Cycle Limbo Part 2: Return of the Cycle

UPDATE

Nurse called. As long as my SIL can come in tomorrow and get an ultrasound - then we are proceeding as planned. Whoooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhh.

When the nurse initially called, she kind of presented it as my option with the knowledge that if my SIL's lining isn't thick enough upon transfer day, than the transfer won't take. Normally they want 11-14 days of the estrace to insure a thick lining, but they don't want to start the estrace until a untrasound and blood work on her confirms everything is a go (eg, no cysts, hormone levels good, etc..) My last cycle gave me only 12 days before transfer. She asked me if I wanted to go forth.

At first I asked questions about how would we avoid this next time if we waited. She said that normal protocol was to control the GC's cycle with BCP/Lupron overlap. Then I asked the follow up question that surprisingly, I think was a bit unexpected: why did we not do it this time? This was a little harder to answer, but the short of it was - they/she didn't want to start medications (including BCP) until all the initial testing had been completed. Of course my logical reply was: Does BCP effect the testing. Answer: No.

So getting past all that, I realized she expected an answer from me about whether I wanted to start or not. Here is where I lost it. Crying the cry only someone that is mildly dehydrated and still slightly sick can manage. My guess is that over the phone it sounded somewhat like a choking horse.

Normally when I get really upset, my sensibilities leave me, but they did not this time. I put the question back to her: "What you are telling me is that I have to choose between my chances lowering further from waiting a month, or take a chance that the lining won't be thick enough." She said she would speak to the doctor and call me back.

I laid the options out like that for a couple of reasons, but the main one was that I really didn't know which is riskier. One would think that a month wouldn't make a world of difference, but women in my age bracket know differently. My AMH dropped drastically in a very short period this year. Conversely, I don't recall our surrogates getting estrate (or similar) that long in India prior to the transfer, so I'm not sure if it is a booster/fail-safe thing or what.* From a medical perspective, since my GC and I started menses within 24 hours of each other, one would think at 29 years of age, her lining would be reasonably thick for ovulation at the proper time anyway.

After speaking with the doctor and both reviewing my records, the nurse called back. She stated that as long as my GC could come in for ultrasound tomorrow (she can), then we would continue the cycle as planned. We nailed down a few of the other details (like when I would start my big gun meds) and now I feel a crapload better than I was feeling. Earlier I was trying not to let panic surge, but I was having a hard time. I would have waited another month if I had to, but honestly, I am ready for this to be over and done with. The emotional and physical, even things you don't let anyone else see, is astronomically draining.

*Originally I thought the Indian surrogates did take meds from the beginning (from my own research of surrogacy), but I had my husband ask the Indian lady directly and she said that she only been told to start medication a few days prior to the transfer. My husband and I now debate if this was a protocol thing, problem with the surrogate, or other.