Things to Do While Waiting for Your First Beta
You finally made it! You went through all of the vetting, screening, testing and were finally matched with awesome Intended Parents! Then came the medications and scans and, finally, the embryo transfer. After all of those hoops you’ve had to jump through, you have 2 weeks of waiting for that first Beta result. Two whole weeks (Sometimes it’s a day or two earlier or a day or two later, but still a wait). What can you do to make these days move faster? Ok, maybe not faster but keep you from wanting to “pee on a stick” every hour you’re awake.
First, please do try to wait until at least day 6 for that home pregnancy test. You don’t need a negative showing up and stressing you out because you took it too early. Even then these HPT’s are not always correct so why torture yourself?
Here are 5 tips to occupy you while you wait for your blood test:
Plan a little get away with your family. Now is a great time to go and do something fun with the kids. The next 40 weeks are going to be mostly about your IPs and their baby and your kids could use some mommy time.
The first couple of days after your embryo transfer you could snuggle in on the sofa and go on a Netflix binge. If you don’t like TV for 14 hours a day you can break that up reading a good book or getting through that stack of magazines. Playing games with the kids can be fun too and having your partner bring home dinner always makes the evenings go smoother and less stressful for you!
Now is a great time to get all those little chores done that you’ve been too busy to concentrate on. (Or online shopping….whatever works for you)
Clean out your cupboards and pantry and get ready for eating for two! Now is a great time to get rid of expired food or half empty boxes and those items that no one really wanted to eat in the first place (canned beets anyone?) and make room for the new and healthy.
Start a walking program if you don’t have one already. You can walk with the kids or just take time for yourself. This is something you can do throughout your pregnancy. Just 20-25 minutes a day can really make a huge difference. This can be the start of a lifelong, feel good habit.
There are plenty of things you can do but but the main thing is not to stress. Continue to follow the Doctor’s orders, take your medications and do what feels right for you. Don’t forget to send a text or email to your IP’s during this time as well. They are surely beside themselves with anticipation. Wishing you the best outcome to you and your IP’s.
Waiting for Your Surrogate’s First Beta
One of the most stressful times during the surrogacy journey is that 2 week wait after the embryo transfer. Your embryo(s) have been transferred into the woman that you chose to carry your baby. Now it feels as if it’s all out of your hands and into hers. You might want to call her every day to hear how she feels or if she has taken a home pregnancy test yet. If you were at the transfer with her, hopefully you had a chance to chat with her and see the procedure for yourself. If not, it’s totally ok to text or email and ask how things went. Maybe you could arrange a call with her at the midpoint of the two week wait just to check in.
In the meantime, you could plan a long weekend to get away and distract yourself with exploring a local hot spot or visiting family or friends. Occasional texts to your surrogate during this time is fine too but concentrate on you. Do you have some little projects that have fallen by the wayside because you have been so busy getting to this point? Maybe completing these tasks will help you feel more in control of your surroundings and it’s always a great feeling to tick a chore off the list.
You could put together and send a little gift basket a few days into this stressful time frame filled with one or two home pregnancy tests (hint, hint) and maybe a gift card or two for take out or movies. Plan to talk the day before the Beta and see then how she feels. Remember that this can be stressful for your surrogate too. Fingers crossed that you get that big fat positive (BFP) and can move onto the 9 month wait!