30 weeks and baby shower love!

Here I am at the end of my 30th week. It was a pretty quiet week until the weekend. This was the weekend that I went to Salt Lake City to help celebrate baby Charlotte. Yes she has a name and a beautiful one with special meaning to dad. Myself and two other surrogates left Boise Friday and drove down to SLC to enjoy a girls/ surro/ baby weekend. It was so amazing to have two other girls who completely understand all that we have gone through to get to this point and the amazement we have to look forward to. The weekend started out great and as soon as we hit the Utah border it started to snow and boy did it snow. It snowed and snowed and continued to snow. I think that we had about 2-3 hours of non snowy weather. It was so neat to see because we get snow in Boise but not like this.

 We got to stay in the condo of one of the fathers. It was in downtown SLC and it was beautiful. This was my view I woke up to every morning. So pretty to see all the snow. We got the chance to go to breakfast with other Intended fathers that are from our agency and it was amazing to see what special connection the men have and the connection we have with them even if we are not carrying their babies.

 

Saturday after breakfast us girls headed out to do some serious shopping while my IF's got the prep work done for the baby shower. We had such a good time exploring the malls of SLC. I wish we had more time and money to really enjoy what the beautiful city had to offer. As shopping concluded we headed out to the IF's house to celebrate baby Charlotte.

The house looked amazing and there was so

much amazing food and drinks, all orchestrated by the IF's mom and sister. It was truly beautiful. 

This is me by the amazing dessert table that flowed with yummy treats that were all homemade and delicious. There were so many people that came to celebrate the dads addition and the excitement in the room was overwhelming. Everyone had only great things to say about what amazing parents these men were going to make and what a gift I was giving. I had a really hard time accepting their compliments because I was feeling like I was the one who was lucky to be a part of this special family. It was so nice to see how many people this baby will be surrounded by. All completely in love with her before shes even born. It made this whole experience so real and so fulfilling. I know that we have gone through some hard times to get to this place and the feeling I felt that night was worth every shot I had to do, every lab draw, everyday that I was sick and every minute that I am tired. After being a part of their night I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else!

 This is just one of the tables of gifts that the dads received from all the guests. There was at least two more that was full of baby gifts and the floor was covered with diapers to help get them started.

                                                                                           

 

 

 This was such a memorable night for us all and I really enjoyed meeting all of their special family and friends. And I really hope that they can meet some of my family and friends that also support them and me and Charlotte from Boise.

 

 

 

29 weeks

This was a good week. A week filled with some fun from Halloween and a week with some pain from the abdominal hernia. My family and I really enjoyed Halloween and we walked all over the neighborhood and my body continues to handle it well. No cramping no contractions just tired feet. I had lots of fun dressing up this year. Three costumes in all, one for a party, one for the kids class parties and one for trick or treating (which was my favorite!!)

 

As far as the baby goes all is well. I am really growing and people are noticing that I am getting close to delivery time. I know that we still have at least some weeks left but the time is getting closer. My hernia continues to hurt off and on. And I don't want to complain because I know I signed up for this but it is something I am not used to in my other pregnancies. This doll baby doesn't seem to be bothered by the hernia. She is constantly moving  and my stomach is constantly a different shape depending on her position. Its fun to watch her move and get comfy and to watch from the outside and imagine what she looks like. She should be about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds now and I have seen numerous babies at work at the same gestation and am getting more and more excited about bringing this baby to the IF's life.

This time next week I will be in Utah to help the dads celebrate this baby girls arrival at their baby shower. I am getting nervous and excited to meet all the wonderful people that will be in this babies life! Stay tuned!

A busy 28th week

Wow! I can't believe we are already in our 28th week. Just think 10 or so more weeks and this sweet baby could be here! So crazy! There were times when I really thought there was no way this was gonna happen but I am so happy that we had HOPE and faith that it would all work out.

 And here we are at 28 weeks. I have been really busy with work and the family the last couple weeks and time is flying but my body is definitely feeling the growth of the baby. By the end of most days this week my feet were so so tired and sore. No matter what I had done that day or what comfy shoes I had worn my feet still hurt. So my family was so so sweet to help me out. Well the truth is my boys are money hungry so I paid them a dollar each to rub my feet and oh did it feel so good.

The other pain I have had this week is my pesky umbilical hernia. I have had to call in sick to work two days over the last two weeks due to severe pain. Usually I can lay flat and the pain goes away but not this time. Sunday night was miserable. I was really close to calling or going to the er for some kind of pain relief but I knew that the answer would be sorry but there's nothing that can be done. So I iced and binded and took some tylenol and went to bed. Luckily for me the pain went away after some rest. It continues to come and go but the dr. has again stated that as the baby grows my uterus will grow and push against the defect and hopefully keep the pain under control.

I had my 28 week dr appt and glucose test and was happy that one of the IF was able to be there. He got to meet the doc for the first time and see why I love him so so much. We got a lot of our questions answered by the doctor and it's exciting to talk delivery time with him already. He is so patient and  understanding and willing to do whatever we can to make sure that the dads are able to be at the delivery.

27 weeks

I really can't believe that we are here at 27 weeks already. There were times in this journey that I never thought we would get here. I am feeling good for the most part, I am still sleeping well and often. The only part of my body that really hurts is my feet. I think that with the changes in my body my center of gravity is changing and wearing different on my feet. They are super sore after working for 12 hours but also sore after just an easy day at home. I constantly have to have some sort of shoe on for cushion and support. So off to find me some comfy slippers/ shoes that will protect me from pain. I have gotten the kids to rub my feet from here to there and pedicures are a must with extra massage of the feet. Doesn't hurt to be extra pampered right?

A very quick 26th week

The 26th week of this pregnancy is just about over and it went by super quick and uneventful. I continue to grow and feel good. My energy is back for the most part. The only thing I notice is after working or an extended time on my feet they are now starting to hurt and swell. Otherwise the week was good and on to 27 weeks.

Dancing Queen!

There are some days where baby girl is tired and moves but not too much. The other day was not one of those days. She was so crazy! Moving and grooving constantly and I loved it. My 7 year old daughter finally got to feel her move and watch my belly move and she was totally amazed! So I decided to try to video it so that the dads could see how active she is. So here is one of the videos that I took. Look around the 2 or 3 o'clock hour is where most of the movement is seen. And excuse the bare belly. I usually don't show it but it made it easier to see.

25 week bug!

 This is how week 25 started, I wish I could say that I have had that smile on my face all week but unfortunately for me it went bye bye very very quickly.

In this pic I was headed to work Sunday night and I felt good. But by the time my shift ended at 7am Monday morning I was feeling tired, of course, and nauseous. I tried to attribute it to being over tired, which sometimes happens. Or to the fact that I hadn't eaten since 1am when I had my dinner break. Well I made it home and got the kids off to school and tried to head straight to bed as usual. But to my surprise I was up by 11am puking my guts out. I had tried to have some water and within the hour it was back up. I tried to have Gatorade to replace what I was losing and again back up. Then came the chills and body aches and that's when I knew for sure that my lovely children had shared the nasty flu bug that they all had in the week previous. I was in and out of the shower trying to keep warm but that was almost impossible. The highest my temp got was 99.9, which isn't too high but to be honest I was too tired and out of it to find the thermometer to take it regularly. Well by 3pm I was still getting sick and still trying to avoid dehydration with fluids but I was quickly loosing the battle. I then started noticing when I wasn't getting sick I was contracting. Contractions about 3-5 an hour that were noticeable and not super painful like labor but uncomfortable. I contacted a super surro sister, one that happens to be a labor and delivery charge RN where I work, updated her on my status and got her advice... "try to rest for an hour or so, keep trying to hydrate but if the cramping and contractions don't go away come to triage in labor and delivery asap!" So at that point I got a bit nervous. I was pretty sure that they contractions and cramping were from  the dehydration but didn't want them to lead to any preterm delivery, which is common. So I was able to get about 1 1/2 hours of rest and when I woke up I was still getting sick but the contractions were way less noticeable. I was a bit relieved but still felt like a semi truck had run over me, a few times. I continued to take it easy and finally stopped throwing up at about 8pm. And right at about that point I really felt the cramping increase. My pushy husband insisted that I call my doctor, or the doctor on call since it was after hours, and get their advice. So I did and off to the hospital I went. They were too concerned with the cramping but hopeful that we could catch it early enough and just hydrate me.

So as I arrived at the hospital there was an angel face waiting for me... my surro sister, the Labor charge RN was working and there to take care of me and calm my nerves. It is amazing the amount of pressure that I had knowing that if this baby came now it would be super sick and need lots of medical intervention to survive. I never had this amount of pressure with my children and I just wanted everything to go smoothly. Well lucky for me it did. Here is the monitor reading they hooked me up too. My heart rate was elevated, which is to be expected with nerves and dehydration, but the baby's heart rate was a bit elevated too also due to the dehydration. But it was a nice and strong heartbeat which was super reassuring. She was moving and grooving the whole time I was there and that also reassured me and the staff. Once all of my vitals were taken and I spent some time on the monitor the doctor decided I was definitely super dehydrated and first line of treatment would be IV fluids.

And that is exactly what we did. My super RN put in my IV in my arm, took some blood for labwork, and hooked me up to a huge bag of IV fluids. Until the IV fluids started I was still cramping but once about a quarter of the bag was in the cramping stopped my heart rate came down and so did the baby's. It was such a relief. I think I knew deep down that the cramping/contractions were due to the dehydration that I tried to fight but ultimately the bug beat me. But luckily for baby and I the fluids beat the bug! After the IV fluids, lab work, and a influenza test I was set home on orders to rest, relax and continue to hydrate. And that is what I did. I slept through the night and woke up with no nausea or vomiting but still felt the body aches. I got the kids off to school again and back to bed I went. I slept so soundly till like 2pm and when I woke I felt so so much better. And it has only gotten better each day!!!

I really don't think I can remember a time that I was that ill. I am so glad that it's over and has passed through our whole house and hopefully will not be coming back! As of today, I am feeling great. I just got home from my daily am walk with the dog, breakfast down, and now off to get ready for the day. I am super thankful for the hospital staff that treated me, my husband for pushing me to get treatment, my family for putting up with me, my surro sisters for support, my friends and family for the concern and most of all the IV fluids for beating the bug.