13ish more weeks to go!!

I can't believe only about 13 more weeks to go!  I'm hoping more towards 11 or 12, but we shall see!

Last week we met POPCORN's daddies in Charlotte to go to court for the PBO pre birth order).  Because we were afraid of being late and dealing with traffic in the morning we stayed in a hotel the night before. Always fun with 3 crazy boys! 

These lucky little boys got an early Christmas present from us, their Kindles. We figured they would need something to keep them entertained and they did the trick!  We also spent some time at the hotel pool to tire the boys out. POPCORN's daddies stopped in to say hello and they got to feel little kicks for the first time. This was so exciting and I'm SO happy they got to feel the kicks. I can only imagine how amazing it was for them. 

 This was probably the kids favorite part of the little trip. 

The next morning, bright and early in our room, we got ready to go to court. 

That's what 7am looks like in a hotel room with our kids!!

And always need a belly pic since it's all for POPCORN...

The kids surprisingly did pretty well while we were in court. They waited outside with the paralegal and it was a nice smooth process. Everything was signed and now we have something to bring to the hospital saying both dads will be on the birth certificate and they are completely in charge of all decisions for POPCORN!!

The next day we turned 27 weeks!!

I am all dressed up because it was the night of my husband's work Holiday party. 

It was slightly awkward since he didn't tell anyone I was pregnant!!  Still a really fun time. I love an excuse to get dressed up and I was so excited to find a dress that worked for the bump. I got more compliments on this dress than any dress I've ever worn, I suspect people just liked the belly!!

That following Monday was my doctors appointment and glucose test!!  Just got the results and I passed!! Heart rate and size all are on target and baby seems to be head down already, hopefully staying that way!  Only gained 3.5 lbs in the last 7 weeks, quite a change from the 1-2 lbs each of the previous weeks. Hopefully I keep up this trend!  Next appointment is just after the new year!

In other good news, I got a job!  I'm now a case manager for a surrogacy agency. I'm so excited to start this venture and even more excited that I got to stay involved in surrogacy even after POPCORN is born. Hopefully I have an easy time learning the process. So so excited to be working again, it's been quite awhile!

Happy Holidays!

23-25 weeks!!

I am 25 weeks pregnant with little POPCORN!  I can't believe we only have about 15 weeks left. I have a feeling it will go super fast, just as these 25 weeks have done. 

More and more people have started asking about the pregnancy, mostly due to my ever growing bump. I always love the responses I get!  I love sharing surrogacy with the public because it still isn't something most people are familiar with. 

So let me back track to where I left off before...

Everyone said I popped after I posted that picture!  Not only is POPCORN obviously growing, but he/she has become super active and strong. I love feeling all of the movement and try to send videos to the daddies so they can share in the excitement. I wish I could get videos more often, but this baby isn't very cooperative. 

We had our monthly local surrogate dinner.  I love having these ladies to share the excitement with!!

I got all dressed up for this picture because POPCORN's daddies generously offered to pay for a date night!  We had yummy hibachi and got to relax some without the kids, perfect!

At 25 weeks I really notice how much my belly has grown!  This was an exciting day because while we were up in Maryland celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, POPCORN got to visit with his/her daddies too. 

They loved feeling the belly and we enjoyed breakfast with them before heading home. Sadly, this marked the end of out of state travel for me until this journey is over. My family will have to come see me!

Next week is a big week for us!  Our court date for the PBO (pre birth order) is the 11th and we will be traveling to Charlotte for that. This means that their names will appear on the birth certificate!!  So exciting!!!

I'll end with some holiday pictures!  This is my favorite time of the year!

20-22 weeks!

I haven't posted much recently because there hasn't been too much going on, which is wonderful!  We are over half way there!!!  In about 4 months this baby will be in his/her daddies arms...and I cannot wait to witness that moment!!!

Once I hit 20 weeks, I started to feel a whole lot more pregnant!  Nothing major, just more uncomfortable by the end of the day and working out has become more difficult.  Not to mention the exhaustion! I'm gaining weight quite quickly, even with working out, so I can't give up on the working out no matter how tired I am. Part of it is having trouble sleeping, but that's pretty typical.  Also, I miss running so so much, so I need to stay in shape enough to be able to not start from scratch after the baby's birth. 

POPCORN has become much more active. My husband has even felt the movement and I was able to get a video of the baby kicking my phone laying on my belly, the daddies loved that!  I love feeling all of the movement, so reassuring!

My belly is definitely growing, I've gotten a lot more comments from people I don't know that well.  I've gotten only one or two odd responses when I say I'm a surrogate. One asking if I was just giving my baby away after birth. Umm no, it's not my baby and I'm not giving anything away. I think she was genuinely curious but it was awkward!

Halloween and being pregnant doesn't mix...I ate way too much candy!!!  Or maybe I was glad it gave me an excuse to eat candy this year?

That's my boys all dressed up and ready to go trick or treating!!

The daddies were so awesome and bought my hubby and a friend tickets to some comedy show. I'm so not into comedy, so I have no idea who it even was. My hubby has been doing a lot to help with the kids during my days of exhaustion so I'm glad he was able to have fun!  

And I'll end with a fun picture from Costco!  I told the daddies, POPCORN needs that bear!

Next appointment is at 26 weeks when I will have do do the glucose test. Never fun but as long as I pass I don't mind!  Also, going to court for PBO (pre birth order) is coming up. This will assure that both dads will be on the birth certificate, and I won't be!  Having that will help everything run smoothly right after birth. 

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!