Swollen Feet!

Well it's official... I have Cankles. It feels so weird when I walk.... my feet feel all floppy.
I've been putting my feet up when I can, and getting up and walking around a little, if I've been sitting to long. Drinking water... Looks like I'm just going to have fat feet until I deliver this baby!  Ha ha!

Everything is going good still! The baby is still measuring on time, and even though I'm exhausted all the time and have heartburn every day, I feel OK!

I got sick last week and was literally in bed for about 3 days drinking Gatorade and puking... FUN! I ended up going to the ER on the second day (I was worried about the baby, because I hadn't eaten anything and was dehydrated) and they gave me some IV fluids... I threw up twice while I was there, then one more time as soon as I walked in the door when we got back home, and that was it. I still felt kind of nauseous on the third day, and very weak, but I was able to finally eat a little and keep it down.

Beth and Mike came over for Thanksgiving! We all had a great time! We also went and had a 4D ultrasound done and that was cool! The baby had it's hand over it's face the whole time, so we didn't get to see him/her very well. So they said I could come back and try again. Then I'll just mail the DVD over to Beth and Mike.

So next time Beth and Mike come over, they'll be here for about a month! It's so exciting! Next time they head home, they'll have their baby with them!!

Every 2 weeks!!

So I just had another appointment last Friday! Now I start going every two weeks! This is going by SO fast! 


The baby is still measuring right on time, and is head down! The Midwife told me that I've gained 33 pounds already, and they typically like to see only 35 pounds, so to start watching what I eat... Yea OK lady.. I'll try not to gain more than 2 pounds in the next 3 months! ;-) 
Doesn't the baby start gaining like 1/2 a pound a week around now??  I'm probably going to pack on a few pounds just Thanksgiving day!! Ha ha!! 


I had the Glucose test and the nurse called back on Sunday and said everything looked great! The Orange Junk didn't taste as horrible as I remembered. 


Well I think that's it! Just a quick update today! :-D

Random thoughts!

So I have the Glucose test coming up next week... I get to drink the nasty orange junk... yay.... Ha ha! I never had a problem with it before , so I'm sure it'll go well this time!

I feel so small this time! My belly and my butt are the only things that have gotten bigger! Ha Ha! Both times with my kids, I was HUGE by now... I'm almost 7 months along, and I look like I'm about 5!  I thought I'd be about the size of a Hippo by now, considering this is my third time being pregnant. Beth is pretty little, (tall and thin... and beautiful BTW) so maybe this lil one is going to take after Mama!

This baby sure loves to play too... Always moving around! Right now as I'm typing this, the lil one is wiggling all around! I can't wait for Beth and Mike to visit next, so they can feel the baby moving! They'll be coming over for Thanksgiving! I can't wait! I LOVE to cook, especially a big meal for lots of people! They don't have Thanksgiving in Ireland, so they should have fun pigging out with the rest of us! Ha ha!!

It's a little bittersweet... It'll be the first Thanksgiving with out my Grampy... He passed away last year about a week before Christmas. OK and I'm done with that, because I just got a little teary eyed thinking about it!

So! I can't wait... I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! Well that and Christmas! I just love having all my family together!

Chocolate!!!

This baby apparently loves chocolate!! Every time I eat a candy bar or some dessert with chocolate (Which isn't too often, so maybe that's why...) the baby immediately starts moving all around... Like within 2-3 minutes of me taking the first bite! lol It's so funny! My own two never responded to any food like that! I just had a Heath bar about 20 minutes ago and the baby has been dancing all around! Ha ha! 

Can't think of a title... Ha ha

You know it's weird... I knew going into this exactly what I was doing and  how it could possibly affect me. I thought though, that I might still have SOME small feelings of attachment towards the baby once I started feeling her/him moving around. I can honestly say though, that even after about 2 months of feeling little flutters to all out kicks, I really don't feel attached! I'm just so happy to do this for them and I have two beautiful children already, so I really think that helps so much! Also the fact the the baby isn't even mine! (That's still so weird to say... Ha ha!) 
I know that once the baby is born, it still might be a little sad to watch the baby get on a plane and fly away, but I know that I'll be OK! Beth and Mike are such awesome people, and I can not wait for them to have their baby and start their little family! I'm so, so happy for them!!! :-D 

We had the Ultrasound!

So Beth and Mike flew over for the Ultrasound! Everything looked great! The Dr. said the baby looks perfect and is measuring right on time!! Such awesome news!! 


This little baby is such a wiggle worm, like my son was! I feel... (I'm just going to say Baby, only because I hate saying "It" lol) I feel baby moving around several times a day! 


The only thing that sucks is the heartburn... I have to take a Zantac every day (I'm so sick of Tums, so I switched to Zantac after asking the Dr.) Other than that and being more tired, I have no other pregnancy symptoms! Just like with my other two... I guess I just have very easy pregnancies! 
I can't believe I'm already 22 weeks along! It's going by so fast! I can not wait for Beth and Mike to be able their sweet little baby!! 
They're going to come back over in November again, I can't wait to see them! They might be here for Thanksgiving! I told them they should definitely try to come then so they can have Thanksgiving dinner with us, since they don't celebrate it at home in Ireland. 


We just got back from a very much needed vacation! We went to Florida...we drove down. It actually went pretty great! The kids did awesome in the car and only got fussy a few times, and we just put a DVD on for them and they were fine! We had to stop a lot so I could get out and move around, and of course the littles needed to get out. I thought I'd be needing to stop every 1/2 hour to pee, but it wasn't bad at all! I think my hubbie needed more stops than I did! Ha ha! 
We ended up renting a wheelchair for me for one of the days at the parks... It was just so hot and I was so tired and achy from the 2 days before, so Geoff got to push my fat butt around all day! Other than that everything went great and I felt great! We all had so much fun and get to spend lots of family time together! It was awesome! 


Oh and BTW the sex of the baby is a secret! So sorry, but no one will know until Baby is born! :-D

Little Wiggle Worm!

So I've definitely been feeling some movement! I can feel this lil bean moving around several times a day now! 


I can't wait to see Beth and Mike again! Just about 2 weeks and they'll be here for the weekend again! Then me and my little family are off to Florida! We haven't had a vacation in like 5 years, so we're pretty freaking excited! 


I guess that's it! Just a quick post today! :-D 

Dr. Appointment and other things!

So I had another appointment last Friday. Everything looks great! The baby was moving around so much that we could only hear the heartbeat for a few seconds. She'd get the HB, then the lil wiggle worm would move away! When s/he was sitting still though we heard a good strong heartbeat! 


OK so I got to have a mini panic attack yesterday! The Dr.s office called and told me that there was no U/S tech in on the day (Sept. 3rd) we scheduled the appointment. I was just about to start screaming into the phone, when the lady said... "Now I know you have people flying in for it, and it needs to be done that day." I said "Yes it does! The parents are coming in the night before, and then the day after the appointment we're leaving for our vacation!" So she told me she'd work on it and get back to me ASAP. 
So about 20 minutes later she called back and says it's all set, it's just going to be at the hospital instead. Which works out anyway, because we wanted to tour the hospital while Beth and Mike were here and I obviously want to know where it is before I go into labor! Ha ha! 


So there was the tiny little drama! I'm glad they took care of it so quickly... I just don't understand why they didn't know when I first made the appointment that no one would be in!  

No use crying over BK....

**OK little side note...
We're adding on to the house and we just bought a tub, toilet, and sink so we're like broke this week...**


So there's not much to eat in the house right now... Well there's stuff, just nothing I want. I was going to have a meatball sandwich, (we had spaghetti and meatballs last night) but we ran out of bread. So anyway Hubbie texted me and said "Hey stopping at BK for lunch... What did you do for lunch?" (He drives the delivery truck, and must of gotten a tip or something and I thought he was in the area) So I texted right back.. "Yay! Whopper with bacon, cheese and extra pickles and a small fry!" 
I was so exited! I normally don't like fast food, but I really wanted a cheeseburger right now!


Then I get his text back... "Hunnie.. That's not what I meant... Sorry! I'm going to BK for lunch, what are you doing? Love you... Order something if you want! " Then I went back and re-read his text... I literally almost burst into tears.... (doesn't help that my daycare kids have been nuts today...) I'm still sitting here all mopey and sad about it... 


Aww my first pregnancy spazz.... Someone want to bring me a cheeseburger?? Ha ha! 

Yay for new clothes that fit!

So I got my check for Maternity clothes! I had a few shirts and pants but I couldn't find the bin that I put them in anywhere! So I bought a few surrogacy shirts and had I had one made for each of my littles!

I wish I thought of the fact that I'd see the belly band through the shirt before I got a bunch of light pink and white shirts... lol (I think I might go back and swap a pair of pants for ones I saw with the beige colored band, because that won't show through!) 


I have another appointment on Friday! This driving to Mass for 10-15 minute appointments is getting old... lol I wish my OB wanted to work with the one in Mass so I could have some appointments here. I have to schedule them for when Geoff has a day off 
so he can go with me. I hate driving into Mass by myself, especially 45 minutes away! Ha ha! 


Well that's it for now! I'll update after my appointment! 


Oh and of course AFTER I bought new clothes I found my old ones! 

Just a little update!

I've been less exhausted lately which is nice... Considering I have my two littles and a small in home daycare with about 6 kids to take care! Thank God for my assistant, or I'd probably go out of my mind! It's also nice to have another adult to talk to during the day! 

Still no pregnancy symptoms! Well no puking... I've been having very minor heartburn, haven't even needed to pop any Tums! So aside from peeing like every 20 minutes and like 2-3 times in the middle of the night, (you think I'd take a hint and stop drinking after like 8pm... ha ha!) everything is going great! 

I can't wait to see Beth and Mike again! We have an ultrasound scheduled for September 3rd, so they're flying over! I have another appointment coming up. It really sucks having to drive about 40 minutes away for like a 10 minute appointment. lol I've been making them for when Geoff has a day off, because I hate driving into Mass by myself, also I'm horrible with directions and have like a mini panic attack if I get lost! LOL 

I forget if I mentioned it before, but I have to deliver the baby in Mass, because if I were to deliver in NH (unless it was an emergency) then the parents would have to adopt the baby. Which is ridiculous because it's 100% their baby! I guess they way NH see's it is, if it come out of me it's mine... So stupid! I wish NH would just change that...

I'm 14 weeks now! So that means I'll be getting a check soon to get some maternity clothes! WoooooP! I already have a few cute shirts picked out! 

I'm already getting a belly, and like none of my pants fit. (not that I'd be wearing them anyway seeing it's been like 85 or higher the past few weeks!) I have some maternity clothes (I gave most of them away) in a box in the basement.. I'll have to ask the hubbie to go down and get that for me! I remember the first time I put on a pair of maternity pants, I pulled them up and I was like... These are the most comfy jeans EVER! They look cute and they're comfy like PJ pants because of the big band of material! Soooo... Yay for clothes shopping soon! 

Oh and I have a new niece! My brothers girlfriend, (who's also my best friend) just had their baby girl! Well about 3 weeks ago... She's SO adorable... I'm so so happy for them! :-D <3

No more shots!!!

WooooooP! I'm DONE! My level is finally at 20! Yay!!! 

I had another appointment today, and everything still looks great! Baby has a strong little heartbeat! I still haven't been having any pregnancy symptoms except being exhausted! I can't think of anything else to say right now.... Yay for no more shots!

Ramen noodles?! Really?

Of all the things to have a craving for! Ha ha! I didn't really get cravings with my other pregnancies! This one though... I've been craving Ramen Noodles! Of course it has to be something full of sodium! I'm not eating them every day or anything, I just want them all the time! At least they're only like 17 cents a package! 

Maybe now that I said something about it I won't want them so much! Ha ha

One more week....

So I had my blood drawn this morning and the nurse just called back and said my level was at 19.2 (Needs to be at 20) so I need to take the shots for another week! What the craaaaap?! LOL Well whatever... One more week, then it'll definitely be done!

Like a 12 year old girl...

I have pimples all over my forehead, and my boobs hurt! I didn't get this much acne with my two, and my boobs didn't hurt until my milk came in!  I feel like I'm going through puberty again! LOL 

I'm 11 weeks now, I'm already getting a belly! I'm going to be huge! Ha ha! 

I took my last Progesterone shot last night, and tomorrow morning I'll go for more blood work! If my levels are above 20 I can stop!!  WoooT!

Well that's it for now!! :c)

Boooo!

So I have to do one more week of the shot and then go for blood work again. :-(  I guess they want my Progesterone level to be at about 20 and it's at 16 right now. So hopefully it goes up and I can be done! LOL

I'm already getting a belly!  I guess it happens twice as quick the third time around! Ha ha!

I went out and bought myself some cute knee length skirts, because my pants are getting tight on me and I really don't like looking at my fat legs in shorts!  So yay for being comfy! 

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering and didn't already go see it... Eclipse was amazing!! I can not wait for Breaking Dawn!

Last shot!

Hopefully... Ha ha!

Last night hubbie gave me my last Progesterone shot! I'll have blood work tomorrow to check the levels and if everything is good, I won't have to do anymore shots! YAY!

So this is totally not pregnancy related, but me and some friends are going to see Eclipse at midnight tonight! I can not wait! I am going to be EXHAUSTED tomorrow morning, but it's SO worth it! Ha ha! 

OK I'll update tomorrow after the nurse calls about my blood work!

First doctors appointment!

I had my first doctors appointment yesterday... Sucks I have to drive about 40 minutes away for all of them! Ha ha! 

Everything went great! The office has like 9 Midwives, so that's pretty cool!  We tried to hear the heartbeat, but the baby is still very small and low, (obviously lol) so she brought in the little U/S machine and we saw the baby and s/he was blinking away! :-D 

I got that whole packet of stuff you aren't supposed to eat and bla bla bla... Then the Midwife asked all the questions... Do you smoke? No. Do you drink while pregnant? No. Do you wear your seat belt? Yes. Do you drink coffee? Yes, only one cup a day! ;-) Well that's good, but you know we'll want you to stop at 20 weeks...

Uhh... What?? I've never heard that! I've always heard one cup of coffee a day was fine! I drank coffee with both my kids and they're both fine! lol I know girls who had one Pepsi or some other kind of soda a day because they didn't like coffee or whatever. I know caffeine isn't the best thing, but I've always heard that one cup a day is fine.  I don't drink soda very often, and when I do it's usually Sierra Mist. I don't eat chocolate very often... a candy bar once in a while, or some chocolate milk or a cookie (OK So I usually have like 4-5 cookies... Who the hell can just eat one chocolate chip cookie?!) and sometimes I have an Iced Tea... So really I don't have a lot of caffeine. I need my cup of coffee every morning... I have 2 kids and I babysit 6 other kids... they get to my house about 7:30 in the morning... Don't take away my coffee! LOL

OK now that, my little tantrum is over... I guess I could switch to De-cafe... Maybe just the hot cup of coffee will be enough to trick me into thinking I don't need the caffeine... 

Ooh! I almost forgot! We scheduled the big U/S for September 3rd! I had to do it ASAP so that Beth and Mike could make arrangements to be here for it.  So I e-mailed Beth, just to make sure that date worked for them, so I'm just waiting to hear back! :-D

Yay annd Boo!

So I can finally decrease the progesterone down to 1cc! Yay! I am SO sick of these effin shots! Seriously... my back looks like a pincushion! Ha ha!

BTW... Do you know how awkward it is taking a picture of your lower back?! LOL

No, I don't have birthmarks all over my back... those are little bruises from the shots! I am used to them by now, but I'm SO ready to be done with them! So in about 2 weeks of the 1cc I can stop... Hopefully! I take my last shot on the 28th and then I have blood work on the 30th, and if everything looks good I won't have to start them up again! WooT!

Now for the BOO! I have only gained like 2 pounds so far, but my freaking pants are already getting tight! WTF?! I have TWO pairs of jeans that fit and one I have to squeeze into and the other pair is just starting to get snug!  So I guess I'm going to go to the mall and get me another pair or two to wear until I have to buy maternity pants! :-D

Ooh I forgot!!

I totally forgot to say that Beth and Mike called during the U/S and got to hear the heartbeat and the Tech talking about how the baby looked and everything! I'm so glad that they got to hear it!!  I e-mailed them the U/S pics as soon as I got home and I'm going to be sending them the originals today! :-D

On a side note... I can not wait for the whole dragging ass, exhausted, hit by a truck feeling to go away! I don't remember being THIS tired with my littles.... Come on 2nd Trimester! Ha ha! 

First Ultrasound!!!

So we have ONE healthy little heartbeat! Wooot! I've been SO exhausted lately... Like more than I was when I was pregnant with my own two, so I was thinking that it might be twins. We're all happy to hear that it's one! LOL 

I'm measuring at 7 weeks and one day, and my due date is January 24th! It's all so exciting! I still can't believe I have another couples baby growing inside me... It's so crazy! Ha ha! 

I'm still on the progesterone shots for about another month.... I can go down from 2cc's to 1cc in two weeks though! Then 2 more weeks and I'm done! My back looks like a freaking pincushion so I'm pretty happy it's almost done!

So... so sleepy...

Ahh... The part of pregnancy where you feel like a zombie! I am EXHAUSTED! (Shh... I should be making dinner right now, but I can't seem to remove my lazy ass from this chair...) That might have something to do with the crazy busy weekend we had though! Ha ha!

Saturday we had a big family cookout! It was so nice to have a bunch of us together for a day! Then Saturday night I baked a cake and some cupcakes for a birthday party. *I like to decorate cakes! ;-)*  So Sunday morning was spent decorating a Princess and the Frog cake and Frog cupcakes. Then that afternoon we went to the birthday party! That night we relaxed with some friends and watched a movie until about 1am (while I baked another cake), then this morning I was up bright and early to decorate a Dinosaur cake! 

So today (after decorating the cake) was spent laying around, because I am tired! Oh, BTW! The Dinosaur cake was my first real cake order! So... YAY me!


OK so that had nothing to do with the surrogacy, but I haven't written in a few days sooo... this is what you get for now! Ha ha!

Honesty...

Just a little side note... My daughter knows that I am growing a baby for Beth and Mike. We've been talking to her about it for a while and she knows that it's not going to be our baby, and that it will live with Beth and Mike and we wont see it except for pictures they send us.

So the other night my daughter and I were sitting on my bed and I told her that the baby was already starting to grow in my belly. I told her that It was just a tiny little dot right now, but it would get bigger as my belly got bigger...

She looks at me, with her innocent little brown eyes and says... "Look Mommy! Your belly is already big!" 

Thanks kid.... 

Ha ha ha... I love her!

It's so weird...

That I'm only 14 days pregnant and I know that I am! It's also funny that I'm not the mama! Ha ha!

So far the nurse says (the way the numbers from my blood work look) that there is only one baby growing in there! So unless the numbers go up dramatically by Monday, then there is most likely only one! That's what we're all hoping for at least! Of course Beth and Mike would be happy with two babies too! I just would hate to end up with a C-section or to have to worry about the problems (being stuck on bed rest, early delivery.. Ect.) that might come with twins. I think I would go out of my mind if I were to end up on bed rest! Ha ha!

So I'm still on the Progesterone shots until I have the Ultrasound (on June 7th) which will be about 5 weeks into the pregnancy... Maybe a little longer, because I think the nurse said I would continue it until about 8 weeks in. They still suck a whole lot, but I'm more used to them now.

Oh and I can have coffee and sex again! LOL Sorry, I know that's TMI, BUT I want to talk about everything that's going on, in case anyone is ever thinking about doing becoming a Surrogate! :D

So when I started the Lupron injections (the little needle in my tummy) We had to stop having sex.... That was on April 9th... So whatever, we had other things we could do. These last 2 weeks though (after the transfer) I wasn't even allowed to have an O! So needless to say this was a long month and a 1/2! LOL
Also I wasn't allowed caffeine for the 2 weeks, I don't drink much anyway, one cup of coffee a day and that's about it. I don't even drink caffeinated soda, it's almost always Sierra Mist. So this morning I enjoyed my first cup of caffeinated coffee in two weeks! ;-) WoooT!

How it all started...

I'm a work at home Mommy of two! My daughter is four and my little man is almost two! My husband and I have been together for ten years and married for six!
I have been thinking about becoming a surrogate mother for a few years now, and here's how it all started!! :D

**This first post was typed over a few days.... I didn't want to post it before we got the results of the blood work.**

When my daughter was born I started thinking about donating some eggs or possibly becoming a surrogate mother, and after my son was born I started looking into it more. At the time my sister was pregnant and was in the process of finding a couple to adopt her baby. (she already has a little girl about my daughters age and just could not take care of another child.)
Well when the baby was born I was watching the couple holding the baby for the first time... They were cleaning her up, weighing her, getting her measurements. The whole time the parents just kept looking at her with so much love. The father kept putting his hand over his chest, and they just kept looking at that little baby like they couldn't believe she was there. It was really touching! Right then and there I decided that I would be a surrogate mother!

So I talked to my husband about it, then did lots of research online, and found an agency. I sent in an application and about a week later I got a call, and they sent me a more detailed questionnaire to fill out. I filled out out and sent it back and a few days later she called back. She asked me if I would mind working with an International couple and I told her No, I wouldn't mind. She said she had a couple in mind and would send my application to them and get back to me. Another few days later I got a call from the agency and she said they liked my application! I asked her where they were from and she told me Ireland. She told me she was going to send theirs to me... I thought they sounded great! So now the next step was what they called "The First Date". The couple and I would talk on the phone! We set up a time and they called me.

I'm just going to call them Beth and Mike... So they called and we talked for about half an hour, it was a little awkward at first, obviously! Ha ha! After only about 5 minutes though, we were talking and laughing, we got along great! So after the phone call, I e-mailed the agency and said that they were awesome, and she called me a couple days later to say that they liked me too!
So next they flew out here to meet us! We had a great time! We all got along so well, and my kids loved them too! So they flew back and we both talked to the lady at the agency, and told her we loved them, and they told her they loved us! So we were matched up!

They came back another time so we could go over everything at the clinic, and talk about what exactly was going to happen and about the medications Beth and I would be on. Then they went back home and we both talked to our lawyers about all the legal stuff, signed the contracts and made it official!

So a few weeks later I got all my meds in the mail and very detailed instructions on how to do the injections, and when to take everything. Meanwhile Beth was doing the same.
The Lupron shots weren't bad at all just a tiny needle in the stomach every night. I also have to take Estrace. The Progesterone SUCKS! lol I'm getting more used to it, but the needle it like an inch and a half long... NOT EXAGGERATING! LOL The medication is thick, so the needle has to be bigger. Also it takes a while to draw it up into the needle and for my husband to inject it. The Lupron I did myself, no problem! (until the last few shots... for some reason I just couldn't do it anymore... ha ha) So I always draw the medication up and hubbie gets to poke me with a needle! LOL
So we're now on day 10 of the Progesterone... I did talk to the nurse and asked if it was supposed to be so hard to inject. She told me to make sure the needle was on tight... sometimes with the bigger needles, the needle is a little loose. Also to rub the spot after, and put heat on it! (A water bottle filled with hot water works great!) So really they aren't THAT bad... When the needle is in it hurts a bit, and if I touch the spot or lean on it's a little sore. (Like when you get any other shot.... every day....)

On May 6th the fertilized eggs (two) were transferred into me. Now we're just waiting for to have the blood work done on the 18th!

This morning (5/17/10) I took a test and it was positive!!! I'm SO excited! I wish I could tell Beth and Mike, but they want to wait until the blood work comes back, which is totally understandable! I've been feeling like I'm pregnant... I'm exhausted, and was a little crampy a few days ago. I just thought I was feeling things because I knew what was supposed to be going on. I kind of had a feeling since the eggs were transferred that it worked, but I just didn't want to say it out loud because I didn't want to jinx anything. Tomorrow morning I go for the blood work and then it'll be official! I CAN NOT wait for them to find out!

5/18/10
So my blood work came back and the levels look great! I'm officially pregnant with another couples child! ha ha! I talked to Beth and Mike, and they're so happy!
Next step is more blood work to check the levels again... Then I'll have a U/S in a couple weeks!

I'm SO happy to do this for them! They really are an amazing couple, just really great people!