Tuesday, February 26, 2019

I am embarrassed to admit...

I am embarrassed to admit that it has been SEVEN whole months since I last updated this blog... it has been a bit of a whirlwind. 

Here are the cliff notes of the last 7 months
  • July 25 - I had major jaw surgery where they broke my jaw in 4 places
  • August 31 - I had a revision surgery for my jaw surgery
  • September 26 - we moved out of our house in Virginia and to Colorado
  • October 15 - we moved out of our temp hotel room and into our house
  • November 14 - my dad passed away back in Virginia
  • Christmas - We went to Wisconsin
  • Last time I pumped was December 22 -- which means in 8 months, I pumped more than 12,000 oz for Rowan and one other baby -- this is about 400 days of milk for a baby who consumes 30 oz a day.
  • Two weeks later, my brother in law passed away in Wisconsin
Which leads me to where we are now -- in 2 days I leave Colorado to go to Virginia to have the testing to make Rowan into a big sister!  

Now a few photos to update the blog -- I will put them in order of the events above but I will try not to over do it - I always take tons of photos!  I might come back and write a more in depth blog about some of the

First -- The surgery. I had a pretty significant overbite and had braces put on when I was 15 wks pregnant with Rowan.  The braces were pretty intense and miserable, but I had the end result in mind.  For the surgery, they cut the lower jaw bone back by the hinge, avoiding the nerve inside of the bone and moved the whole bone forward 1cm.  Then due to my underdeveloped lower mandible, they also cut bone on the chin and moved it forward to give me a nice profile.  Turns out that there were complications during surgery and they rushed through the chin so that was put back on crooked -- at least the other part was good -- I had to go back 5 weeks later and have the chin fixed and now I am as happy as a clam with the results!  It was a very intense surgery to recover from -- no chewing for 6 wks which meant that all of my food had to be delivered via an oral syringe or straw or I was able to start using a baby spoon around week 3 or 4 to pass food such as mashed potatoes through my teeth.

This shows the hardware and the changes in the jaw.  1 is right before surgery.  2 is after the first surgery.  and 3 is ater the chin revision to make it straight

The airway was increased by 1cm.  I do believe the surgery was a success because I am sleeping better at night

Profile progression

These pictures are pretty hard to look at -- this is the progression photos of a few days -- probably about 7 days from the Pre-surgery photo to the last photo on the right. I totally looked like a monster for a few days there.

First photo is before surgery, second is 4 wks post the first surgery. This photo was taken at the surgeon's office when I decided to have my chin straightened the next week.  The last photo was 3.5 months post op from the first surgery.

Profile progression.

A pretty accurate photo of the outcome of the surgery. I am very happy I had it done though it was one of the hardest things I have ever overcome!

Next up was the move -- we moved just 3 wks after my second surgery.  We had no house to live in which meant the kids had no school to go to.... We packed up our house in Virginia into the trailer.  Yes, we moved ourselves!!  Then we set out on a drive across the country with 3 kids and a panting cat...

I get the kids and panting cat, the husband gets the Nonnie and the camper.

Our rescue kitty, Jack, was not pleased to leave the only home he knew.

When at the Kentucky Derby Museum, you must try on the fancy hats and fascinators.

Checking out the Arch in St Louis, MO on the way to Colorado



We finally get to Colorado and begin hitting the pavement to find a house.  This Denver market is unique for rentals.  Base housing didn't have any available even though we had been on the list for months.  Finally, after living in hotels for more than 3 weeks, we found a house to rent and moved in!  The kids had been out of school for those 3 weeks and we went to register them and they were on a 2 week fall break -- You have got to be kidding me?  So what did we do?


We explored!  Here are some photos from our happenings around Colorado since we have been here!
Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods

Pike's Peak

The top of Pike's Peak

Pike's Peak

Royal Gorge

Royal Gorge
From the top of Flagstaff Mountain, near Boulder, CO

Flagstaff Mountain

We really have gotten out and checked out some local places and we are excited to explore more with warmer weather. Surprisingly enough, the weather here isn't so bad.  Yes it snows frequently, but just as soon as it snows, it starts to melt.  With temps of 15 then 50, the weather is like a pendulum swinging back and forth -- the saying here is "If you don't like the weather here in Colorado, wait 10 minutes, it will change!" and that it does.

What is a surrogacy blog without photos of one of the cutest and happiest babies I have ever seen? I messaged E&C and asked if I could post a photo of sweet baby Rowan.  Of course they each sent me at least 5 of their favorites - how can you narrow it down to ONE photo?  You cant, so you share multiple photos!  Can you believe she is almost 11 months?  I love that we have stayed in touch over the move and the last year.  I think we send messages to each other about once a week still -- something that reminds us of each other or just checking in like friends do --

So without further ado, Miss Rowan:




She is the spitting image of E. The daddies are so in love with her and excited to make her into a big sister!  I just love the updates from them - real and just thankful.  I actually get to see them on Friday after our clinical visit to just catch up and have dinner and check out that sweet face in person!

So that is it for now -- I have the birth story mostly written up, I just need to download the photos I intend to put into the birth story as well as make the video - as we know, not everyone likes to read the words I write (There are so many of them lol!)  Life has gotten away from me this last year with everything that has happened, so I just didn't carve out the time to sit and make a proper birth story.  When I post it, it will be worth it.  The photos are absolutely priceless!