So I am now 23 weeks along, I thought the time was right for a timeline of the growing bump. She is being pretty nice to me and not stretching me out too quickly!
7weeks 14 weeks
16 weeks 19 weeks
hmmmm...... :-)
We found out the gender of the baby a few days ago, and they invited us up to their place for a BBQ to announce it to their friends and family. We had a great time and did a little sight seeing along the way. When we got to their house they had a wonderful spread for the BBQ along with a whole table of my favorite snacks; cherry twizzlers, oreo's banana's and graham crackers. It was AWESOME!
They had a cute way of announcing the gender to everyone, they had a baker color the inside of the cake either pink or blue and frost it white with green and yellow flowers. It was beautiful and one of the most delicious cakes I have eaten. And the moment you've been waiting for...
...
....
..............here it comes........
......
GIRL!!!!!!!
Well... I got a little lazy and didn't want to log on to the computer to update. I've had a couple of great Dr appointments. The baby looks great and is measuring perfectly. We got to see the baby by ultrasound one more time and then hear it's heartbeat. Our next appointment is the BIG one, 20 week gender ultrasound!!! J & G are sooo excited they are having a gender reveal party the weekend after, and we are road tripping it down to be there for it. We planned a mini vacation and my girls are super excited.
I was so happy to finally be done with morning sickness, it finally left for good around 14 weeks, I am now RAVENOUS, they tell me this is a phase too, man I hope it passes quickly! I haven't got too much of a belly yet, this baby is taking it's time to make itself known to the world. Having to pee every 10 minutes has been entertaining for the whole family, I think they are starting to make bets.
I am so honored to be part of this process, it is truly amazing to help build a family for such a wonderful couple. They have been amazing through the whole thing, so thoughtful. I am so excited to meet some of their closest friends and family in a couple weeks.
Promise there will be some belly pics next time!
We had the 9 week ultrasound and everything is going swimmingly! I am still struggling with morning sickness, but I hear that should be gone in a couple weeks. I "graduated" from the fertility clinic and will now go on to see a regular OB. I am also weaning off the shots so I am sosoo excited for that! By butt is already thanking me!
A friend of mine who is also a surrogate just found out that she is carrying twins! They are all super excited about it. She is a couple weeks behind me so it will be fun to go through this together. I'm not really showing yet but I'm sure that will change soon! I can't wait for some warm weather, we have been having the coldest spring I remember. I'm so ready to wear my warm weather clothes before I grow out of them :-)
Good news!! We went in and saw one beautiful strong heartbeat. It was awesome, doesn't quite look like a baby yet, more of a tadpole if you ask me! I felt such relief when we saw it, I had worked myself into a real coniption by the time Friday rolled around, I should have known someone was messin with my hormones, because I am usually pretty calm. I've also been enjoying some lovely nausea... Thankfully it's not all day or even every day. I don't usually have very many pregnancy symptoms, the one that I've noticed this time is saliva!! I have so much spit in my mouth all the time! My husband has endured many spit showers since this started.
J & G were able to be there for it it was so sweet to see the joy on their faces when we saw their baby alive and growing. They are coming in for the 9 week ultrasound next Wednesday, I am so glad that I will be done with shots at the end of this month, a little over 2 weeks!!
My first two beta tests came back GREAT! The first was 54 and the second was 153 that means it TRIPILED! that's a pretty good way to start! Then to make it even better my 20 day number was 8990. Everyone is saying that is a twin number, I will be happy as long as we have healthy baby. We have our 7 week heartbeat ultrasound on friday so I only have 6 days to wait. I was so nervous in between my 10 day and 20 day that I took like 5 pregnancy tests :-) One of my good friends who is also a surro transfered on Thursday and she will have her first beta on friday, they transfered 3 so I am hoping for a healthy pregnancy for her as well.
I had my first beta test bright and early this morning, my next one will be Monday, to see if my numbers doubled. I bought a few dollar store preggo tests and they all came up neg so far... Not too concerned though because they don't seem to be as sensitive as some of the others I've used. I guess i'll just have to wait until Monday!!
I had my second transfer on Friday 3/11/11 at 11am. My IP's, my Hubby and I all enjoyed an amazing breakfast at a little french restaurant downtown, mine involved lots of fat and sugar and was absolutely divine!! Then we all made our way to the clinic were they gave me some Valium our last go 'round it didn't affect me in the slightest, this time it made me loopier than a corkscrew, I felt like I'd had one too many glasses of red before dinner! So my sweet husband got to try and keep me from disturbing (I pretty much thought everything was super funny) the other clients while my IP's went and discussed the quality of the embryos they were beautiful of course! We did what is called an FET my first transfer was IVF, basically the only difference between the two is that this time around the embies were frozen.
The room was roasty toasty as usual and everything went off without a hitch I really hope we get a baby or two from this one. I'm already feeling more tired than usual, and have been having nausea off and on even before the transfer, all of the hormones that they put you on mimic pregnancy so I am not too surprised, although I didn't have any of it the first time. We are now in the great waiting game.... I bought 5 pregnancy test and plan on using them! If we hav
e two I should be able to get a positive in a day or two, if there is only one I might have to wait until the blood tests. Even before my last transfer I had a slight nagging feeling, this time I don't have that same feeling, I have a different one, it's hard to explain, but I think it might be overjoyed....
So I needed to refill the prescription for the antibiotics they have us take before our transfer. I called and they asked if I wanted to pick it up I said yeah because it was closer to nampa than the clinic. I go to pick it up today and I thought I knew where I was going but as I'm driving I can't quite remember how to get to the road (maple grove) so I drove like 10 miles in the wrong direction! Then I punch the address in my gps and when I get in the right area all I can see are storage units so I drove around the area for 15 min looking with no luck, then I drive the opposite direction thinking maybe I transposed the numbers or something, still no luck, so I called the pharm again and asked exactly where ARE you located and the lady says you know the storage units, just keep going down until you see 286, so I'm like you are actually IN the 
storage unit?? And she says yes, so I drive back to the unit and all I see are a couple of unmarked offices, I was getting pretty desperate so I finally called Alicia thinking maybe this was some secret surrogate pharmacy that is undetectable to the average person, she searched around on her phone and came up with the name and confirmed the address for me, I tell her if I disappear that this is where it happened. I go in and there is nothing, so I call her back and say that I'm just going to turn in every little street until I find the dumb place, she is very sweet and encouraging and stays on the line with me during the whole thing, finally I turn down a random off street, and even though the whole thing looks abandoned and for sale, I notice the numbers are close to 286!! So I pull up to it and there is a backward sign that says the doors are always locked and I see there is a tiny white doorbell.... Nothing else, so I tell Alicia, " if I get whacked tell my family I love them and the guys, I'm sorry, I didn't know I was starting such a perilous journey!" I ring the bell and wait in terror... A nice guy answered, gave me my meds, and sent me on my way! So I thought I would send you guys some pics so you could include this in our "surro-journey" it's way funnier now that it's over, and it really only took about 45 minuets of my life, but I'm a big drama queen and love telling stories! !
Amber
So I have some sad news, it took me awhile to feel like posting about it, but on the 8th we found out that the embryos stopped forming; they call it a chemical pregnancy when it ends so early. We were all so shocked, J & G were so supportive along with Alicia I love having an advocate, to be there for me, especially when things don't go quite the way they should. I should also mention that she has put together a support group they are truly an inspiring group of women, they are there to rejoice when there is good news and also there to lift up when the news isn't so great.
On a good note, G & J are ready to start trying again ASAP, our next transfer date is March 11, I guess 11 is a lucky number ;-) I have a baseline ultrasound tomorrow morning to check the thickness of my lining. I started bleeding yesterday and woke up around 2 am pretty sure that I was going to die from the pain. Thankfully I was lucid enough to get some ibuprof
en and after an hr I felt better. I am praying that everything will work out this time. They are such a sweet couple and they have been waiting for so long for this baby...
Yesterday was my first blood test to see if there is any HGC (pregnancy hormone) in my system... I had decided to just wait till the blood tests but when my friend Whitney came over with a sweet surprise, a test!! I couldn't resist. I took the test on Monday morning and it came out positive!!! It is still pretty early but I am feeling pretty positive. I am still sort of nervous about it being a chemical pregnancy since that is common in IFV. But with all of the extra precautions the clinic takes with everything I think we have pretty good chances.
I will know a little more on Thursday and then we will know how many took at the 7 week ultrasound. I hope it gets here FAST!
So yesterday was the big day.... Transfer day. It went really well and I was surprised at how painless it was, I guess the natural way was is pretty painless too ;-) G & J came into town for the proceedure and they took our family out to dinner, We had a great time; the girls behaved very well, Gabrielle fell asleep as soon as she finished eating though! It was nice to spend a little time with them, they are such sweet people it made me even more confident of my decision to become a surrogate.
It went down like this... My hubby and I got there about 5 min later than I wanted, but that is pretty usual for me. I started drinking my Chai Latte so that I would have a partially full bladder but not be uncomfortable during the waiting time after implantation. They gave me a Valium to relax me and my uterus, I didn't feel any different but my uterus was doing what they needed it to so it all worked out. The room was insanely warm so there was no chance of any one getting cold feet or anything else for that matter! I did wear my lucky rainbow socks :-) After the implantation they had me lay down and took a blood sample. We all hung out and visited for about 20 min and then they sent me on my way with a list of instructions for the next week and a half. I had originally been told that I might have to lay there for 1-2 hrs so I uploaded the game of life onto our itouch I thought it would be fun to see how many kids they got... but everything went so fast that there was no time for it.
So now I am here on bed-rest trying not to move around too much and stay relaxed.... A couple days I can do but I have no idea how women can do it for weeks or months... I would officially go nuts!
In 8 days we will know if they took and by 10 we should have a confirmed pregnancy test. I am sure the time is going to fly by. Still thinking sticky thoughts!
So just because the title says weekly doesn't mean it has to be every week does it? :-)
We had a great Christmas, one of my best friends came to town for Christmas and was able to hang out with us for 2 days. It was one of my favorite presents this year. We went to a basque restaurant, it was packed and delicious, I had lamb for the first time..... not to bad, I LOVE trying new foods. We've went out with friends quite a bit lately, I think I am trying to get it out of my system before the baby. My IP's sent me a gorgeous picture for Christmas, I feel bad,
I had the best intentions of sending them a box of goodies that we had made, but kept putting it off....we ended up eating them last Friday.....I wonder if I can blame that on the hormones???
So far everything has been going smoothly. I take my shots without too much whimpering, I've only got a couple bruises. I have given myself some of the estrogen shots, I have a hard time doing it on one side, so Jaime has been helping me. I believe I will start my nightly progesterone shots tonight or tomorrow. With a GIANT needle of course! If all goes well with the egg donor I should have my transfer on the 16th. Right now I'm not nervous, just anxious to get it started with. G and J will be there for the transfer, I bet they are beyond themselves with excitement. When they come down it will be the first time they meet Jaime and the girls, we'll see if they can behave themselves hahaha!
So my new experiment will be to post about my Surrogacy Journey. I haven't gotten very far yet, but the exciting part is coming soon so if I start now maybe I'll have a good momentum going.
So far I have met my intended parents (very nice couple from Utah) had my interview with a psychologist (yay, I'm not too crazy!) and went through all of the pre-tests at the reproductive clinic to make sure that my body will support a pregnancy. I started taking the required medications around Thanksgiving time. I'm done taking birth control and Doxycycline. I am still taking a prenatal and a baby aspirin and a Lupron injection in the belly every day. Tomorrow I start my twice weekly estrogen shots in the butt, not really looking forward to those, but I made it through the belly ones without being too emotionally scarred!
This was such a busy and fun week! Lots of babysitting, short school week for Ashlynn and the much awaited .... student lead parent-teacher conference. Jaime and I went to a concert for one of my favorite bands and then to top it all off Ashlynn and I ran in our first 5K and did awesome I might add ;-) We were supposed to go up to Cascade this weekend with my parents for their birthdays, but sadly things didn't work out. The girls were pretty bummed about not getting to go to the hot springs, but we are planning on going as soon as the cabin is ready.
Ashlynn's conference went awesome she is a great student and she has such passion to learn. I love that she is excited everyday to go to school and learn something new; & we both love that she can brag on herself a little bit during conferences :-).
I was so excited when I heard Crash Kings were coming to the knitting factory. We got there early enough to be right next to the stage. The first band, Civil Twilight was awesome, the base guitarist played one song with a violin bow!
Then the Crash Kings played, they rocked and even people who weren't really fans had their minds changed by the time they were done. The girl next to me got their set list, but then the drummer tossed his sticks to the crowd and on of them landed right at my feet, I stepped on it, but a big guy grabbed before I could. When the last band, Anberlin came on they were amazing, but everyone knew that and so the crowd really started to press forward... and because I watched Selena, I started to get nervous, and when they started to jump around and mos
h I really got nervous, especially because
the 300 lb guy in front of me didn't look to steady! I wanted to move back a little bit so we were making our way, but I couldn't see a way out of the pit.... and basically started to freak out! When I saw a small ledge with no one I stepped up on it, and 
this old lady behind me tried to push me off, I was able to keep my balance but then she did it again! There was space for us on the ground right there in front of it so we stood there for another song, but people were pushing and spilling beer so we left when the song was done. Pretty exciting no?!?
My friend Traci and I joined Ashlynn and Girls on the Run for a 5K called Boise to Barber. I love Girls on the Run, not only do they teach girls a little bit about proper running and how to stay physically healthy, they also talk to them about emotional health and mental health. It is such a good thing for them to start focusing on their health now, so that it will be easier to maintain as they get older. We didn't eat anything before the race so that slowed us down a little bit but we still did awesome. Ashlynn's friend Annika raced with us too, she really encouraged Ashlynn when she started to get tired and hungry towards the end. We all finished in 35 min or less. I am already looking forward to the next time :0)
So I always have these good intentions of posting on my blog, so I log on and get my fingers ready for typing; then I notice all the awesome new posts from my favorite blogs so I decide to just skim through a few "real quick"ya know it'll only take a minuet. Then as things happen I get "inspired"and just have to____ (fill in the blank) Before I know it quiet time is up and I have to get back to life, not just write about it! Well I managed to actually write down something this time! Maybe I can do it again! if it would only actually show up!
So it's been almost a year since I've posted anything...I keep hoping that life will slow down enough for me to catch up to it, not likely! There has been so much that has happened here goes.....
I've been meaning to post about my Soccer Super-star for awhile well today is the day! Ashlynn started soccer on March 10 well this week will be her last game of the season. Ashlynn wasn't too sure about the whole soccer thing, she's more of a prim and proper girl and getting down and dirty really isn't her thing; but she has an extremely competitive spirit and sometimes it can come out at inappropriate times. I figured if she could put it to great use on the soccer field.
When the first day of practice came around, she was sooo nervous (totally type-A personality) she was sure everyone would know how to play soccer except her and that she would mess up and everyone would be so mad at her. Needless to say that didn't happen, one of her very good friends Vanessa was on her team and to put a cherry on the cake her dad Ryan was the coach! Her first game went awesome, she was a firecracker. Because of her size she was able to get in close to the ball easily and for someone so small she has one powerful kick. (pretty sure she gets that from me, big butts do have a purpose!!) Although she has enjoyed it, we are all ready for it to be over. With Ballet Folklorico, Awana, Church and Home team adding soccer to our schedule was a bit of overkill. Next year Gabs will be able to participate in Upward and I know she will LOVE it. I think T-ball is calling our name for next year....only time will tell.
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I fully enjoyed the last two days of warm spring sunshine, but alas all good things must come to an end....we have now entered a few cold days, I am so not looking forward to soccer practice tonight! I can't even get myself motivated enough to clean the house up properly!!! All I want to do is snuggle up in a blanket and watch one of my all time favorite movies, O Brother, where art thou? I'm not exactly sure how that would work, considering it's not a kid movie, we only have one DVD player and I haven't been able to watch a movie during the day since Gab's gave naps up a year and a half ago (she gets herself into trouble if left to her own devices for more than 15 min).
Easter was great, Jaime sang with the choir and they sounded awesome! We were so happy that our family could come and see him and hear a really awesome message about hope and Gods unending mercy and grace, it was so touching to see so many of our friends lives poured out in a few simple words, I don't think that there was a dry eye in the room!
