The Birth of Baby S :: It's a Girl!

Baby S was born and given back to her parents on October 15 at 3:43 pm. Love filled every inch of her delivery room.  On Sunday evening (her due date) shortly after getting into bed, I started noticing contractions. They were nothing big - perfectly manageable with just laying and breathing. They were coming around every 5-7 minutes. This continued the entire night which left me sleeping less...

38 going into 39 weeks

It is hard to believe we are at a point where the baby could safely come at any time. Hard to believe that just in January, this baby was a tiny embryo that was living in a dish until transferred to me to care for. I have not been too talkative ... I tend to close up a bit the closer to due dates I get. The OB can tell me only so much about how things are going, but in the end the baby ultimately...

This is 34 weeks

I can not believe we are this far. Time is flying and looking a head at September and my family calendar, October will be here before we know it! Last week and this week I have worked concessions at a pro football game and a concert - both 9+ hours on my feet with no real break. It actually was not too bad - just really sore feet the night of and day after! It was fun though and we made some pretty...

29 weeks

It is getting hard to breathe. Baby is currently breech and his/her head is sitting up in my lungs it feels like. I am finally giving in and making a chiropractic appointment to see if we cant make some room for baby to flip around soon. Just a hard pill to swallow - with everything going on with our middle kiddo, medical bills are up over $700 so far ... and we still have a few things to do before...

heading into 28 weeks

Sunday will be 28 weeks and the THIRD TRIMESTER! Roughly 12 weeks to go ... seems like we just started most of this a few weeks ago. I honestly can not believe how fast this is going. Each week I get more and more excited for my IPs to meet their little one (though, I am trying not to wish the weeks away, I do love summer!). If you see me here and there and it looks like I am wearing the same thing...

24 weeks and some truths

First, what a milestone. Everything with baby looks great. No gestational diabetes (thankyouverymuch). Now. For the nitty gritty.  Y'all. I am full. At least I feel full. All. Of. The. Time. I can only imagine it is something like sitting at a buffet eating constantly all day long. Except I eat once and feel that way the rest of the day. Baby just feels in such a different position right now...

23 weeks 3 days

It has been a long time since I have updated! It all feels so typical now that I feel like there is not too much to say. The anatomy scan went really well. Baby is still a baby ... and growing perfectly. A busy little one too! Made me have to go back for another quick ultrasound about 2 weeks after just to have some more clear photos on file. IM was in town for the original anatomy scan which was...

Happy Mothers Day

Dear IM, Happy Mother's Day to you. This year looks a little different than next year will! Celebrate today knowing what the future holds and who you already have become. That person who I am guessing that in your heart, you have been for so long. I carry the great honor of temporarily growing your little one. Today we are 18 weeks - almost halfway there! Time flies, as it always does and before...

17 weeks

Not too much to report! The baby is doing very well. Heart rate was recorded at 155bpm last week with an ultrasound because the little ninja would not stop moving enough to properly document it on the doppler :) The ultrasound tech asked if I knew the sex (I don't, I promise yall!) and asked if I wanted to. Which while I personally enjoy knowing while pregnant - I do not see any reason that I know...

15 weeks

There is not too much to update at the moment ... I am feeling so much better lately. It seems the morning sickness/nausea and tiredness (beyond the normal tired) are gone. I do not feel like I am going to pass out fast asleep every time I sit down! I am noticing some lower back pain if I am sitting on the floor too much - so I just make sure to move around when playing with the kids and don't stay...

Goodbye Injections

As of Saturday I was officially done with injections. In total, starting from December 28th, I have had: 24 Lupron injections & 48 PIO injections. I administered every single one to myself. Now I am proud - I mean, who wants to stab themselves daily (the answer if you are wondering, is no one. I will speak for everyone on that). But I cant help but think that I did this for only one cycle. One...

10w2d update

Yesterday, for the first time in about 4 weeks I did not have to inject myself in the backside. It felt like a treat if I am going to be honest. The actual injection does not bother me, but I was running out of space to do them in the target area that did not have some resistance as I was pushing in the meds. I could also almost guarantee that it would bleed a bit after as well. Since I have done...

8w5d update

I had my second ultrasound this morning. My whole crew came with - my middle is convinced the baby is in my butt so apologies to anyone she might share that with. We are trying. She is so interested in everything and really takes everything in.  The baby has a strong heartbeat of 170 and was moving around. I could not be more excited for our IPs right now. Such a beautiful thing to see. I...

tears in Target

I think this story is worth remembering ... so my embarrassment is your laugh for the day. The nausea lately has been pretty bad. I am dealing and trying not to complain, I know it will pass. But it is hard to feel like all I want to do is lay still so I feel halfway okay. I knew it would happen, but it still doesn't make it any easier. As with one of my other kids, sipping on a decaf cafe vanilla...

Cravings and exhaustion

I am going to be honest, I am surprised I have any cravings right now. Normally I am too nauseated to even want to think about food. Though I think I have that slightly under control with this tea I found at Target one day. It is by Pink Stork - their morning sickness relief. I think it is a little spendy - 10 satchels for $11.99 (though I did find a 3 pack on amazon for $22, so I will probably go...

6w5d ultrasound and updates

I went in for the ultrasound today - I am currently 6 weeks and 5 days along! I had hoped to video chat with my IPs but I screwed that one up by not realizing FaceTime is not Facebook video chatting (I don't have an iPhone) - whoops. I felt very bad about that. My ultrasound tech allowed me to take a video to send to them along with the photos they took and messaged to me after the ultrasound was...

Emotional Day

I hate writing about 'bad' things but I also told myself this was going to be the whole story of this surrogacy and pregnancy. And this may not be considered bad - but just part of the process. Around 10:30 yesterday morning while at my kids school, I noticed that I started bleeding. It was not a lot, not nearly to fill any sort of pad. But enough to throw me for a loop. I had had some cramping -...

Cravings and development

I think it is mostly due to medications - but I have had some very intense cravings lately. It started with a cuban sandwich. Which we fulfilled so I am good with that. For a few days it was donuts - the little glazed munchkins from dunkin donuts specifically (did not give in to it as of now). The other day a pizza with pineapple, green peppers, pepperoni sounded amazing. Tonight tacos seem like the...

Beta and meds

I had my first Beta yesterday and it came back 265! Meaning ... I am officially pregnant!! I will go back tomorrow for a second draw to make sure that that number is at least doubling. Looking at a full sharps container had me thinking about how many injections, pills and suppositories I have gone through so far. So breaking it down:  - 23 Lupron injections (Injected in the belly daily. I stopped...

The Tuesday after

It has been 4 days since the transfer. We flew out Wednesday evening, spent Thursday wandering around - grabbed an awesome sushi lunch, checked out Target (it is my favorite one!), walked around and went back to the hotel. We enjoyed a home cooked meal at a friend's home before settling back in for the night for transfer Friday. Transfer day arrived - I did my meds in the morning, ate a light breakfast...

The first PIO / Progesterone in Oil Injection

To get ready for transfer I had my first PIO (progesterone in oil) injection today. The needle is quite bigger than the one for Lupron and it goes in the backside above your bum near the hip area. The shot itself went in fine - I try not to think about it and just do it. I poked it in fast like I was told and pushed the progesterone in slowly. Midway through I felt very clammy and like I was going...

Transfer is ...

January 26th! Plane tickets are booked and hotel will be booked Monday. Hoping we can either take a hotel shuttle or just use Super Shuttle/Uber. We will not be driving around so a car really isnt necessary! As excited/anxious as I am - I have to say I am happy they did not move it up to midweek - just solely because of childcare on our end. We are flying out Wednesday evening, will have an appointment...

Level checks and ultrasounds

Meds have been going very well. I went in for an ultrasound on the 12th and my lining was measuring at 12.8. The Dr who will be doing the transfer wanted me to set up another appointment for that Monday (the 15) to repeat the lab and ultrasound as they were considering moving up the transfer to tomorrow. I did not add any patches to my routine, but kept at wearing 2 and have been since. Clearly we...

More meds

On Saturday I started the estrogen patches along with baby asprin and reduced my Lupron to 5 units from 10. No new symptoms. My back still hurts like crazy but it is not anything I can not live with! I keep the heating pad out and rest as needed and all is good! I really can or should not be complaining. I sewed up a new shirt for my oldest yesterday morning. That was relaxing and the new pattern...

3 weeks

We are exactly 3 weeks out from our (intended, because it could change a few days depending on how labs/ultrasounds go before then) transfer date! It is hard to believe we are nearing in on the date when too long ago, we had no date and was not sure when things would get rolling! I stopped birth control pills after the 1st and am only on Lupron for the moment. I am waiting on my cycle to start - I...