The Screening . . . Part 1- Physical

I flew down to LA this week for my physical and psychological screening for my third journey as a gestational surrogate. It's always great to go to Growing Generations, say Hi and meet the people I have been phoning and emailing for the last few months/years.

* Now before I go any further, I feel I have to mention that I will post about our Surro Trip to Pride this year, I promise. I just can only do so much at once and now it's a little hard to determine what I'll post here and what I need to save for my blog on The Next Family. I'm still working this all out, so I hope there isn't too much repetition in the next week or so. *

Now, back to the Screening. Right before I left for SF Pride my period started, so I had to schedule my screening appointment several days later. Even though I was going to be gone from Friday morning to Sunday evening, I thought it would be easier to travel once I got back versus Fourth of July Weekend, so I planned to fly out Monday afternoon. Now usually, I fly out, screen and fly back all in the same day, but boy is that exhausting. They'd usually have me on a 6:30 am flight, which means at the airport at 5:30, so I'd have to leave my house at 4:15, which means getting up around 3:30 am . . . . . and then having a full day and making it back to my door around 10:00 pm. Historically, this has worked because I hate to be gone overnight but lately, I have realized it's nice to get away and not stress the whole time I'm away from my own children.

Before Pride, my friend Stacie mentioned we should take Allie the Ally (my uterine plush) with us and take some fun photos like Flat Stanley (which we did and you'll see soon) . . . so I decided that I should take her along with me to the Screening too!

When I arrived in LA, I took the car to my past IPs house and hung out with my Surro Wonder Twins and their Daddy for awhile. They are getting so big and are getting more beautiful everyday. I'll post some pictures of them later, but for now hopefully this pic (about a month or so old) will do


After that I headed to the hotel before meeting some friends. Here is Allie relaxing at The Westin Pasadena, which by the way has THE BEST BEDS EVER!!!


And here I am with two other GG Surrogates that I've known online for months but finally got to meet in person

So after closing down the restaurant, I headed back to catch some zzzzzz's before the big day.

My physical screening began the next morning. When I arrived at Dr. Kolb's office The signage out front showed there was also a Cosmetic Surgery practice in the same building and I (and my saggy belly) started wondering if I was going into the right office.

After checking in I filled out all the new patient forms

and got my blood taken and I MEAN SEVERAL vials of blood . . . you know, to make sure I don't have HIV or other diseases that could be passed onto someone's fetus.


Afterwards, I met with Dr. Kolb in his office. This is usually where they will explain the whole process. However, being a 2 time Gestational Surrogate and Human Sexuality Instructor, he just summarized since I've "been there done that." I really liked Dr. Kolb. He was friendly and personable and I can see why Growing Generations likes to use him to help create families.

After I left them a quick urine specimen,

Dr. Kolb lead me to my exam room.

I undressed from the waist down for my pelvic exam (notice my lucky undies?) and Transvaginal ultrasound

and here's the picture of the instrument used for the ultrasound aka "the weenie wand"

Dr. Kolb let me know, after he filled my uterus with saline that it looked great. That my uterus looked smooth (which is what they like to see, especially after c-sections) and very inviting- okay, I made up that last part ;)

So now we wait to hear the results from thephysical screening, which they say will be about 7-10 days.

Next, I'll post about the Psychological Screening . . . or at least the voices in my head are telling me to.


***UPDATE***
Pride 2011 Post is up! CLICK HERE

*** Part 2 Psychological Screening HERE *****