Random Thoughts

Sorry I've been MIA lately. My grandparents have been visiting for the past 10 day and it was a whirlwind of events that consisted of the following: NYC, Cape Cod and Plymouth, MA, the casino near my house, Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, visiting the mansions in Newport, RI and spending Memorial Day weekend on the coast of Maine. And while I love my grandparents to death, I wasn't sad to see them leave this morning because all that running around can seriously wear a girl out!

I want to say thank you to everyone who responded to my last post.  I talked with a couple people and the IVF clinic near my sister's house and we decided not to go through with the surrogacy.  If we hadn't already shelled out $15K through adoption then it would be a totally different story but at this point I think we're just going to stick with our original plan.  Besides, after explaining the process of an FET to my sister, she didn't seem too thrilled about all that was involved :)

So this past weekend we went to the coast of Maine and stayed in a hotel for a couple days.  During that time Brandon and I took advantage of having our own hotel room *cough cough*.  Imagine my surprise when I started spotting, and this morning it turned into a bonafide period.  This is the first natural period I've had in 2+ years.  Makes me wonder what's going on down there.  I guess we'll have to see if it happens again next month, though I'm certainly not keeping my hopes up. 

We have exactly 4 weeks till our trip to Peru.  Due to my grandparents' recent visit I've gained a couple pounds back from the weight I lost but I'm determined to get rid of it again before my trip.  My goal is to lose 5 pounds in the next 4 weeks.  Totally doable.  I just need to focus on my water and salt intake because lately I've been swelling up in my fingers and ankles.

Well, that's about all that's going on right now.  I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend!!

Surrogacy

This is going to be a pretty short post because I have to get to work.  I haven't talked about this topic yet because I wasn't sure it was something we were going to consider but my sister has offered to be a surrogate for us.  She offered over a year ago and we kinda blew it off as just a nice gesture, but one that would never be fulfilled.  Not because we didn't think she was genuine but because we didn't think she'd make a good candidate as a surrogate.  After all, she had her only child at 30 weeks and he was just 2 1/2 pounds.  But about a month ago she made the same offer again.  This time we've decided to talk more about it. 

But it's something we're only willing to consider if it's a lot less than the adoption.  We've already put about $15K into the adoption process, money that is non-refundable.  We have about $30-32K left to spend once we're matched and all that.  Does anyone have experience with family/friend surrogacy (or having a surrogate that didn't charge the surrogacy fees)?  If so, about how much is the cost?  I'm assuming the cost of an IVF and FET put together but I could be wrong.  I've been out of touch with the cost of fertility treatments because in the military world it's much cheaper.  This time, however, we would not be able to use the military and we'd have to go through a civilian clinic.  Plus she lives in NC so one of us would have to travel.  So any info about the costs and legal process would be greatly appreciated.  This might not ever come to fruition but it's something we're willing to talk about for the time being.