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It worked…. Baby Bean due Nov 2022! 

May 12, 2022 | IVF and Surrogacy, Lifestyle | 0 comments

Baby Bean due Nov 2022

I know we left a lot of you on a cliffhanger after the embryo transfer… spoiler alert, it worked! Baby bean due Nov 2022!

You can read all about the embryo transfer here. (If you’re new here, you might want to start here). 

It worked…. Baby Bean due Nov 2022! 

After the embryo transfer, you have what is known in the fertility world as the ‘two week wait’. This is the time between the transfer and the first blood test to measure beta hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), a hormone produced by the placenta. 

Ashley took an early pregnancy test (we’d agreed she would do this and just not tell us if it came back negative!!) so we were hopeful that the blood tests would come back with the same results. What you’re looking for is the hCG doubling every 48-72 hours, although starting points can be very different for everyone, we were told that a number of over 50 would be ‘positive’. 

There was a test on Day 10 where Ashley’s beta hCG was 305 and then increased to 1864 on Day 14. We were officially pregnant! 

I flew over to the US for the heartbeat scan at 7 weeks (which happily coincided with the New York City Half Marathon). Up until this point I hadn’t truly let it sink int hat we were having a baby. We just kept saying to ourselves that it was working, and held our breath hoping it would continue to grow and develop normally. 

Baby announcement 2022

Hearing the heartbeat and seeing the baby on the ultrasound made it feel so real.

It was a long trip for a 15-minute appointment but worth every second. Prior to the scan I’d been struggling with feeling really detached and really sad that it wasn’t me that was pregnant. I’d prepared myself for IVF and the physical process of surrogacy but I hadn’t prepared myself for all of the emotions I would experience once Ashley was actually pregnant. 

Seeing our baby on the screen, hugging Ashley and speaking to the doctors who were amazing in our situation helped with all those emotions. I’m also so grateful to Ashley for the regular updates of what the baby is craving each week! 

There was another scan scheduled two weeks later where I was able to FaceTime in during my lunch break at the hospital. All was looking good… 

Facetime ultrasound scan

Unfortunately, Ashley was experiencing a lot of sickness and so had an extra doctors appointment and scan that we were able FaceTime into while we were skiing. Although I felt incredibly guilty that Ashley was feeling so bad, it was lovely to see the baby again. 

Tom’s annual leave and my trip to California for Big Sur coincided with the 12 week scan.

I was grateful to be able to attend both the embryo transfer and 7 week scan, but this was Tom’s first time being there for the scan. When choosing to go through the surrogacy process in the US, we knew it was really important for us to be at as many scans/appointments as possible. Obviously Tom’s staff travel helps with this a lot!

All four of us were in the room for the scan.

The relationship with Ashley and Trever is so important to us and we have hit the jackpot with the absolute best couple to go through this with (our agency did a great job matching us!) 

12 week scan - Baby Bean due Nov 2022

Everything looked good at the 12 week scan, with the baby measuring a little ahead. It also passed all the health checks which is reassuring. We’re on track for a due date of November 3rd. 

We’re excited to travel over for the 20 week scan in June and have Ashley and Trever be part of the gender reveal! 

Let me know if you have any questions on our journey – we’re keen to share more around surrogacy and our reasons for going through this process in the US (read why here!)

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