Friday, November 7, 2014

The one where I start to freak out...

So when I left you last, we'd really just begun the process for the surrogacy. Initial exams were done, things seemed to be on course. Only they weren't. After two cycles of follicle stimulation and egg harvesting, fertilizing, and testing it became clear things weren't going to go as planned.  I won't go into details, but the need for donor eggs became apparent. So my friend went back to researching. And my uterus got put on ice. (Not literally, that would be silly.) We slipped into a holding pattern while she searched for a solution. But she found donor eggs and we're back on track. Sort of.

We're in a time crunch to get the contract finished and signed before next Wednesday. The fertility clinic has to have the signed contract before they'll go any farther with me, and I have an appointment Wednesday. I'm on track to start the hormones on the 19th of this month (pre-heating the oven), and neither of us wants to delay it another month.

So their lawyer is finishing up the contract, they're reviewing it tonight, and we have a meeting with our lawyer on Monday. So, to prepare, I looked up the Illinois statute on surrogacy. Surprisingly, we're pretty progressive on a few things. We come in second only to California on the ease of surrogacy laws. And the ones we do have make perfect sense. (Illinois laws making sense? What? I know, right? Color me surprised) And I started perusing sample contracts online so I'd be up to speed and have questions ready when I got to the lawyer's.

That was my mistake. Holy hell! People still die from childbirth, y'all! How did this not cross my mind? There are provisions for all sorts of scary things: hysterectomy (okay, at my age, that kind of sounds like a bonus), ectopic pregnancy, stroke, heart attacks, death. No, no, and no. Generally, I'm not a "worst case scenario" kind of girl. I'm a "silver lining" girl. But there is no silver lining to having a stroke and being paralyzed and unable to talk. Or write. None.

This whole time I've been thinking about possible harm for the baby/babies from my age. Not myself. I nearly scared myself into a panic attack before I shut down that line of thinking. I think the only reason I got so worked up was because for the last week people have been telling me I'm too old to do this. And fat. But mostly old. However, it did make me realize there are a few things I might want to be sure are in the contract for my protection. I don't think the intended parents will have a problem with that. From the beginning their concerns have been for me.

So hopefully, the waiting is coming to an end and we're going to get this party started. I'm ready to rumble.

Also, did I mention my daughter is 11 weeks pregnant with her third child? This should be interesting...

♥Spot

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