Bad Blogger, Good Times...

Ok Well I think I've proven I stink at blogging! I said I would come back and post a belly pic... yeah that didn't happen. Sorry. I will post a few this time, though, how's that?

My 29 week Belly Pics, and one just for Jack to start you off with!

(Ps, Katie shared her name with me a while ago, but I didn't share it online until SHE did it first, and I'm happy to say, she finally did it recently!)

OK Now on to some updates!
The past few weeks have been up and down with the boys but the pregnancy is going great. I had a weekend of braxton hicks contractions, up to 3 or 4 per hour. They never intensified and never got closer together, so while I was uncomfortable I wasn't in any danger of going into labor. I took it easy for the weekend. I think Miss Molly was just having a bit of a growth spurt.

This past weekend I caught a tummy bug and spent 36 hours in bed with a bucket. It was a flashback to earlier this pregnancy. I was so thankful it didn't last too long! Then this week I have been going, going, going all week. Lots of Christmas shopping and shipping had to be finished and today was party day at the boys schools. Tomorrow is party for the teachers, so tonight when I finish this blog I'll be melting the chocolate to make treats.

This morning before class parties began, I had my 30 week appointment. Can you believe it? I hardly can!! The appointment went fabulously. I didn't forget a single question I needed to ask and the doctor and I had a great conversation about possible birthdates for Miss Molly. We talked about the doula, the photographer, Katie and Kevin and possibly my husband (if he's not watching kids) all being in the room, which I am SO grateful she's okay with it all. I'm havin' a party in the delivery room apparently ;) Of course we talked about icky pregnancy stuff, too.... and I was pleased to learn I've only gained 1lb since my last appointment. It took me til a few minutes after the appointment to realize why I hadn't gained the typical 1lb per week... yeah... I threw it all up over the weekend! Anyway, that puts me at 14 lost/14 gained. Yay! With 10 weeks left, it's looking really good I could end this pregnancy with only 25lbs gained (which if you subtract the 14 I lost at first, is only 11lbs gained)! I'm kind of excited about that. I'll lose some at birth and I'll lose some pumping, and I might just make it out ahead on the weight loss wagon.

So good appointment! yay! At some point in the very near future I will meet with Maria, my doula, and register for the hospital. Also, now my appointments are only 2 weeks apart, so I will be blogging a little more often (after each appointment) for the rest of the journey. I bet you're excited ;)

Leaving you tonight with my 30 week belly pic!

And with that, since I probably won't blog again before then....

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

to all of you who are following our journey!! I know this is one of the best Christmases ever for Katie and Kevin and Jack who eagerly await their precious princess. We're so grateful to get to share the journey with you.

PS Visit this link to make a guess on when Miss Molly will make her entrance!
http://www.guessyourbaby.com/p/missmolly

Glucose Test Update

I got the call yesterday afternoon to let me know that I had passed the glucose test, so all is fine and dandy there. However, the blood test revealed that I'm anemic. (Maybe that's why I'm so tired all the time!) So now I get to start taking a slow release iron supplement.

Anyway, that's the update! Will hopefully come back and post a belly pic tomorrow :)

It's going so fast!

Hey everyone :) I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! We spent ours with friends and had a great time.

Time has simply flown by lately, I cannot believe that on Saturday we will be 28 weeks pregnant. Officially in the third trimester as of last week. It's hard to believe but Miss Gummy Bear will be here in just 12-13 weeks!

With time flying came life flying at the same pace this month. Remember that in October we were forced out of our rental home into an apartment with very short notice? Well, November came, and with November was more drama. My husband was laid off on November 7th, from a really great job. Over 200 people were laid off with him. Talk about stressful. We have some severance and insurance through January, so I've tried hard not to stress myself. DH already found a temporary job to hold us til he finds a new permanent position and get us through Christmas, so that is very helpful. In January we will sign up for COBRA to finish out the pregnancy with. I will be very thankful for the agency when that time comes, because I have no idea what I'm doing!

Over the weekend, my husband and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary. I was feeling a little frumpy, so I decided to use more of my maternity clothes budget that I had saved back for warmer clothes. My friend and I went to Macy's during an awesome sale, and I got a bunch of stuff that I'm happy to wear. It was a very pleasant shopping trip. I also got my hair cut. Then hubby and I went on a wonderful date. All in all, it was a great weekend. Here are a few pics for you <3

Me and hubby on our date night...

One of the new outfits, a really comfy dress and leggings...

Another new sweater dress, this one is going to count as my belly pic since it shows off the belly the most:

Yesterday was my 27 week appointment and glucose test. Yuck! Thankfully the test was only the hour test and not a fasting test either. I am anxiously awaiting the results though, because despite all my efforts to cut back on sweets over the past week or two, I couldn't hold off on Monday. I had a terrible headache and knew instinctively that chocolate and a little dr. pepper would help, it did. But I'm kind of worried that it will make me bomb the test. I'll update here when we get the results.

Anyway, the rest of the appointment went well. It was one of those awesome appointments when you get to bare it all. I had an internal cervix check, where it was confirmed that all the movement I've been feeling the past month was doing what it was supposed to do. Miss Gummy Bear got herself into a head down position finally. Which after so long of her being straight up, is relieving. It's hilarious to see her little bum sticking out up by my ribs, though. My cervix is also high and closed, which is wonderful.

As for me, my weight gain is going great, according to the doctor. I, personally, don't like seeing the scale go up 5lbs in a month, but she said it was on par with a good weight gain track. So the 5lbs gain puts me at a total gain of 13lbs. Remembering that I lost 14lbs to start with, I'm actually still down a pound from the beginning. She'd like to see me only gain 25lbs total, so hopefully I can stay on this track and only gain a pound per week from here on out. Not sure how that will work with Christmas and New Years, but I can give it a good try!

That's all for now, folks! Thanks for reading! Next appointment is December 20th in the morning. After that I start seeing the dr. every 2 weeks!

Happy 24 Weeks!

Hello again! So much has gone on in my life since the last update, so I'll catch you up real quick.

After Katie and family went home, we were told we had to move out of our house so the landlord could completely renovate and repair it entirely. So we had 10 days to move out. I am still kind of amazed we did it, honestly. DH had just started working nights before the last update, so I pretty much was on my own for most of the packing and move out duties. In the end we hired movers to help get everything to the apartment we moved to. Half our stuff is in a storage garage here at the complex. We are hoping to be able to return to the house in 6 months.

While Katie was visiting she brought us these awesome Belly Bud things that help me be able to share their voices with the baby. This is what my belly looked like the first time I used them :)

Shortly after we moved in, I took a belly pic, at 22 weeks 4 days.

Now back to my current update!

Saturday we officially hit 24 weeks!

To celebrate hitting 24 weeks, I took a belly picture.

To celebrate 24 weeks in Montana, Katie and Jack built Gummy Bear's crib :)

Today I went to my 24 week appointment. It went really well! Baby Girl is sitting upright and has been for at least the last 5-6 weeks. She likes tap dancing on my cervix. Her heart rate was about 148 this morning, which is good because she was resting (not moving around at all while I was waiting for the appointment) before the Doppler shocked her awake. She did not like the cold gel or the Doppler invading her space and made sure to move around a LOT while we were trying to get her heartbeat.

As for me, I've gained 8lbs total so far, only 2 since the last appointment... that was kind of shocking since I thought for sure I was gaining more than that, with Halloween and all. Next appointment I hope to share the same type of good news, but being that thanksgiving is the week before the appointment, I'm not holding my breath! I crave sweets!

Next appointment is Nov. 27th for a one-hour glucose test. YAY I'm so happy it's not a 3 hour NOR is it a fasting test! I can eat right up til the appointment but nothing during that hour. I just remember almost passing out during the 3hr fasting tests when I was pregnant with my boys, so I'm SO thankful!! After the Nov 27th appt I will start seeing her every 2 weeks. Shocking that it's coming up so fast!!

That's all for today! So happy everything is going well! Thanks for reading along and following our journey!

Real quick I just want to give a quick shout out to Jack, who is celebrating his third birthday this week! Happy Birthday kiddo!! We hope you have an awesome birthday and get to eat lots of cake ;)

A great weekend!

Woohoo! It was a great weekend! It was a weekend filled with fun and smiles, and a few happy tears! We hit the half way milestone this week, turning 20 weeks, as well. This is just going by way too fast.

Katie, Kevin and Jack came to visit and we had a wonderful time with them. Saturday we picked them up at the airport and went for a little dinner and play time for Jack who'd been cooped up all day. My favorite part of that night was the BIG giant hug I got from Jack at the airport, well.. and Katie's too. ;)

On Sunday we all went to church together. Jack got to go to the preschool care again and boy does he like it there. We had to use Micah as a decoy to get him out! After church we went back to my house for a bit to hang out. I let Katie hear Gummy Bear's heartbeat, and Jack and Kevin got to hear too. We went to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (don't worry, I had a burger ;) ) and had a blast. The kids got to play outside, even though it was super cold. We didn't "care" about the cold though, where we headed next there was TONS of out door fun INSIDE! We packed up and headed to Great Wolf Lodge for some great water fun. The boys all enjoyed it and the parents enjoyed the kids enjoying it. Great fun.

Afterward we all headed back and Katie and I were going to go hang out a bit, but instead I had to go and deal with a plumbing problem at home. Great timing! We said goodnight and rested up for our new adventure Monday morning.

Monday morning we went to our 20 week ultrasound. Jack was the CUTEST during it. He kept thinking there were two babies because sometimes the lady would put two different shots of the baby up at once (not on the video unfortunately). Unfortunately, we lost sound part way through the video, but the important part is at the very beginning. Here, without any more blabbing by me (except maybe in the video), is the juicy part of the ultrasound! Enjoy!





Katie had some lovely happy tears during the ultrasound, which I knew she would! I am so excited for them to have a girl! (and that means I DON'T just gestate boys, hooray!) Afterward, we had an appointment with the OB where we got to ask plenty of questions, and then a quick tour of Labor and Delivery and the Post Partum areas of the hospital. Then we went to lunch at Chili's (I wanted the ribs!) where Jack had a quick nap and the adults got to chat away for a bit.

I love their reaction so far... "Oh my gosh, we're having a girl!" and all that follows that hitting them. I'm sure they'll find some cute girly stuff on their way home today, too. Katie thinks Kevin will be the biggest shopper. I'm not so sure, but maybe she's right!

After lunch, they went back to the hotel for some rest time and I took care of things at home and then made a yummy dinner. Shane went and picked them up and brought them to the house for dinner, after which we had two games of Jenga and some pretty cupcakes frosted with PINK for girl!

I was sad to take them back to the hotel so soon, but the boys had to go to bed for school today and they had to get up very early this morning for their flight out, which they're currently on at the moment. Praying for their safety and a smooth trip home :)

The goodbye from Jack was just as good as the hello, as well. He is so cute and he makes me smile!

We'll definitely miss them. It's been a great weekend and nothing makes me happier at the moment that this all was really meant to be. I can't imagine a better, more awesome couple to help build their family.

Here are some of the pics from this weekend, as promised!!

Hanging out on Sunday morning

Some time at Great Wolf Lodge:

Ultrasound stills:

And the happy mommy and daddy after finding out about their girl....

:( I just realized we didn't get ANY pictures of JACK!!! Ack!! And Katie accidentally left her phone in her car at her parents house before they left, so they didn't get any either. But I PROMISE Jack was here (you can hear him on the ultrasound at least!) and he did seem to have fun!

Katie and Kevin, and Jack, we were so glad you came and we can't wait til you come visit again!

Have a good day, all :)

Quick 19 week Update!

First off... How cool is it that we're 19 weeks along already!?! The weeks have really flown by since the morning sickness stopped!

I'm so excited that in just a week we'll get to be hanging out with Katie, Kevin and Jack!! And of COURSE that on Monday the 8th we'll get another peek at the Gummy Bear Ninja inside! It's a ninja now... it kicks quite a bit and especially if there are any pant lines restricting my belly at all. It also likes to make itself known when there is conversation around me. I can't wait to have fun with the belly buds and let it listen to it's family's voices all the time!

We can't feel the kicks on the outside just yet (must be my fat in the way ;) ) but I'm hopeful that we'll feel something outside soon, hopefully before Katie gets here next week.

Last week I got paranoid, having not seen my OB in 4 weeks and having not felt the baby move much in the previous 24 hours. I called the doctor and got in for a quick heartbeat check, which was very reassuring and sweet to hear. So glad I went. That night I purchased a home doppler for us to use at home. So far we've had a little fun with it, letting the boys hear the heartbeat and checking up on Gummy Bear. Heart rate has stayed in the 150s pretty consistently.

Also, while I was there, I weighed in. I'm finally no longer losing weight... I gained 4lbs from the last time I went to the doctor.

And with the new weight, comes a new belly pic... I feel like the baby belly is pushing my food belly up and out, so most of what is on top is my food belly. Below that is the gummy bear, reaching all the way up to my belly button now! Baby belly in this pic is at and below the hand that is resting on it.

My apologies for looking like I'm heading to a funeral, I have to wear all black at work ;) 

That's all for now, folks!  After the appointment next Monday I will definitely update, and hopefully have a bunch of pictures from their visit, too! Have a great week!

PS... if you haven't voted on the poll yet, please look to your right, and VOTE! Is it a boy or a girl?

Happy Little Gummy Bear ~ 14 weeks

Hello again!
Today was our 14 week appointment and sonogram! I can't believe how quickly this is going!

First, I'll update you on the past couple weeks, then we'll move to the appointment goodies.

*Flips, Flops, And Flutters*
With my first pregnancy I didn't feel any movement til around 17 weeks, he was dancing to a song- that to this day he still loves. My second, I felt around 14 weeks. I actually didn't think it was possible to feel them any sooner, and thought everyone who said they did just had gas... Until now! At 12wks3d I got the tiniest flip flop and flutter while laying in bed shortly after waking up that morning. It was SO cool! I totally believe, now! I texted Katie and let her know her little one was a little gymnast now. For the next 10 or so days, I only felt it when laying very still before or after sleeping really, and it brought me much peace of mind that things were going as they should. A few days ago while sitting in the car, I felt it a bit stronger than I had been. I couldn't help but verbally acknowledge it in the car. My husband thought I was strange when I said "Hello, Baby!" out of the blue. Since then, it's been a regular happening while sitting down either at the computer or in the car, and still while in bed.

*Maternity clothes could not have come sooner*
For the past few weeks, even though I've been pretty sick and have lost 14lbs since getting pregnant, my pants have not fit right and felt downright uncomfortable. So I went shopping online early last week. When I put them on after receiving them, it was like my tummy said a big "Thank you!" and I've been in them ever since. So, while I don't have *much* to show for it, there's definitely been some tummy growth. I even took my first belly pic when I put the new clothes on, on Friday.

13wks6d "Belly" Shot

The lower part, where I have my hand is baby belly... never mind above that ;) 

*Scram Sickies!*

In other news, I was SO glad to say goodbye to most of my morning sickness last week! Sunday was the last day I was throwing up daily. This is not to say I haven't since, or that I'm not nauseated anymore, but I'm  feeling much better and able to get up and active again, just in time for school to start for the boys. Yay!

*Enough about you already, Show me the baby!*

Like I said above, today was the 14wk appointment and sonogram. Right away the nurse noticed the weight loss and we talked a little about it with the doctor, she was fine and said with the morning sickness I had it was normal. Shouldn't be a problem gaining it back... dang! ;) Anyway, without further adieu, here's Gummy Bear!

I will apologize for the brightness, it was either brightness or blurriness (we recorded with 2 phones) and I chose brightness because it was "closer" to the screen.

Gummy Bear measures right on target at 14wks2d, and all measurements point to him/her weighing about 4oz. A serving of steak, just for Kevin ;) He/she is just perfect and the heart rate was around 160-162bpm, and was sitting on my cervix the entire time. 

In one part, you can hear me say "I wish the mama was here!" and I really do. I wish Katie could be here for every appointment, but that's why I record it. I hope this helps Katie and her family feel as involved as possible. I do, however, get to see that wish come true in about 6 weeks! Katie and family are flying down and we'll have a sonogram and appointment on Monday, October 8! I'm so excited!

Until next time! Grow baby, grow!

Onto the 2nd Trimester We Go!

Wow, I am so excited to have made it this far! Today I am 12 weeks pregnant with the Gummy Bear! Congratulations to Katie and Kevin! We made it to the 2nd Trimester! (Info below from Babycenter.com)

Your pregnancy: 12 weeks

How your baby's growing:

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

I'm cautiously holding out hope that by the end of this week, I'll be over this morning sickness (ok, well, all day stuff). Is it too much to hope for that since today is my last day with progesterone suppositories (and all cycling meds except pre-natals) that in a few days the sickness will magically disappear?!

Either way morning sickness or not, I'm still absolutely stoked to be here, to have gotten this far and to know that this is going all the way to the finish line for Katie and Kevin!

It's been a wonderful journey thus far and I can't wait to see what the rest brings.

Have a great week!


*Next OB appointment is Aug 27.*

10 Week Appt With OB

Hello again!

Yesterday was my first appointment at the OB. It went really well! I was able to ask all the questions I had about working with her, the hospital, and a few pregnancy related things. I am glad I have an OB who I can talk to and not be blown off! While we were there, she did a quick sonogram to verify all the dates so, once again, I recorded it. Unfortunately there is no cell service inside the building, as it's right in the same building as a hospital, so I wasn't able to call them while we did the sonogram.




Baby looks great! We're measuring 10wk4d, which is a little ahead of schedule and great. Gummy Bear's heart rate was 171 beats per minute, also fantastic.

After the appointment, I took a picture of the OB to send to Katie to "get to know" her, and the Dr. called her to introduce herself and ask if there were any questions. I was really glad she was able to do that. I'm her first patient who is a surrogate, but there have been a few to come through the group practice, and there is one working in the practice, so I know I'm in good hands.

As for me... Last week was a very tough week for me with morning sickness. I was pretty weak, very nauseated, and threw up several times. Thankfully, Saturday was the last day taking the progesterone shots and the estrogen pills 3x a day. Sunday was a really good day, I barely had any issues with any morning sickness, although heartburn is still a very prominent issue. Monday was good until night time when I had more heartburn and a little nausea, but still not even anywhere close to as bad as it was last week. I'm so thankful for it easing up now. I'm ready to enjoy this pregnancy to the fullest!

Next appointment with the OB is on Monday, August 27 at 12:30. We get one more sono then, and then the next sonogram after that will be at 20 weeks unless there are any issues. I know Katie is hoping to join us for that sonogram, too, so I'm looking forward to that!

Until next time, Have a great week!

8 Weeks 3 days!

I've been quiet since the last ultrasound, but thankfully that doesn't mean anything has been wrong. I've just been super exhausted and pretty nauseated, so updating the blog was pushed out of my mind for a little while... but we had our 2nd ultrasound today and I was so excited I wanted to update you as soon as I could!

I again called Katie and Kevin and got them on the phone with me and then figured out how to use the camcorder on the phone while we were talking, so I got the whole thing on video!

The baby is perfect. Measures 8wks 3days exactly, and has a heartbeat in the 170s. We've graduated from lima bean to gummy bear! Gummy bear was wiggling his/her little hands at us today, showing off. Here's the video! Enjoy!

I will stop meds on Saturday the 28th, and you have no idea how ready I am for that! Whew. They make ALL those pregnancy symptoms about 10x more than they would be without the symptoms.  I also get to schedule our first appointment with my OB for sometime in early August. I can't wait! My OB has been rooting us on since we first started looking at helping couples via surrogacy and I know she will be so excited that we've made it this far!

I will update this post when I get a date for our first appointment. Until then, have a great week!

Update: First OB appointment is on July 30 at 2:30pm! Woohoo!

Houston, we have a heartbeat!

Today was our first ultrasound! 

I called Katie and she conferenced Kevin in so we could all "be there" together. It was a great appointment! We saw (they heard) one healthy heartbeat at 117bpm and a baby that measured 6wks 3days exactly! 

Immediately when they started, I saw two sacs. Unfortunately one did not have a fetal pole. So we learned right away that there were two originally, but its likely that one stopped developing at some point. It was a much smaller sac, so it was probably something abnormal that stopped the growth.

It's all good though, we have one healthy peanut who's growing just fine!!

Congrats, Katie and Kevin!

I tried to video the ultrasound but what I was using ended up turning against me and only getting the last 8 seconds of the ultrasound which was me putting it down into my paper covered lap. :/ Sorry, no video this time!!

Next ultrasound is on July 17th!!

Stats and other stuff...

After a marvelous weekend with my family, I was headed back to the lab for blood work on Monday. Unfortunately we did not get stat results this time and had to wait til yesterday for those. When they called, I was more than pleasantly surprised at the beta number they gave back to me!

So here are the numbers thus far:

Beta 1- 7.75 days past transfer : 132

Beta 2- 10.75 days past transfer : 549  -- Doubling time of 35.01 Hours

Beta 3- 17.75 days past transfer: 6802! -- Doubling time of 46.27 Hours

Here are some questions I've been asked, so I thought I'd answer here...

What do these numbers mean?

A beta blood test is a test that tests how much HCG is in your system. The hope is that they double every 48-72 hours. Which means, we're doing great!

Am I feeling pregnant?

Why yes, yes I am. Which is kind of weird, I guess. In a typical pregnancy I would still barely just have found out I was pregnant. The difference is that the meds we take for surrogacy make the symptoms all that more obvious, not to mention we're looking for them. Things I've dealt with thus far include butter-fingers (I dropped a jar of hot oil all over my kitchen floor), inability to decide what I want to eat, waves of nausea and heartburn (before this I hadn't taken a Tums in quite a long time), needing a nap almost every afternoon, and a very weird craving for Lifesavers (I'm not a fan of hard candies at all). There are also a few things I'm dealing with that are related to the meds and not so much pregnancy- bloating being one, and the other I don't see fit to write about on this blog. Needless to say, it's all there and we're definitely on the right track!

When is the ultrasound?

I'm so glad you asked! I'm so excited! The ultrasound is next Tuesday (7/3) at 11am. Unfortunately it's too costly for Katie to fly down to join us at this ultrasound, so I will be recording it on video and hopefully talking to her on the phone while we look around. Since we put in two embryos, I'm anxious to see whether one or both stuck around!

Thanks for reading and supporting us along the way! I can't wait to update you after the ultrasound!

Long Overdue Update - Pt. 2

The 2 Week Wait

If you could call it a 2 week wait, anyway, was not so long really! My first beta was to be Friday the 15th, only 8 days after transfer. Which was okay since the embryos were 6 day embryos and they usually implant between 1-4 days after transfer. Plus it made for a really short "unsure" time.

Monday night I talked to Katie on the phone. Both of us knew that at point I could probably start testing and possibly see something soon. We were both super anxious to know. I had planned on holding out until Wednesday because I didn't want to see any negatives. But dang it, talking to Katie got me. I couldn't wait. Monday night I took a test. 

It was stark white. I laid on my bed and cried to my husband. I knew it was too early to test. I knew I should have waited til Wednesday. 6 day embryos + 4 days, there had to be a positive by now, right?! I got back up and looked at the test again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something on the test. But when I picked it up and studied it more, I didn't see anything. I put it down and told Shane I thought I saw something. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Shane held me up and said not to give up. Then he said he thought he saw something, too. I ended up saying "I'm not giving up hope," and then decided to test again in the morning.x

In the morning, I did another test. This time there was DEFINITELY something there! But it was still Oh so very very faint. No way was I going to give up now! But I also wasn't ready to tell anyone, just in case. I tested again Tuesday night and it showed up more, but still faint. But I had run out of tests. I had to go to the dollar tree and get more! Wednesday morning I tried with a dollar tree test, which was even fainter, if that's a word, than the original tests! I said screw it and we went to Target and got some good ones. Wednesday at 11:30, I got my first "definitely there if you have surro-eyes" positive. After a quick consultation with some of my surro-friends, it was time to tell Katie!

I texted Katie and asked her to call me when she could. She called immediately. Then I asked if she was by her computer, and I e-mailed her the above picture asking her if she thought she had "surro-eyes".

I could hear her happiness over the phone and it made me have happy tears. Both of us were ecstatic, yet realistically we knew we really needed to wait til Friday... but we were so excited! It was so hard to not say anything! And, Katie was so excited, she forgot it was her anniversary the next day! Pretty good anniversary gift, right?!

I tested again each morning and evening. Here's another one of the ones I took that was a definite!

 Friday's beta came back at 132! Woohooo! Repeat beta, Monday! Get the weekend over with, right?!

Not so much. I don't know what happened, or if it's hormones or what, but my back decided it was not going to behave. I went to work on Saturday morning. I am still on "light duty" per my transfer instructions, so all I did was sell portraits. I sat a lot. I stood a little. There was no way my back should hurt that bad! I went home after 3 hours. And laid in bed all weekend. When I was able to walk, I was walking like an old woman. Still am. 

Fortunately, the tests kept getting darker. Sunday's was darker than the control line.

Today, Monday I was worried all day. After the back pain all weekend and some questionable symptoms, I really was concerned about the beta not coming back high enough, or worse, dipping lower. I asked my friends to pray, and let Katie know that I was praying about it too. Tried to keep positive. 

My friend Brooke, who came to transfer with me, came over to help out while my back was hurting today. Lovely friend that she is fed me and my kids lunch and helped get my kitchen in order... seriously she was wonderful. 

Later, while I was with my younger son waiting for my older son's therapy to be done, the call came. Right before my phone died. 

Fortunately it didn't die til after I got the news about our beta! Beta had risen to 549 from 132! That, in case you are wondering is great! They are hoping your beta doubles every 48-72 hours. My tests were about 72 hours apart, and the doubling time was 35.01 hours. Woohoo! The grueling 2 week wait is OVER!

Thanks to everyone who's been a cheerleader for us, we hope you'll stick around and continue! For those who prayed for us not knowing a thing, I thank you! I know it's been a long week with no news but I wanted to wait til we were more "sure."

The next steps:

Tomorrow they're going to let me know if I need to increase my progesterone or not, based on the above symptoms I had this weekend. 

Next Monday I'll repeat the beta to make sure things are still going the way we want.

2 weeks- First ultrasound!

Have a great week, I'll update as the need arises!

*6/19* Just a quick note... we did increase my progesterone today based on progesterone levels and the symptoms I had over the weekend. Unfortunately it is by means of the icky sticky suppositories, though. Oh what fun!

Long Overdue update - Pt. 1

I hate to say this, but I've been holding out on you on purpose. Don't hate me!  Here we go, from transfer til now! Hold on to your seats, this is gonna be a long one!

June 6, day before transfer!

I dropped my oldest son off at therapy and went to meet my hubby at the bank to notarize a consent form we needed before transfer. Way to wait til the last minute! Woot! Well by the time we made it to said bank, half way between hubby's work and my son's therapy office, it was pouring rain and hailing. Luckily ;), hubby had a late call and wasn't able to get to us for an hour or so, so we got to sit in the car in the parking lot during the aforementioned rain. Thankfully, my youngest was very much asleep through that. Until the hail. But it worked out. We got the paper notarized.

Unfortunately, between hubby being late meeting me and the rain/hail, I was late for my massage. Fortunately, they understood... then I had the most relaxing 80 minutes of my entire life. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Katie for the wonderful gift card to the spa! I have the best IM, EVER!

June 7, Transfer day and bed rest

I woke up today READY to get pregnant! I wore the shirt Katie gave me on her trip here that said "I grow babies, what's your superpower?" and green socks. Brooke came with me again, and she wore green as well. What a fun tradition. Unfortunately I became aware that my shirt might hurt feelings at the clinic only AFTER we had been sitting there a few minutes... then I covered up until we went back. 

We were able to transfer two 6 day embies. The one on the left looked ready to hatch!

After transfer, we ran through McDonald's for fries and grabbed lunch (elsewhere) and headed to the hotel. We got to hang out and eat lunch for a while while I got my bed rest started. The relaxation at the hotel was great, save for the pool being right below my window. Fortunately, they had cable and I was able to have a House Hunter's marathon when I wasn't resting. That part rocked. 

The part that didn't rock so much? We had selected that hotel because it was the closest hotel to my house that had room service. Unfortunately, the room service food didn't appeal to me at all, nor did the $30 they wanted for 8oz of steak. And, there was no delivery nearby, either. So finally after hemming and hawing for 2 hours over what I can/can't have/don't want for dinner, we got our chinese place to deliver my usual (broc/beef) at 10:30pm... unfortunately by the time it got to me, it was cold. Oh well, cold chinese food is good, right?!

In the morning my wonderful friend Aisha came and brought me french toast and we hung out for a few hours. I'm so grateful for wonderful friends! 

I went home around noon and my hubby took care of me the rest of the day. Saturday, Aisha took my kids for the day (as she did on Thurs as well) and I rested some more and read a lot. Sunday morning I let the kids fend for themselves and I let them try and make me breakfast and take care of me. I think they had fun with that. 

I enjoyed my 3 days of bed rest and really feel that the hotel stay really helped me get off to a great start with the embryos. I got to rest, visualize pregnancy and it working, and pray a ton. I'm so thankful for that time. And the time with my family, as well as the time the kids were able to spend with their friends was a huge blessing as well. I'm so grateful for my wonderful friends!

Read the next blog for the "Two Week Wait"!

Here we go again!

Whew, it's been quite a month since I wrote! A lot has been going on for me, personally, so there really has not been time to update at all.

Now that the school year is over, its going to be a great summer. Let's kick it off by getting pregnant, shall we?

Our 2nd transfer is happening this Thursday, June 7 at 12:30!

Today I stocked up on pineapple and will have a bit each day this week (it's supposed to help make my uterus more hospitable). This week before Thursday, I'm cleaning the house to get ready for helpers who will be here while I'm on bedrest, and also getting meals ready for easy meals for Shane to do while I rest.

On Wednesday, we have scheduled a time for me to use the birthday gift that Katie got me! I will be getting a massage that evening to help me loosen up. Thursday my friend Brooke will take me to transfer again and I'll grab some McD's fries (surro tradition) and head to a hotel nearby home for some real good rest for the day/night to help the emby(ies) stick. Friday, Shane will pick me up from the hotel and I'll finish out my bedrest in my bed at home.

Katie is enjoying a restful week at the beach with her family...I hope I can give her happy news when she returns!

I haven't done this in a while, but I would really appreciate prayers from all around, so... if you could join me in prayer, thank you!

Father in Heaven, thank you so much for allowing me to meet Katie and her family and for giving me the opportunity to help them have a second baby. Lord your ways are higher than our ways, and we know that in all things you work together for our good. You've shown yourself faithful to give us what we desire in our hearts when our desires meet up with your will for our lives. Katie's desire is to have a baby, my desire is to help her. You've shown me time and time again that you will give me that desire if I hold strong to your word. So I am holding on now and believing that your will and our desires meet up and that there will be life in my womb this week. Father prepare my body to receive that which you have created. We trust that you will grow the embryo/embryos according to your purpose, we trust that you will guide the REs hands when putting it/them in on Thursday. Father help me to be everything those embryos need and have to be able to make their home for the next 40 weeks. I believe Lord that you can make miracles happen, and children are miracles....We stand on Your Word, with faith, that you can do this! In Jesus awesome name, Amen

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...

By now, with no update and by the title of the blog, you are probably assuming correctly. Unfortunately, our cycle was negative this time. It's taken a little while for us to process it, but it's slowly getting easier to process as the days go and as we look forward to trying again.

Transfer went great, as posted afterward. My time on bed rest was spent with an awful cold and cough. I had great 'nurses' though and my family took great care of me. A few friends also brought meals to help out which I was very grateful for.

Wednesday was my birthday and I had been hoping for a positive test that morning, so it was a hard start to the day but once again, my family stepped up and made sure I still had a good day. I also got a wonderful e-mail from Katie with a super awesome gift card to a spa near by. I intend to use that gift card shortly before our next transfer.

Friday was our beta, and although I hadn't seen any positives yet, I was still very hopeful since it was an early beta. At the time of beta, I was just about 8 days past transfer. I have seen girls get positives that late, so I was trying to keep the hope alive. Especially since I was feeling a little "off" on Friday. Nevertheless, it was not what we wanted to hear that afternoon.

Both of us took the weekend to try and recover. I wish the weekend had gone better for Katie, but she is forever in my prayers, and so is our next cycle for sure.

Today I got a call from the clinic reminding me to call them when I get AF. We're working on getting into the next cycle group, which transfers the first week in June. I have to get AF sometime before Thursday to make it. So after the phone call I let my cycle group know we're waiting on AF and they said they'd send her to me. ... well I think it worked because tonight I started spotting :) Should be full on tomorrow!

Anyway, so that's the update for tonight. Kind of bittersweet. Sad about what was, but looking forward to the hope of another try.

I hope you are having a good week. I appreciate you reading and keeping up with us.

Yay!

Well, we did it! Transfer was yesterday.

My friend Brooke drove me there and got to learn a little more than she expected, as they let her come back with us as we did the transfer.

Hi Brooke!



We had a little fun with the camera phones before heading back...


The doctor came in to have a chat before going back. We were originally planning on transferring just one. But Dr. K felt more comfortable going with two because he didn't know yet what the quality of the remaining embryos would be, or if any would even make it to freezing, and he wanted to give Katie the best possible chances this time. I totally, 100% agreed with him. So we called Katie and her husband and had a little chat. I think she was more worried about me, bless her very sweet heart, but I was worried about her. I knew she had come to the decision to transfer one with a very responsible and clear mind and I didn't want the doctor to pressure her into saying yes. But we talked, they talked, and we did it. Dr. K took a picture of me with the tots before we went back. He likes to take a picture of all his patients before transfer, with a clock in the background.



Up close, here are the tots...


The one at the top left is the "Rockstar" and the one on the bottom right was the "up and coming" kiddo.

Then we headed back and got ready to go. When the doctor came in, he went straight to the CD player and put on some great dance music. Haha he was cracking me up the entire time. Then we got to see it all happen on the screen, and I'm sure Brooke was very enlightened (soooo TMI!!!) but she took it like a champ. She didn't have to go back with me, but I'm glad she did. I bet she had more fun in with us than she would have reading magazines in the waiting room ;)

And with that, we were finished. I laid on an incline for 30 minutes and we were free to go. So now I've been a couch potato since I got home. I have wonderful friends who have been taking care of me and bringing food for me and my family, and Shane has been pampering me, too. A couple more days of this and a girl could get spoiled! ;)

I am not sure yet when I want to do an HPT. My birthday is on Wednesday, so I'm undecided if I want to know before then or that day.  Either way, whenever I test or if I wait til beta (Friday May 4), Katie will be the first to know if it's positive.

Thanks for reading. Please keep us in your thoughts, prayers, send sticky vibes and belly rubs, cross fingers and toes... whatever floats your boat and sends good things our way would be wonderful. Til I have more to update... have a great weekend!

PS, the update as of tonight was that we have two totsicles that made it to good quality to freeze! Yay!

Fertilized and getting ready!

Hello again! A pretty neat update for you tonight!

This week has been wonderful! Aside from having to wait a little longer for retrieval, Katie and her mom and little one seem to have had a great week. 

Katie triggered her HCG shot on Thursday night for a retrieval yesterday morning. Unfortunately, she was not able to come to the SS Luncheon yesterday, but that's okay. She was a little bit busy. They retrieved 53 eggs. Not all of them were mature yet though, so today they let us know that out of the 53 eggs, 18 fertilized. Now we are praying that those 18 can make it to Thursday so we have a great one to transfer, and some to freeze. 

So there you have it, we are hoping for a Thursday transfer! However, they also could choose to transfer them on day 3 as well, depends on how they are doing. I started my progesterone injections on Friday night, too.

Today Katie, her mom, and son joined my family at church. I was so excited to have them there with me! I guess to understand how excited I am, you have to know a few things. One- my church family has been behind me 100% in my journeys, and have always lifted us up in prayer as we go through each step. Two- when I was getting to know the first couple I worked with, I always hoped they would join us at church one day. They didn't, as that IM did not believe, but I kept that idea in my mind through each journey. IM2 didn't ever come to Dallas so it wasn't an option then. So I was thrilled to have that come through this time, and also give my church family who is praying for us a face to a name... and maybe a little so they would know she wasn't crazy and neither am I. The service went really well... though it was the biggest church Katie/her mom had ever been to. I said, "Well, they say everything's bigger in Texas!"

After church we came back to the house to wait til the restaurant opened for lunch and they gave my boys some presents to open, and me one, too. The boys were overjoyed at getting the biggest water-guns ever! She also did some research and got the boys a game that was said to be excellent for children with Autism, called Qwirkle. I was speechless that she would put so much thought into it!

I was going to wait til transfer day to open mine, but Brian pretty much insisted that I opened it, and helped me. I got an AWESOME t-shirt for when I'm pregnant:

And a couple really soft, lavender scented items to help me relax later this week. I love the rice pillow, too!

So we headed to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack where all the boys played their hearts out and then got to try their hands at cracking open crab legs. Micah very much enjoyed his, while Brian had a few bites, but enjoyed the potatoes and corn on the cob a little more.

We had such a great time! Shane even took pictures of Katie and I. First, we had to check if there was anything in our teeth (we ate corn)... 

We didn't realize he took the picture of that part... then we were really ready for pictures...

Had to get one of her mom in there, too. My boys just loved her (ok, well we all did) and latched on! She's the sweetest grandma ever and does so wonderful with kids! I think she did pretty great as a mom, too ;)

After lunch we had to run back to the house and switch cars, and her little boy wasn't ready to leave yet! I am so glad he enjoyed playing with my boys and being in the church preschool room! Then Micah and I drove them back out to Fort Worth, where we had a few hugs before parting. I'm super sad they have to leave Tuesday morning, but excited that Thursday is transfer day! 

I will definitely update while I'm on bed rest after transfer! Please keep the embryos and us in your prayers this week!! We need them to grow, grow, grow, and then STICK, STICK, STICK!

Have a great week!

Beth

Update

Hello again! I'm sorry for the lack of update lately! I'm kind of unsure on what to write for this update, so it has taken me a couple days to get to it. I'll start with Katie arriving in Texas!

Katie arrived on Sunday! I wished I could have been there to pick her up from the airport, but they decided to take the shuttle to the airport instead, which was probably for the best after a long day of travel. We met up on Monday morning at the clinic. As I pulled up to the clinic, I saw Katie's mom and son outside, so I decided to surprise them with their gifts early, though I had planned on giving them to them at lunch. I was greeted very sweetly by Katie's mom and her little boy was just super cute! My boys and I chose some things for him at Toys R Us and a Texas souvenir shop the day before that we were excited for him to see. One of the items was a cowboy hat, then a t-shirt, and the rest were Thomas the Tank Engine travel type toys. It was hard remembering what a 2 year old would enjoy! I also brought Katie and her mom a small bouquet of cake pops, which I've heard were delicious!

The appointment was not so fun. First, they were running really late because there were so many people there. Then, Katie got news that her eggs weren't as far grown as the doctor had hoped. So unfortunately, retrieval was going to be pushed off til at least Friday or Saturday. We were disappointed at the delay, but it was only 2 days. She's been going back each day for monitoring and today was told it might be Sunday but that there are a lot of eggs growing. That's a good sign, but again another delay. So for now, my update is that transfer could be Friday of next week.

I am excited though, if retrieval is Sunday, that means she'll be able to come to Simple Surrogacy's luncheon on Saturday. That makes me happy!

Tomorrow is my youngest son's 6th birthday and Katie and her mom and son joined us at his birthday party last night. It was a really fun party and I'm so excited they came! They were incredibly helpful and sweet with the boys and the other moms and kids that came. My friends were also excited to meet them.

So far, Katie and family seem to be enjoying Texas. They rode the train up here and back yesterday and today they went to the zoo! Lucky! I wish we could get together a little more while they are here, but being an hour away is a downside. Hopefully we'll get to hang out a little more besides Saturday.

That's all for my update tonight! Hopefully we'll have a great update soon! Please be praying that the eggs grow and do well so that we have good eggs to work with! (and for us for patience!)

Congratulations!

Just a quick shout out and congratulations to Katie's family! They found out this week that, through IVF, Katie's brother and sister-in-law are expecting around Christmas time! Congratulations! We hope to join you in the Expecting Club very soon!

Welcome, April!

Hello again! Time for an update, right?!

I can't believe it's April already. Tomorrow starts the 3 week count down to our tentative transfer date! Retrieval  (hopefully!) is in just 17 days!!!

I have been on Lupron since my last update, and although I've seen an increase in appetite, it's hard to tell whether or not my headaches are Lupron induced or because of a sinus infection.

Last week I kept very busy! Sunday we visited Six Flags as a family with some friends and had a blast, but it started my allergies flaring. Through the week I was busy working, and when I was not working I kept busy cleaning my master closet out and then helping a friend clean on Friday night. So I really did a number on my sinuses. Thankfully, I will have an antibiotic on top of it tomorrow to kick it in the rear before anything transfer related happens.

Today was my baseline ultrasound and blood test. I've been on AF since Thursday night. Typically, AF would be over by now but I guess the Lupron is making it a little less typical, because it's not over- and my baseline ultrasound showed that my lining is still hanging around at 7.7mm thick. We want it way thinner, but it's not bad. The sonographer said I'll probably bleed for a couple more days and it will get where we want it, so it's not a problem right now.

I started oral estrace today, I am currently taking 1 pill in the morning when I take my Lupron. Later this week I'll start taking it in the morning and in the evening, and then the following week I'll start taking it 3x a day. I can see myself becoming a blubbering mess with all this estrogen going on!

Last week, after I helped my friend clean on Friday night, I came home to a very special gift on my front porch! On the top, it said something like "I hope a little sugar helps make the yucky medicine go down easier!" The box was full of  yummy goodies from Harry & David and was from Katie!

We are taking our time with some of it, but other parts of it were devoured over the weekend. SO yummy! I wish I could reciprocate with just as nice a gift, but I had already been planning on sending something else, so I sent that off today and it should get to Katie by Thursday.

This week I will be, again, busy with work and with the kids, but hope to have a relaxing Easter Sunday with the boys and Shane. I hope you have a great Holy week as well, and an Easter spent with those you love.

I will update as I'm able! See you soon!
Beth

Yep, it's really happening!

This week has been an up and down kind of week in my world. Monday was a great day. Tuesday, not so much. Today was a great day again at least. Tuesday, although my day started sinking down hill about 7:30am, around 10:30am I got a knock on the door from the Fed Ex guy. Who knew he'd be a bright spot on a hard morning? Well, he was! Look what he brought!

That is a beautiful box of medications!!

Less than 9 hours til I take my first shot of Lupron!

(Being THIS happy about starting meds is something we (surrogates) have put on our list of "Things only a surro would say," Feel free to laugh, it's funny!)

This week Katie got her meds, too, but not without their own drama!! I'm happy she got hers too, as I think it probably makes it even more real to her, this is really happening! She also booked her tickets to come for her monitoring and egg retrieval the week before transfer and then, surprise to me! She's staying through the 24th, which if egg retrieval happens on the 19th means she might be here for transfer!! I'm so happy about that I could dance! Seriously!

Also, we were invited to a lunch with Simple Surrogacy appreciating Intended Parents and Surrogates on the 21st and I'm thrilled we'll (hopefully) get to go together while she's here! 

Tomorrow I will change the count down above to retrieval date, since it all depends on how that goes.

Thanks for reading! We're so excited if you can't tell by all the exclamation points!! Have a great night!

Beth

Flyin' by...

Well, I set a reminder to blog on Friday nights and that blew right on by me! I think I was asleep by 10:30, which has been happening fairly often for me lately. I decided that for Lent I would give up caffeine and start going to bed earlier. Without caffeine, going to bed earlier is SO easy to do! This is also helpful for me to get ready for transfer. I started weaning off caffeine the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, so tonight marks 3 weeks since I've had any significant amount of caffeine. Other than some sleepiness in the afternoons I feel like I'm doing great!

In other news, we got our calendar this week! Seems like it was a long time coming! I added everything into my Google Calendar as soon as I could after we got it. I know April 24 seems like so far away, but when I was putting everything in, it really didn't seem so far away anymore.

3-22 Start 10 units of Lupron per day,
3-28 Stop BCP
4-2 Blood work and Ultrasound, Start Oral Estrace 1x per day,
4-7 Estrace 2x per day,
4-10 Estrace  3x per day,
4-16 Blood work and Ultrasound

Everything after that is tentative and based on Katie's cycle and retrieval, but following the blood work on 4-16 we should know when I will start the PIO injections.

So being that it is March 11, there are currently 11 days remaining until I get "Lupy" and 44 days until April 24.

Today was a get together for a couple other surrogates and myself, we went to On the border for dinner. I had a great night! I love when I get to hang out with other surrogates in person! I hope we can do it again soon, one of them doesn't live far from where I'm at while the boys are in therapy every day. This week is spring break for my kids, and other than a few play dates and therapy, we don't have much planned. I hope to get some housework done and relax as much as possible.

I hope you have a wonderful week! Be blessed!
Beth

What a week!

This week has been crazy! Roller coaster crazy!

Monday and Tuesday it was all about getting the contracts nailed down. Wednesday evening I received the contract via e-mail. Thursday was a whirlwind I'd rather not re-hash! Suffice it to say, at the end of the very long, crazy, head spinning round and round day- the contract was on it's way to Katie's lawyer via overnight FedEx.

In the middle of all the head-spinning, AF decided to peek her little head in the door just to say hi. 3 days early. It wasn't much but it was there, and there was a little more of it today. I expect her full fledged visit tomorrow.

This morning the legal clearance for us to start with the clinic was sent over to them, and we both called them to stay on top of things. I knew yesterday, that even with all the running around I had done, this was probably going to happen. But I was still disappointed when they said our cycle needed to be pushed back. Not far, but still, the first week of April I had nothing going on, we were excited the due date was before Christmas... plus it was *that* much closer to now!

We are looking at transferring around April 23. Not too shabby, still in April. It does mean there probably won't be a baby under the tree for Katie and family, but hey January is a good month for a baby, too :) We were joking about there not being another little tax deduction for them this year, too.

So as of today that's really the only news- contracts are done and we have a date. They're supposed to e-mail me a calendar soon, but I'm going to guess that will probably come in a week or two. Katie should be getting soon or already gotten her calendar as well.

As much as I'm needlessly disappointed, really, about the date push-back, I am thrilled that we can just keep getting to know each other for that much longer and have some fun while we wait. I think I have one of the best IMs around and if I have to wait, she's a great person to have to wait with :)

Alright, I'm getting back to work. I have a cake-pop order this weekend to attend to this evening. Have a great weekend!

Update

Sorry for leaving you hanging! I haven't really been around enough to do an update!

Wednesday I drove to Fort Worth for the mock transfer (they just practice where they would place an embryo in my uterus, sans embryo, for the mock) and hysteroscopy (kind of like a colonoscopy, but in the uterus). It went really great. The only rotten thing was that they couldn't even show me a calendar because our contracts aren't signed yet. I think so far, this is the one major difference between working independently and with an agency-- my time frame is not their time frame. The agency requires that the contracts be signed and in their hands before we even get to "discuss" dates- although we do know and they know we are wanting to work toward a first week of April transfer. So other than tell me about the meds I'll be taking and discussing bed rest afterward, there wasn't much for us to talk about.

When I got home I did have a little pain from the hysteroscopy that I don't remember having the other times I've had the hysteroscopy. It wasn't bad, just definitely there, if you know what I mean.

That afternoon we received a call from a psychologist saying we had to do a social interview, one hour with my husband and one hour with me, over the phone... Psych Eval. I was kind of taken aback because nobody contacted me to let me know this guy would be calling, as I had assumed they would use Wendy's eval from last year as well as the MMPI. Thankfully I don't have to re-take the MMPI this time at least. They both went alright. I think one always gets nervous during a psych eval for this stuff. I mean, the guy is deciding whether he thinks you can do this great thing based on asking you about traumatic life events and such in a one hour conversation, not to mention you have never spoken to the man before so he really has only this one hour to go by. So anyway, we were needlessly nervous, of course, and passed.

Now it's time to get these contracts on the move. Since Katie and I had already discussed what we wanted to see changed in the contract, this part should be fairly simple. It would have gone a little quicker if the lawyer hadn't made them sit on their hands for a week to talk to her, but oh well, that part's over and now we're hopefully almost there. Hopefully the lawyer will have everything ready and sent to my lawyer today some time.

I hope I will have an update soon that says contracts are signed and on their way to the hands of the agency and the clinic!

Today my hubby had two have two teeth removed in emergency oral surgery, so I'm off to take care of him.

Have a great weekend!

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Tomorrow.....it's less than a day away :)

Tomorrow morning I head over to Fort Worth to do my hysteroscopy and mock transfer. So far my body is following all instructions. I think the birth control pill helps with that, or something, right? Just kidding, it does.

Over the past couple weeks I have so enjoyed getting to know Katie over e-mail! I think she missed her calling... I think she was meant to be a stand-up comedian! I look forward to her emails not only because of the "getting to know you" factor, but because she always has something funny in her emails that makes me laugh, makes me have to show it to DH or to tell a friend what funny quote it was this time.

We're also trying to get contracts going, which is hard for us because we know what we want but we have to wait on those darn lawyers! But that should change this week and hopefully we'll have a contract that is near ready soon.

This week I started a new pre-natal pill, instead of the daily vitamins I had been taking every morning... and I started taking both at night instead of in the morning or during the day. I figured out that the BCP had been giving me headaches, so I switched that to night to see if it would help, which it did, some. Then I switched to the pre-natal and started taking it at night when I take the BCP and let me tell you-- the difference is astronomical. Maybe the BCP just needed the extra dose of vitamins with it to work with my body better. I dont know what it is, but I'm definitely grateful not to have those stinking headaches!

Anyway, before I get all sappy, since I'm incredibly tired, I'll end this with an excited Hoorah!! We might just have this ball rolling soon!

Will update tomorrow night! Have a great "hump-day"!

Hello, April!

Well... first things first. Isn't it JUST like my body to decide to change it up only when I'm expecting things to go a certain way on a certain day?? That's just what my body did today. I can usually pinpoint my AF down to the day in any given month. But plan a doctor's appointment that necessitates NOT being on AF, and there she comes 3 days early! That's what I woke up to, today!

I freaked out for a few minutes and then called the clinic to make sure I wasn't making a wasted drive. They assured me all was well and to come in as scheduled. Woot!

So I made the drive and then when I went back and they asked about AF I learned they could do part of my screening today but that I will have to go back on Feb 22 for a hysteroscopy, mock transfer, and "teaching." (I don't expect the teaching part to go long, probably more of a discussion about our calendar.) I had my bloodwork drawn up and had a sono to verify everything was good and voila, she said the P word I heard last time. I'm not going to get near as excited as I did last cycle-time, but it was nice to hear, I'll admit.

And WOW was this nurse good at drawing blood. It was altogether painless! Can I take her with me to ALL my blood draws?

From the ultrasound room we went to the office to chat and the first thing they asked was when we would like to transfer. Well I know when we hope for, but I was going to leave it up to Katie to decide, so I texted Katie. I think she may have been just a teeny bit excited enough not to know that I was asking her for a date that was good for her. I think her head was possibly spinning round and round. Eventually she said she'd talk to the clinic, IF, and SS and get back to me. Then a little while later I got an email letting me know that it looks like we'll be shooting for the first week of April!

I'm excited, and I know Katie is excited! I'm feeling very blessed that we can work together, and very hopeful. Can't wait to update again soon and let you know that we're starting contracts! That should be sometime this week. Til then, Have a great week!

Beth

Just for kicks...

I don't have much to update on but that I am still having a great time getting to know my new IM! Today I talked with Stephanie at Simple Surrogacy and got to go over some smaller details with her and make sure we were on the same track and everything was good. It was a very good conversation and I came away from it very pleased with my decision to work with them.

Anyway, so I wanted to share this picture with you! Last week when we met for dinner, we tried to take pictures inside, but my camera on my phone was the only one with a flash- and it was dead! So before we left we went outside (brrrr!) and plugged it in to my car and my husband took a really quick shot from just outside the driver's side door of us. We're cold so our teeth are chattering a bit haha....

Without further adieu, meet my new IM, Katie! (on the left side)

I think this is going to be an AWESOME journey! In the words of Miss Katie up there, "Let's make a baby!" *giggle*

Screening all set!

Well I just got off the phone from scheduling my screening appointment! We are all set for next Monday at 11!


Short and sweet post! Have a good week if I don't post before the appointment!

Beth

Well that didn't take long, did it?

Last week I caught you up on the last 7 months and also shared with you that I had begun looking for new intended parents.

Sunday, the 15th, I went through some surrogacy ads and answered quite a few. By Tuesday I had heard back from everyone I responded to and most of them never made it past the 2nd email. One thing or another wasn't what I was looking for. Also Tuesday, I heard from an agency (Simple Surrogacy) who thought they might have a couple in mind for me. Then my awesome friend and lawyer, Simi, sent my name to two couples she had been talking to. One of them emailed me right away and we started talking via email.

After I got the profile for the couple with Simple, I was browsing around on my surrogate support board and realized the profile I had gotten matched up with a cheery IM from the board, so I started to warm up to their profile and think about them as well as the other couple I was talking to. I kind of "sat" on their profile that night and then the next morning the other IM that Simi sent my name to contacted me by email. It did not take long to realize that this was the very same IM in the profile from Simple and from the board.

I wanted to get to know them both and give both an equal chance, so each time I talked to one, I would ask the other the same questions and try to get a feel for how the journey would go if I were to choose. It was really hard! They were both amazing couples, and I felt I could have chosen either one and had a great journey either way. There were differences in each couple, but not bad ones at all. Just things I needed to think about. One was international and would have been independent, and one was here in the states but was with an agency. I've never worked with an agency, so I really had to think about it.

The couple that the agency sent me had already made plans to come to the Dallas area this week for their medical screening and they asked me and my family to join them for dinner. Whew, what an opportunity! I hadn't quite made up my mind yet, but knew that I would know for sure after the meeting, so I planned to meet them for dinner, and we continued talking. Talking over e-mail was smooth, we got along fantastically, and I absolutely adore her sense of humor.

I didn't have much chance to talk to the other couple as often because of the distance, time change, and they were busy. We did e-mail and answer each others questions alright, but the connection just wasn't the same- perhaps it was that there was a culture difference, perhaps it was the slower communication, or maybe my heart was already telling me something and I wasn't "hearing" it.

On Wednesday I took a day to separate myself from everything, taking time to visualize the journeys and think about everything we'd all talked about. After a lot of prayer, I decided that I couldn't keep talking to the international couple and then I let them know. That was a heartbreaking email to send. But I was at peace about it and thank God for showing me what I truly wanted the journey to be like and helping me decide.

By Friday night we were all so excited to meet up! We had a great time together. My boys were even very well behaved at the restaurant (I'm beaming with pride!). They were so sweet, they brought the boys a bunch of games and some cookies and snacks! We brought them 2 boxes of cake balls, because that's what I do ;) The conversation flowed really well and I enjoyed learning more about them and seeing them together.

At the end of dinner I let her know my decision and she cried!! I didn't mean to make her cry! I am so excited to get to work with her and can't wait to get started. We all gave hugs at the end of the night and took a picture, which I will post here when I make sure it's okay first. So far they're not saying they want to remain anonymous like my other couples were, but I don't want to do anything without first asking.

Anyway, thanks for reading my novel of a story. I think sometimes coincidences really are meant to be paid attention to. In this case, I'm so thankful for the three little coincidences that joined together to help me get started talking with them. I will find out more about getting started this week and update you soon!