19 weeks and ultrasound pics!

It's been a wonderful few days for baby POPCORN!  His/her daddies drove down Thursday evening so that they could be here Friday morning for the anatomy scan. Typically this is where parents find out gender, but these parents didn't want to know yet so we all looked away. It was wonderful spending time with them, as always, but the ultrasound was the highlight!  POPCORN is measuring perfectly at about 10 ounces and looks healthy. He/she is absolutely adorable!

As a surrogate it's almost like being a 3rd wheel in the ultrasound room, but it is also so wonderful to see the parents to be getting so excited about their baby. Lots of "oh wows" and smiles!  I just got to sit back and enjoy it all!

Look at that precious little face. 

Aren't the feet just so cute too?

On Saturday we turned 19 weeks. Excuse the picture quality, my husband and son were out of town on a Cub Scout camping trip so I had to prop it up and use a timer. As you can tell from the pic, I'm carrying this baby really low. Opposite of my other pregnancies. I wonder if that means it will get more uncomfortable towards the end, I sure hope not. 

My kids are getting excited about my belly growing, especially my 5 year old. He is always rubbing my belly and giving the baby kisses and saying hi. He is such a sweetie. In case anyone is worried, he is very clear and okay with the fact that the baby is not ours. He knows the baby will go home with his/her daddies.

That's how he sat while we cuddled and watched a movie last night. 

I'm still feeling good except for being so exhausted!  It never feels like I get enough sleep. Also, last week I got horrible headaches. Pretty sure it was due to the weather, but sucks to not be able to take my normal meds for it. Hopefully the headaches don't return. 

I've been craving chocolate and subs. Subs are a little difficult since I can't eat cold deli meat, so I've been loving steak and cheese. Craving one right now and it's only 9am!  The chocolate is probably due to the daddies bringing chocolate from England and Switzerland. It's all so delicious!!

The daddies were loving the baby belly!  Wait until they see it grow and grow!!  Since they want to remain anonymous on the blog, this is the best I can do for pics, but you get the idea!  Two excited daddies!!

I almost forgot to talk about the doula that we hired!  We met her for lunch after the ultrasound and she is wonderful.  My original reason for hiring a doula, Simone that will be there to support me during labor and delivery, was because I don't  want to be alone. We are hopefully the daddies will make it for the birth of their baby, but being 5 hours away, there is no guarantee. My husband is hoping to make it also, but with 3 little ones at home that isn't guaranteed either. Amanda will be there no matter what and that is comforting to me!  I also hope she can help me do it without an epidural, or at least give me a better chance.  She was super nice and was able to answer all of our questions, and I look forward to working with her!!

18 weeks!!

I know I haven't been so good about writing blog entries, but luckily this has been a boring pregnancy so there isn't much to write. In the surrogacy world, and well any world, we LOVE boring pregnancies!  

I've been enjoying feeling the little guy, or girl, for the last two weeks. Sometimes I try to sit still just to feel it!  Typically most movement is still felt super low when I'm sitting in the car or relaxing on the couch. I was hoping it could be felt from the outside when we see the daddies next, but that's not quite happening yet. 

Since I missed a 17 week post, here is my belly pic!

It's been a busy two weeks. We went on a little trip to the beach when my parents were visiting. My boys favorite part was the battleship, going up and down all of the ladders and chasing them while pregnant wasn't the easiest!  Luckily my awesome hubby could help keep up with them. 

That week went fast since we were ways for a few days and then had my parents visiting. On to 18 weeks!

This is a big week because we have an ultrasound on Friday and the daddies are coming into town for it!  We are excited to see them and to see little POPCORN on the screen. Normally this would be when parents find out the gender of their baby, but the daddies have decided to wait until birth so we will all have to look away. Such a new experience for me!  Personally, I'm team pink!  Can't wait to find out in 22 weeks. 

As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm still feeling good except the exhaustion. Some evenings it's a real struggle to make dinner. I'm way more tired in the second trimester than I was in the first, which is not how it's supposed to be!  Other than that, I still don't feel pregnant a lot of the time. Hoping it keeps up!

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!