Almost 12 weeks

Hello.  Everything is going great with this pregnancy.  So far this has been my easiest pregnancy yet, minimal nausea and no vomiting.  If I get nauseous it's usually because it's time for me to eat.  I had my first visit with my OB last week and it went great.  Baby looked great on the ultrasound and is finally starting to look like a baby and not just a little blob on the screen.  If I lay on my back I can feel the top of my uterus poking up but I don't think I'm starting to show yet.  I still have too much fluff to be able to see a baby bump. All the screenings came back good.  We also found out what we're having.  Apparently there is a blood test they can do now at 10 weeks to find out what you're having.  Amazing!  So, we're having a girl. 😁  It's funny because me and "M" both thought it was going to be a boy.  LoL!  "T" even mentioned that people tend to have less morning sickness with boys so I thought, ok that makes sense because I already thought it was a boy.  Apparently I'm just going to have less nausea and morning sickness with each pregnancy, idk.  I also did my first sugar test this week for the gestational diabetes screening and passed with flying colors.  Sugar was supposed to be under 135 and it was 115.  Yay!

I had my last day at Petsmart this past Sunday.  It was bittersweet.  I'm going to miss everyone but I am so happy to have my weekends back.  Plus, I can see where it might be a problem trying to work there while pregnant because I'm constantly having big dogs jump on me and several times have came home with scratches across my stomach.  This weekend I have a birthday party to go to for my nephew on Saturday and my bff's baby's first birthday on Sunday.  So glad I don't have to worry about missing those this year.  Plus, my oldest daughter, Alyssa, is leaving on Sunday to go to Washington for a week on a field trip.  Then the week after that Tommy is going on a field trip with Zoe to Alabama.  They're going to a science museum or something.  Alyssa's birthday party is going to be on Memorial weekend, that Saturday.  Then the next day we're going on vacation to Myrtle Beach for a week.  Can't wait!

First Ultrasound

Ok so good news, the HCG tests came back good and everything looked good on the ultrasound.  We were all so relieved!  I swear it felt like it was taking the ultrasound tech forever to tell us anything or show us anything.  It was torture! 

So the official due date is 11/14/19 which means I'm 7 weeks along today.  I get to start weaning off meds next week.  Yay!!!  When we were talking to the doctor after the appointment the other day about coming off the meds she said they were going to start weaning me off the injections first and I would be on the suppositories until 12 weeks.  I swear I thought I saw her head spin around when I asked her if I could come off the suppositories first and stay on injections.  LOL!  I don't think she's ever had anyone request that before, she looked dumbfounded.  She kept telling me I can change my mind at any time and it's ok.  It's just that with the injections it's a once a day thing and it's quick and over with in about a minute and I don't have to think about it again for 24 hours.  Plus that whole area is pretty much numb by now from all the injections.  It's something that has happened with every surrogacy and the feeling always comes back later after stopping the injections.

I have one more ultrasound with Emory Reproductive on April 10th and after that I get released to my OB and my first OB appt is April 22nd.

I'm just so happy that it worked and happy to be pregnant.

2nd Transfer

Well, unfortunately, even after several positive pregnancy tests the blood test still came back negative.  They said it was a chemical pregnancy.  So we're on transfer number two now.  I was getting lots of very strong positive pregnancy tests and the first beta 9dp5dt was 242 which is a very good number.  If it had doubled every 48 hours then it would have been 968 13dpt but instead it was only 750.  750 is still a good number for 13dpt but the fact that it didn't double is seriously stressing me out.  I have another beta test tomorrow morning so fingers crossed we get a good number.  I really want this to work out.  I really like the guys and want this so bad for them.  And I want this to stick so I can get through this first trimester and get off all the meds and injections.  My backside is so sore and full of knots from all the injections.  Anyways, fingers crossed for tomorrow. 🍀

Oh, and my oldest daughter, Alyssa, recently started softball.  She had her first game tonight and her team won 6-4. 😊

Also, I'm leaving Petsmart.  I'm thankful for the experience and knowledge I've gained but it's time to move on.  I'm very limited in what I can do there training wise.  That makes it very difficult to help certain dogs.  I don't like not being able to help them, it's very frustrating.  And this working every weekend thing is for the birds.  I miss my family and I hate having to miss out on everything on the weekends.  Plus, I can make as much money working from home training one dog a week as I can working at Petsmart all week.  I'm trying to stay on until they find another trainer which will hopefully be soon.  I told them I can only stay through April though.  I've got several birthday parties, plus Mother's day and Memorial Day holidays every weekend in May.

Surrogacy #3

Well, as you can tell from the title I'm doing my 3rd surrogacy.  I signed up with GG again and they told me they didn't have any matches for me.  I don't know if it had anything to do with my weight because I had gotten up to 220 at that time or what the reason was.  But everything happens for a reason.  In January of this year my husband and I started keto and I lost 55 lbs.  Then I signed up to do a surrogacy for a local agency, Tomorrow's Parents International.  Everyone in the surrogacy world here in Ga has heard of THE surrogacy lawyer, Sara Clay.  Well, she started her own agency and since I'd heard lots of good things about her I decided to try her agency.  Everything has gone great with her and I have no complaints about her or the agency, they've all been great.

I got matched pretty quickly with a local couple here in Atlanta which I love.  I'm very excited about this couple being so much closer and being able to share more of this pregnancy with them.  They are great guys, super nice!  We've only met for dinner once so far and that's the only time outside of the various surrogacy meetings that we've gotten to hang out.  Hopefully that changes soon, once the pregnancy progresses and we get to know each other a little better and the weather gets nicer.

We are using Emory Reproductive Specialists this time and they've been great.  I love that they are in the same hospital where I'll be delivering.  The med protocol has been a little different but it's working great.  I don't think my lining has ever gotten so fluffy.  The last ultrasound before the transfer my lining was at a 15 which is great for me.  With my first surrogacy it was "almost 7" the day of the transfer.  Even with the twins I don't think it ever got over 8.

So, my transfer was this past Saturday, 12/22.  Sunday night and all day Monday I had a lot of cramping.  By Tuesday (Christmas) my boobs were getting sore and it only got worse over the next 3 days.  On Thursday I was feeling a lot of pelvic pressure and discomfort and today I've been kinda nauseous off and on but nothing too serious and I get tired easier.  I'm usually a night owl but I'm doing good to stay up until 11:00 these days.  I took my first pregnancy test yesterday and got a very faint positive.  I was kinda surprised to get a positive at all though because I'm notoriously late getting positive tests.  With my first surrogacy I took like 15 pregnancy tests over several days before I got one to come back positive 8dp3dt.  The same thing happened with both my kids.  I've always known I was pregnant before the tests could detect it.  Besides the twin pregnancy though, this is the first time I've ever gotten a positive so soon.  It was positive on the first test, 5dp5dt and the next morning as well.  I think I'm going to wait until Sunday to test again and hopefully the line is a little darker.

I am working now.  I work at Petsmart as the dog trainer.  I enjoy it, it's definitely a fun job.  I've been there for a little over a year now.  The kids were getting older and they were like, "Mom, when are you going back to work?".  So here I am...lol.  They are 11 and 9 now.  My oldest started middle school this year which is scary.  They grow up too fast.  She just got her own cell phone for Christmas.  I remember I was at this same point in my first surrogacy as I am now, when she was starting pre-k.  She was crying every morning and the teacher would have to pry her off my leg so I could leave.  I was an emotional wreck between that and all the pregnancy hormones.  It's crazy how quickly time has gone by and how much the kids have grown and changed.

But this is going to be my first pregnancy with a job so it'll be interesting to see how it all works out.  Only one girl at work knows anything about the surrogacy and I'll probably keep it like that for a while.  At least until after the 1st trimester if possible.  I worked up until 3 or 4 months with my first pregnancy and I've been a stay at home mom ever since then until now.  Hopefully I can work up pretty close to the delivery.  I really hope I don't have another huge baby or twins.  The likely hood of having twins this time is very low though because they only transferred one embryo.  But fingers crossed for a nice 7 lb baby...lol.

Ok, time for everyone's favorite part, the pictures.  I'll try to keep you updated as the pregnancy goes on.  I go in on Wednesday 1/2/19 for my blood work pregnancy confirmation.

Creaping along 3-7-15

 3-7-15 is when I wrote this and somehow it didn't get posted.  So when I saw it today I posted it but now it has today's date and isn't in chronological order anymore.

Nothing much new going on.  We went out to L.A. for our screening and everything came back fine, we are cleared for takeoff.  They sent my profile over to the guys and they loved it.  The guys aren't going to be able to make it to L.A. right now for a match meeting so we're going to do a video conference next week and the guys will come out for the transfer.  It's so tempting to just send the guys a message on FB and tell them hi.  I hate all this waiting.

Photography business is going good.  It's been pretty steady but I have done a lot of free shoots since I started.  I did a free photo shoot contest when I reached 100 likes and had a lot more interest in it than I expected.  I have my first official wedding Saturday and another photo shoot on Sunday.  With Christmas right around the corner I am happy to have the extra money but it takes a lot of time to edit all those pictures.  December is going to be a busy month.

Delivery Day!!!

Me with A, E, baby boy and Dr. Tate after delivery.

Well, we made it to 36 weeks 5 days.  The babies were born on 11-9-15 at 10:14 and 10:29 p.m. at Emory Midtown hospital in Atlanta and they're doing great.  Baby girl was 6 lbs 7 oz and 18.5 inches long.  Baby boy was 6 lbs 10 oz and 21.5 inches long.

This is how it went:

I couldn't sleep so at 2 in the morning on the 9th I got up to go to the bathroom.  When I tried to get up off the toilet some fluid started leaking out.  At first I just thought I was peeing again because I hadn't been having any contractions or anything but after a few minutes I couldn't get it to stop and it only got worse every time I tried to get up.  I got my husband to bring me some pads and I called my OB who said to go ahead and come in.  I called my mom to come stay with the kids and started getting a bag packed for the hospital.  It was very annoying trying to get packed with fluid constantly leaking out.  I went through several pads but it just wasn't enough. 

We finally left the house and headed for the hospital around 4 a.m..  We stopped and grabbed a biscuit on the way because I figured they wouldn't let me eat once I got there.  We got to the hospital around 5 a.m., parked in the parking deck and with fluid running down my legs proceeded to walk to labor and delivery and get signed in, still not really having much contractions.  They took me back to the triage to check my vitals and check to make sure it really was my water that was broke and I wasn't just peeing everywhere.  Luckily it was my water because that would have been really gross...lol.  After confirming that it really was my water that was broke the guys started making arrangements to get here asap.  After about 2 hours in triage they finally moved me into a delivery room.  A little while after that my mom and step dad came up there to stay with me while I was in labor.

{Due to the last minute time restraints the guys weren't able to take he same flight.  E flew out first and A had to get everything worked out with his work schedule then find a last minute flight out then his flight got delayed about 20 minutes and he just missed the delivery.}

After they got me into the delivery room they hooked me up to the monitors to monitor the babies' heartbeats for a little while.  The nurse that came in was pregnant too and had the same due date as me and she was using the same OB as me.  How weird is that!?!  She was having a hard time getting baby B's heartbeat, she couldn't really find him.  I told the nurse he was way up in my ribs but she never checked high enough and said he couldn't be way up there.  Then another nurse came to try and where did she find him?  Way up in my ribs! 

By about 7:00 that evening I finally got the wireless monitors on both babies so I could go walk the halls to try and get contractions going because by this point I still wasn't contracting very much (about 1-2 contractions per hour).  Plus they were talking about putting me on Pitocin to speed things along because baby A's heartrate kept going up into the 170's.  They did finally check me when they were getting me hooked up with the wireless contraction monitor and wireless heartbeat monitors on the babies and found out I was already 5 cm dilated and that was after not much contractions all day.  So after a little walking my contractions started to pick up.  It didn't take much.  I only walked the halls twice and started getting really uncomfortable and my lower back started to hurt.  I went back to the room and hung out for a minute and leaned down on the bed to try to take some pressure off my lower back because it had started hurting.  After a little bit of that they wanted to try to pump fluid back into baby A's sack hoping that it would help her heartrate come back down.  I got into bed for that because I didn't like the idea of trying to walk the halls with fluid constantly being pumped in and flowing back out.  When I started to get back into bed I remember it felt like I was sitting on her head and I immediately stood back up.  They told me that her head couldn't be that low and that I was fine to sit down so I turned around another way and sat down and didn't feel anything so I don't know if her head went back up or what but they didn't want to check me for fear of introducing infection since my water had already been broken for a while.  Plus it had only been about 2 hours since my contractions really started and according to the contraction monitor my contractions still weren't that strong.  They asked me if I was going to want an epidural.  I did but I was worried about getting it too early and my labor stalling out so I decided to wait 20 minutes and see how I felt.  After 20 minutes I went ahead and told her yes on the epidural so she got the IV bag hooked up because you have to have a whole bag of fluid before you get the epidural.  We got about half the bag of fluid in before my OB got there.

It was about 10 that night when my OB, Dr. Tate, got there.  He looked at the contraction monitor and said, "Well, your contractions aren't very strong." just as I was in the middle of a contraction.  I wanted to kick him in the balls at that point because they sure as hell felt strong to me.  Then he went ahead and checked me.  As soon as he did, whatever he touched caused a huge contraction and uncontrollable pushing.  I was already 10 cm and the baby was coming out quick.  He started yelling at the nurses because at this point he realized the contraction monitor hadn't been calibrated properly so this whole time my contractions had been reading way lower than they really were which is probably why they didn't expect me to be as far along as I was .  The doctor said, "We're not going to have time for an epidural!  I'm not even going to have time to change!  I might have to deliver this baby right here!"  (They normally deliver twins in the OR.)  So all the nurses are scrambling around everywhere and my hubby and E quickly got all suited up to come back with me. And I was still like, "No, I need an epidural!  There's still time!"  LOL!!!

They told me not to push and just breathe and that's what I did as they wheeled me to the OR.  They didn't even have time to put me on the other bed in the OR.  They told hubby to hold my leg and asked if he (E, who was standing behind me) could hold my other leg.  Hubby said he didn't care, that it was up to me.  I didn't even realize who "he" was at that point but I didn't care either and just said yes.  As soon as he came over he was holding my leg with one hand and my hand with his other and I new that it was E because his hand was shaking so bad.  Baby girl came out screaming with the next contraction just 15 minutes after my OB had gotten there.  I can't believe how fast everything went.  The contractions and pushing were intense but not unbearable.  I distinctly remember, in the middle of pushing, thinking "Hey, there's the ring of fire I always hear about." Then as soon as it started it passed and she came out.  Then after she came out I was thinking, "Oh crap!  Did I tear?"  And as E was cutting the cord and the doctor was checking for the next baby I was trying to tell if I had torn or not and was thinking, "Nope, I think I'm good."  LOL.

After the girl came out the boy automatically turned head down and got ready to come out.  After 1 or 2 contractions the doctor broke my water to help him come out.  Some fluid gushed out then his head immediately came down and with the third contraction he was out.  Just as his body was coming out, the rest of his water; a HUGE gush, came out with him and splashed everyone including hubby and E and myself.  He was screaming very loud when he came out, even louder than his sister had been.

After both babies were out the placentas didn't want to detach.  The placentas were stuck together and fused to the inside of my uterus so they were pulling on the cords trying to get them to detach.  After pulling for a few minutes the cords broke off and the doctor had to go in manually to remove the placentas.  I remember thinking, "What is that?  OMG it's his arm!!!"  He was elbows deep scraping the placentas away from my uterus!  Talk about painful!!!  That was worse than delivering both babies!  Thank god he is a petite man!  And it's funny because as all this is going on the nurse is asking me if I'm doing ok, to which I reply, "I've been better!"  LOL!  When they were almost done they finally said, "Lets get her some pain meds."  And I remember thinking, "YES!!!  Why didn't I think of that?!?"  But it was very disappointing.  The pain meds didn't help but luckily they were about done.

Finally everything was over and they cleaned me up and sent me back to the room with the babies and everyone.  Baby boy was doing great and we got to hold him.  They said baby girl sounded like she had a rattle in her chest so they put a CPAP machine on her.  I found out later that they had the pressure or something too high when they put it on her and it punctured her lung and caused air to start filling her chest.  If it had been any worse that could have been REALLY bad.  She had to have an x-ray to check the air in her chest then again the next 2 days also, to make sure it was getting better and has to be on antibiotics for a week to make sure she doesn't get pneumonia.  She's doing much better now (4 days after delivery).  She's got all the tubes out of her and just a monitoring wire left and she's eating great.  They said as long as everything goes good she can go home Monday night or Tuesday morning.  Yay!!!  Baby boy could have already left but A and E were able to get a room at the hospital (all the rooms were full on D-day) and have been taking turns staying with both babies.

I can't believe how fast everything went after my contractions really got started.  It was only about 3 hours from the time I started walking the halls and got contractions going until the babies were born.  I also can't believe I went all the way through transition and dilated to 10 cm without even realizing it.  I knew the contractions were getting a lot closer together but I don't think anyone was really paying attention to that because the monitor said my contractions weren't very strong.  The whole time I was just trying to focus on keeping my body relaxed because I know that if you tense up it can stall labor and keep you from dilating.  (Read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth!)  My mom said she couldn't imagine laboring with an audience (I had her, my step dad, E, and hubby in there with me.) but I think it probably helped me keep my mind off the pain and stay more relaxed because everyone was just hanging out and talking.  Plus I think it helped that the nurses were telling me that my contractions weren't that strong yet because I kept waiting for them to get worse, to get "bad".  Little did I know they were already bad.  My mom said I had everyone fooled because I was doing so well.


It was a crazy delivery and definitely a lot different than anything I had experienced before and everything I expected but I think everything happened as it was meant to.  The only thing I would change is what happened to the baby girl.

Walking the halls with mom, hubby and E.

With A, E and baby boy after delivery.

First time holding baby boy.

Hubby holding baby boy.

First time visiting the babies the next day.

Showing baby boy to my kids.

Wide awake.

The happy family.  :)

30 weeks!!!

Yay!!!  We made it to 30 weeks which is a big deal in the surrogacy world.  Both babies are doing GREAT.  I'm doing great too.  The heartburn and indigestion are still really bad and it's getting hard for me to be up on my feet for over an hour at a time.  My stomach muscles start to get really sore and my stomach starts to feel really heavy and I just feel this overwhelming need to sit down.  I've got this belly band thing that goes around my lower belly and helps hold it up and takes some stress off my stomach and back muscles and I need to start wearing it more.  Since I'm in the 3rd trimester now I've also noticed I've been getting tired easier.  Naps are very important these days.  I'm doing pretty good on my weight gain with this pregnancy I think.  I gained a good bit during my first trimester but I think I've only gained about 5 lbs since then so it kinda balances out.

Babies both move around a ton so I get to feel plenty of movement and I'm loving that.  I had an appointment with the specialist last week and the baby girl (did I mention we're having a boy and a girl) weighed 2 lbs 15 oz and baby boy weighed 3 lbs 4 oz so they are great sizes.  I really wonder how far along I'll go with the twins and if I'll go into labor on my own this time.  I've only gone into labor on my own once and that was with my first pregnancy and I was 4 days overdue.  I've carried babies over 9 lbs and over 11 lbs without going into labor so that's something I'm really worried about.  I've been measuring 10 weeks ahead at every appointment except the appointment I had yesterday.  Now I'm only measuring 8 weeks ahead...lol. 

The guys came up for the 20 week ultrasound and we had a great time.  It was so good to see them.  They brought their little boy and we all got together with mine and tommy's family for dinner two nights and everyone loved them.  We met up for my daughter's birthday and went to lunch then took the kids to the children's museum.  After that we walked down the street to the park and let them all run off some energy before we went to the hospital tour. 

I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out but I'm a horrible writer so it is what it is.  I'll add the pictures later.  I've got a new laptop and no pictures on here yet.

First OB Appt

Well, everything looks great.  I'll be 14 weeks in 2 days and I just had my first official OB appt today.  Just to catch you up, I had several appointments to check my hcg levels and they more than doubled  each time and my hormone levels were always higher than they had to be.  Then at my first ultrasound we found out officially that it was twins.  We had several early ultrasounds and everything has always been great.  I never had any spotting or complications or anything.

The guys have been great this whole time.  I couldn't ask for a better set of IPs, they never cease to amaze me.  In April we went to Florida on vacation and as soon as I mentioned that I was looking for a place to stay for our vacation they said that they have a time share in Orlando and that we were welcome to use it.  It was so nice of them to offer it to us and we had a great time and really enjoyed it there.  On Easter they sent the kids Easter baskets filled with goodies.  Then for Mother's Day they got me a mug with a picture of me, my hubby and kids on it and 2 necklaces.  Then this past weekend they sent me a spa gift certificate which I'm really looking forward to using.  I'm going to be so spoiled by the end of this pregnancy...lol.  They are so nice and always checking on me to see how I'm doing.

I'm seeing a different doctor with this pregnancy than I did with my last 3 pregnancies because my last doctor was very pro c-section.  They tried to scare me into a c-section with my first two pregnancies and I wouldn't agree to it.  Then with my third pregnancy I ended up "having" to do a section.  At my postpartum checkup I asked them about doing a vbac in the future and they said the only way they'd let me vbac is if the baby is under 9lbs.  I knew right then I needed to find another OB or I'd end up with another section.  So, I searched online for doctors that specialize in vbacs and asked around on some pregnancy groups online and that's where I found Dr. Tate.  I am so glad I found him.  He is very vbac friendly and specializes in vbacs and pregnancy with multiples.  I am very happy with my decision to change doctors.  It is definitely worth the extra drive time.

As far as symptoms go I only threw up twice during the first trimester and as long as I kept something on my stomach my nausea wasn't too bad.  All other symptoms have been a lot more severe than a singleton pregnancy.  The heartburn and indigestion have been really bad as well as the gas and bloating.  Ever since I came off my hormones I've been having headaches and migraines almost daily.  I was extremely tired during the first trimester but it's starting to ease up some.  I HAVE to eat at regular times.  If I don't then I get nauseous, start sneezing (I know, wired symptom) and get a headache.  I don't know if my blood sugar getting too low or what but all the symptoms go away when I eat.  And we're not even going to talk about how much weight I've gained so far.  I started feeling movement at 11 weeks but it's still very light and random.  I can't wait until it gets stronger.

I go back to the doctor on Thursday to have some prenatal testing done and my gestational diabetes test.  Then my next appointment will be June 29th.  My appointment today went great.  Babies looked great, growing right on track.  He seemed a little surprised that my uterus was already so high, it's already almost to my belly button.  He said the reason it's so high is because it's not even in my pelvis anymore.

Beta Day

Ok, let me catch you up.  Everything went great with the screening and the guys liked my profile.  We ended up doing a video conference with the guys instead of flying out for a match meeting because their schedules were too busy at the time.  The video conference went great, we hit it off right away, and told GG we would love to work with them.  After that we got started on paperwork and contracts and all that boring stuff.  On March 16th we flew out to L.A. for the transfer.  We had dinner with the guys that night at the Cheesecake Factory and they had their son with them, it was the first time we'd ever met.  We all hit it off great, they are very very sweet and easy to get along with.

The next morning, on St. Patrick's Day, we all met at Dr. Kolb's office for the transfer.  They had two 5-day embryos to transfer and they were very good quality, they had already hatched and looked great.  They already have a little boy from their first surrogacy and are hoping for a girl this time.  They told the doctor they wanted to use one female embryo and then use the best looking embryo out of the bunch but no one knows if the second embryo is a boy or girl.  After the transfer I had to be on bed rest until the next day but the guys came to the hotel that night and we all went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  After we ate the guys gave us some gifts that they had gotten us.  Tommy got some really good smelling cologne with a travel bag and stuff, the kids got some really cool night lights with a remote and everything, cool magnet tins and some of that really cool sand stuff with a sandbox and stamps for it.  I got an iPad mini with a purple case which completely floored me, I didn't know what to say, thank you didn't seem like enough.  They said they share a lot of pictures to the cloud and they wanted me to be able to see all the pictures of the kid(s).  It had only been about 9 hours since the transfer so I guess they were really expecting this to work, no pressure or anything you know, lol.

The next morning my husband and I went out for breakfast then walked a couple of blocks to a little mall.  I had been cramping since the transfer and after walking to the mall and doing a little shopping it got worse so we found a nice seating area outside and took a rest while waiting for the hotel shuttle to pick us up.  After that we caught our plane back to Georgia and went back to our normal routines.  5 days after the transfer I took my first pregnancy test and it was very obviously positive.  I bet if I had taken a test the day before it would have been positive also.  I took another test, 6dp5dt, and it was even darker.  

Today, March 30th, was my beta day.  I am 13dp5dt and it was the longest 13 days of of my life.  The doctors were hoping for anything over 100 today and when the doctor called me with my test results she said, "You're very pregnant!"  My hcg was 1,237!!!  So, needless to say we're probably having twins.  I'm very excited and nervous at the same time because I don't know what to expect with a twin pregnancy.  Also because I've never had a small baby and I'm probably going to be huge with two 8lb babies in there.  I've never gone into labor before my due date before so I'm curious if I will this time.  I plan on carrying these babies full term, I don't want to deliver them early unless it happens naturally or it's medically necessary.

I've got another blood test in two days and my numbers should be doubled by then (fingers crossed).  We're supposed to have another blood test April 8th then an ultrasound on the 10th before we leave for vacation on the 11th.  I can't wait for that ultrasound and I'm so glad we were able to squeeze it in before vacation instead of having to wait until after.

The guys have been very sweet today.  I asked them if they were nervous about possibly having twins and they said, "We would love twins but yes we are nervous and worried about you."  ❤️❤️❤️

Surrogacy Screening

I decided to sign up with GG again.  I really liked going with GG last time.  I know they've been doing this for a while and I feel safe with them.

So, on Monday, hubby and I are flying out to L.A. for our screenings with GG.  I also got a profile already.  It's so exciting!  They seem really nice.  They live in Arizona and this will be their second surrogacy.  They have a 7 month little boy from their first surrogacy and are wanting a sibling.  Come to find out their previous surro is in one of my surrogacy groups on FB...lol...small world.  I got to talking to her and she had nothing but good things to say about them.  She can't do another surrogacy for them because she had some complications after her last C-section and had to have a hysterectomy.  GG will send my profile to the couple after our screenings come back ok.  So, fingers crossed everything goes ok and they like my profile.

Nothing much new in my life.  Still trying to loose weight, unsuccessfully.  I am about the same size or maybe a little less than when I did the surrogacy for Nathaniel so at least I'm not bigger, that's good.  It just seems like no matter what I do or how little I eat I can't seem to loose any weight.  My body is very stubborn.  The only time I ever loose weight is after I have a baby so maybe I should just keep doing that...lol.

I have also been attempting to start my own photography business which has been very interesting.  I'm not a people person so the hardest part has been being around people I don't know and having to talk to them, I not much of a talker.  I've got a photography page on FB, it's called Jenibug Photography, if you want to look it up.

I'm just getting started in the photography world and I know I've got a lot of improving to do but I'm trying and look forward to getting better in the future.  And yes, those are my girls.  Alyssa is 7 now and Zoe is 5.

Working on weight loss

Well, I haven't been counting calories anymore and have gained back all the weight I had lost and I'm no longer in "one"derland.  :(  Now, my husband and I are doing a juice fast.  Today is day one and I was at 205 this morning.  I've never done any kind of fast before so this is a first for me.  I've heard people say the first week is the worst b/c you're detoxing and it's cleaning out your system and everything.  I really didn't think it was going to be very hard but now I'm starting to second guess that thought.  We got a Nutribullet and are basically going to try only drinking our fruits, veggies and nuts.  I had my first one earlier and it was actually pretty good.  I put spinach, half an apple, a banana, about 5 strawberries and 5 or 6 baby carrots.  It was a LOT to drink.  The Nutribullet works great though.  If you've ever seen the documentary on Netflix called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" that's what we're doing, except with a Nutribullet instead of a juicer.  Our goal is to do it for a month but we are going up to the lake for 4th of July weekend in 2 weeks and I doubt we are going to keep it up over the weekend.  I keep getting the urge to eat something, just out of habit when I'm fixing the kids food or I see chips or something laying out.  Something in my head says take a bite even though I don't feel hungry.

Nathaniel is a year old now.  He turned a year in April.  Him and his daddies are doing great.  I sure would like it if I got more updates and pictures but not much I can do about that I guess.  :'-(  I am going to be doing another surrogacy this year.  I'll probably sign up with GG again in August or September.  I just don't want to transfer until after my birthday in October.  I'm going to be 30 this year and want to be able to go out with my hubby and my friends and have a good time and a few drinks.  I can't wait to be pregnant again though.  I miss my prego belly.  I had to wait 2 years from the time I transferred to the time I am able to transfer again b/c my OB wouldn't clear me medically until then since I had a c-section.  I have never heard of anyone having to wait that long and I'm really thinking about finding a new OB.  Not just b/c I've had to wait so long but b/c they seem to have a high c-section rate and really push c-sections and I don't like that.  Hopefully I can find a good OB between here and Atlanta that has a low c-section rate and is covered by the surrogacy insurance.

Nathaniel's First Birthday!

Stressed

We've been going through a lot the past 2 months with my youngest daughter.  First, with her hitting her head really bad and having constant headaches for almost a month and having to have  a couple of CT scans.  Then she got sick one day, developed a fever and was very lethargic.  I took her to the dr and she said Zoe just had a virus and she would be fine.  This is her at the dr office.  Normally she would be running around the room.

I ended up taking her to the ER that night b/c her fever was up to 103 and wasn't coming down with tylenol or anything.  They sent us home telling us that she was fine, she just had a virus and to keep her hydrated.  After we got home she was walking really funny and we couldn't figure out why.  That was a very scary night.  I was up with her most of the night and her fever got up to 103.6 and she started having hallucinations which was really freaky.  This is her the night she was having the hallucinations.  I have no idea what she was staring at, there was nothing there :/  Several times she started talking to the hallucinations and trying to hit them.

Then I noticed a rash about the size of a slice of bread that was red, hot and slightly swollen on the top of her thigh but didn't think too much about it.  The next day she still had a fever and was vomiting and i took her back to the dr and they still said the same thing.  Within 2 days the rash spread down the front of her shin and she still had a fever and was vomiting.  We ended up taking her to the ER that night (a different ER) and they still told us that she just had a virus and she was fine.  They gave her a bag of fluids b/c she was dehydrated and took some blood to run some tests that were supposed to be ready the next morning and we all went home for the night. 

The next morning I went back up to the hospital by myself to get the test results.  When the doctor told me that all her test results came back normal I couldn't take it.  I broke down right there.  I was just so scared and we had been taking her to the doctors constantly and no one was helping us, just saying she had a virus and she would be fine.  Here is a picture of the rash after it had spread down her leg...

You can see it's starting to spread onto the top of her foot on that bottom side.    2 days after taking her to the hospital her whole foot was red and swollen and she could barely even move her toes b/c they were so swollen and she couldn't walk anymore.  I took her back to the doctor again and she took one look at Zoe's foot and said that it definitely wasn't a virus and she put her on some high dose antibiotics and said it looked like she had a bacterial infection.  They also sent us for x-rays which they said looked fine.  She wasn't able to walk for 4 long days and the antibiotics didn't seem to be doing much.  After 4 days on the antibiotics her foot was still red and swollen and hot but she could walk on it a little.  After 10 days on the antibiotics she was walking on it but still favoring that foot a little and it was still red, swollen and warm, just not as red, as swollen or as warm.  So the doctor said we needed to take her to a childrens infectious disease specialist (very scary thing to hear the doctor say).  The pictures don't do it justice, it was much redder in person.

So we took her to the infectious disease specialist and he said to take her off the antibiotic, that it wasn't an infection but he wasn't sure what it was but put her on the steroid, Prednizone.  He said that whatever it was that it wasn't anything serious (insert HUGE sigh of relief).  He said that if he had seen her sooner he probably could have given us a diagnosis.  Then he sent us over to the childrens hospital for MORE x-rays and bloodwork.  Everything came back normal, yet again.  A few days after coming off the antibiotic her foot started to REALLY look better and she was finally able to wear her shoes again.  And now her foot is back to normal :D 

And, just because I LOVE pictures, especially pictures of my beautiful girls, here are some pictures I recently took of her...

And her sister, Alyssa...

And one more of Zoe from today :)

During that time that all this was going on with Zoe I was so consumed with everything that I didn't contact the guys (I and A)  Then about 2 weeks ago I e-mailed "I" and updated him on everything that had been going on and asked about the baby and everything and I still haven't gotten a response.  I sent him a text the other day too and no response.

The worrier in me says that something is wrong, that they're mad at me and want me out of their lives (I know that's probably crazy but it's basically every surrogates worst case scenario).  Then my more rational side says that they're just busy with trying to balance work and the baby and everything is fine, they'll contact me when they get a chance.  But like a very wise surrogate friend said, "A simple text takes so little time but means so much."  Anyways, here are the most recent pictures I have of him (they are from last month).  He is 4 months old now and already weighs 20lbs!

Nathaniel with 2 of his cousins.  I love that face...LOL!

On another note, my agency contacted me the other day wanting to know if I wanted to come back for another surrogacy :D  HELL YEAH I DO!!!  I can't wait to be pregnant again.  I keep seeing women with pregnant bellies and I miss it so much.  It's just an amazing feeling and I think knowing that the pregnancy is for a greater purpose makes it even more rewarding. 

Until then I have been working on loosing some weight.  I went back to my pre pregnancy weight without doing anything and have been wearing all my regular clothes since about a month after delivery but I was already heavy before I got pregnant and this is something I've really been needing to do.  I've been using myfitnesspal and tracking my calories and we try to walk or ride bikes in the evening if we can and I already lost 6 lbs in the first 2.5 weeks.  I'll weigh again in the morning and hopefully that number will go up at least a pound :)  I'm only eating a maximum of 1280 calories a day and some days it's hard b/c I've been having some major cravings the past few days but it's paying off and I'm losing weight so I'm gonna stick to it.  One thing I got REALLY excited about the other day was when I finally broke through the 200 lb barrier.  I have been over 200 for a very long time (probably close to 10 years) and I was very happy to be back in "one"derland :D  I bought a new pair of jeans the other day to celebrate (a size smaller than I would have bought pre pregnancy:).  I think it was the first pair of non maternity pants I have bought in years.

I highly recommend myfitnesspal though.  I never thought counting calories would work for me but it has and the app makes it super easy to calculate everything.  Also, it really opens your eyes to how many calories you were consuming a day (no wonder I couldn't get below 200), how many calories are in things and what the correct portion sizes are.  I love it.  My husband has been using it too and has lost 13 lbs in 2.5 weeks!

Feeling good

Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since my c-section and I'm feeling great.  My incision has pretty much healed and the numb spots on my stomach aren't bothering me as much.  I'm wearing my pre pregnancy clothes and last time I weighed myself (a week or so ago) I was 4 lbs away from my pre pregnancy weight.  Funny story, the first time I weighed myself after coming home from the hospital it said that I had GAINED 7 lbs.  I had just delivered an 11 lb baby, how is that even possible?  LOL!  I guess it was just from all the IV fluids they pump into you before and after the c-section.  I was really worried this time that I wouldn't be able to loose the weight since I'm not breastfeeding and I gained a little more than I did with my own pregnancies (20 lbs vs 15 and 12 with my kids) but it has just came off like before without me doing anything and I am SO glad.  Of course my husband always says I look great but it always feels good to hear it from someone else.  Today I had two other people compliment me.  They said I didn't look like I'd just had a baby and I looked very slender :)  I can't wait to get back in the gym and loose some weight.  I want to be under 200 lbs this summer, that is my goal.  I haven't been under 200 in almost 10 years!

  Why yes, I did recently deliver an 11 lb baby :)

Baby Nathaniel is doing good.  I talked to "I" last week and Nathaniel had been giving them a hard time and had been especially fussy and hard to get to sleep at night.  They took him to the doctor and ended up changing his formula and putting him on gas drops and he's been doing much better.  It's hard to believe he's almost a month old already.

Alyssa only has 3 weeks of school left and I can't wait.  I am SO not a morning person and I love the summer.  The summer is when we really get to do stuff as a family and the kids get to experience so much new stuff.  I love taking them to new places.  We recently got them a small pool and they LOVE it.  They drive me nuts every single day begging to get in the pool, rain or shine, day or night, it doesn't matter to them.  We also got season passes to the zoo and I can't wait to take them.  And we are planning on taking a trip to Florida this summer.  Alyssa has been begging me to take her to Florida for at least 6 months now.  She wants to go to the beach an go visit her friend, Aubrey, who moved to Florida and go visit "I and A" and baby Nathaniel :)

Alyssa (left) and Zoe (right) waiting on the pool to fill up.  They were pointing at the clouds and talking about what they look like :)

This is how a 4 year old writes lady bug and caterpillar...LOL!

Alyssa got a soccer trophy!

The coach made paper plate trophies for all the kids with different things on them for each kid.  Alyssa's was "Major D" for defender b/c of how she would run up and block the goal trying to keep the other team from scoring.

Her coach and teammates

Zoe in her new bathing suit ready to get in the pool :)