Baby Soileau is on her way!

Hello! As you know, Baby Soileau is on HER way!!!! We couldn’t be more excited to share this exciting time in our lives with everyone who has rooted for us, prayed for us, and sent us good vibes over the last two years. While we have had quite a journey, we feel that everything has worked out exactly as it was supposed to. Our surrogate is great, the journey with her has been easy and smooth, and the timing of the due date is perfect (October 2…hello to being off over the holidays!). 

Let’s rewind and talk about the last few months! Our transfer date was January 14. I was beyond stressed. There are several things that can go wrong on the day of the transfer. First, the embryo might not survive the thaw, which then you lose a whole embryo! Second, the embryo could not survive the assisted hatching. Yes, you read that right…assisted hatching. Assisted hatching is a procedure that is supposed to help the embryo “hatch” or break free from the outer “shell” or layer by creating a small crack in that shell. This is supposed to help with implantation, but of course any manipulation of the embryo presents risks. Third, they could find too much fluid or something off with the uterine lining. I’m sure there are more but those were my main fears. So that morning I was a ball of nerves. The plan was to meet our surrogate and her husband for lunch after the transfer. We were walking to the restaurant and our surrogate Facetimed me with our wonderful Dr. Mottla and he said everything went perfectly! He was very excited about her straight cervix. Apparently, some women have some wonky tunnels down there, which can create issues with depositing the embryo in the uterus. Who knew, right?!

So, transfer went well. Lunch was great. And then the two week wait, which is the absolute worst. After transfer, the doctor schedules the beta bloodwork for 10-14 days post transfer. That test confirms the pregnancy. Some women opt to not take at home pregnancy tests but I am absolutely not one of those women. In fact, I bought our surrogate multiple tests and gave them to her at lunch. By day 4, we were both dying so she took one and we got a faint line! That line grew darker and darker over the next several days until the beta test confirmed the pregnancy. A few days later, she had another beta test to ensure that the pregnancy hormone level (HCG) is growing at an appropriate rate. After that bloodwork, we then waited for heartbeat confirmation, which we got at about 6 weeks! From then until about 14 weeks, we had a hard time accepting the fact that this was all working out. We realized that the miscarriage from last year had affected us way more than we realized. Each time we got good news, we thought “okay it’s good for now” or “she’s pregnant…for now.” However, I think in the last week or so we’ve finally turned a corner where we are believing that it is happening and letting ourselves get excited! 

This past Sunday marked 16 weeks (IVF math is weird) so we still have a journey ahead, but things are looking good and we feel so blessed to be at this point. We will continue to keep you updated! Love to all!