15 to 16 weeks!!

I got to start off my 15th week at the beach last weekend. It was a nice weekend with 8 friends, no kids or husbands!  

One of the few times I'll ever let anyone see my bare belly!

It was awesome to sleep in and relax and take naps. 

My belly seems to be poking and more and more every day, POPCORN must be growing!

Today we are 16 weeks and I felt movement for the first time. I thought I might have a few other times, but I felt it for sure this time!  I'm so very excited about that and I can't wait to feel it from the outside so his/her daddies can feel it too!

 Next OB appointment is Friday. I can't wait to hear that sweet heartbeat again!!!

12 week ultrasound!!

Yesterday, at 11w6d, we had our 12 week scan. This is where they check for Down syndrome and other abnormalities.  We had no reason to believe there would be issues, especially since the embryo was tested, but it's also another chance to peak in on little POPCORN. The daddies flew in on Thursday night and left a few hours after the ultrasound. 

They came for breakfast and I may have made way too much food. First I made homemade cinnamon rolls. 

I also made eggs, brown sugar coated bacon, and tater tot waffles. All so yummy!!

Our appointment was at 10:45 so we left soon after breakfast.  I had the same testing done with all 3 of my own pregnancies and the questions were not nearly as involved with any of those. Thankfully the daddies were there to answer all of the genetics questions. Since this baby is not genetically tied to me at all I could not have answered most of them. Let me just say how weird it was walking in with 3 men. I can only imagine what the other people in the waiting room thought.  Then to put another man's, actually 2 men's, names under "baby father" was weird too. Not because it's weird that they are the daddies, just because it's weird since with my own it was always my husband's. At first I was wondering why they even asked that for this appointment, but then I got to the super detailed genetics questions and felt like my name didn't even need to be on there since I'm not the biological mother and the baby isn't mine. There were a few relevant questions asking about miscarriages, but most didn't pertain to me at all. Sure was nice to sit back and let them do all of the work answering questions! They need specific questionnaires for surrogates/IVF with egg donors for these places!  Then they asked who they should call with results. I'm glad they asked because I'm sure they would have normally called me, but I really want the daddies to get that information first. 

Next part was the ultrasound. It was so wonderful seeing how much POPCORN has grown and developed. I'm so thrilled his/her daddies could be there to see it. I could see the love and excitement on their faces and it's just another reminder of why I'm doing this!  They could not stop staring at the ultrasound and the pictures afterwards. I couldn't either, they have one cute baby!!

Look at those adorable feet!!!  Our ultrasound tech was so nice and sweet, we will be requesting her next time. It was really an awesome experience!

Baby was measuring 12w1d (2 days ahead) with a heatbeat of 170 and everything looked perfect!!

After the ultrasound we went to lunch and the daddies headed to the airport to go home. They will be back mid October for another ultrasound!

Today I'm 12 weeks!!  Still feeling great, not feeling pregnant most of the time except for this belly that just keeps growing. Sure it has nothing to do with the 5lbs in 3 weeks I've gained...  

Next OB appointment is Wednesday, so we will get to hear the heartbeat again then! 

11 weeks and a visit with the daddies!

We were 11 weeks Saturday!

POPCORN is now the size of a fig.  He/she is fully formed, so it should be an awesome ultrasound on Friday!

My weekend was spent in Maryland with my oldest son, E.  The trip took a bit longer than usual since being pregnant means more potty stops. E was a bit frustrated by all of the stops!  He was just so excited!

 We spent the first day/night with my parents. It was so hard sleeping without my pregnancy pillow. I've really gotten used to it, so now regular pillows just aren't the same. 

We spent Saturday with my sister and her family. E had so much fun with his cousins!  It was my niece's 5th birthday so we were really happy to get to celebrate with her.

Saturday night I got to hang out with friends and eat some yummy food!

A picture showing how much my belly grew between morning and evening. 

Guess which drink is mine. Yep, the boring water!

Saturday morning it was time to say bye to family and go have brunch with the daddies on our way home. E was really sad to leave his cousins so I was glad seeing the daddies would be a distraction for him. He was super excited about it, as was I. This is the first time I've seen them since transfer. 

They brought us so many wonderful gifts from the cruise they went on a few weeks ago. E had a lot of fun sorting through the bag!

To feed the craving.  Not from the actual cruise!

Postcards from all of the amazing places that they went...

Super cool Game of Thrones mug for my husband, M...

Many Kinder treats, not sure if these are more for the kids or M. They also got the kids these cool spinning Tops, but I need to find them for a pic.

And a beautiful necklace for me. I love it!!

I gave them an ultrasound picture frame, but totally forgot to get a pic of that too!

So at 11 weeks I've been feeling great except it took me a little longer to recover from the trip than usual. I was super exhausted when we got back. 

We are looking forward to the daddies visiting and coming to the ultrasound Friday!!  I will update again then. 

10 weeks and no more meds!

I was 10 weeks on Saturday!  That means 1/4 of the way done with this pregnancy!!

I'm feeling a little more nauseous here and there, but they say it peaks at 10 weeks so if this is the worst it ever gets I can't complain!!  The vitamins make me want to throw up almost every time I take them, usually the first two I can swallow fine but I get to that 3rd one and I gag every single time. That's twice a day, so no fun but POPCORN needs it!

Saturday also meant last day of meds!

I've been doing injections since about 3 weeks pre transfer, so I've done quite a few!  They didn't hurt too much and no lasting pain, but I was still more than ready to be done.  It was annoying having always be home or bring them with me and I think they bled more each time. Now it's up to my body and POPCORN to do all of the work with hormones!

I had my monthly dinner with my surrogate friends last night. It's nice having them to talk to and relate to. I also got my monthly belly pic with my friend who is 3 weeks ahead of me!

Next weekend I'll be visiting Maryland Friday-Sunday. Excited to see my family, friends, and excited to have brunch with POPCORN's daddies!  Then less than a week later they will be here for our 11/12 week ultrasound!  

9 weeks!

We are 9 weeks today!  POPCORN is the size of a grape, about 1 inch.  

 This also means only one more week of injections!!! Yay!!! 

POPCORN has continued to treat me well. No morning sickness except for feeling sick when I get too hungry. Still really exhausted most of the time but part of that is from the long week I had. Not only were we busy unpacking, but my husband had a kidney stone most of the week.  That meant two ER visits, a doctor visit, and a lot of missed sleep. I can only assume that brought down my immune system because now I'm sick. Major sore throat and just so tired and feeling blah. Hoping to be better soon. We have a date night to the Cine Grill tonight, with reclining seats, so hopefully that is nice and relaxing. 

I'm trying to increase my fruit and veggie intake for POPCORN, so we were excited to walk to our local Farmer's Market today. Less than a mile away !

I already made fried okra and it was amazing!

Our next appointment is our 12 week ultrasound!  It will be on 8/28 and the best part is the daddies will be coming. I'm so excited for them to see the ultrasound in person and of course we are excited to spend some time with them.

Time to get some rest and hopefully feel better!

8w4d ultrasound!

Today was my first visit to the OB. This means no more visits to the fertility clinic! My husband, M, came with me today despite being in some pain from a kidney stone. :(. It's been a rough couple of days in this house. Moving, then kidney stone causing him major pain and lack of sleep for both of us. Hoping that sucker passes soon so we can all be back to normal!  We did have the two kids in camp and one in school all week, so that helped. 

Anyways, back to my appt. My first appointment was with the ultrasound tech. As usual, I was nervous!  M made a video while I FaceTimed with the one Daddy, G. All of us were so thrilled to hear that little heartbeat. Baby is measuring perfect and heartbeat is 167. Some old wives tales suggest that means it's a girl, which has been my guess all along. About 31 weeks until we find out!!

My next appointment was with the nurse practitioner to discuss the ultrasound, the pregnancy, and my medical history. She thought it was so cool that I'm a surrogate and the whole office was really accommodating about it. 

My next appointment is at 12 weeks then we will get the NT scan at 11-14 weeks, which is another ultrasound. 

Non surro related. As promised I have some pictures of the rooms that I finished at my new house. It's not all done yet, but getting there!

8 weeks!

I'm a slacker, forgot to post my 8 week update!  I do have a good excuse, I turned 8 weeks the day we moved into our new house. I will have pictures once I'm all unpacked. 

POPCORN has continued to treat me well. No morning sickness or other major symptoms. I am exhausted, my belly is growing, and sore boobs. If not for those things I wouldn't feel pregnant. I am not sure I could deal with morning sickness and moving at the same time, so I'm thankful I have been feeling so well. 

Not being able to lift boxes has been a challenge, but luckily I have an awesome husband that has been able to do everything that I can't. 

Here is the belly pic. Ultrasound is Wednesday!