# going to 'surrogate' soon - questions



## TerriWW (Mar 8, 2007)

hello

in the next couple of months I'm going to receive donated embryos from my partner. I am in effect being a surrogate but due to legal reasons it has to be classified as a donation. We have one son aged nearly 3 carried by me. My partner has been trying for our second child for over 2.5 years with 6 iuis, 2 ivfs and a FET - all BFN. She has a thin lining. So outcome is I'm hopefully going to carry for her  

I have a few questions and would be grateful for any info:

1. Down regulating - my partner has had no trouble with this but I'm sure I read of someone on this site having problems with their liver when on burselin. What are other peoples experiences?
2. I've been through 8 IUIs so this may seem a ridiculous question or worry.. I'm a bit worried about the speculum! Since having angus, everything is a bit different 'down below'. I went for a smear and the dr did it (rather than the well practiced nurse) and she had to try 3 speculums and it still hurt. I'm concerned we'll have trouble getting the embryos in. I keep telling myself it was her lack of expertise and that she was doing it from the side in an awkward position. I never had too much trouble when trying for angus. I think I'm just after a little reassurance here that we wont get to this point and they wont get the embryos in!
3. I will be on eostrogen (and progesterone I think) for 12 weeks if I get pregnant. Has anyone had any side effects or problems wrt part of the procedure? It's a long time to be on the hormones.

Any other info would be great too.

Thanks

Terri


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## Amandajb (Sep 6, 2007)

Hi there!

It was me who had the problems with my liver on the buserilin!

The latest on this is that my liver is reverting back to its normal state.  The medicines committee in London have classed it as a serious adverse reaction, but to put it in context, this is rare.  Latest thinking is that the problem is more to do with gall bladder (it has stones), and that the pregnancy hormones (or lack of them) caused a stone to block the bile duct, stopping the liver doing its job properly.  Either way, I just won't use Buseriline again.  There is another drug called Synarel (excuse spelling) which does the same sort of thing that they recommend using instead. 

However, as far as Buseriline goes, I have used it successfully in the past and experienced the usual symptoms you would expect - hot flushes, dryness, irregular periods, that sort of thing.  Inconvenient and bothersome, but not unpleasant.  Certainly manageable.

I have a backwards womb and I had exactly the same worries as you as far as paingoes.  I had experienced what you have as far as speculums go.  I have previously had a coil fitted and every year, they couldn't find the strings because my womb tilted the wrong way (I didn't know there was a right way), so sent me for an ultrasound to check placement.  

They found this out when they did a practice transfer.  When the day of the actual transfer came, it didn't cause any problems because they were aware.

The embryos themselves are do small, I didn't even realise they were in until they told me.  I guess I had visions of them being a whole lot larger!

As far as the hormones go, I was on cyclogest for twelve weeks (pessaries), and gestone injections for 14 or 15 weeks.  I had no side effects from the pessaries, and the injections caused a bit of a lump under the surface.  I felt sick and was a bit weepy and emotional as well, but these could just as easily have been symptoms of the pregnancy!  The bump has now gone - so that is only temporary.

I really hope this helps ease your mind.  Whilst all these side effects are uncomfortable and a bit annoying, don't let that detract from the possibility of a successful pregnancy.

The very best of luck to you.


Amanda


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## TerriWW (Mar 8, 2007)

Thanks for you reply Amanda.

LFGT - We aren't doing a FET, we are doing fresh embryo transfer! For this to work we need our cycles to be in sync or the embryos would be ready and my lining wouldn't be! So there is no choice wrt to drugs here. If it doesn't work and we have some frozen embryos then I can chose to either do it with drugs or natural.

Terri


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## TerriWW (Mar 8, 2007)

Thanks Lgft

I just read your history - I'm speechless - what a journey you've had/ are having. Best of luck to you finding another surrogate.


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