Today's ultrasound report and 31 weeks pregnant!

Today we are 31 weeks pregnant and baby teacup is doing fantastic!  She moves a ton -- all day but especially at night when it is time to go to bed.  Let's see how this works when she goes back home to UK with her mum & dad and are another 4-5 hours ahead of us!    Here are the usual belly photos and weekly update followed by the ultrasound photos!

This is my current state of affairs. I have this problem with this insanely huge belly that even maternity shirts don't cover so I am left out in public looking like this!

My OB appointment is tomorrow morning but first we had an ultrasound today to try to explain why this belly is measuring so big.  The amniotic fluid level was 14.4.  Teacup is measuring 3lbs14oz or 1.7kg (1730g).  Cervix was measuring 3.7cm.  So what I am saying in a bit easier to understand terms is that everything is just fine, my ab muscles are just worn out and I am measuring bigger than I should be because teacup made them push out faster!  Once again, teacup was tucked behind my right hip bone and her face was facing my back so it made imaging her face a bit harder to do -- but that has been her thing since the first ultrasound -- this was ultrasound #4 that she wanted to be stubborn!   I hope that in 9 weeks, she decides to turn towards the light and head out because face to the hip bone is not the most ideal position for birthing babies!

Three more profile pictures.  This tech too commented on Teacups pronounced nose!  I can't wait to see her little nose when she is born! 

This is my favorite -- that is her nose with her lips right below it and her face is tucked up behind the hip bone on the right.  I have never seen a photo this clear and it is just amazing to see those kissable lips. I can just imagine her mum and dad just kissing those sweet lips.  

 

 

This is all of the measurements of the baby and various things on me.  Placenta is posterior (or where it should be away from the cervix).  Teacup is head down (but we knew that with her face being behind the hipbone). 

These are two videos of teacup moving at night before bed.  The quality isn't great but she moves so much!  The music in the background is my sleep music, but she hasn't gotten that memo.  She is literally up ALL night long moving, which in turn keeps me up! I think pumping twice a night will be kinder on my sleep than this baby is!  I hope she learns to sleep when she emerges, maybe she is excited to meet her mom and dad and will want to see one of them at all hours of the day/night!

Will update after my OB appointment tomorrow as well but I don't think there will be any news after that -- just that I have floppy loose abs and that I have gained a bit of weight :)

30 weeks -- as in 75% of this pregnancy is DONE!!!

We have now reached the point where the end has come into sight!  We are working with a doula to get a working  birth plan!  I know the doctors are going to think 'gee great, a birth plan!" LOL but we need to have our care team on board with all of our plans to make this smooth and to make sure everyone has the best experience possible and is able to achieve their goals or moments that mean the most to them!

So here is our 75% through WOOOHOOOOOO Post! 

Can you believe that I actually have something that looks like this growing inside of me right now?  It is just so surreal to believe that this little girl looks like a ... little girl right now!!

She is about 3 lbs now and will be gaining so much weight in the upcoming weeks -- even as much as a half a pound a week!

Movements may start being more visible on the outside?  The writers of this don't know how active this baby is.  Sometimes I wonder if she has 3 sets of legs or arms!  How does this baby move all at once?  I need to get a video of it but she is always most active when I am trying to get comfortable to go to sleep!

I don't usually post bare belly photos but my cycling group (surrogates who transferred close to the same time we did) were all posting them and they peer pressured me into posting one too!  This little girl is growing so big and its very evident with this big round belly!

These last couple of weeks I have felt really fatigued and I am not sure if it is just that I am not sleeping well or because my blood pressure has been insanely low.  Prior to pregnancy 80/60 is not abnormal for me.  While I am pregnant, I am still having the same types of levels.  The low blood pressure when not pregnant does not make me feel bad, but when pregnant and the blood volume has increased significantly, the heart starts racing trying to increase the blood pressure. I have felt light headed a few times, or tingly in the face.  Its MY normal during pregnancy (I have felt this with my own 3), but it really is draining to have your heart beating that fast! 

Another neat thing is that I can hear teacups little joints popping now from the outside.  When she moves, you can hear the popping noise.  It's pretty neat to hear!

Finally, I got an email that floored me.  I literally had to pick my jaw up off of the keyboard from the generosity, kindness and appreciation!

Attached to this email was a $200 gift card to a local salon to go pamper myself and now I just have to figure out what kind of services I want to get! Facial?  Body wrap? Massage? Reflexology? Quiet kid free lunch?  YES YES YES!!!!

E&L have always been so kind and so appreciative through all of this and I am often in awe about how I got so lucky to be matched with such a wonderful couple.   I am so blessed that I have these two on my team and that we get to do this again in the future for a sibling!  I am also equally as blessed that I trusted my friend Sandrine when she said that she had the perfect couple for me and talked me into meeting A) An international couple and B) a couple that was signed with an agency -- neither of which I was interested in matching with!  But I trusted her and she did not lead me wrong! They absolutely were perfect for me and I am so glad that I still have her to confide in and she is often checking in with us as support!  This whole year has been so surreal and such a dream!  I cannot imagine a better match or better journey! 

Insomnia and 29 weeks!

So we have reached 29 weeks and will reach 30 weeks in 2 days.  I have also hit some serious insomnia.  I hit it with almost every pregnancy but usually my go to is I get out of bed so my thrashing does not wake my husband and I go to the kitchen, open some fruit cocktail and eat it out of the can and surf things like babycenter or the internet... This time, I keep thinking 'I will go to sleep any minute, I am just going to stay in bed for a few more minutes' then before I know it, its after midnight or 1am and I have wasted more than 2 hours thinking about sleeping! Add to the insomnia, the using the bathroom at least every 2 hours all night and I have always thought this was Mother Nature's way of getting you ready to get up all night with the baby.

Here is the thing Mother Nature, you didn't get the message, I won't have a baby to wake up with! I do plan on pumping but I won't need to be up more than 20 minutes maybe twice a night for that.  I won't need to be up several times all night or even better, I won't have to stay up with a baby that needs me!  Sometimes I sit back and I think about surrogacy and I think "This truly is an amazing thing!  I get to be pregnant and enjoy these few months but at the end of this, I get sleep too!"

Another side note -- I often get asked 'Do you think you will want to keep the baby?' I don't even have to think about it... No.  No.  And No.  Not only because this baby isn't mine but also because this baby is really active at night.  All night. Good luck with this mama and daddy!  I gladly pass your little girl to you to keep you up while you stare at her all night because she thinks night time is an okay time to be awake!  She is so active between 9-12 especially which is surely feeding into my insomnia.  Constantly.  Just moving, moving moving.  Nonstop!! I do not want a baby that sleeps at night.  I do not want a baby that is awake at night. I do not want this baby at all!  But I know a two people that want her no matter what and two whole families waiting to meet her!!

Here is my 29 week update that somehow I thought was my 30 week update?!  Regardless -- we have about 10 weeks left and that is flat out CRAZY!  Time is flying by!  I am up 21 lbs now.  So hopefully I will stay in that 30 lb recommended weight gain but I have a plan for all of that once I am no longer gestating -- more about that next! 

Wondering where the lbs are coming from?  Well of course they are coming from good food!  Tonight the kids played that they were my waiter and manager and were taking orders and bring me stuff from the kitchen that my husband was making.  The server (Weston) dropped my plate of cheese and crackers and the manager (Leah) came and comped my meal and brought me an extra treat too!

So next comes the plan to get rid of the weight.  I am getting myself a push present.  But not the typical push present.  For those of you who have never heard what a push present, us Americans like to give frivilous gifts for everything!  This is what Wikipedia defines a push present as:

      A push present (also known as a push gift, baby mama gift or baby bauble) is a present a father  gives to the mother to mark the occasion of her giving birth to their child. In practice the present may be given before or after the birth, or even in the delivery room.

So with that being said, i am buying myself a push present that I can ... well I can push it.  Prior to this pregnancy, I ran a lot.  A half marathon one weekend, a ten miler the next weekend.  But I was in Physical Therapy for my hips at the beginning of this pregnancy and have not really run much at all since getting pregnant and I miss it terribly. I miss the sense of accomplishment, I miss the health factors, and I miss the time spent with my husband together.  So I am buying a single jogging stroller. I have one now, but it is too tall for me and I am not comfortable running with it and I also have a double stroller from when I got into shape after Piper's pregnancy.  Here is the beauty I am buying for myself.  Can't wait to start beating feet on those trails and get to finally meet the Stroller Warriors here at this base!  A push present that you actually push! Its an amazing concept!

 
Finally, today I decided that I needed to take one stressor out of my life temporarily.  With a lot going on in my personal life with my family, being pregnant, moving to another house soon, volunteering and joining a mother's group twice a week as well as taking on Troop Co-Leader for my daughter's girl scout troop, I have decided that I am going to take 2 months off from school and restart that in January.  I am currently taking 2 classes and I sometimes don't know how I am making ends meet with everything I have on my plate!  I am excited to have these two months off from thinking, but I am also antsy to graduate as I have just 8 classes left!  

So with that being said, we are down to the wire with this pregnancy now!  only 25% remains!  I have an ultrasound and OB appointment next week as well! 

28 Weeks, Cookies! and Somber News

Yesterday, the surrogacy community got such a huge blow -- one you would not expect to see.  Surrogates are tested so thoroughly, emotionally and physically that anything other than a favorable outcome is not expected.  I have been around the surrogacy world for 8 years now and thought I had seen it all, but this one, I had not seen.  A surrogate named Brooke (I do not personally know her but that does not change how much it hits me in the gut), was carrying twins and was set to be induced today.  She was 37 weeks.  I have read two different accounts but neither matter much -- one was that her uterus ruptured and one was that there was a placenta abruption.  The surrogate passed away leaving behind a family with 3 children.  The twins apparently were without oxygen as well and I heard they were not doing well and are seizing.  The last I read was that the babies too passed, but I am unsure as it is not my business to dig for information.  The truth is, none of the 'facts' matter.  What truly matters is that a woman who was selflessly carrying babies for another couple died.  She passed away although her risks were seemingly low.  These babies are either clinging onto their lives or lost their lives.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed.  Just remember that... It is a somber reminder that even though we have never seen this before and there are seemingly low risks, there are risks with all that we do.  So with that being said, even though I do not know Brooke, she left this earth as a hero to a family.  It is tragic, but she was doing something so kind-hearted and with such passion.  I just hope that her family is able to pick up the pieces of their life and find peace.  I also hope that the IPs are doing well with healing during this.  I cannot imagine the grief that is felt by all. 

Into other news.  This week is week 28 for us.  Even though I am just 28 weeks, I feel much further along due to measuring ahead.  Also unfortunately, the sickness seems to have made a comeback  especially at night.  For the last week or so, I have felt nauseous every single night.  I cannot seem to find a rhyme or reason to this, so my guess is just routine pregnancy sickness!  At least I got about a 2 month break!

Fortunately, the survival rate is very very high after this point in the gestation!  That means that should this little girl get antsy, that she would have a great chance of survival. 

Feeling quite round!

Today, my kiddos had off of school today.  It was a teacher development day.  This week has been kind of crummy and I was not looking forward to having them home with me today because I had a lot of school work to get done among other things in life that needed to be done!  But instead of just hanging out around the house and letting the kids argue and bicker all day, I took them to the park and hung out with my friend and birth photographer Julie and her kids.  We hung out for about an hour and a half and I just enjoyed the fresh air and girl time.   Then this afternoon we broke out my new cookie press and we made cookies together! 

Not a great photo of me at all, but I am rarely in photos but my husband snapped a photo of me with the kiddos making memories

Finally, as I was sitting on the couch doing school work, my doorbell rang - It was after 8 when it rang and when I opened the door, this was sitting outside.  I got boo'd!  It was a wonderful surprise and just what I needed this week.  It has just been a week of funky moods, bad phone calls and utter chaos!  So thank you unidentified neighbor -- you made my week!!!!

That is all for this week! 

Some amazing news I forgot to mention!

Remember wayyyy back in April when we transferred this perfect little girl embryo and she decided she wanted to stick around to meet her mum and dad?  Well we have one more genetically perfect embryo that has WONDERFUL quality on ice to make this little girl a big sister in the future!  L did great growing those eggies and again, they got one wonderful quality embryo for a sibling journey in the future!  WooHoo!!!!  It only takes one!

We are 27 weeks! (With a doctor update!)

Hello lovely teacup followers!

Last week on Wednesday, we had an OB appointment to check up on things.  I went in there with a list of things to ask about from "What can I wear while in labor?" (I need to wear something decent because the mom is going to look gorgeous in the photos during the labor and well... I am not... so at least I won't be wearing a drab hospital gown!  It is my saving grace I suppose!  I also had to ask about how many people were allowed in the room during the delivery (The more the merrier!) 

Everything was good with vitals and teacup's heartbeat was 153.  I am measuring about 5 weeks ahead for the second appointment in a row so my OB is sending me for an extra ultrasound.  It could mean that I have loose abdominal muscles (which I know I do).  Sometimes it can be caused by gestational diabetes-- which I do not have fortunately!  And sometimes it could be a condition with the baby (which I am unsure of which conditions).  So the doctor is being safe and getting everything measured to see if shes a big girl or I have too much fluid or sadly, my abs are shot!  My next OB appt is October 30 but I cannot get in for the ultrasound until November 4.  It is going to be a long wait to hear that everything is just fine

This shirt is fitting because of all of the rain we had here in the last week!  We had 9 new leaks in our basement and apparently, I have been a squeaky enough wheel to finally get a transfer to a newer house (with no leaky basement!) approved.  We have no idea when a house will open up for my husband's rank/our family needs but hopefully it will be in the next couple of weeks.  I am not looking forward to moving again, but this house and it's crooked character just needs to go.  I cannot keep living in a house that potentially has mold or whatever could happen with moisture in the house nonstop!  Would also be okay to not have the washer and dryer in the basement!  So moving 7 times in 6 years is in our near future -- but at least this time, the move will just be locally here on base!  Wish us luck!