Screening Day
On Thursday morning, Hubby and I dropped our kids off with our local homeschooled friends and drove into Boston for our day of medical & psychological screening at my IPs clinic.
My first appointment of the day was with a psychologist. We spent nearly an hour talking as he took notes on my life in a nutshell- what makes me tick, what my support network looks like, and what had led me to this point in my life, wanting to be a Gestational Carrier, again. I then took the MMPI- "a psychological test that assesses personality traits and psychopathology." It is several hundred phrases to which I have to respond whether they are true, mostly true, hardly true, or false about me. It's tedious.
We joined my IPs, S&C, in the waiting room at the clinic's main office. S had brought us warm chocolate chip cookies from their favorite bakery, for us and extras to take home to our kids. While they went to take care of some specifics on their end, Hubby and I then met with the clinic's social worker. She also reviewed my history, talking briefly through my past journeys and relationships with all of my former IPs. She respected all of my experience in and knowledge of surrogacy, and wanted my blog & New England support group info to pass on to other inquiring future Intended Parents. She pretty much convinced me to write a book someday :)
Next was our joint meeting with her and S&C. It was comfortable with no surprises. She appreciated the humor we all seem to have while navigating through something so personal and serious. It was good to know that we are all on the same page with everything. We parted ways with S&C, all smiles.
In the afternoon, hubby and I gave our blood and urine samples and I had my hysteroscopy- a procedure which allows the RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) to look inside the uterus for scarring, polyps, or anything abnormal. All looked good. Even though I went through all of this testing last October at a different clinic, it's still good to hear again that I am healthy enough for another pregnancy as a surrogate.
Lastly Hubby and I met with the nurse coordinator of our case, to go over the meds and sign paperwork. We were told that we would get test results after the Memorial Day weekend.
The day went smoothly, and it was great to see S&C again. We are one big step closer to getting our journey underway. Once we have the green light from the clinic, we'll be moving on to our contract in June!
My first appointment of the day was with a psychologist. We spent nearly an hour talking as he took notes on my life in a nutshell- what makes me tick, what my support network looks like, and what had led me to this point in my life, wanting to be a Gestational Carrier, again. I then took the MMPI- "a psychological test that assesses personality traits and psychopathology." It is several hundred phrases to which I have to respond whether they are true, mostly true, hardly true, or false about me. It's tedious.
We joined my IPs, S&C, in the waiting room at the clinic's main office. S had brought us warm chocolate chip cookies from their favorite bakery, for us and extras to take home to our kids. While they went to take care of some specifics on their end, Hubby and I then met with the clinic's social worker. She also reviewed my history, talking briefly through my past journeys and relationships with all of my former IPs. She respected all of my experience in and knowledge of surrogacy, and wanted my blog & New England support group info to pass on to other inquiring future Intended Parents. She pretty much convinced me to write a book someday :)
Next was our joint meeting with her and S&C. It was comfortable with no surprises. She appreciated the humor we all seem to have while navigating through something so personal and serious. It was good to know that we are all on the same page with everything. We parted ways with S&C, all smiles.
In the afternoon, hubby and I gave our blood and urine samples and I had my hysteroscopy- a procedure which allows the RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) to look inside the uterus for scarring, polyps, or anything abnormal. All looked good. Even though I went through all of this testing last October at a different clinic, it's still good to hear again that I am healthy enough for another pregnancy as a surrogate.
Lastly Hubby and I met with the nurse coordinator of our case, to go over the meds and sign paperwork. We were told that we would get test results after the Memorial Day weekend.
The day went smoothly, and it was great to see S&C again. We are one big step closer to getting our journey underway. Once we have the green light from the clinic, we'll be moving on to our contract in June!