Atkinson Baby FAQ’s
Do you have an increased chance of having multiples?
The short answer to this question is NO.
We are only implanting one embryo so our chances of having more than one baby
is slim. Many people, who do not use a surrogate, will implant more than one
embryo, to increase their chances of conception. I was the only one on board
for implanting two embryo, but lost the battle to Ambree and Lucas (which I
totally get where they’re coming from, too).
Whose eggs and whose sperm are being used?
We are using my eggs and Lucas’ sperm, so
it’s 100% ours. Ambree is literacy just the carrier, this is why she is called
a gestational carrier, not a surrogate. A surrogate usually contributes their
eggs to the cause.
Can you pick which gender you will have?
Believe it or not you can do this,
however, we are not doing any kind of genetic manipulation. Meaning, we are
getting what we get! We have no intentions of choosing a gender and won’t be
doing this during the process.
Why don’t you just adopt?
This question has popped up a lot, and
while we aren’t going to go into extensive detail here, we just feel like it’s
not the best option for us RIGHT NOW. Not to say it will never happen, but we
feel strongly about this choice for now. Adoption is also VERY expensive,
emotionally exhausting & scary—just like
what we are going through now. We fully support adoption and love those around
us dearly who have chosen adoption.
Why do you both have to take hormone treatments?
Well, the short(ish) answer is that both
of our bodies are being prepared to do their parts. My body is being prepped to
grow as many eggs as possible, healthy eggs, and lots of them. My injections
are to give us many eggs to choice from, to then create an embryo. Ambree is
having her body prepped to be ready to take on an embryo. Her drugs build up
her uterine wall to its optimum condition for accepting and embryo. Before
either of our bodies can be prepped, doctors need full control of our cycles
and hormones so we both start out by stopping everything inside us, so science
can take over and control it.
What if this doesn’t work?
If this doesn’t work, Ambree will try
again, up to six times. However, each time we attempt the procedure we are
looking at about $1,000 a pop. We are crossing our fingers we get lots of good
embryo and that that sucker will attach right away. HOWEVER, we know the odds
are good, but not great, so there is always a chance it won’t work—but we are thinking positively.
Luckily if Plan A, Plan B, Plan C….doesn’t work, we know God has a letter in the alphabet that
will work for us.
FUN FACTS YOU MIGHT NOW HAVE KNOWN…
*Neither Ambree nor I are scared of
needles…which is great because there’s a helluva lot of them!
*Our contract specifically states that
Ambree is no allowed to go off and get an ultrasound to find out the sex of our
baby without our consent—why is this in there…because
this is something I can see her doing! :)
*We do NOT want to find out the sex of
our baby until delivery day! Most people (including Lucas) thinks this is
crazy, but my heart has been set on having the best surprise ever for as long
as I can remember…so I won this argument (reason for above addition to the
contract).
*The day the baby is born—according to Utah Law---Ambree and Lucas will be the baby’s parents
until some unknown weeks/months later when we go to court and change the birth
mother to my name. So for a few weeks/months baby Atkinson’s mom and dad will
be his/her aunt and daddy. Awkward much!?!
*If we get pregnant on the first attempt,
we will have a December 2015 baby!
