Each pregnancy varies from the next, whether you are pregnant with your own baby or with a surro-baby. Being pregnant means you get to experience one of the miracles of life, bringing a baby into this world. Along with pregnancy come all these changes in your body and in your mood that you just cannot control. We wish that somebody had the decency to warn us instead of just thinking, she will find that out on her own.

Pregnancy shots

When you start your journey and enter into the IVF process, you must prepare yourself for the road ahead. The IVF clinic will determine what kind of medications and hormones you will be on and the schedule for them. Some clinics do not use injectable medication, while others always use them. Some of the injectable medications can include Lupron, delestrogen, and progesterone. Shots can start as early as a month before your FET (fetal embryo transfer) and will end generally around your 10th week of pregnancy. This part of your journey may not be the easiest but is the most important, to ensure a successful transfer and implantation of the embryo. You can administer the injectables yourself or have your partner administer them for you.

Here are some tips to help ease some of the discomfort and effects of injectable medications:

  • Numbing the area with an ice pack or topical numbing cream to help take some of the pinching feeling away when piercing the skin. Afterward, always heat and rub the area to ensure the medication absorbs into the muscle. Some medications are oil-based and are thicker, so warm the medication up before drawing it into the syringe.
  • Needles. The clinic will generally give you two types of needles. One is a thick needle and is used to draw the medication out of the vial into the syringe. The other needle is your administering needle. Friendly reminder: ask your doctor how to use the needles properly.
  • Administering. When injecting the medication into your body, make sure you push the needle all the way into your skin, so it injects into the muscle and not the fat. Another helpful tip is to shift your weight to the opposite foot, so the shot side is relaxed. Now, some say to pinch the skin and others say to stretch it, but everyone is different, so find what works best for you.
  • If you inject into the fat instead of the muscle, then you might have more bruising and pain in that area.

These tips can help ease some of the discomforts, but they will not take away all of it. You still may have bleeding, bruising, and pain; but that can be normal. Remember, you are taking all these medications to be able to give someone the family they want. Good Luck, and be patient!

Morning sickness

During the first trimester most pregnant women experience morning sickness. Unfortunately, you do not only experience it in the mornings; it can go throughout the day. Thankfully it will go away eventually, usually once you get past your first trimester. What you can do to avoid getting nauseated is to nibble during the day. Instead of having three meals, try to snack often on things like soda crackers or dry toast. This way your stomach doesn’t get too full, but you also do not want to go on an empty stomach since it may make nausea worse.

Stretch marks!

The truth is, eight out of ten pregnant women get stretch marks. There is a myth that cocoa butter will keep you from having stretch marks, but whether you do or you don’t depends on your skin type (how elastic it is) and your genetic background. Your body produces a hormone during pregnancy that softens the ligaments in your pelvis so that you are more flexible when you give birth. The side effect is that it softens the skin fibers, making them more prone to stretch marks. There isn’t much you can do to avoid stretch marks, but there are things that might help when you catch them creeping up on you. For example, when your belly is itching and the marks are still red or purple, you can moisturize the areas and that way you will have peace of mind. We usually tend to be hard on ourselves, but please wear these tiger marks proudly!

Surro-Baby

You have probably heard that babies in your belly can feel and sense all the emotions you are feeling. You should always try to carry yourself in a relaxed and calm manner during your pregnancy. Being a Surrogate shouldn’t feel that different from carrying your own baby; you care for it, you nurture it, give him/her the love and protection it deserves, the way his/her own mother would. You get to know this baby before it is even born and get the joys of experiencing an unbelievable pregnancy. You are a Surro-Mama ― Say it proudly! Let us tell you how amazing you are for choosing to be a Surro-Mama!