Surrogacy is MY Superpower !

One Year Ago..

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:35:00 +0000

Today is the one year anniversary of our third and final transfer! Finally we had success!!!

One year ago today, we transferred two embryos into my uterus. Two tiny microscopic embryos that finally decided everything looked (i) just right (/i) and snuggled in. Today those little totsicles are adorable, giggly, precious 4month old baby girls.

See those tiny little dots in the top picture? Those are the little embryos.. Not that they weren't cute and all but I like today's picture much better. Adorable beyond belief!!

I am forever blessed to have been able to carry them and hand them over to their Mama & Daddy.

One year ago today I went in with cautious hope and a little bit of faith.. Today I am astounded by their every accomplishment and so proud of those little blessings.

The Final Birth Story....

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 21:45:00 +0000

Hey peeps.. I know, I know. I left you hanging back there in July. Let me start by saying the Twins were born healthy- full term and no issues whatsoever! I kept meaning to post over and over but I would find something else to do. I think perhaps with this being my LAST surrogacy and all, I didn't want to let go. Writing my birth story seems a little like the last word on the last page in the last chapter of a really good book that you just don't want to put down. But today is 16 weeks since the babies were born so I figured it was kinda now or never. You have to let go sometime, right?

So we left off at 34w5d and dilated to 4.5cm. My dr was sure labor was imminent. Let me just say now, my dr was pretty much wrong every single time she swore I'd have those babies before my next appointment. I went in the next day 34wk6d and still the same 4.5cm. The dr and I discussed the likelihood of needing to be closer to the hospital. I think this was the biggest worry for all of us in the last days. With the first set of twins I was in L&D and went from 5-9 cm in a matter of minutes. So being so close, we were pretty much all afraid that once I went into real labor (vs the inconsistent contractions that became the bane of my existence) the babies would pretty much be born in the car on the way to the hospital (remember I live 1hr from my delivering hospital). Back and forth we went, whether to book a hotel and stay close by or just go home and risk it. Ultimately we decided that I would just go home. Logically with all factors involved it just worked better. Plus there is a decent hospital halfway to my delivering hospital (although no NICU) that would work in a pinch. My dr decided that seeing us a few times a week would be best but every visit she swore she'd see me in L&D before my next appointment. Every visit she was wrong... lol. It became a running joke. How many times can the dr guess wrong?? lol

So fast forward 2 weeks. YES 2 weeks. Apparently when someone asks how long can you walk around 4.5-5cm dilated and not go into active labor?? Well I don't know the exact answer but we will say AT LEAST two weeks.

Monday Aug 8 - by this point everyone who had guessed in the baby pool had to pretty much guess again. This was my date. 8/8/16. What an awesome birthday for twins! I had a dr appt that day and asked about doing an u/s because at our last one (2wks prior) baby b was slightly smaller than baby a. She agreed (fyi- still dilated to 5cm and holding). At this point, DH came with me to all appointments and we always brought the hospital bag - just in case. lol. This was the first u/s he had been able to come to, so his first time seeing these little ones 'in person'. Long story-short, the u/s showed that Baby B had not grown in the past 2 weeks. This was slightly concerning since she was already the smaller twin. They looked at the cords and all looked okay but with 2 babies jammed in there, it's sometimes harder to see everything clearly. Plus the fact that laying flat on my back for any length of time was enough to make me want to pass out. Not the most fun experience. My Dr came back in said that if we still wanted to induce (we had asked at what point induction would be advisable) then she thought that baby a measuring smaller and not growing for 2 weeks was enough to warrant an induction. So we agreed to induce on Wednesday - Aug 10 - exactly 37weeks. Naturally Aug 10th was Baby Mama's pick in the baby pool. I told her she didn't win if we induced though. lol :)

Surprisingly enough, we actually made it to induction day. I figured these girls did not like being told what to do the entire pregnancy so they would come on the 9th just to be contrary, but they were nice and compliant. We all arrived at the hospital at 8am for induction. Finally!!

We got hooked up to the monitors and they checked me -- still 5cm. Not a contraction in sight. lol. They ordered the pitocin and my epidural at the same time. Again from the last twin pregnancy I was worried that once it got started it would go fast.. ha ha ha. Silly me. I did ask about breaking my water and letting nature take it's course vs the pitocin route but little miss baby A was hanging out too high up and there was a risk of the cord getting pinched. Little booger. So we settled in. Pitocin came and got hooked up. Then my epidural lady came and placed that. I had only had like 3 good pitocin contractions when I got my epidural and I think that's probably why it was the most painful. Normally you've had hours of labor and pain is a thing of the past by then. This lady kept saying boy your vertebrae are close together, I'm having a real hard time getting between them. I'm like Lady, this is my 5th epidural and no one has ever told me that before. LOL! Eventually it was in and we all settled in to wait.

And wait we did. The excited parents eventually went off for lunch and came back again. Still waiting. Lots of checking in between, me changing positions trying to make monitoring 2 babies easier b/c those babies were stinkers. Eventually they broke my water on Baby A and put a scalp monitor on her b/c she was always my little mover and would NOT stay on the monitor. Stinker!! Actually truth be told, they put 2 scalp monitors on b/c the first one didn't work. lol. Like I said, she's the troublemaker. I could bore you to tears with the waiting but pretty much it went really smoothly. Finally I got to 9cm and had to spend some time on my side since Little Miss Baby A was not keeping her head down properly (she wanted to turn sideways instead of head down) and there was a darn lip on my cervix.. sigh.. Troublemaker I tell you. We all laughed that these girls were trying to be so convenient for the dr, they waited until her office hours were over before my nurse even had to call her to come to the hospital! Yep - all day long. Rotten kids, so much for my worry about going fast! Lol!

Finally it was time to head off to the OR (all twin births at my hospital must be delivered in the OR) for the birth! We gathered around for a quick picture of all of us together - because naturally all these hours in labor, no one thought to take a picture. lol. We are lame. ha! But at least we all look cute in our scrubs.

When we got to the OR, Baby Daddy stayed just outside the room (per hospital rules only 1 person is allowed in the OR, we stretched the rules by letting DH & Baby Mama in). Once Baby A was born she would immediately be taken to the hallway to be checked over anyway so he would get to see her right away (they had a little set up there with the bed and all for her). So we got into the OR and I had to transfer from my bed to the OR bed. I love how these people think that a woman with a good working epidural can just move themselves from bed to bed.. That may have taken a few mins. lol. Our room was packed. My dr, the NICU staff (just in case) , nurses for the babies, my nurse plus her mentor nurse b/c my nurse was new and wasn't allowed to do everything yet. Then the pushing started. and went on and on. I was beginning to think this kid was not going to come out AT ALL and we'd end up with a c-section after all.. I did learn that I cuss a LOT during delivery. Ooops.. lol. Finally Baby A came out - sunny side up!! ARGH!!! No wonder she was so hard to get out. I swear this child- TROUBLEMAKER.!! Apparently when she was sideways and finally turned she turned head up instead of head down. Always something with this girl! But she was here and looked wonderful! Super quiet though! She came out all cone headed. Poor thing!! I told Baby Mama to go on out and visit with her for a few minutes b/c the Dr was going to do a quick ultrasound to make sure Baby B was still head down.

My dr was highly amused when she did the ultrasound b/c it was the first time she saw her own fingers on the ultrasound. lol. Baby B was head down and ready to rock and roll!We called Baby Mama back into the room. Baby Daddy & Baby A also snuck back in! The dr tried 3 times to get her water to break but it wouldn't budge, so she decided we would go ahead and push with the water intact. Baby B was smaller and actually facing the right direction so she came out much easier!! The water finally broke as she was coming out! The entire pregnancy I always commented how BabyA was the mover and Baby B was always content to just hang out in her little corner, usually curled up. We found out at delivery that Baby B's cord was much shorter than Baby A's. I'll spare you the sight of fresh baby covered in goo pictures but I do have one of Baby B (Baby A's cord was still hanging there attached to placentas b/c in a twin delivery both babies are delivered and then both placentas) which shows her freshly born before her cord was cut and it is pulled tight. Yet Baby A's freshly born picture shows her in the same position and her cord is laying loose and looped around. Poor Baby B just couldn't move around as much as her sister b/c her cord was holding her in place. lol.

Stats :
Baby A - 6lbs 6oz, 20 inches long , born @ 5:23pm
Apgars 6 & 9

Baby B - 5lbs 6oz, 19 inches long, born @ 5:42pm
Apgars 9 & 9

Exactly 1 lb and 1 inch apart!!

The babies were 100% healthy! There was a slight jaundice issue but nothing huge. The parents were given their own room down the hall from mine and were released after 2 days :) I hung out at the hospital for my entire 48hours (vacation!!) and went down to their room to hang out, or they came to mine. I pumped for the twins for the first few months, they had to supplement with formula anyway while I built up a supply. Now that they no longer want any milk, I am still pumping and donating to Preemie Milk Bank. I do get pictures all the time and even went to visit right before Thanksgiving :) I love this family to pieces! I'm so glad to be a part of it in a small way =)

And that, my dears, is that. My 3rd surrogacy is over and while my dr keeps trying to convince me that I should do just one more.. I'm 98% sure that I'm officially retired. Do I miss it? Sure. About 2 weeks after giving birth to the twins I was already missing the pregnancy. lol. But three great journeys is a blessing and I hate to jinx myself. So I'm calling it - I'm out.

Thanks so much for following our journey. I'll always be around to answer any questions anyone might have. I may occasionally post updates on the 2 sets of twins :) Until then, take care!

A major catch up !!

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 15:31:00 +0000

And yet again I have failed at my blogging duties. I blame twin brain. #1. I can't comfortably reach the keyboard anymore. #2. I think up all these great posts but when push comes to shove, Oh LOOK!! Squirrel!! lol! I swear these babies have made me soo ADD it's not even funny!

So here we sit at 1 day shy of 35 weeks! Further than we made it with the last set of twins (born 34w3d). My Doc assures me that typical gestation is 35 weeks and each day is a victory.. So I'll take it :)

Let's try to play catch up...

Naturally having preggo brain I've probably forgotten half of what I should have posted but we'll just have to deal with it. This pregnancy has been super smooth! No bedrest whatsoever!! Remember last time? Bed rest at 29weeks! It still amazes me that I got away with none this time! Awesome!

So let's go back to 25wks preggo. We had been trying to figure out a time that both parents could come and do a 3d u/s but it just wasn't working out. So I went with my bestie T and we did one and gave them the pics/videos for their baby shower present! Lol!

Things moved along fairly well. Every ultrasound showed each little girl in a different position but never head down. Stinkers! I actually contributed this towards not dilating and contracting early like I did with the Spanish Twins. They were always head down and that pressure on the cervix had to be doing something. Not these girls, they are happy to float along, usually transverse and almost always with their little heads together like they are telling secrets! We have soo many pics of just their little heads together. I LOVE IT!! :)

28 weeks came and the lovely Glucose test -- which I failed by 9 measly points! ARGH!! What the heck?? I've never failed one! So I got to do the lovely 3hr at my 30wk appt. Which I PASSED! Ha! Take that stupid glucose test!! :)

The fun thing at my 30week appt was that I was able to schedule it so I got the awesome u/s tech! She even gave us a little 3D pic preview! Woohoo! She is awesome!

For some reason no one seems to be able to see Baby B's pic but to me it's perfectly clear. lol. It's a side shot and she has her arm curled up under her head.. Aren't they adorable?!   I love how much they look like real babies in these pictures!!! :)

Our next appt was at 32w5d - after having had some contractions off and and the dr decided to check my cervix. It was just 1 cm so we weren't too concerned! :) This is my 5th pregnancy after all ! All in all things were going good!

Fast Forward us to last friday ( 34wk2d). Jill (IM) and her MIL were able to come to the appt! This one was especially nerve racking because I had to work soo hard to make sure that I didn't slip up and say the babies names. Only Mom, Dad & I know the names and Gma was hoping with everything that we would slip up. lol. We made it thru the day with no slip ups though! HA! :) So we had another u/s with the great u/s lady! Both babies were measuring right at 5lbs (A was 5lb 2oz, B was 4lb 14oz) and both were head down! First time EVER! How cool! Of course these girls like to do somersaults like there's no tomorrow so I wasn't confident that they'd stay there. lol. They are soo active it's not even funny! After the u/s we saw the dr. We discussed the pros & cons of getting the steroid shots (I feel nervous not having them if I'm dilating at all b/c I constantly worry about when to go to the hospital with contractions -- soon enough for shots but I hate being sent home.) Dr told us that they are only good for like 2 weeks which we didn't realize so she would give them if we really wanted them but would prefer we wait until she felt we were closer to delivery so they didn't wear off too soon. We all agreed with that! :) Then we discussed birth options. We have always been pro- vaginal birth. I've never had a c-section and don't particularly want one. The last twins were vaginal births, so I'm hoping these are as well. Still we went over the scenarios.

1. Baby A Breech = c-section

2. Baby A & B head down = go for it! We always have the risk that B flips after A is out but the do their best to prevent that.

3.Baby A head down but B transverse -- now this one I don't recall which as which but dr says if B is transverse but facing down then she could try to rotate her into position and deliver. If B was transverse but facing up then it was risk to rotate and would do a breech birth. (note- those two scenarios could be flipped, I don't remember which was which now. lol).

4. Baby A head down but B breech = could do a breech extraction b/c they don't rotate a breech baby due to possible cord issues. I did not know this!

So after researching breech extraction (eek) and the possible complications for both the baby & me, Jill and I agree that we'd rather not risk it. I worry about Baby B's spine getting injured or her head getting stuck and ending in cuts that could cause me more issues too.   So as of right now, the plan is if both are head down we are going for vaginal. If any other scenario, then we'll opt for the c-section as the safer option.   Whew..

Anyhoo after this long discussion with the OB, Jill & MIL stepped out so she could check my cervix. Fun times!! After a few moments, dr looks at me and says well you are getting steroids today! Apparently my cervix was now 3.5-4cm! oops!! After a few minutes of discussing, we decided that I would head to the hospital on Sunday (dr was on call then) and get the first shot and another check, then back to the office on Monday for my 2nd shot.   You know what they say about the best laid plans, right??

After the fun cervical check (at 9am!) I spent the rest of the day with my back just killing me. I could not get comfortable and had some noticeable contractions but mainly just a horrible back ache. MIL had mentioned that she had back labor for Nate (dad) and we all wondered if that was what was going on. So after talking to the nurse line, I headed to the hospital just in case for a check.

L&D trip #1 - We got triage 3 (ha! same a with the last twins!) Now by the time we went in, I wasn't feeling a lot of contractions just mainly back pain. Just pretty uncomfy. We got upstairs and got all hooked up to the monitors. My BP was a bit high for me (130/77) which I guess just proves I wasn't comfy? lol. Our nurse was super nice but I feel maybe a bit new? She put the contraction monitor way high where it wouldn't pick anything up anyway. After a bit of no contractions she went ahead and did a cervical check - announced my cervix was really hard to find (my dr says WTH? you have the easiest cervix in the world to find!) and decided that I was still the same dilation as this morning with the dr. We did go ahead and get the first steroid shot and was told to come back the next night fo the 2nd one.

Horrible backache , some contractions on Saturday until it finally tapered off that evening (Go figure). I arrived at the hospital for the next shot.

L&D trip #2 - We showed up for our shot and another very pg lady showed up with us and let me just say I think she waited a tad too long before showing up. This woman was ready to go! lol! She got in the wheelchair (I elected to walk) and we waited for the guard to show up and escort us up to L&D. Meanwhile her husband said he'd just run out to the car and turn it off but he really went to the car, parked it, grabbed the bags ect. So our guard showed up and the husband was MIA.   Our very pg lady said a few choice words and we decided to leave him behind and get her upstairs! So off we go! We just got into the elevator when the guard shack calls to tell our escort that the husband is on his way. Again more choice words (and lots of moaning) from our pg lady. We waited a minute or so but apparently the husband got lost and we left him. lol. Poor woman, I felt for her. I know that husband is going to get it when she gets her hands on him! She kept saying- he was just supposed o turn the car off. *&^**&^& lol.

So we arrive up in L&D and they whisk pg woman off to her room. They asked me if I was having any contractions to which I said nope, not at this time! So they decided that rather than go thru an entire triage process again, I could just go down to the ER and get my 2nd shot.   Works for me!

Downstairs to ER we went. While we were waiting, a man came in all hyped up telling the receptionist that his wife was in labor!! (apparently he didn't do a tour and didn't know that you don't go to the ER b/c L&D has it's own entrance). He went back to get her out of the car with a wheelchair. In comes this calm woman. She calmly tells them she's 41wks, having contractions every 3-5mins. Her husband comes bouncing back in with a bag of McD's (omg ya'll ! They stopped at McD's for food on the way! LOL) and they are taken upstairs.   It was just hilarious the complete difference between the two situations.

So I got my shot and home again we went.    Sunday was another day of some back ache... some contractions (about 20mins apart) which eventually just tapered off.    I woke up Monday feeling great! I had actually slept for 7 hours and no contractions or back ache! Wooohoo!!

Onto our next dr appt (now 34w5d). BP was up a bit again (135/80) but I had a headache. Dr assured me that it was a bit high for me but wasn't high enough for them to be worried yet. Belly measured 46weeks :)   Then for our cervical check -- apparently all those sporadic contractions over the weekend were doing something. From 3.5-4 on Friday to 4.5 (possibly 5) on Monday.   Ooops!

And that's where we sit today. Another appt tomorrow, if I get any further dilated my dr suggests a hotel close to the hospital b/c I have an hour drive from home. She thinks they will arrive within a week.... We shall see. Things have been pretty calm the rest of yesterday and today so I think these girls are just chillin out. Get everyone riled up and then sit back and giggle together.. lol.

Until next time...

19weeks #GestationalSurrogacy #ultrasound #Twins

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 20:54:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've checked in here. I'm now 19wk2days! We are over halfway to the finish line!! With this being another twin pregnancy, my OB typically doesn't let you go past 37wks. So definitely halfway!! :)

Things are going well! We had an ultrasound at 17w6d. My lovely IM was able to come down for it and her Momma! :) It was great to get to meet the babies' grandma! :)   Unfortunately we got the icky ultrasound tech. I had her one time early in the pregnancy of the last twins and didn't care for her. Her bedside manner is just less than ideal (she doesn't tell you anything that she's doing and pretty much ignores the room while doing her scans). This just taught us not to schedule another ultrasound on a Tuesday! lol! :)

All in all the babies look great!! Baby A is(was at the time) on my right side and BREECH. Baby B on the left slightly angled and also BREECH! What is up with this whole Breech thing girls? Never in my history of carrying babies have I ever had one present breech at ANY time in the pregnancy. These girls just want to go out with a bang! :) LOL   There is still PLENTY of time for them to flip around so I'm not too concerned.. Just seems a typical finding with these little divas :)   Oddly enough I realized later that the u/s tech never did any gender shots. We obviously know via PGD testing that our little Divas are girls but it still seems odd that she didn't verify that for the record. LOL.

Here's a peek at them :

Baby A is doing what I believe is the duck face. I think she must be practicing for some facebook selfies! :)   Baby B has her little arm/hand up under her head just relaxing! Apparently their big brother always sleeps like that - how cute!! :)

According to the measurements Baby A was 1 day ahead with a heartrate of 158 and Baby B was 2 days behind with a heartrate of 144 but somehow they both were estimated to weigh (both 7oz) the same amount? Go figure!   We also asked the tech about the placenta since we had that tiny bleed issue back at 14wks and were told we had a partial previa. She assured us that it had moved out of the way - no worries.

Off we go to see my Dr who announced that both babies looked wonderful ! Both were currently breech (yup, we know!) and Baby A's placenta is now completely covering the cervix (plus slightly anterior). WHAT? The ultrasound tech told us it moved?? Apparently the report says complete previa. BLAH.   So now we cross our fingers that this moves out of the way as my uterus grows (cuz we know there's still a LOT of growing to do!). I'd rather not have a c-section with this last pregnancy! LOL! Plus with the placenta where it currently is (anterior) the OB would have to cut thru the placenta to deliver baby A. Uhmm, no thanks - not what I'm looking for in a birth experience.   Fingers crossed things move along like they should. Right now these little Divas are trying to do everything they can to guarantee a csection with the previa and both breech. But I'm sure if I explain things nicely they'll try to get with the program! :)

I have another OB appt next week - no clue why the dr decided to see me in 2 wks vs 4wks but I do what she says. lol.    Other than that bp was great, urine clear! We're cruising along just great!

Now if those babies would just agree to let me quit puking! They have let up quite a bit, but usually at least once or twice a week they jump up and scream- HA JUST KIDDING! GO puke! :) Boogers anyway :)

19 Weeks

Sources say the babies are now the size of a largo mango (or for those who prefer a non-fruit comparison a square kleenex box). Arms & legs are finally in proportion, while neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone. Serious upgrades going on in there! It's estimated that movement should be felt between 18-21 weeks depending on a ton of factors. So far I can feel some kicks and jabs if I'm laying quietly in bed but rarely do I feel tons of movement when I'm up and about :)

14 weeks :)

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 15:39:00 +0000

Hello my friends! It's hard to believe we are finally 14 weeks and in the 2nd trimester! Woot!! This have been moving along well. I had some spotting on Monday and went into the dr for a check up on Tuesday. I wasn't having any cramping so I wasn't super concerned but spotting is spotting and it's not normal!

First thing they did was an ultrasound! :) Yay! It's always so nice to see them ! Good news is that the babies are both looking wonderful. Heartbeats were great and they were moving around (I can't wait to be able to feel that movement!!). Both babies were measuring 2 days ahead (14w1d) .They are still laying in there stacked on top of each other like in little bunkbeds. Silly girls! There's plenty of room, spread out!! :) The u/s tech was able to determine that the spotting was due to one of the placentas being low lying and a tiny partial previa. I've been told to expect spotting off and on but for now it's not a big worry b/c it's still very early and the placenta can move as my uterus grows. I've spoken with several other friends who had the same issue and theirs all moved well before delivery. And so we just watch it. :)

Baby A was nice enough to give us profile shot :)

Baby B decided we should only get a front on skeletal view.. lol ;)

14 Weeks -

At 14 weeks the babies are each the size of a lemon (or for those that like non-fruit comparisons - the size of a rubix cube). The sources say that morning sickness should be easing away and my appetite should be reappearing. To those sources I say- try having twins. Still taking my meds and still puking despite them a few times a week. The appetite is pretty much non- existent but occasionally I have a moment of hunger :)

Baby's probably thumb sucking and wiggling his or her toes in there!
Baby's kidneys are making urine, and the liver and spleen are doing their jobs too.
And baby's growing lanugo, a thin, peach-fuzz-like hair, all over— it'll help keep the body warm!

Happy 12 Weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 17:57:00 +0000

Hello my friends! I know, I've been a very bad blogger. Honestly, I think my life plan is to sleep ALWAYS sleep right now. I had a dr appt yesterday and the nurse said to me "You look really tired" (it's 10:30 in the morning. ). Uhm yes, I am ALWAYS tired right now! lol!

So all is going well with the twins! This dr appt was just a "new OB" appt where I get the lovely physical and all the bloodwork. Fun times I tell you! I showed up and of course immediately had to pee. My nurse directed me to the bathroom and told me that she needed a 'sample'. No problem here!

My dr came in to discuss how things were going and is pleased with the progress so far. My uterus is now up to my belly button already (normally 20+ weeks) but that's what happened with the last twins. Lots of swimming room :) Naturally with all that room, both little divas decided to hang out low and on top of each other. I was **this** close to getting a quickie u/s to check the heartbeats b/c my doc could only find one but the other came out of hiding. Drats! We did hear lots of kicking and moving around ! These girls are active, that's for sure!

So another dr appt in 3 weeks, then in another 3 wks(6 from now) we have the big ultrasound! Woohoo! :) It's not a big gender reveal since we already know it's girls, but it'll be nice to peek in at them again and see how much they've grown!

So for Week 12 :

The babies are now the size of a large Plum or since it's National Drink Wine day- they are also the size of a wine cork ( roughly 2.5" & .5oz).

Most of baby's critical systems are fully formed!
Baby's about to enter the growth and maturation stage, in which organs and tissues will grow and develop rapidly.
Baby's now developing her reflexes—if you poke his or her body, you'll likely see movement.
Baby's opening and closing fingers and curling toes too.
Baby's brain is developing fast!

If you are facebook friends with me or the parents, then you'll know that we are now FB official! :) LOL :)

Until Next time!!

2nd Ultrasound -- and the number is .....

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 00:37:00 +0000

Sorry, sorry! I've been wiped out by these little beans! I swear all I want to do is nap! lol!

So we had the 2nd ultrasound yesterday...

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Oh!! You want to know how many are in there??

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Meet Baby Girl A:

Baby Girl B :

And.......

Nope, just TWO :)

Both babies are looking great and measuring one day ahead! Heartbeats were 172 & 174 :) All in all things are looking perfect! I have been released from FCI and have to continue one form of progesterone (bye bye shots!) and 2 estrogen patches for another 2 weeks and then I am med free. My OB has raised all my restrictions (that the IVF clinic placed) and I can be NORMAL again! Lol!

My next OB appointment isn't for four weeks and then it's the normal new patient appointment with all the bloodwork ect :) For now I'm feeling ... okay. I'm so sleepy. lol. And nauseous but that's to be expected :) Hopefully it will let up soon!

Until next time! :)

1st Ultrasound!

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 00:32:00 +0000

The ultrasound was .... interesting.

Both IPs were able to make it, along with their 3yo son :) It was a fun day!! We had lunch and then went off to our appointment!

Naturally as soon as I got there I had to pee. I mean I was bouncing around in line waiting to check in I had to pee so bad. lol! Got checked in and she told me to go ahead and sneak back and pee in a cup but ask the nurse to be sure. I went right back and asked my nurse who is all "Let me make sure you don't need a full bladder for your ultrasound first." I'm like dude, if you need a full bladder for my transvaginal ultrasound there are going to be some problems in the ultrasound room.. lol. She finally came back and gave me the okay to use the restroom.

OMG I felt soo much better! As soon as I came out of the bathroom the ultrasound tech was there and was ready for me so I quickly grabbed the IPs and we all went back.

We start the ultrasound and techie is like Your bladder is really full. Hello? I just peed!! Literally! She ended up making me go try again. LOL! How many times does that happen?

Finally settled back on the table, bladder relieved yet again.

And the ultrasound showed :

1 bigger looking sac with 1 heartbeat just beating away at 104 bpm, measuring 2.3mm - currently Baby A

1 smaller looking sac (posterior so makes it harder to see and the dot of an embryo isn't actually visible in this picture) with 1 heartbeat beating away at 107bpm, measuring at 2.4mm - currently Baby B

Also in the large sac is "something". No heartbeat was noted at this time so it looks like Baby A embryo split into two but we are unsure if the other one took off. I mean at this stage they are literally the size of a sesame seed - so TINY.

I go back Jan 20 (8wks pg) for another ultrasound to count heartbeats. lol. So who knows at this point! Ahhh!

I think we all expected 2 with the beta numbers but 3? the ride home was more in shock. LOL!

I know I asked for prayers and good wishes that this all worked but people- you can uncross your fingers now.. We're good! LOL!

Transfer # 3 and beyond ...

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 00:48:00 +0000

Yet again I have ignored my dear readers. The last we spoke, it was 1 week prior to transfer. I guess with 2 failures under my belt, I felt that it was a bit of a let down to get all excited and post everything on here and then be another dud....

Let's start of by saying this :

Okay now that we got that out of the way. ..

Transfer was on a Monday this time so T was unable to go with me. She had to work :(   DH came instead!! :) We went up on Sunday and got there early so we could relax at the hotel. We got some last minute Christmas shopping done while we were out sans kids so it was a nice getaway!

Transfer morning dawned early. We arrived and for the first time ended up sitting in the waiting room for a little while! Finally we were taken back to Pod #2. It amuses me to no end that these tiny changing rooms are called Pods. lol.   One of the embryologists came in to have me sign that we were agreeing to transfer 2 and let me know that the embies were looking great from the thaw! One 5AB & one 5BA.   The great chugging of water had commenced and I was instructed to take my lovely valium.

This transfer went as smooth as silk. We got situated in the transfer bed, said hi to Robert- my favorite ultrasound guy who is always so nice to narrate the video we take of the transfers! I love the entire team at this clinic! They've all been there thru all three of my surrogacies and are just amazing! Dr K came in and things got started. Not a hitch! Everything in the exact right spot on the first try. I swear we were in and out in 5mins or less. I should have timed it! lol!

Then home again, home again for 48hours of bedrest. The rest of my week was fairly busy. T got her very first foster placement phone call on the day of transfer (good luck sign!!). The time flew by and before I knew it, it was 4dpt. Now with the Spanish twins, I started peeing at 4dpt and got a big fat negative. I did look at it the following day and noticed a squinter line. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and pee. Up until then I had no hpts in the house so I wouldn't be tempted. Plus I really like First Response but those things get expensive after a while. So I'd heard good things about Dollar Tree tests and grabbed a few of those.   I peed ... and waited... I got the slightest slightest hint of a line.. So I did what any normal person would do - I sent DH out at 9pm to grab some First Response!

Do you see that?? A faint line. I admit, it may have darkened slightly from when I first peed but there was definitely a line there. EEEK.

So again, I did what any normal person would do. I went to bed and tried my hardest not to pee until morning and then did another test..

Yep! Definitely a darker line!! AHHH!! We are soo pregnant this time around! About time! 5dpt was also the anniversary of the Spanish Twins' transfer - More good luck!

Naturally I peed 2 more times. Day 6 was the digital above.. and Day 7 -

Naturally during this time I had to tell IM. On Saturday (5dpt) I sent her that very first squinter test (not pictured here) and told her that I needed her peestick eyes to help me . She finally agreed that she could *maybe* see something, she wasn't sure. So I sent her my First Response and said "How about this one?"

Immediate response was something like No F$&@ing way !!

lol I love this girl!! I then sent her the 5dpt test and I'm pretty sure the poor thing was in shock! :) Adorable!

We had our first beta (9dp5dt) on 12/23 (also my oldest DD's birthday -- good luck vibes were covering this transfer!) and we all guessed what we thought the beta might be. Some how I guessed exactly on target!! 398 !

2nd beta was this past Monday (12/28) 14dp5dt and it was beyond our expectations. J & I were both guessing in the low 2000's but this little beta decided to outdo us both and was 3215! Doubling time of every 41hours! EEK!

And that brings us up to date. Our first ultrasound will be one day shy of 6wks- next Tuesday (1/5). I'll be back to update once we see how many are cooking and hopefully the heartbeat(s).!

I have no clue why the tickers with the same due date put in are making me 2 different amounts pregnant. lol.. Go figure.

Another ultrasound & bloodwork Update :)

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 01:03:00 +0000

I had my final monitoring ultrasound & bloodwork today. All is moving along well and looking great!

Lining was 11.8! Woot ! Woot!

Estrogen is looking much better at 225 :)

All is looking well and the transfer is in ONE WEEK!

DH is looking forward to giving me the big ole PIO shots in a few days. BLAH Lol!

Now we just continue to chant - third time's the charm! THIS one will work!!

Keep your fingers and toes crossed everyone :)

One more try! :)

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 17:40:00 +0000

Well ladies and gents, I've been neglecting you for a while. Two negative cycles after always having positives the first try has been rough. I can't even begin to imagine how IM has been feeling after going through so many more herself before moving onto surrogacy.

We have been gearing up and are now in the midst of our third and final cycle. Third time's the charm, right?

So far all is going well! I had my 2nd u/s & bloodwork yesterday - Lining was a nice 8.4mm and estrogen was slightly low at 85. I added some oral estrogen to my regimen and feel confident that things are moving along nicely!

One more u/s & bloodwork check next week and the the transfer is Dec 14!! Wish us luck!

In odd news - I received a new Lupron box with meds for this cycle. For the first time in 5 cycles (the 1st & 2nd surrogacies plus the 2 failed cycles ) I have different lupron needles. They look completely the same on the outside, but the actual needle is shorter. WEIRD!

Top is the new needle, lower is the normal old needle.

The result is in..

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:45:00 +0000

It's with a heavy heart that I tell you that once again we have had a failed transfer :(

It's tough getting these negatives month after month. We have no clue what's going on. Everything on my part is looking great, the embies are tested ... It's a mystery.

I feel so sad for my IPs - the point of using a surrogate is b/c she typically gets pg (and carries a pregnancy) very easily which is normally the case for me.. Yet something is off.

My clinic mentioned that they have seen a lot of negatives & miscarriages these past few months, it makes me wonder what's in the air lately?

:sigh:

We will gear up for round 3 in December. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!!

Transfer Story :)

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 01:01:00 +0000

Long story short : Transfer went smoothly, waiting to pee..

Long story long :

So T and I headed up to ChiTown rather late. Between her kids having activities and then her work (where she accidentally locked her keys and had to wait for someone to come open up the building to let her back in- HA), we left even later than we had planned. All is good in that we missed rush hour, but we also missed Lou's. We knew that we most likely wouldn't make it up there before they closed so we stopped at TGIF's where I had never been.

Let's set the mood - the hostess asked us if we wanted dining or bar area? We replied that we wanted a booth and didn't care where it was. She proceeded to take us to the bar area - which we're thinking, great! We don't have our kids, why have to listen to someone else's? ha!- until we saw the booth. It was one of those little 2 person booths which means there's barely enough room for you and your purse. LOL. Sigh. Oh well. Then we ordered the endless apps, which is a pretty neat deal but when you have a dollhouse sized table, there's just not much room on it for the endlessness of the apps. Jokes were made that I won't repeat here but we had a good ole time! :)

We arrived in our hotel at around 10pm?! Back in the same hotel we stayed at prior to the twins' transfer! :) The only thing we learned here was that vending on the hotel map now just means the ice machine and no pop machines, but hey they sell pop at their little 'market' for $2.50 per 20oz bottle. No thanks! Back into the car to find a gas station, which was actually quite hilarious once we got there the long route only to realize we could have went thru the back parking lot and it was literally right.there.! Maybe you had to be there but it amused me to no end !

I am not even sure how many times I woke up that night wondering if my alarm hadn't went off. In the end, we were both up and ready to leave 30+mins before it was time to leave. Which is actually pretty ironic since we ended up having traffic issues and were 10mins late. LOL! OOPS!

We got put in this little room (not a pod w/glass doors like before) that was kinda hidden off by itself. It had a real door, u/s machine and everything. I was texting IM (who didn't come this time around) and she says either we are getting the VIP treatment or they hide the silly people (I'm pretty sure she meant crazies) there. LOL!!

T & I looking stylish before transfer :)

So all went well- I got taken back to the transfer room without flashing anyone - always a plus in my book! Hopped up on the table and got settled in. I love that the staff there is so sweet! They had absolutely no problems with us videotaping it :) Of course the size of said video may take me 2 days to upload to share with IM... lol.

This transfer went smoothly. No bad feelings, all good. I didn't mention it last time but with the last transfer the RE seemed to have a difficult time getting the catheter where he wanted it and it made me little nervous. This time it was more of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am type of thing. Boom little embie was in a nice spot in my uterus. Ohh, did you notice I said embie not embies? Yes, we transferred two but you see one decided that it wanted it's own little ride and didn't want to share with a sibling. So after a transfer the catheter goes back to the embryologist who checks to make sure the embryos are out and yells CLEAR... only this time, we did not get the green light. One little embryo was a good girl and vacated the catheter like she was supposed to, and one little embryo was a bit more stubborn. So we had to do the actual transfer again to get it out. LOL! So technically that was two transfers instead of one, right? Lol In the end both are snuggled in and hopefully at least one is going to stay!

The twins' mama says if I pee on day 5 and get a + then it's twins but if I don't get a ++ until day 6 or later than it's just 1. LOL :)

Tomorrow is 4days past transfer.. I'm not sure when I'll start peeing. They say that you should always do first thing in the morning pee b/c it's the most concentrated. "They" apparently don't realize that even non-pregnant (or 2wk pg) me gets up several times at night to pee. lol. I'll be reporting back soon with some results, fingers crossed for good news!

2nd Transfer tomorrow !!

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:17:00 +0000

I know... I know... I have been absolutely Horrid at keeping this updated!

So let's just cut to the chase! All lining checks went well. Last count, my lining was 12mm (thickest it's ever been!) and estrogen was 255 . All good :)

Tomorrow is the big day! Transfer day!! I have a good feeling about this one! This is my fifth ivf cycle!
#1 - resulted in my first surrokid
#2 - cycled but didn't transfer for a dear friend. I actually traveled to Texas only to find out the day of transfer that none of the embies passed the PGD testing :(
#3 - resulted in the surrotwins!
#4 - our first failed cycle in Aug
#5 - Tomorrow! It's sooo going to work!! :)

So my IM , after weighing many factors and lots of discussion, decided not to come to transfer. While I would love to have her there, I completely understand and it's all good. Bestie T is coming along, so we've got this :) Traveling up in the middle of the week ( which I'm super thankful for b/c transfer was supposed to be today but there's no way I could have done that !) seems odd. T's kids have activities after school and so we get to wait until later tonite to leave. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that means we miss any rush hour traffic !! :)

Everyone keep your fingers and toes and all other crossables crossed for us tomorrow! I'll update again when we start peeing :) LOL!

Let's try this again...

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 19:07:00 +0000

So I never updated because I suck.. lol.

Our first cycle was negative.

NEGATIVE.

I know.. I guess there's a first for everything :( I was pretty bummed to say the least. I went thru the various - omg what did I do wrong? Should we have transferred 2? How did this happen? But in the end, I was reminded that it's never a guarantee. I've just been super lucky in the past.

And so we have regrouped and with some pestering to the clinic from my lovely IM, we are already cycling again!! I started Lupron this week, I get to quit my bcps over the weekend and the first u/s & b/w is next Weds!

We have switched back to transferring 2 embies and fingers crossed that it will take this time :)

Transfer Post - a little late.. #IVF #GestationalSurrogate

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 01:54:00 +0000

Okay I'm super late with this post but ... better late than never? I'm blaming my pokey internet which has been doing nothing but being a pain in my hiney!

So let's go back a few days, shall we?

Transfer for journey #3 was on a Sunday! Did you gasp? Everyone was pretty amazed that they did transfers on Sunday but I heard of someone doing a transfer on Christmas day back when I transferred the twins so after that, nothing surprises me.

There was some talk of DH coming along with me since he wouldn't have to take time off, but then he realized that he hasn't been to a transfer yet (first transfer was IM & I, 2nd transfer was my bestie (Tooshie) and I b/c IPs were from Spain) and he didn't want to jinx it. Forgive me if I already told this story b/c with my fickle internet, I'm not going back to look thru the last few posts. LOL.. Also meds make my brains fickle. lol. So anyhoo Toosh came along with me for the transfer.

We went up Saturday to spend the night for our Sunday morning transfer. On the way up, we stopped to get pedicures. Now technically we wanted cute turtles painted on our big toes but we didn't realize the place we stopped at didn't do designs. :( Bummer..

However we thought the colors of the fake flip flops were pretty significant :

Since we couldn't get our turtles, we decided to have accent nails of each others colors done. lol. Yes, we are geeky like that.

We got to our hotel, went swimming for a bit and then went out for Lou's pizza. Another pre-transfer tradition! Yummy, gotta have my Lou's! Totally forgot pics of the Lou's but mmmmmm...

Last transfer, the agency booked our hotel room and so Toosh & I shared a king size bed. This time, I booked the hotel so we each had our own queen size bed. lol. I'm sure the highlight for Toosh was giving me my PIO shot again. That girl gets unbelievable pleasure giving me shots. lol. Lucky for me, it's only once per surrogacy LOL!!

Finally Sunday morning arrived. We met my IM there.. Love her :) She was adorable and brought us both cute little goodie bags! Awww!! and of course she brought me more meds.. lol.

Although we searched high and low, there were no froggie or elephant socks to be had this time around. I did manage to find yellow & green socks that we mismatched to look adorable :)

the obligatory sock photo

You can't see our shirts (okay I don't have one on b/c I'm in my hospital gown) but I wore a green shirt & Toosh wore a yellow shirt. lol. We are all about our good luck.

IM, Me, Tooshie

Naturally we took our group shot just before going back so you can't see half our bling. lol.

Toosh made the elephant barrettes (which we all wore under our hairnets) and the turtle pins (which we pinned onto our scrubs). I found the froggie necklace (yay clearance @ Claires LOL!) and the bracelets- one is a turtle, one is elephant. I think we covered all our bases ;)

The IVF team is super awesome and I love them all to death. We had the exact same team that got me pg with the Twins :)

Dr K (love that man) is such a sweet soul. You just can't help but love him to death.

We elected to put in just one embie but it as a great 6BA embie who was already hatching A LOT.

I mean look at this monster!

Transfer is pretty much over and done with quickly. Tooshie video'd it which was pretty awesome so IM(J) could share it with IF (N).

Last time we got a cute little u/s picture printed out - we didn't get that this time for whatever reason.

So we took our first pregnancy picture just IM & I :)

No worries guys, I hope to have some ++ hpts to share soon.. Otherwise Beta is on the 12th !

-side note : I mentioned to IM about blurring out her face because my past 2 couples for various reasons didn't want to be identified. IM is completely fine with me sharing her photo . You can't imagine how excited that makes me. lol. It's the little things.

Final Liniing check & bloodwork #3rdSurrogacy #IVF

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:33:00 +0000

Friday was my final lining check & bloodwork :)

Lining was 9.5 - basically same as before and anything over 8 is good :)
Estrogen was up to 260! Yep, just throw a few pills at me and it goes up nicely! Lol!

So everything looks great for transfer on Sunday!   Woot ! Woot!

Last night was my very last Lupron. Ohh how I'll miss the fake menopause. Okay, no not really. lol. I did fairly good giving myself those tiny shots (I hate needles with a passion) and only got 3-4 bruises total. Yay me!   If you want to know more about Lupron or giving those shots, I wrote about it during my last surrogacy - here.   You are welcome. lol.

Today I started the crazy list of meds . It is so crazy that I put it all into my phone calendar so I don't accidentally forget one of the zillions of meds I'm taking throughout the day. lol!

Medrol Medrol is a steroid which is used for it's anti-inflammatory to keep everything happy in the uterus for transfer. My instructions say 4xday but the dosage I got sent is only 1 x day - works for me!! My IVF nurse says different clinics do a different way but it's ultimately the same dosage so it's fine. I'm thinking why in the world would we NOT do just one pill per day vs 4 different timed out dosages if we can?! lol

Doxycylin Doxy is an antibiotic which is used to decrease the chance of infection from the IVF process. It could also treat any early infection that you aren't showing signs of yet, again helping increase your chance of becoming pregnant. I take this twice per day - not so tough, one in the morning & one at night.)

Endometrin Endometrin is a form of progesterone. Progesterone is a natural hormone that is often used to help your uterine lining receive & nourish an embryo. In a normal pregnancy your body produces enough progesterone on it's own. During IVF, your body is a blank slate and the drs give medication to make your levels be where they should until your body realizes HEY I'm pregnant and takes over :)   During my 1st surrogacy, I only did the PIO (progesterone in oil) shots. 2nd pregnancy I was informed that between 1 & 2 the clinic had done away with PIO and went to only vaginal inserted progesterone but due to clients freaking out at a lower progesterone # in bloodwork, they added PIO back in. *sigh* lucky me.   So my instructions are to do these three times per day. Fun times people ... fun times. I will say that last time I had the Crinone Gel which these tablets seem a bit less ... messy.? lol.    Click here to read about my experience with the Crinone gel.

PIO shots PIO = progesterone in oil. Same reason as above only it's a vicious needle eager to make lumps on my bum.. lol. Just one per night - Thank God!!)

Meds I'm already on :

Estradoil patches Estrace & Estradoil help build the lining of the uterus. You might recall that last time I had the minivelle patches which are round and I could make cute patterns like Mickey Mouse.. These are rectangular and lack the ability to make cute things. lol I'm currently up to 4 patches every other day.

Estrace Pills ( more estrogen)
Baby Aspirin
Prenatal Vitamins (yay folic acid!)

And that my dears is just about it for now! I'll update again after transfer. Keep everything crossed for us on Sunday!! :)

2nd Lining Check #3rdSurrogacy #IVF

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 17:37:00 +0000

Hey ladies ... and gentlemen ( although I kinda doubt I have any guy readers over here. lol)

I've been crazy busy so haven't even turned on my laptop this week. lol. If you knew me at all, you'd realize how crazy that means! lol!

So I had my 2nd lining check on Monday (7/20) and all is looking good !

Lining was 9.7 ! The u/s tech was impressed :)

Bloodwork went well. I had a different ~~vampire~~ phlebotomist but she got me first stick :) We discussed my tattoo (semicolon on my wrist) and she gave me matching wrap for my arm. Matching again? I am GOOD!

Now I just have to remember to wear green on Friday and I'll be set for the last color they have. lol!

Click here if you are anything like me and want to compare how things are going this cycle vs the one with the twins (who are going to be ONE in exactly ONE week! omg omg omg!! )

Medications so far this cycle :

Tons of BCPs
21 Lupron shots
10 Estrogen patches (Minivelle 0.10 mg)
9 Baby Aspirin
3 Estradiol tablets (2mg)

Getting patchy :)

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 02:46:00 +0000

Hey guys! It's been a week- not a lot new here right now. The lovely lupron has been giving a few lovely lupron headaches. BLECK. But so far nothing too bad. I started my Favorite med (Not) the estrogen patches.

Maybe it's just me but taking a patch that is meant to stay on for 1 week, sticking it onto your body (I do my thighs) and then ripping it off again on the 2nd day to replace it with 2 new ones ... just not fun. Last time I had to stop them towards the end (when I was up to 4 patches every other day) b/c I was breaking out in a rash like crazy from them.. So this time the nurse has me doing neosporin when I change ect.

My IM is super sweet and sent me some Bath & Body Works lotion & body wash. Yum! :)

So that's really it here. Nothing new. Next lining check is on Monday! :)

Medications so far this cycle :

Tons of BCPs
14 Lupron shots
4 estrogen patches

1st Lining Check - #Surrogacy #ThirdJourney

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 16:50:00 +0000

Today was the first lining check for this cycle. I admit that I was the slightest hint of a bit nervous.

You see, I started Lupron a day early last week because my body did not like being on bcps past the normal time and decided that despite the bcps telling everything "Don't Worry, Be Happy!" it was time to start shedding that useless lining anyway. ARGH. So spotting for a week makes one the tiniest hint of a bit nervous. lol There's a first time for everything. As my nurse coordinator said, my body was just ready to GO GO GO!! lol.

I'm still monitoring at the clinic 45mins away :) They are super duper nice there! I showed up 30 mins early and the waiting room had one couple and another woman sitting there. I signed in and settled down to play some games on my phone to pass the time. Didn't even get a game loaded before they called me back. LOL! Sorry waiting peeps, apparently I get first class service - frequent flier and all :)

Right into the lining check first off - they got a new machine since last time and that means no mashing my body trying to find stubborn hidden ovaries! Both ovaries showed up for pictures and were appropriately suppressed :) Lining was nice and thin - which is what we want. I asked the ultrasound tech what the lining measurement was and she printed me off a little sheet! Lol! Naturally I compared to my last journey! lol !

Then off to the vampire. Today's vampire was named Brook and she was great! We discussed the merits of Costco & Sam's Club (she has memberships to both, I just have Sam's but am thinking of jumping ship.. lol). She got me on the first poke and then did the best thing EVER. She offered me my choice of tape, a bandaid OR a wrap. OMG! I felt like a little kid getting a wrap but I hate the tape and my skin always breaks out. So wrap for me :) She gave me blue to match my shirt. lol!

Excuse the hair, it was drizzling rain :(

So now, I'm just waiting on the call from FCI to let me know that my bloodwork came back fine and the first step is done!

Medications so far this cycle :

Tons of BCPs
7 Lupron shots

Journey #3 begins !!

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 14:34:00 +0000

The twins will be turning ONE this month! Can you believe it? I know I've been pretty absent, life and all that jazz. I still get pictures and videos of the twins all the time from their Mama! I love it :) They are growing so much! Learning to crawl and just beyond adorable!! I'm not allowed to share pictures anymore but I'm sure you'll believe me that they are simply beautiful!

In other surrogacy related news - I'm matched for my next journey!!!

Okay, okay... I've been holding out on you guys. I met a wonderful couple - not a Spanish couple to my FIM's dismay (ha!)- who we just love! They only live maybe 3hrs away and plan to be very involved. Not only are we matched, but contracts are done and I started Lupron last night! Woohoo! The plan is to transfer ONE embie (twins once was enough. LOL) on Aug. 2nd!!

J & N have a wonderful little boy and we can't wait to help them add to their family! I have a feeling this will be another wonderful journey!

And so it begins ....

Medications so far this cycle :

Tons of BCPs
1 Lupron shots

Breastfeeding and Pumping is NORMAL.

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 14:42:00 +0000

Do you ever get that look from people? The one that says what in the heck are you doing and why? I tend to get that a lot lately. I am still pumping breastmilk and donating it. Yes, the twins have been home for two months now and I can't ship it overseas so I have been donating to a milk bank. I think perhaps when I was pumping for the twins everyone seemed to get it. That's okay. I birthed them, it's a little weird but I can provide them with food. Now that I'm still pumping for random sick preemies, I get a lot of "what a wonderful thing you are doing" but it's also punctuated with raised eyebrows and slightly rolled eyes insinuating that I may be slightly off my rocker.

To those naysayers - Bite me. My husband is supportive and I enjoy doing it. Bugger off.

With that off my chest, anyone want to see what 4 weeks of pumping looks like?

Voila! 730 oz of breastmilk ready to be shipped off to the milk bank! Technically it wouldn't all fit in the 2 coolers that I had, so I did save back part of it for the next shipment.

I'm at a standstill on the weight loss - which honestly is probably mostly because I'm not watching calories or what I eat. Oh well, I'm 20+lbs lighter than I've been in years. Do I want to lose more weight? Of course! Am I upset that I'm not? Not really, it'll come off if/when it does.

Surrogacy stuff has been on the backburner. The Twins are 3months old today! It's hard to believe. Some days it seems like just yesterday I was still hugely pregnant and others (especially when IM sends pictures and I see how big they've grown!!) it seems like much longer! I was definitely blessed with this match. I love my IPs and our relationship. I still get updates and pictures all the time, which is amazing because HELLO she is taking care of TWO babies. I can only imagine how exhausting that must be! Last report was that they are growing like little weeds! Baby Boy had already doubled his birth weight at 2.5months and Baby Girl wasn't far behind! Monster twins, I tell you!

A friend contacted me yesterday and asked if I would talk with her friend who was interested in becoming a surrogate. Just talking to that friend of a friend reminded me how much I love this and made me realize that I most likely do want to do this again. I tend to get stuck in that rut - I would carry for my IPs again in a heartbeat (Hello dear IM - frozen totsicles just waiting on us!!) but of course with twins I think it will be a few years before they are ready again (if ever), so do I really want to go searching for a new couple? I have been blessed with two wonderful couples -both of which I've formed great relationships and lasting friendships. At times, I'm almost scared to jinx myself and try again. I'm half tempted to contact my agency and see who they have waiting that might be a match, but again I am still pumping and donating and I'd have to stop that to start another journey ... Decisions , decisions.

You will be among the first to know! :)

The Birth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 01:47:00 +0000

I thought it was fitting to post the birth story today - our due date. Hard to believe that the Twins are 5 1/2 weeks old and they were just due today! I'm going to just write this straight through without editing it.. Just how I remember it, so bare with me if I repeat myself.. Lord knows I tend to ramble sometimes ! We may as well start this final post out with some belly pictures that I neglected to ever share with you :)

June 25- 29weeks + 4days


July 9- 31weeks + 4days

July 19- 33 weeks

July 23 - 33weeks + 4days

July 28 - 34weeks + 2days

And that has us caught up to the day before delivery.. Where we left off- Monday July 28th when we went to the hospital to get checked out and were sent home- yet again. I was so sure with the contractions 5mins apart that this must finally be it so I made sure to take a quick belly pic before heading to the hospital that morning.   Little good it did me.   As I said, I was sent home. DH, my IPs and I ended up going out for lunch. I figured if these contractions weren't doing anything, there's no point in laying around complaining about them.   Was I miserable? Yes.. But it gave us a chance to get out of the house and do something for a little while until I had had enough.. My threshold for holding my shit together is about 2hours and then I need to lay back and complain and moan for a while.. lol.

Tuesday I spent most of the day resting and relaxing.. The contractions were still there but I gave up timing them and had declared once again that I was NOT going back to the hospital until my water broke or something. I was tired of being sent home and figured maybe these babies were just going to be good and stay put for another week or two. We had family haircuts scheduled for that evening and I was super excited that I was officially off bedrest and could make it! Nothing is more soothing than getting your hair done :-)   Since I knew I'd be in the car for a few hours (our hair salon is an hour away-- long story) and in public where I'd have to actually be halfway presentable, I tried to spend most of the day in bed reading. My friend *T* had been coming up for the past month to help with the kids and with house cleaning while I was on bedrest so she was there that day to keep me company as well. We were chatting with another friend on the phone when *T* decided to send her a belly picture of the naked monstrosity. Ha!! The reaction was priceless ! My uterus was now measuring 53-54 weeks.. Yep, well over a year pregnant - it's no wonder the twins were wanting out!

Since I told my IM that we were going to haircuts, they decided to spend the day out exploring in a local town. DH got home from work and we all loaded up into the van and made our way to the hair salon.   I plopped my butt on the couch and laid there trying to get comfy while everyone else got their hair cuts -- it's always been my custom to go last so I can enjoy it vs going first and having to deal with everyone else's hair cut decisions.

picture me sprawled out on the couch, shoes off trying to get comfy.

Finally it was my turn !! DH had just finished his hair cut and came into the waiting room to tell me it was my turn. My hair stylist (since I was 16) came in and commented on the belly.   I heaved myself up - which was quite the task.. First I had to work my way into sitting position, then have DH help me get up off the couch. I stood up and immediately felt a gush of liquid.   REALLY?? It is MY TURN for pampering time!! Everyone could see the look of shock on my face because they both asked me what was wrong. I waddled my way to the bathroom and told them that I either just peed myself or my water broke but I was getting my damn hair cut before we left no matter what!

Instead, plans quickly changed. When I got into the bathroom and pulled my pants down to check things out, I realized that that gush was all blood. My pants were soaked down to my knees with blood. I quickly waddled back out and said 'Nevermind, it's blood and we are leaving.' Attitude King rounded up the little kids and took them to get buckled in the car.. Meanwhile I was telling DH to ask for towels because I didn't want to ruin my seats in the van.. Lol.

We finally all got into the car and started for the hospital. The hospital we were supposed to deliver at was an hour ++ away. But our PBO was for that hospital and quite frankly no way would I have went to the local hospital because they are horrible.. DH started racing our way to the delivery hospital. I started making phone calls.   I called *T* and told her I needed her right way. She dropped everything to meet us at the hospital , pick my kids up and take them home again. Then I messaged IM - twice and then IF when I didn't immediately get a response from IM. Basically I just told them to get their butts to the hospital NOW.. ha.   Finally I called the hospital to let them know that we were heading in.   This entire time, I could feel little gushes of blood come out. I knew in my head that this wasn't normal but for some reason I never panic until after the fact..   The hospital asked me if it was enough blood to soak a pad and I laughed -- uhmm several pads. I don't think they believed me or understood how much blood there was.

We pulled into the hospital a mere 35mins after leaving the hair salon (yes, DH made the trip in half the time.. EEK). DH jumped out and had the security get me a wheelchair and then raced to park the car with the kids in it (Attitude King was going to sit with them until *T* got there). Security wheeled me up to L&D and I got Triage 3- again.. I remember thinking to myself, there is no way they can send me home this time!

As we wheeled into the room, the nurse was there getting the monitor ready. I stood up and realized I'd left a bloody mess in the wheel chair and immediately apologized. Every step I took towards the bed I could feel the blood dripping and leaving little piles on the floor. The nurse got a little more concerned when she realized just how much I was really bleeding. She instructed me to get my pants off and get on the bed NOW - no cares about closing the door or even the curtain.. As I worked to get my leggings off, another nurse came in to start cleaning up the bloody mess (security must have told her?) and help me get the darn pants off. There was blood just pooling in the pants on the floor.   Everyone started moving a bit quicker that point. I got onto the bed and the nurse got the monitors hooked up to check the babies heartrates. DH had already showed up at my side.. My Dr had left on vacation that morning - isn't that always how it works?? The delivering dr showed up with an ultrasound machine within minutes of my arrival. We had a quick u/s and both babies were head down. I'm not really sure if she looked for the source of the bleeding or not because the only comment she made was that she knew I wanted to try for a vaginal birth and since they were both head down. She then left the room and my nurse worked on getting the monitors back untangled from me so that I could be moved to an actual labor room. This was it for sure this time!! I asked her about the bleeding and she tried to play it off as normal saying that sometimes this happened with progression.. I have never had bleeding with any of my previous pregnancies and this amount of blood couldn't be normal.

I'm a little blurry on some events.. I know I was checked and was at 4cm sometime in the triage room (yay progression, since I was still 3-3.5 at my trip to L&D the day before). I also know that they changed the pad under me once or twice because of all the blood.

We got moved into the labor room and my nurse took me to the bathroom to get cleaned up. What a mess that was! lol. When I got back into the bed, my nurse placed 3 pads down so that if we had to change one we could just pull the bloody one out and I'd still have 2 in place and I wouldn't have to get out of bed.   I also got my lovely IV.. I hate needles and therefore HATE IVs. *shudders*

My IPs arrived shortly after we got settled into the room.. I think they were both pretty nervous. I can't blame them! We had just been there the day before and were sent home... This time it was real. I love my IM to pieces, she was always asking how I was doing.. Was I okay? We took a few pictures and joked about waiting all night.. *T* and my other friend arrived back to the hospital with some items we had them grab from the house when they dropped the kids off there.. Our room was getting full and I was picturing a fun party atmosphere while we waited for the babies to come. I have always had long labors and despite the blood, I assumed since we didn't go straight to c-section that this would be another long labor. My nurse was my room pretty much all the time which at the time didn't seem abnormal to me. Looking back, I realize she was keeping close eye on me and the babies monitor. She changed the pad a few times and we attempted rolling to my side to pick up Baby A's heart rate better..   The dr made her appearance again and checked out the babies monitors. While they played it off well, you could tell they were a bit concerned. We all started making new guesses on what time the babies would be born. I had arrived at the hospital at 6:30pm , by now it was 8:30-9pm and so the bets were on if they would make it on the 29th or wait til the 30th. The dr -when pressed- guessed within 2hours and then said if we hadn't progressed by then we might be looking at a c-section b/c Baby A's heart rate was gong down with contractions some.

Since they were watching Baby A's heart rate closely and with the threat of c-section looming, I asked my nurse if I should go ahead and get my epidural because I definitely wanted one! She agreed that it would be a good idea and went to let the anesthesiologist know that I would be wanting one. Naturally he was with someone else, so we would just have to wait our turn.

My nurse decided we should get me up and try to use the restroom one more time before I got my epidural and couldn't get up.. I was still feeling gushes of blood at this point and ended up walking to the bathroom with one of the giant bed pads held between my legs. My nurse took it and gave me a wet down towel to try to clean up with again while she cleaned the bed up. She joked that I was such a good patient b/c she could tell me to go pee and I immediately did it.. Ha.. I never had problems needing to pee- pregnant or otherwise :) . Once all done and cleaned up, I made the mistake of standing up and immediately had blood gush all over me again. *sigh* We cleaned things up AGAIN and walked back to the bed with a towel cleaning up the mess trailing behind me. I am so thankful I wasn't the one who had to clean it up. I was starting to get a bit concerned about all the blood because it was not stopping.. My nurse had put 5 pads down on the bed in hopes of not having to lift me up to put new ones under, just pull a bloody one out.

Settled back in bed and the anesthesiologist showed up to put my epidural in. They kicked everyone out while he went to work. The epidural itself wasn't too bad, I mean no one likes a needle stuck in your back and the pressure was horrid during a contraction but it was a means to an end. The contractions had been getting pretty painful and closer together so I was ready to be done with this and be able to enjoy the rest of what I assumed would be a long labor.

I finally got settled into how they wanted me to lay (on my back- ick) and enjoyed a few contractions without feeling them.. Dh was allowed back in the room but he reports that the IPs & my friends stayed in the waiting room (I'm fuzzy on this part). Then the shakes began.. ugh I hate the epi shakes.   My blood pressure started getting lower, Baby A's heartrate was reacting more to the contractions and so my lovely epidural friend was turned down some hoping that it would help both issues. I was rolled to my right side to see if it would help matters and it did seem to help a tad. The anesthesiologist stayed close by and requested another IV just in case we needed it. My poor nurse - who reportedly is the one that is usually called for a hard stick- blew three of my veins trying to get another IV in.. She looked at the anesthesiologist and said I am NOT sticking her again, you try.   Luckily he got one in but boy did it hurt!

I stayed on my side and my lovely nurse stayed right there with me holding the monitor on the baby b/c it's harder to pick up on your side and they wanted to watch him closely.   The dr came in just as the nurse was getting ready to put my catheter in so they rolled me back to my back & the dr said she'd go ahead and check me. I was feeling the contractions again at this point (because the epi was turned down) and while I'm sure they weren't full force and the epi was helping some- they were still pretty painful and very close together.. 2 in less than 3mins.   She checked me and said that I was 5cm but it felt like I was changing then and she would wait for the contraction to be over. She couldn't tell for sure if my water had broken, before it was bulging and now she thought she still felt a sac of water but was not 100%. With all the bleeding, we had no way of knowing if my water could have broken sometime between checks and was disguised by a gush of blood. The nurse & Dr talked for a few mins while the nurse got the catheter stuff set up. At this point, I told her to check me again because I was feeling a lot of pressure. She came over to check me (less than 5mins after the last check) and said I was 9cm !!   OMG. No wonder I was having so much pain and pressure! Everyone immediately jumped into action. The dr and nurse raced out to find out which OR we were going to and to get everyone into their scrubs. DH went and grabbed our crew so they could get back over and IM could get suited up with DH to go into the OR with me. I was left alone for a few minutes and the pain, shock of everything happening so quickly and emotions got the best of me so when IM walked in with her scrubs on she saw I had tears on my cheeks. Immediately she was concerned about me.. Omg, Have I mentioned that I Love this woman? About to meet her babies and she is worried about me.. ha.    We had a few minutes waiting on the OR to take a few pics. IF took a pic of me, DH & IM. Then stood a ways in front of us and did a selfie to get himself in it.. lol :) I LOVE that picture :)

The nurse came back and it was time to go. She gave me a boost on my epidural to help a tiny bit with the pain I was feeling . Thank goodness! We said goodbye to my friends and IF. Only 2 ppl are allowed in the OR (I had to deliver in the OR b/c it was twins) and we had decided ahead of time that it would be DH & IM. IF waited right outside of the room so he could meet the babies immediately.

When we got into the OR these silly people expected me to move myself from my bed onto the OR bed. Ha Ha Ha! I laughed at the nurse and warned her that I was feeling way more than I ever had and she had better plug her ears because I knew the cursing would be coming.. LoL.   I did manage to make it to the other bed despite having to stop halfway over due to a contraction..

Legs in stirrups and I was checked and told I was complete.. 5 mins of pushing and Baby A-- baby BOY was born. He seemed to come out in a sea of blood, my dr's gown was covered in blood. She clamped & cut his cord and handed him off to his team. I honestly didn't even get a peek of him b/c his team took him out to the hall to assess him. We told IM to go with him knowing it would be a few minutes before Baby B would be coming.

IM came back in just as the dr checked to see Baby B's position. She was a good girl and still head down. She broke her water and with a few pushes we got her down into place.   That was where she ceased being a good girl. lol. In reality she made her appearance just under 20mins after baby Boy but it seemed like I pushed and pushed FOREVER. I remember thinking, they are going to end up c-sectioning her b/c she will not come out! Finally, FINALLY she came out- sunny side up and sprayed amniotic fluid all over the dr.. LoL. I was EXHAUSTED.

Baby A(Boy) was born at 10:26pm weighing 5lbs 13oz & 18.5" long.
Baby B (Girl) was born at 10:41pm weighing 5lbs 11oz & 19.5" long.

Both were whisked away to the NICU where they spent almost two weeks before being released..

The monster belly (no my belly button doe not pop) complete with bruising from the inside out & the adorable Twins

We had plenty of bonding time and all my friends and family were able to come meet them before they left :) Snuggling a newborn is amazing and I am not sure how they both ever fit inside... lol.

My actual OB called me the week following their birth when she got back from vacation and saw that I had the babies while she was gone.. lol. We did talk about the delivery and all of the blood. Initially it was assumed that the bleeding was Baby A's placenta pulling away, but according to the pathology report it was actually his cord. His umbilical cord had attached to the membrane vs the placenta and was pulling away. I googled that and wished that I hadn't.   Baby Boy is one very very lucky baby!!

I spent the 2 weeks following delivery basically back on bedrest recovering. I lost a lot of blood during labor and looked a bit like a vampire for a while. I was put on lovely iron pills because my hemoglobin went from 12.5 (when I arrived at the hospital) to 9.1 four hours later at labor. Yeah, it was a LOT of blood. Best part of having twins and pumping breastmilk for them? I'm now 20 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight.. ha. Best weight loss plan ever!

Today is the day they were due to be born and yet they are 5 1/2 weeks old. They have been home in Spain for a few weeks and are doing amazingly.   Doing what newborns do best and giving their Mama many sleepless nights :-)

Another surrogacy is over with , a new family was made, and a friendship was formed for life. Do I miss the twins? Sure. They are such sweet, adorable babies. I miss my IPs, who we got to know so much better as they stayed with us the week heading up to delivery. But honestly, I miss being pregnant. I was completely miserable that last week or so but looking back today, our due date, and I'm feeling a little bit cheated. I was cheated out of almost 6 weeks of baby movements, kicks, and shoving Baby Girl back out of my ribs.   I am fully confident that with them both being almost 6lbs each and my uterus measuring what it did, I was lucky to keep them in that long... but I'm still feeling just a little cheated that I had to share them with the world sooner than expected. Selfish? Maybe. Now they are out and with their family and I couldn't be happier. I absolutely LOVE newborns but I do not miss getting up over and over during the night.. Ha! That I will leave to my wonderful IM :)

It was an absolutely wonderful journey, scary at the end but I wouldn't trade it for the world. And now I will be left debating whether to do it again or not.....

27-34 Weeks..

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 00:24:00 +0000

Well I certainly slacked off there didn't I?

I would now be 38wk + 4days if I were still pregnant.. Instead the twins are now 4 weeks old!

Yes, you've missed a LOT.. I'm going to try to condense those last7 weeks into one post.

When we last chatted, I had made my very first non-delivery trip to L & D. It was not to be my last.

At my 29.5 week appt, I was dilated to 1.5 and given my first steroid shot to help mature the babies lungs *just in case*.   I had to go back the next day for a second shot. Instead I had some cramping that evening and the following morning so the Dr had me just go straight to L & D to be checked and get my 2nd shot there. - aka Trip # 2 to L & D.   Hooked up to the monitors and it just showed irritable uterus - no further dilation (yay). I earned another check up at the Dr the following day though.. I was now 2.5cm dilated and I'd been having the cramping ect and so we started Procardia to help calm my uterus. I began the - take it easy but not completely strict bedrest. Back to the dr on Monday to check things and thankfully there was no more progression.

My next Dr appt wasn't until 31 wk + 4days.. If we learned anything it was watched uterus does nothing (last appts were Friday til Monday - no progression... ) yet if you feel comfy and wait a week + between appointments then naturally you'll change.. I was up to 3cm and back to 2 xweek appts.

So far all our ultrasounds had looked good.. The babies were doing well and I wasn't have any huge contractions, just the irritable uterus.. My appt at 31 wk + 6days was back to showing no change.. Still my Dr thought it might be a good idea if my IPs were to come soon.. Initially she told me if we got to 4cm I would be on hospital bedrest.. EEK.. We did up the dosage of procardia to hopefully hold things off a bit long. I was reminded that if I had any painful contractions I should go to L&D immediately b/c she did not want me to have these babies in the car on the way to the hospital. At the time I laughed at her... My labors have always been very long and this quick delivery she kept predicting was something that would never happen to me.. My shortest labor was 11 hours and that was induced...

Still I heeded her advice and went back to L&D a few days later. I had the single worst experience of my life. The man-handed nurse kept declaring that I was no more than 2cm and barely effaced.. She wasn't picking up any contractions until she readjusted the monitor and realized hmm I guess she is having some (2 in 20mins before she took the monitor off and sent me home)... I swore not to go back to the hospital unless my water had broken..

My next appt (32w+4days) and I was up to 3.5cm 90 % effaced.. Getting close to that 4cm cut off but she was content to let me go home. !   My IPs were due to fly in the following week so I repeatedly told the babies that they had to wait for Mommy & Daddy to arrive.

We were able to go to our last OB appt together (33weeks+3days) where my IPs got to see an u/s. We did a BPP (biophysical profile) of the babies and also looked at Baby Boy's cord b/c he was measuring smaller at the previous u/s. Both babies got perfect scores on the BPP (yay babies) - Baby Boy practiced his breathing like a pro & Baby Girl had some hiccups.. Baby Boy was now measuring 15% smaller but still a good size for his gestation. Still it worried me some that they had always been 1-2% apart in their measuring and suddenly he was dropping back...

Once my IPs were here- things calmed down.. I think the babies chilled out and were like 'nevermind, we'll just hang out'.    I was still on bedrest and going a bit stir crazy. One of my best friends had been up every day taking care of the kids, cleaning my house and constantly reminding me how grumpy I had become.. lol.. What are friends for?! I was getting darn uncomfortable - considering I was measuring 53 weeks (yes that's over a YEAR pregnant) I'd say it was understandable..   Getting off the couch/ out of bed/ off to toilet was pretty much an adventure in itself. The family laughed and then helped me up.   I was beginning to wonder how big the belly could possibly get without the uterus rupturing..

The last several weeks I could not reach the keyboard around my belly (part of why I never posted anywhere... ha) and Baby Girl was constantly in my ribs. Boy oh Boy did she like it up there.. I was always shoving her back down again..

Every morning my IM would come downstairs (they were staying at the house with us), look at me and say "Ohh you are bigger!".   lol.. She would definitely agree with an earlier statement I made that my belly was much bigger in person that it was in pictures.

We were told that when we hit 34weeks (July 26) I could go off my Procardia.. We decided to go ahead and just finish out the bottle which would take me roughly to July 29th.. My Dr was going on vacation that week so I had informed the twins that they would stay put no matter WHAT until she got back in town.. We all know what happens when you tell a child anything...

July 28th- I was sure was the day.. It was a Monday. I spent most of Sunday completely uncomfortable and finally Monday morning I had enough and was ready to to the hospital. I'd been timing my contractions every 5mins for several hours.. My Dr was suppposed to be on vacation and I knew it was just my luck. We got around and when my IPs woke up, we told them that we were going to go to the hospital to get checked out. I assured them that the didn't have to come with us because with my luck I'd get sent home again but IM wanted to be there.

Into L&D we went.. I got Triage room 3 (the same room of the horrible experience from last time) and had already informed DH that if he saw ManHand nurse he was to make sure that she was NOT my nurse no matter what he had to do. Thankfully we had a nice nurse this time around. I got hooked up to the monitors and could see the contractions every 5mins plus lots of irritable uterus. I stayed for an hour and since there was no change I was sent home again.. "Irritable uterus". *sigh* I give up.   I swore this was it.   So since I was now having painful contractions every 5mins I was told to come back if the intensity got worse or they got closer together.. It was beginning to seem like no matter what happened these babies weren't going to make an appearance.

**Note- I did not want these babies to come early at all but at this point in the pregnancy we were at the "safe zone" and contractions were wearing me down..

Stay tuned for the birth story....

26 weeks !

noreply@blogger.com (Momma chaos) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:38:00 +0000

Well we had some excitement over the weekend.   On Friday, I was down at a friend's house helping out with a garage sale.   Several times during the afternoon I was having contractions. Not painful, just belly hard as a drum type. Braxton hicks- no biggie. I made it home around 4pm and laid down for a while. Unfortunately these darn contractions wouldn't go away. Instead I started having some cramping type pain as well.   Again, nothing major but just uncomfortable.   I drank water & laid on my side.    It seemed to be better laying down but the minute I would get up - BAM back at it.

Finally I told DH that we should probably go get it checked out. It wasn't painful enough to bother me but the fact that it wasn't going away and I've seen way too many people having really early babies lately made me decide to go get checked.

Naturally I didn't even begin to worry until we got there.. lol.. OMG - what if they put me on bedrest? lol.. I have soo much going on between graduation of my oldest and orientation for my oldest 2 that I don't have time to be bedridden. (I would do it if told though).

So we checked in, peed in a cup and got comfy in the very uncomfortable triage room. A good note- my OB was on call! DH got to meet her :)   Love her !   We got hooked up to monitors, Baby Girl was stinker as always and did not want us to find her heartbeat. She's rotten like that :)

Dr came in and did the fFN test* and also a cervical check. 4th pregnancy and you learn something new every time. The outer part of my cervix is dilated some but the inner part is closed up firmly. I had no idea there was an outer & inner part.. ha. My Dr assured me that having already had 3 children, it's normal or the outer part to be dilated some. We just worry about the inner part..

And then we sat and waited for results ..

fFN came back negative! Yay!   Urine came back saying that I had my very first ever BLADDER INFECTION.. Geesh.. Apparently bladder infections can cause contractions while pregnant so this was the answer :)   Antibiotics for 1 week and no restrictions otherwise. I was released to go.

So all in all, my very first labor & delivery trip early in the pregnancy and all is good. Just a silly infection :)

**fFN test : The fetal fibronectin (fFN) test can't tell you for sure that you are in labor, but it can tell you that you're not. This is useful because in the early stages of preterm labor, it's very difficult to tell if a woman really is in labor based on her symptoms and a pelvic exam.

A negative result on the fFN test means it's highly unlikely that you'll give birth in the next week or two, which can set your mind at ease and allow your practitioner to hold off on treatments that may not be needed. A positive result, on the other hand, is not as useful. It means you're at a higher risk of giving birth early, but it doesn't guarantee that you're about to give birth or that you'll deliver early at all, so it won't help your practitioner decide how to manage your situation.

And now a belly pic.. Beware- it looks deceivingly small.. ha.


Looking small today. Don't worry it's not normally like this! Ha!

26 Weeks

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air.
And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about 1 2/3 pounds and measures 14 inches (about the size of a scallion) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles should soon begin to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three months