wishful/Carolyn – thanks for keeping cheering me on. Yes we will definitely hope to find out the sex at the 20 week scan. I am not too good with surprises so better for me to know now. We are not sure how open we will be with people or whether we will keep as our family secret. Wonder what your plans are to cycle again?

Beckster – big hugs babe. Thinking of you. You know where I am.

Jackie - my original May buddy, thank you for dropping by to offer support. Know that you are a very busy lady!!

Well my dear sister went to Birmingham Woman’s on Tuesday. She has a thyroid issue which needs to be checked monthly. So all was well with her levels which is great and as an added bonus they checked the baby. Heartbeat all ok. Phew. Another week under the belt. So that gave me comfort at exactly 17 weeks. So just 3 weeks to go now until 20 week scan or now 19 days to be exact. At least the midwife and dopplers have eased the scan waiting period for me from 12 weeks to 20 weeks. If it was me then sure that I would have succumbed and bought a Doppler for myself but trying not to over stress my sister who is calm in amongst all the storm. Hope that she will start to feel the baby move soon. She knows then that I will be wanting daily text updates

Thank you for all the support ladies. Means the world to me.
Carolyn xxxxxxxxxx

[CarolynB]

Dear All

Just to let you know that we have our 20 week scan on Tuesday. Just three days to go. It seems like a lifetime since I saw my little one on screen - 8 whole weeks. Quite a long time since I saw my dear sister too - New Year. So much waiting! Waiting. Waiting.

I am a complete bundle of nerves and excitement. I fluctuate between the two extremes. Goodness only knows what I shall be like towards the end????

My sister has not said much about movement and I have not wanted to stress her but she did admit last Sunday that she thought that she was feeling some light kicking. That would have been just before 19 weeks.

I so hope that everything will be ok on Tuesday for my sister and our baby. My dh and I think that we will find out the flavor if we can.

Scan is at 10am in Birmingham. Means an early start from London but doubt that I will sleep much. I shall of course report in afterwards when we are back at home.

Please cross everything for me/us again.

Thank you as always. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. For once I shall await Monday with glee!!
Love
Carolyn xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[wishfull27]

good luck for tomorrow and the scan - ae you setting off today to avoid getting stuck in the snow??

Thinking of you all ((())) xx