Happy

Well, I'm sick.  I feel like crap and I just want to stay in bed all day.  My head hurts, my nose is all stuffed up and runny and I can feel the pressure in my sinuses and my ears.  Hopefully it will go away soon.

I am also 19 weeks along now and for the past few days the baby has been moving around like crazy.  There were a few days last week where I got really worried b/c I didn't feel him move but he has definitely made up for it.  He started moving again when I was out black Friday shopping Thursday night.  He's learned a new game, playing soccer with my bladder, and he seems to be enjoying it. 

No matter how sick I feel, feeling the baby kick always puts a smile on my face.  I don't care how many pregnancies I have, that will always be my favorite part and it never gets old.  I feel so blessed to be able to carry this baby for "I and A".  I love seeing all the cute clothes and stuff they pick out and hearing about how many family members are looking forward to this baby.  This baby is already loved by so many people and I can't wait to see what great parents "I and A" are going to be.

11 days and counting until "I and A" arrive for the 20 week u/s.  I can't wait for everyone to get to meet them.  I'm sure everyone is going to love them as much as we do, what's not to love.  I just hope my kids don't make them change their minds about having kids when we all go to the Ga Aquarium together :)  We haven't been to the Ga Aquarium since Zoe was a baby, and for good reason.  Hopefully she will behave herself.

18 weeks

I'm 18 weeks along now and feeling great.  Not much new going on here.  I've been having a lot of headaches this week but nothing I can't handle.  I can't wait till the guys come up in Dec.  I went to a Pampered Chef party at my aunt's house yesterday.  I really enjoyed it.  There were a lot of family members there that I normally only see once a year and only one or two of them knew about the surrogacy.  My aunt is very happy about the surrogacy and can't wait to meet the guys when they come up in December so of course she was asking how I was doing and how everything is going and before long everyone knew about the surrogacy.  It went really well.  As a surrogate you always wonder how people will react but everyone was really happy about it and no one had anything negative to say so that was good.  Everyone said I looked great (which is always good to hear).  So, here is a 18 week belly picture.  It's not great but here it is anyways :)

In other news...

There is a fellow surrogate I'm really worried about.  I've been thinking about her all day.  She is 18 weeks, just like me, and she got admitted to the hospital last night b/c she was leaking amniotic fluid, there is a tear in the sac.  They did an u/s and the baby had a good heartbeat but the fluid was low.  This is an update she posted earlier...

 I have a tear in my sack. The baby has a lot of water still around her. The doctor said its considered a miscarriage and began prep for an immediate C-Section. I refused (which pissed off the dr) who then began to tell me all the awful things that can happen with low water. I got the IF on chat and we discussed it. He supported me completely. Contractions set in..hard ones. I was crying and begging for them to stop. They gave me meds to stop them and morphine for pain. I got 6 bags of IV fluids in just a few hours and things started to slow down. I was sent home to do "what you feel safe doing" and ordered to return if more fluids come out or my contractions start again. I have to manage to keep her in for the next 6 weeks until I hit 24 weeks for her to even have a chance. I'm scared and I feel like I failure (i know..its not my fault). My IF's are amazing and just keep telling me how much they love me and lucky they and Elle are to have me. I refuse to give up on this baby. I love her.

I can't believe they just sent her home and wouldn't keep her or try anything else but she is going to see a different doctor tomorrow so hopefully they will try to do something and not just send her home again to basicly await the inevitable.  Personally I'm hoping that with the right doctor and lots of bed rest and fluids the tear will heal itself and the fluid level will go up again and the baby will be fine.  I'm sure whatever happens it's going to be a long hard journey.  Noone ever wants to be on bed rest, especially for as long as she would have to be.  I just wish her the best of luck and hope that baby hangs on, for everyone's sake.

Blessed!!!

I am feeling amazingly blessed and lucky right now to have the wonderful IFs that I have.  I had a pretty rough day yesterday.  My 2 year old was driving me insane.  She woke up about an hour early yesterday morning saying she was hungry so I went ahead and got up a little early and fixed them breakfast and took Alyssa to school.  Zoe was so tired she fell asleep on our way home from taking Alyssa to school.  I woke her up b/c it wasn't time for her nap and we had to finnish getting ready b/c I needed to go run some errands.  We went up town to the tag office and to pay the water bill and I put Zoe in the stroller b/c I had to park down the street and I didn't want her running off or running around the building while I was trying to pay or waiting in line.  She was fine on the walk up to both stores but once inside she started crying and screaming and pitching a fit.  It was horrible and there wasn't anything I could do to get her to stop.  Zoe is one of those kids you DO NOT want to be around when she's tired (or in the same store with).  Of course people are all staring, which I could care less about.  This one lady that walked in the tag office after us was particularly annoying with her staring.  She wouldn't quit!  She looked like she was in her 40s and very heavy set and she was wearing a belly shirt!  Anyways, after that fiasco I decided to cut my errands short and went home to lay Zoe down for a nap.  She fell asleep about half way home and I took her in the house to lay her down and she woke up wanting me to rock her.  So I rocked her then put her to bed and a few minutes later she got up and came out of her room.  So I put her to bed again and a little while later she got up and came out again saying she was hungry.  So I fed her then put her down again and a few minutes later she got up again.  I finally ended up spanking her and putting her back to bed and after that she finally stayed in bed and took a nap.  After her nap we had to pick Alyssa up from school and go to wal-mart so I would try to finnish getting some of the stuff I was needing to get earlier.  The whole time Zoe wasn't listening and wasn't staying with me and she was getting into everything and driving me insane so I put her in the buggy seat.  We had a McDonalds cup with sprite that I had put in the back of the buggy and she reached back there and grabbed it by the lid and tried to pick it up and she dumped it out everywhere.  All over the floor and half the stuff in the buggy.  That was it.  I couldn't take any more.  I had reached my limit for the day.  I got the kids and my purse and left.  Just left the buggy and everything right where it was and went home.

I was talking to "I and A" today and telling them I had a bad day yesterday and they called the lady at GG and told her they wanted to offer to pay for child care.  So if I need to go run errands or just need some me time that they will pay for a baby sitter or daycare.  I couldn't believe it.  I was so overwhelmed that they would do that.  It's just above and beyond and I appreciate it so much that they would offer.  Now, onto my next problem.  I've NEVER left my kids with anyone besides my mom or my MIL.  I'm not real big on day cares.  I went to daycare as a kid, I would just prefer not to leave my kids there if I can keep from it.  I'm sure I will figure out something b/c it would definitely help my sanity to be able to get a break on days like yesterday when the kids are super fussy and I've got stuff I need to do.  I just can't thank them enough.  They are amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better match.

16 week update

Wow!  16 weeks already.  I am feeling great and really starting to enjoy this pregnancy.  The nausea and headaches are gone as long as I don't skip a meal.  The baby's kicks are getting stronger and I enjoy being able to feel them more now.  The 20 week u/s got pushed back a week to Dec 9th.  Everything else is the same.  The guys fly in on Friday and we are going to my OB appointment then going to the hospital tour.  Then Saturday we are going to the Ga Aquarium and having a big dinner with the family later.  I can't wait.  The guys are so excited to come and see me and meet my kids and our family.  They already have their flight, hotel and rental car booked.  December will be here before we know it.

I had a checkup last week and everything looked great.  All my test results came back negative and the baby's heartbeat sounded great.  "I" was on the phone during the checkup and was able to hear the baby's heartbeat.  It was the first time he has been able to hear it without it being a recording or something so he was pretty thrilled about that.  Then the midwife happened to mention something about the optional ultrasounds they offer to find our the sex of the baby and of course "I" was all over that.  He said they had had a really bad week and would love some good news to cheer them up.  Unfortunately the last u/s appointment for the day had just been taken and they didn't have another one available until Tuesday (5 days later).  I could tell he was very disappointed so I told him I would call up there every day and see if they've had any cancelations.  The next day they still didn't have any openings so I got her to see if their other locations had any.  Score!!!  We got an u/s scheduled.  I had "I and A" on speaker phone and the u/s tech told them they were gonna have a boy.  They were so excited.  I loved hearing their reaction.  They both started screaming, it was so funny.  Later I asked them if they'd told everyone yet and "I" said, "Everyone, literally everyone!" and they were out shopping for baby clothes and sent me a picture of an outfit they picked out...LOL!!!  They are so funny and they are going to be such great parents.  They sent me some flowers today to tell me thank you for everything and happy belated birthday.

Now, onto the pictures :)

14 weeks

15 weeks

15 weeks

he looks surprised in this one...lol

it's a boy

4D ultrasounds aren't quite as cute this early as they are when you have a 30+ week chubby baby in there, still pretty cool though.

16 weeks

16 weeks 2 days

flowers from the guys :)