Stork 951, This is Ground Control, You're Cleared for Take Off

I think I've kept you all in suspense long enough. A month ago I was on the fence between the local IPs through the agency or the independent match IPs on the East Coast with the picky clinic. After much discussion with Scott and the East Coast clinic, I decided that the independent match was the way to go, and the medical screening date was set. The IPs, Mandy and Wes, already have 4 frozen PGD tested embryos, so once we traverse the gauntlet that is screening and contracts, we'll be ready to transfer.

After a thorough review of my records, the clinic called to schedule the medical screening. Scott and I flew out there last week with 3 of the 4 kids in tow. We met up with Mandy and Wes on the first night that we arrived and had a wonderful dinner together. This was the first time meeting in person, and they were as sweet and wonderful as they were over Skype. I'm really quite happy to be working with such a wonderful couple. While still in their early thirties, they have had multiple unexplained early losses that led them to visit a few reproductive specialists who determined that several auto-immune factors were to blame for the losses and that Mandy would not be able to successfully carry a pregnancy. That prompted them to act quickly to locate a surrogate to carry the embryos that they had already created. Those efforts led us all to the clinic last week where their RE did a saline sonogram of my uterus, took 7 (yes, SEVEN) vials of blood, and we all sat down for some psychological evaluations and group discussions. It really was an interesting day, and we all enjoyed seeing each other again. As we left, Mandy gave me a box of the medications that she had been sent in preparation for her own transfer prior to learning the results of her infertility testing.

When we got back to the hotel, Scott asked me how we were going to get the box back with us because it was full of needles and we had only traveled with carry-on luggage. I decided to ship it rather than deal with it at the airport - seemed simple enough of a solution. After printing the shipping label and preparing the box for shipment, we took off for the airport. Not being natives of the East Coast, we were unaware that we really couldn't get off of a turnpike once we got on it, and this particular turnpike dropped us at the airport. No problem, there had to be some FedEx drop box somewhere in the airport, right? Wrong again. At this point, we only had a little over an hour until our flight left, so my options were to carry it on or check it. The airline counter was swarming with passengers checking bags, so I asked if I needed to check it based on the needles, or if I could carry it on. They told me that I could carry it on as long as there were prescription labels on the medications. Great!

Off to security we went with 5 rolling bags, 3 kids and a suspicious looking box. At every opportunity, I told the TSA agents "I have medications including needles, how do you want me to proceed?" They were all great, said "No problem" and scanned everything as usual. We passed through the metal detectors to the swabbing area where everything that was swabbed was normal except the box of medications that lit up their machine like a Christmas tree. The agent, again, very nice, did a full pat down on me, swabbed me and the box again, and came up with the same electrifying result. Awesome. She then tells me that the protocol dictates that they call in the explosives expert who arrives about 10 minutes later. He goes through the course of events with the TSA agent, explains to her that there are certain medications that will produce a false positive, then tells me that he has to do a full search of my luggage and person.

While he removed and photographed every item in my bag, the TSA agent did a very thorough body search, then they sent every item through the scanner again. Interestingly enough, they never opened the box of meds and actually looked inside - only scanned it twice. Once he had everything documented, he thanked me for my time and sent me on my way. We ran for the gate where we saw the last few passengers boarding. Whew, we cut it close on the time, and am I ever glad that I did the online check-in the night before!

A week later, we're home and back to our regular routines. The clinic called a few days ago to say that everything came back negative/normal, and we're ready to go once we have a signed contract. Lest I bore you all to death with the tedious details of the contract process, suffice it to say that Mandy and Wes' attorney doesn't have the same sense of urgency with the contract drafts as the rest of us do. We finally decided that the best way to make progress was for the three of us to have a long conference call to make all of the final decisions on the modifications that had been proposed, and then send them to their attorney to incorporate as the final draft. We did that 3 days ago, and are now waiting for her to send it back to all of us for final approval and signatures. Here's hoping we have a signed contract next week. If so, we'll be right on track for a transfer in the last week of May.