About Time

Wheeeeeee.... this pregnancy is flying by!! My apologies for not updating sooner, but I was probably sleeping. Joking, really, but seriously - I have been dealing with colds and sinus infections and headaches because of the sinus infections, so much of the time I am either dozing or want to be. Now that the sinus infections have cleared, it is spring and here come the allergies!!

Things with Baby Roo are going great thus far. We have had a few appointments since the last time I blogged. Including ultrasounds. I will come back and add the photos from those later, as I cant do it on my tablet. Heart beat is always great and the scan for birth defects and other issues went perfectly.

I started having to wear maternity clothes around 14 weeks because my baby belly (the lower half of my stomach) is very firm, but honestly I still just look fat. For those wondering, I think my weekly belly pics will begin around 24 weeks. Hopefully we will be a little more "round" and not as fluffy, then.

This time, since I was larger at the beginning of the pregnancy than with my previous pregnancies (I gained weight while pumping and didnt lose it before this journey), and because my uterus is extremely retroverted (tilted backwards) it took a bit longer to feel Baby Roo moving. I began feeling movement off and on at 15 weeks and 2 days. I can't wait for when (in a few weeks maybe?), we get to feel movement on the outside and I can share that experience with L&J.

The journey over all is going well. L&J are busy building their new home and loving on their new nephew, so some weeks are quieter than others contact wise. When we do get together for appointments or lunch, it is always good, and a highlight of my week.

Another reason the blogging has been sparce is that I always want to be sure that they share anything they want to share with their family and friends before I do and always make sure I am not sharing anything they don't want to share, just in case. They are not as public with their journey, so I want to respect that. It is different for me, since I am a very open person, but I am getting used to it.

Anyway, just wanted to update you all and share a little bit before it got so sparce around here that people worried. Nothing to worry for, all is well!

Our next appointment is April 9th. We will be 18 weeks. It is a sonogram appointment. Hopefully, I will come update soon after that!

Tata for now!

A Birthday Wish & More

Today, one year ago, Miss Molly came into the world and a whole lot of people fell in love. Happy Birthday Miss Molly!!!

An update on Molly for you:

Miss Molly is aiming for the gold in crawling, she crawls super fast! And while she does stand on her own some, she isn't quite walking yet. I can see why, when crawling gets her places just as well! She is also saying a few words!

I cannot believe it has been a whole year. I have enjoyed seeing pics and keeping in touch with Katie so much. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful first journey and such a great friendship with them as she grows.

At the same time that I cannot believe it has been a year... I am torn away by also feeling like, Wow- just a year! It's an odd feeling, being removed from it just enough to feel like it was ages ago.

So much has gone on since she was born.

I pumped for a total of 6 months, helping two local babies (one was a family member's adoptive baby) and countless preemies through the preemie milk bank.

I began homeschooling my oldest son.

I met and matched with a wonderful local couple.

I helped a new friend match with her perfect couple and she is now pregnant!

I helped a childhood friend pursue the desire to be a surrogate and now she, too, is pregnant!

I cycled and transferred on Miss Molly's 10 month birthday and we found out we are expecting on Christmas day!

What a year it has been!

Today I am just feeling so elated and blessed that this is the life God has given me! Thanks all, for your support and encouragement, it really means so much!

I am so excited to see what the next year brings!!

Happy 11 weeks!

I know, I know, I was supposed to blog last week. But I did tell you it was a busy week. So here I am, a week later!

Our first official OB appt (the other one was to meet and get to know the dr.) was last Wednesday. The vampires took my blood, I stood on a scale and cringed at the weight -- I gained so much while cycling for two months in a row that I don't even want to see the numbers right now -- had a Pap and the usual full exam, and chatted with the Dr. some more. Unfortunately, while the Dr. thought we would be able to do some fancy test with the blood, she was mistaken and the blood was taken all for naught. Oh well.

They fished around for the heartbeat with the doppler for what seemed like forever, and made me sore, even though I assured them my uterus was too far back to find it. So we trecked over to the sono room to have a quick peek and heard the heartbeat. I think, forgive me if I have to come back and correct it, it was 172bpm. Baby Roo looked great, of course!

I also got a flu shot. I hate those things. My arm was sore for 2 or 3 days. Oh well, at least that's one less thing to worry about.

I, unfortunately, was in a hurry after my appointment so I couldn't stay long to chat with L, I wish we could have. She gave my family some beautiful gifts for valentine's day and my oldest's birthday, and gave me a really cute shirt and some chocolate (that I can't find now!!!) and a card with a hilarious note and some wine for Shane, "to deal with [her] craziness." hehe

All in all, great appointment! We have a screening appointment next week at a different doctor, with a really detailed ultrasound, I can't wait to see how Baby Roo has grown!

As for me... I'm doing okay. I'm more than ready to be off these meds and to find the right pre-natals. The meds combined with the wrong pre-natals were killing me. And I'm pretty excited that the first trimester is almost over, I am ready to get some energy back. And eat. Real food. Right now I crave noodles, tuna sandwiches (only allowed once a week), chicken noodle soup, bagels and cream cheese, peanut butter, fruit smoothies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Everything else is pretty much an aversion. This baby share's it's momma's disinterest in any thing bacon, or anything meat really. I can tolerate chicken, and turkey has been okay. But other than that, everything has not been tolerated well. Chocolate by itself is one of those. I'm so sad!!

This week was L's birthday, and unfortunately, I couldn't get her anything right then, but I will make it up to her ;) I hope that she had a great birthday at least!

Anyway, this blog is about over... I will be blogging later this week because we're coming up on a special day! :) Have a great week until I post again! <3

Hop, Hop, Hopping right along!

As usual, my blogging skills could use a little work. This time it wasn't ALL my fault. My computer was actually down most of last week.

So I will update you as much as I can!

The last time I posted, I shared our first sonogram photo, at 6 weeks. Today we are 9 weeks and 2 days!
Since then we have gotten to see the baby twice!

I was spotting over night on Sunday Jan. 19th, so I called the clinic to inform them. Meanwhile we all had a little worry-time. They said it was no big deal, but L asked if we could do the next sono a little early, that Friday the 24th instead of Monday the 27th.

That is when Baby R got the nickname Baby Roo. Looking like a little baby kangaroo...

All is well! Heartbeat this day was 143bpm.

About a week later, we were able to meet our new OB for the first time. I was a little nervous having to go to a new OB, but I think I like her-- as long as she doesn't happen to go on vacation the week following Labor Day! ;)

In addition to getting to talk with her for a good long while and getting a feel for how she will be as our doctor, she let us have a peek at Baby Roo.

This one was a REALLY great shot of the "gummy bear" stage. Baby Roo was waving the entire time! Baby was in a great mood dancing all around, heart rate was up at 185bpm! I think I spot daddy's facial structure there, but who's to say at this point!

Our first "Official" OB appointment is on February 12. Hopefully I will not have any problems updating as soon as I can after that appointment, but a little lag time should be expected, as my son's birthday and Valentine's day are close behind. Until then, adieu!

Survey Says.....

Hello again...
Monday we went to the RE for our first sono!

Survey says: One little bean!

Yay!

I was hoping that waiting the weekend we might be able to see a heartbeat this time but it wasn't quite there yet. I am curious as to why the clinic does it this way; a baby count pre-heartbeat and then waiting two more weeks before heartbeat (this u/s was at 6wks 1d, I believe Molly's was 6wks 3d and we saw her hb). I just have to get used to them doing things a little differently.

Anyway, a baby is definitely on the way!! As it stands, unless it gets changed by growth, by retrieval date our due date is September 8!!

Congrats L & J, you're having a baby!

Baby is about the size of a sweet pea, and already causin' trouble.

Next appt is Jan 27!

Hey Beta beta beta!

Well, here I am again! Better late than never.

Last Tuesday, at 9.75 dpt (days past transfer) we had our first beta. Woot, woot! It came back at 205.
Thursday at around the same time of day, so 11.75dpt, I went back and it was 433. Doubling time of about 44 hours.

Yay! So exciting!

Saturday I got my first bout of nausea. Wasn't expecting it quite so soon.
Since then I've been experiencing it off and on... along with EXTREME hunger. Like hobbit meal kind of hunger. I wake up at 2am starving. I had to grab a string cheese in the middle of the night last night. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to buy a huge bag of carrots or apples and just carry them with me to fill me up as needed.

Ultrasound to find out what's 'growing' on in there is Monday the 13th!

Until then, no news is good news!
Have a great week!

Busy Time of Year

Well, hello!!

It's been a while. My apologies if you were waiting to hear from me sooner.

Since the last time we talked, we've passed Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. All of which, while busy, were very good for my family. I hope the same for yours.

For a while after our cancelled cycle, I didn't really have a lot to write, so I didn't. And then once I did, it was finding the time and energy to come and write it I struggled with. So, here we go.

After the eggs from the donor didn't work out (my IPs second donor), we got put on hold a bit until they had cleared a new donor. For a little while, it looked like we would transfer around Dec. 17. Then AF was mean to me and decided to be a week late. At that point, none of us knew whether or not we'd even transfer before the end of the year. The goal was to transfer before Christmas. Once dear AF came, it put us on track for sometime between the 21st and 25th. Yay! But then the donor didn't respond the way they liked and they thought there might be another delay. It was such a roller coaster.

Thankfully, the donor still had a few quality eggs to retrieve and they retrieved 10 eggs on the 16th, 5 of which fertilized. By the 21st, 2 were still good quality and 1 looked good enough to freeze the next day. We transferred a 4bb embryo and a 4bc embryo on Molly's 10 month birthday :)

After transfer, my IP's got me McDonald's fries (Surros swear by these!) and then they took me to my good luck charm and good friend's house to rest for the day. I had a relaxing evening and fun with my friend and then came home Sunday afternoon and took it easy the rest of the day.

I was asked by my IM not to test on Christmas morning. She didn't want me to ruin my day if it weren't positive.

However, all of Christmas Eve and Christmas day, I could feel it. I could feel that it worked, just the same as it did with Molly. So, Christmas night, 4.25 days after a 5 day transfer, I tested before I went to bed. When it turned up positive less than 3 minutes later, I literally jumped on my bed to show my husband the line. Woot!

OK Well, if you don't have "surro eyes" you might not know it, but that there is a positive test. A line is a line when it comes to pregnancy. You either are, or aren't. And I am. As the days have passed, I have enjoyed continuing to watch the lines get darker. I'm a bit of a POAS-aholic. I'll show you a few of them...

The tests above were the morning after the initial squinter line and then each morning thereafter. I did test in the evenings, but the lines weren't noticeably different than the morning's lines. The one on the bottom is from this morning.

I'm totally thrilled and excited! I am loving that my IPs are local and they were with me during transfer, and that IM and I got to go to lunch the other day. I am enjoying getting to know her! I also got a little congratulations gift for her, a snow globe with a quote about dreams coming true, from The Wizard of Oz, and it had the ruby red slippers inside the globe.

Beta #1 is on Tuesday, the 31st. I don't really know what to expect. Everyone, including myself, wonder if both took, since I saw the positive lines so quickly. I know they were not that easy to see on day 4 with Molly at all! We shall see!

I will take some time after we get beta results to blog again soon! Have a great week!

A non-update update... and a bit of TMI

Well, if you can't tell by the non-updating of the blog, our transfer didn't happen...

Here is what DID happen.

On the 18th, I went for monitoring. All was good- except nobody could get straight what day we were doing what, so after L talked to them and straightened things out- we were all set for a Monday, October 28 transfer if the embryos made it to day 5. Saturday if they needed to be transferred on day 3.

Except one thing. On Wednesday, the 23rd, the eggs were thawed to prepare them for ICSI (or injected sperm- fertilization). And didn't make it.

You can imagine the emotions we all felt. L was devastated, and rightly so. I know that to her it felt like 6 babies had died. We alternated, I think, between ticked off at the clinic, and just sad all around. It took a few days for me to get around it.

As of today, I am really not sure what is going on. L said they showed her a donor, and that donor was going to go through the hoops to see if she would be a good candidate. I guess we're just waiting on all that now, so we can do a fresh transfer.

The nurse didn't call me at all, L is the one who texted me the news, L and I spoke on the phone a few times, but I never heard anything from the clinic until I got an email Monday (the 28th) morning saying to stop all meds (I had stayed on the patch just in case they wanted me to 'hang out in limbo' til they were ready). But also to START another round of prometrium for 10 days so I could get a period and shed my lining. Newsflash. My period started the night before her email. So I emailed back and let her know. She said to keep taking it. I did, and what followed was the longest and heaviest 6 days ever. Sigh. Finally down to a drizzle now, thankfully, but I'm not even at day 10 yet. Am I supposed to get another period after that?? Necessary?

Anyway, onward and upward. We have gotten the hurdles out of the way. The doctors are apologetic, the head one is the one overseeing our whole cycle now. Hopefully that was the last of the issues and our best is yet to come!

I'll write more when I have more.

Til then,
Have a great week :)

Trial Transfer

Yesterday was our trial transfer and it went great!

L and I met up at the RE's office for the appointment and got some chat time, which I always love, while were waiting.

Then the Dr. came in and did some trial transfers...Yes. Not one. Not even two, but 3 trial transfers. And he was rough. It was more than slightly uncomfortable and definitely more painful than my past transfers or trial transfers have been. I think they thought ahead on that, though, because before the transfer they had me take some ibuprofen. It worked alright til it wore off. Last night I was ready for some more. I've also been spotty since then. Ick.

The nurses said we could transfer either the 25th or the 27th, depending on the embryos. If we transfer on the 25th, they will be 3-day embryos, 5-day on the 27th. I don't know which to hope for, honestly. I've only ever transferred 5 or 6 day embryos and I'm not sure the qualifications of transferring a 3-dayer. I guess my only experience with 3-dayers is hearsay, and usually it's because they were afraid the emby wouldn't make it to day 5 if they didn't transfer it then, I think. So I'm torn. Do I hope for the 3 or 5 day transfer?

After the appointment, L and I went to lunch! Yummm! We went to Mi Cocina. I told her my funny story about having Mexican food before my screening appointment back in 2011 in El Paso. We had a laugh about it. No Mexican food before doctor appointments! While we were at lunch, she gave me a really sweet gift, I really love it!

(A collectible measuring spoon set that has really cute/sweet sayings on each spoon, and an angel in the hollow of the spoon - because I like to bake, Godiva chocolate - mmmmm, and a wine glass that says "wine is cheaper than therapy" which relates to my family and the multitude of therapies we visit each week for the boys, and my love of wine and wine glasses)

I love the bag, too. She's got me pegged! Thank you, L!!

We did take a selfie pic, but I really look like a giant next to her... I'll post it, but y'all need to know I'm NOT this huge! haha She's standing tucked under my arm or something, and hiding next to me, and I'm standing closer to the camera than she is! (pfft)

Thanks for reading! Next appointment is a monitoring appointment on the 18th! Til then, have a great week!

Go!

Christmas morning for a surrogate....

And we're off!

Oh sheep! Really?

My title is a little different today. But maybe you'll understand when you read my post.

OK So alllllll this time without a blog, we have been waiting on me. On the witch. Aunt Flo. Alright, this is a blog that talks about everything that comes with childbirth. We're adults here. My period. There.

This has been a long wait. Seriously. Forever. There were days when I worried DH and I had screwed up some how. There were days when I thought I was definitely going to start soon. I had every symptom of PMS imaginable. Oily, pimply skin? Check. Need for chocolate? Check. Headaches? Check. Soreness? Check. Bloat? Check. Moodiness? Oh yeah, check that one off. Well she didn't come on her own. A couple weeks ago I called the clinic to find out what they wanted to do, and they put me on progesterone to get things going. I took it for 10 days, and then I was supposed to start within 10 days. Well, you know... Aunt Flo doesn't like due dates. She made us wait longer, of course. The entire time, I've been PMSing.

On Monday, I spotted a teeny bit. Thought for SURE she'll be here Tuesday! By Wednesday morning I had grown tired of analyzing my every PMS symptom and wondering if I were pregnant or waiting on period still. I purchased a pregnancy test. Knowing pretty full well I wasn't, based on everything. But still, they say you take a test, your period starts. No sooner had I purchased it and was walking out of the store that I got a text from L asking if it's possible I could be pregnant. I told her it wasn't likely but that I did buy a test to make sure. I took it as soon as I got home. Thankfully, stark white negative. So we had nothing left to do but wait.

Wednesday afternoon, spotting was a little more than on Monday. YES! She is DEFINITELY on her way.

Thursday- I woke up singing the Hallelujah chorus. She had arrived. I called and scheduled my appointment as soon as they opened.

Today, Friday... I went to the appointment and had my baseline sonogram. Where the doctor pronounced my uterus beautiful, and could he have it's number to give other couples ... for next time? Not kidding. He asked me how many times I wanted to do surrogacy, and I said my usual, 'Til my uterus falls out!' answer. And then he asked if he could give my information to other couples once I was ready to start again.

Then I had a meeting with the nurse. She showed me a page with a list of days in October. With notations next to several of them. Halfway down the page, the notations stopped. So I asked, what happens here? (pointing to where the notes stop). She said that that day when the notes stopped, I'd have blood tests and an u/s to see if I was ready, and then I'd start progesterone and transfer in a few days (depending on the embryos at that point). Note--- ALL these dates were still in October. The 31st was at the bottom of the page.

She's talking... and it hits me, She's saying we're transferring on October 25!?!?

And now this was when I actually almost said something else... but corrected to "Holy Sheep!" before anything bad came out.

Here I was thinking I was holding us up from a November transfer, we'd likely be somewhere in December before we transfer, etc. And they're telling me now, on Oct. 4, that we could be transferring in 21 days? (Provided the meds and monitoring go well.)

So yeah. Meds arrive tomorrow. It's a non-injection protocol.

I think L was pretty shocked to learn the date, too! So now starts all the excitement!

On to insurance stuff pretty quickly now. Pray, send awesome thoughts, wish us luck, what have you. It's ON!

I might try and post a pic of the meds tomorrow when they arrive. The Fed Ex guy will think he's Santa for how excited I may be.

Can't forget!

I just realized I never updated here about Miss Molly!

The week before Labor Day weekend, Katie called to tell me they were coming to visit on Labor Day weekend! I was SUPER excited. I think my whole neighborhood heard how excited I was!!

They got here on the Thursday night before LD, and stayed til early morning. We really enjoyed spending time with them and loving on Miss Molly!

Here are a few pics!

Miss Molly getting some lovin' from mommy when they first arrived.

Jack, receiving his gifts with a smile!

Miss Molly in her new outfit from us!

Me and sweet Molly

Miss Molly chewing away on her new toy

Photobombed!! (and a pic at a really bad angle haha)

Sweet baby girl

Spending time with Shane

Jack enjoying his parents while Molly is occupied

Snuggles

Play time!

I love watching these two together

I'm pretty sure this was her first time ever sitting up!

Playing with Shane

 

 

Some Legoland fun!

Snuggles with Micah

And Shane

Playdoh!

The best part of the weekend? Snuggling Miss Molly, myself!! 

I so enjoyed their visit and it makes me so happy that they came to see us!

Micah is so enthralled with our "add-on" family, too. He wrote about Miss Molly in his journal this week...

Thank you to Katie and Family for coming to see us. It means the world that you think of us and keep us updated on you all, and that you came to see us on a weekend you could have done anything else! 

We love you!

Waiting...

After a frustrating few weeks, the clinic seems to finally be getting their stuff together. They've really been a scatterbrain from the start. My records were apparently faxed to them several times, yet mysteriously they never got them. I sent them my psych evaluations and she forgot. They send me to 'screening' that wasn't really a screening, see last post, had to be reminded that they needed my husbands bloodwork, and even managed to fumble things with IM via e-mail. They need to work on their organizational skills and short term memories!

The donor did her retrieval on the 9th, I believe they got 6 eggs. Unfortunately IF was unable to come in and do his part, because he had minor surgery that same week. They froze the 6 eggs and will fertilize them before we do our transfer, from what I can tell. The nurse can't even keep it straight that they only have eggs and don't have embryos.

I quit pumping the weekend before my boys started school, and only pumped once after that weekend. I've dried up pretty well, but still haven't gotten Aunt Flo yet. So the nurse called me in a prescription for progesterone pills. I'm taking those the next few days, and am expected to get Aunt Flo within 10 days of the last pill. Hopefully it does it's trick and we can get started soon.

Really that's all we are waiting for. Contracts were done and signed a few weeks ago.

From what IM has said, if everything looks good on day 3 of my cycle, we will go ahead and get started. It's a non-injection protocol- I'm not sure whether that excites me or not. Sticky patches all over my midsection or one and done shots every day? I'm used to the shots, though, so I'll have to get used to the patches. I'm curious to see what I like better after having tried both.

Anyway, so that's my 'nothing's happening still' update. I hope to have more to update you with soon!

Say what?!

So screening was supposed to be set for Monday at 10:30, right? Not so much.

I get there and fill out all those forms, get with the nurse and do basic vitals, weight, etc. and they lead me to an exam room and say the Dr. will be in in a second. The Dr. comes in a few minutes later and says to join him in his office. Now... I'm not one to rock the boat, but I'm supposed to be having a pap and blood work done... and I'm fairly certain paps aren't done in fancy offices ;) So I'm wondering whats going on during the short walk to his office..

We get in there and he asks the usual questions about my history, about his protocol, the donor's cycle and how many embryos to transfer.... and then he sends me home.

Say what?!

Now, this part, I actually knew and questioned the nurse on when she scheduled my appointment. I asked her if I needed to be on a certain day of my cycle, or on my period to come in for screening. She said no, that since I'm not the donor, it doesn't really matter if I have a period or not. Like I said, I KNEW I was supposed to be on a certain day of my cycle... so when I asked the doctor and the coordinating nurse who was in that day, they said I needed to call back when I start my period for an appointment on Day 3.

Where is the disconnect here?!

I put the boys in childcare. I drove to their offices, taking the tollway because it was the easiest [quickest] route. And then proceeded to waste 30 minutes on someone else's dime. For nothing but a 5 minute chat with a doctor.

It didn't sit well with IM, either. Hopefully we'll hear back tomorrow on the disconnect.

In the meantime,


Happy 6 months to Miss Molly! It's gone by so quickly and I can't believe how big she's getting. I will come back and add photos later today.

It is my last 'official' day pumping, too. I will be only pumping when it hurts not to for a little while and for shorter times. It's kind of bittersweet, but I'm ready.

More soon.
Have a wonderful day!

Set?

Just wanted to post a quick update and let you know that we have 'set' my screening appointment for this coming Monday at 10:30!

We are working on contracts, insurance and all the logistics so that they can be in place and ready to go whenever we are.

Donor is set to retrieve mid-September! They will freeze the embryos following her retrieval, and after that comes our cycle and transfer.

In other news:
I am still pumping away over here, all set to wean beginning August 21. Last week I was approached by a family member about where they could find breastmilk for a baby their daughter/son in law are adopting really soon. They didn't know I was still pumping... I was pleased to offer them  my last two weeks (plus weaning time) of milk.

I love that I have done this for 6 months. I love helping my family out. And I love that I will- once all is said and done- have helped 2 babies locally and countless preemies through the milk bank.

But am I ready for weaning? You bet! What am I going to do with the 4 hours I gain back every day? I'm not totally sure! I certainly hope I'm a little more productive around the house, though!


That's all for today! Have a blessed weekend!

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ready?

So, where were we? Oh, right. I was 'starting' to look at couples who were searching for a surrogate.

I started putting my name out there again around the time I wrote my last blog post. I let my agency know they could start looking at matching me. I looked at a few profiles through the agency, but came up empty. I had heard a couple of friends knew people who were looking, so I let them know they could give my contact info and we could talk.

Throughout the next few weeks, I spoke with two intended moms [IMs] seriously (both who were friends of friends), but after praying and seeking advice I knew that one of them, while she was amazing, was meant for another surrogate. Thankfully it was a spirit-led decision, and it wasn't as hard a conversation as I worried it would be, God had prepared both our hearts. {If you are a surrogate looking to match, she'd be a wonderful IM, contact me if you would like me to have her get in touch with you!}

The evening of the 12th, we met up for dinner with the other couple, still not sure that they'd be *the* couple, but God really showed me through the week that I don't need a back up plan for this. He was directing my path, and that even if the couple I was leaning towards wasn't *the* couple, He had one for me, and "No," was "No." on the first couple. We went to dinner hopeful.

Shane, the boys and I went all together to meet them. When we first got there, my oldest son immediately hugged the IM, and asked me if she was family. It was my cue that he was comfortable. Shane and her husband got along well. Conversation was casual. My boys were comfortable. These really were the few things I couldn't have known before the dinner, so after seeing them together as a couple and sharing a meal with them as a family, I was sure. I let her know I'd love to work with them if they felt the same, kind of the same way I let Katie know.

She seemed so excited! It was good to see that smile and know that I get to help another wonderful couple out.

Now to work out the details, and we'll be all set! Currently we are talking about contracts and getting things together for psych evaluations and medical screenings. The couple is using a donor, so we have to wait on her to start her end as well. We are hoping to have contracts finished and screening done as soon as possible so that all we have to do is wait on the donor cycle.

I am going to continue to pump for the preemies until around August 21 (for a total of six months). I expect the RE will want me to have at least two full cycles before starting, and the egg donor [ED] will have to do her stuff, so it will probably be October before we transfer, but knowing it's coming and getting to know the couple right now is exciting!

I hope to introduce you to my new intended parents [IPs] in the next post! I want to be sure I have their permission and a decent photo.  Stay tuned!

Well, hi!

Well Hi! It's been awhile since I've been over to the blog to write! Never fear, I am here! ha! 

 Life since having Miss Molly has been pretty good over all. The boys are enjoying having me, for the most part, back! I'm still pumping, so a bit of my time goes toward that. I pumped for a local little boy for awhile, and now I'm pumping for the preemie milk bank for at least the summer. It was such an easy to transition to go from having a baby for someone and then continuing the journey by helping another family out for a little while. The fun never ends! 

 Molly is now about 18 weeks old and cute as a button! I still talk with Katie and hear how she's doing often, which blesses my heart incredibly. For Mother's Day, I sent Katie a Shutterfly book with all the pictures from the blog and a few from the birth as well. I'm pleased as punch that they loved it and shared it with their family! I really couldn't ask for a more amazing journey or the friendship I still have with Katie, now! 

 I realized a short time ago, that I never came back and said a few things I really wanted to say and didn't. It's been on my heart and mind and I felt this blog was incomplete with out it.


 Thank you to all who followed along as I found my way to and through the journey.

I really am so blessed to have had such great support through my friends and many of my family members. It would not have been the same without you all! Though the process of getting to finally "deliver a dream" was often hard and long prior to meeting Katie and family, I relied on faith and prayers through it all and am so grateful for those who prayed with me over everything. But everything was for a purpose and I learned so much along the way. 

 At the end of my birth story, I shared with you what my husband asked me and what my answer was... Would I do it again? and YES! Well, I'm beginning the process of looking for another family to help, now, and I am so excited to be just getting the process going again. I really feel this is a calling God has placed on my life, and am so ready to start again. 

 So... to be continued, right? I can't wait! 

 Oh, no... did you think I would end this post without a picture of Molly!?! Nah!! I couldn't do that! 

Isn't she just precious?!

A Photo Finish

If you have not read the birth story yet and would like to, please click here.

Welcome to the world Miss Molly!!

A huge thank you to Terah Pliliey Photography for the amazing images.

Molly is here! Part 3- Delivery!

Part 1

Continued from Part 2

Around 7 Thursday morning, the nurse came in and let us know we could start Pitocin soon. They put it in on a slow drip at 7:30. Katie went to the hotel to take a nap, and we sat and waited for things to get moving. My next exam showed no improvement, and I was still happy and talking. We wanted to increase the Pitocin, so they did, and the contractions finally started coming better. At 9:50, the on call doctor decided to break my water, I was between 5 and 6cm dilated. I had not wanted to break it until further along, but she thought this would be the only way to get things moving without just continuing to increase the Pitocin because she knew I didn’t want an epidural. I was not happy but let her break the water to get things moving. Then she reduced the Pitocin to a 2.

The monitoring really wasn’t going well, my contractions were really hard to pick up on the monitors, so I decided to let them try and place an internal monitor. Yeah, that ended up a bust. Not only did they dig around forever inside to try and place it, it freaking hurt!

My contractions weren’t responding to the low dose of Pitocin, either. So we again asked them to increase it, favoring a “git er done” approach rather than this up and down we were seeing. They increased it two more times, up to a 6, which helped quite a bit. By 12:45 when the doctor came to check on me, I was 7cm dilated and 80% effaced. As soon as she left, I told Maria I was going into transition, I could feel it. I started to focus inward and take myself to a quiet place to work things through.

I didn’t feel comfortable on my back and knew that if I could get the pressure off my back I would be able to get through it better, so I flipped on to all fours on the bed. During the time I was on my knees, I prayed and reminded myself to relax and let my stomach muscles relax and it wouldn’t hurt so bad. When I relaxed my stomach muscles and focused on breathing, it didn’t seem as bad, though I knew they were stronger now than they had been yet.

I guess I had everyone in the room fooled into thinking things were stalling again, though. With all my inward focusing, I was so quiet and still that Maria thought I was getting a little break. I was a little too eager in letting her know there was no such break. Not even a few minutes later, I could feel her head coming and let everyone know she was coming with several grunts. I was ready to push.

The nurses called the on call doctor in to come and catch and when she came in, she was not happy that I was on my hands and knees. But this was how I naturally KNEW it would be ok. Molly’s head was already there. I could have pushed her out before the doctor even got there! Unfortunately, the doctor did not agree with me, and I was flipped unhappily onto my back. At this point, all the progress I felt I had made on my knees stalled out. There was at least a good 5 minutes where nothing happened between flipping over and pushing. It was heart wrenching. But the doctor wasn’t comfortable with me on my hands and knees, so onward we went.

Finally, it was time to push and focus and get Miss Molly out, on my back. Suddenly, I began to fear the crowning “ring of fire,” and cry. Maria helped calm me down and soothed me.  I don’t remember how many pushes there were, but it felt like my pelvis was spreading so far. Something was wrong, her shoulder was stuck for a few seconds. It took a little more effort to get her out, on all our parts. I tore. Finally, at 1:52, she arrived. She was 8lbs 10oz and 20” long. In spite of her shoulder getting stuck for a few seconds, she was perfect and her shoulder had no issues.

While they suctioned her and clamped her cord, I remember just announcing, “I did it, I did it!” and Maria smiling and agreeing with me. As they wiped Molly up, Katie cried and kissed me and thanked me for helping them bring Molly in to the world.

Katie cut the cord and they handed her to me. Before I let her go, I told her it was my pleasure to carry her. Then I got to experience the joy of giving Katie her long awaited princess. What a glorious moment it was. The look on her face will be forever ingrained in my memory like a photo. The moment was frozen in time.

I couldn’t have asked for a better journey. Katie, Kevin and their entire family were amazing. My doctor was amazing. The Labor and Delivery nurses were awesome. This truly has been a dream come true. Watching Katie and Kevin fall in love with her was the biggest reward I will see here on earth for this journey.

My husband- who had gotten there around 10am, unfortunately, was out while all the good stuff happened, but got there less than 2 minutes after Molly arrived. When he got there, he hugged and kissed me and told me how proud he was of me. And then he asked if I wanted to do it again.

Heck YEAH!

Molly is here! Part 2 - More Pre-labor

Continued from Part 1 *Please read this first!*

Wednesday, I sent the boys to school, fully expecting to have to call in help to get them from school. Once they were at school, my friend Natalie came over and we sat and chatted. I had a whole bunch of little contractions but nothing time-worthy or consistent. About 10:45, Natalie started rubbing my ankles with lotion. A few pretty good contractions, but again, nothing time-worthy. It was an early-release day at school for the boys, and Shane was at work. Luckily, his office decided that this week he would be in the Dallas office and not out of town. I picked Brian up from school at 12 and told my friends I’d probably see them next week and drove off to get Micah and relax at home for a couple hours before Micah’s appointment across town. I sat on the ball for a little while during that time and really didn’t feel anything noteworthy. At 3, we got in the car to leave.

Somewhere along the way, I started having some contractions. They didn’t really hurt, but they were noticeable. At one point I remember thinking I was seeing flies in the car. Turns out I was having a contraction and didn’t breathe through it. I was seeing stars. I was talking to my friend Brooke on the phone and told her I was seeing stars and that I think I’d had a few contractions in the 30 minutes I had been driving. I had to take Micah in to his appointment, but I told her I would call her back for the drive home because I wanted to have someone on the phone in case I needed help.  Brian and I went inside to wait for Micah, but Brian started having issues being a polite little boy, so we went out to the car. While we were inside the building, I had a contraction and was pretty uncomfortable. In the car I had several more. Timing them was kind of impossible while trying to negotiate with a tantrumming Brian. I called my mom and we were chatting. She noticed I was having them more than just “every little while,” and I let her know about seeing stars. She and I decided I would stay on the phone with her for the drive home. I went inside and got Micah at 4:30 and called mom back and drove home. My back was hurting during the contractions, so I really couldn’t tell how far apart they were at all. They all felt like one contraction at that point. But with the way I was breathing, mom calculated they were about 6 minutes apart.

Sometime during the time we were at the appointment, I talked to Katie and let her know I thought they should stick around town for the evening (they were planning to go to Fort Worth), and felt bad for asking them to break their plans again… but I really just didn’t want them to miss anything.

When I got home, I was trying to focus and pay attention long enough to time them, but the boys were just extra rowdy and there was no way I could time them. My friend Kristina (also a surrogate and pregnant with twins!) stopped by to give us something, and I asked her to help me time them. She sat with me probably over two hours timing them. When she first got there, they were about 5 and a half minutes apart. At about 5:15, my doctor’s office called to remind me that I had an appointment in the morning. I told them I didn’t think I was going to make it. It took me a few times of saying that for her to “get it” that I was probably going to have the baby or be having the baby by then, but she got it. She asked questions about the contractions and reminded me to call when they got between 3 and 5 minutes apart. I said I’d call back in a little while.

While Kristina was there still helping me time contractions, Shane got home from work and Katie and Kevin arrived with dinner, ready to go to the hospital. I knew I needed to eat, who knew how long I would labor. So I tried to eat my salad, but all I could manage was the chicken and a little of the fruit. At some point during the time I was eating my chicken, Kristina let me know they were four and a half minutes apart. I could no longer breathe through them without tears. It was time to go. The excitement in our tiny apartment was almost overwhelming. I remember thinking, “Am I crying because I hurt or because this is exciting and really happening?”

All through the afternoon, I had been texting with Maria, my doula, and letting her know what was going on. I think I kind of freaked her out at first, not knowing how far apart they were and telling her there was pressure in my lower back/bottom areas. I think I was just so consumed with it happening that I didn’t know what was really going on. At 7:05 I texted her to let her know we were all heading to the hospital. Since Shane had to stay with the boys, I kissed him goodbye, and got in the car with Katie, Kevin and Jack. On the way to the hospital, I remembered I was supposed to call the on call doctor and let them know my contractions were between 3 and 5 minutes apart. I made the call and gave every bit of information to the voicemail during one long breath while having a contraction.

When we got to the hospital, the on call doctor called the nurse’s station just as I was signing myself in. Nice timing. Over the next two hours, through my contractions, things were busy around me. I was run through the admission stuff. Maria, doula, and Terah, photographer, arrived. And contractions continued.  I had to be monitored for quite a while at first.  The monitors were barely catching the contractions at all. At 10, they finally removed the monitors and I was free to labor as I needed to.

Eventually things started settling down around me, one being that Kevin took Jack back to the hotel since nothing was going to happen for a while. We decided to take a few laps around the labor and delivery area. Around 11:30 the nurses checked me again. I wasn’t much further along at all, and contractions were about every 2 to 2 and a half minutes. After the nurses left, I moved to the exercise ball, again to encourage her to move downward. Unfortunately, sitting on the ball was like telling Molly, “Nope, go right back up!!” and contractions stopped dead in their tracks. I got back up in the bed and they returned for a little bit, but then I had a popsicle and I turned on my side during monitoring. Molly didn’t like me being on my side, though so I ended up switching sides and going to sleep around 2am. Contractions had stopped again.

At 3:40, the nurses checked me again and I had made no progress. Still dilated to only between  4 and 5cm, and only 60% effaced still. We decided that if they didn’t come back soon I would consider a slow Pitocin drip. In my head, I thought “One way or another, Molly is coming out. No more starting and stopping.” I had already felt enough of a fool for calling Katie and Kevin as early as I did to come. But looking back, I really did call them right when I was supposed to. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t start Pitocin without a doctor’s orders- and no doctor would have been in their right mind to order Pitocin in the middle of the night, they want their sleep! So I sent Terah home to sleep until we knew what would happen in the morning, and Maria and I got some rest. Katie did too for a while, but then got up and left for a bit to pump and chill out for a while. I think she might have been too pumped to sleep.

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