Overjoyed x2!

Today has been an amazing day! I met B & R at the U of M a bit before my appointment. They were so excited they had been there about an hour already! I was excited too and was there 10 minutes early.

We sat in the waiting room and chatted and watched my 2 year old climb the chairs. Finally, my name was called. 

As I walked back with the tech, I told her that I have an entourage with me and I would like them present when it's time for the ultrasound. She said "you want what to happen?" I told her again that I would like my husband and the parents to be present for the ultrasound. That she finally got.

I was left to undress and cover as I waited for the doctor to come in and the ultrasound to begin. The tech brought everyone back to me and we all chatted until the doctor came in.

B & R moved up by me (thank you!) and we all could watch the ultrasound monitor.

In went the probe and we all started watching the screen. A couple of seconds later we started seeing dark blobs appear on the screen. She quickly discounted one of them as just blood (there was nothing inside) and showed us the remaining two sacs. Twins!

The two dark areas are the sacs and the little spots of white inside are the babies!

It was so cool to watch as she measured each sac and the "crown to rump" measurement. Both babies are measuring almost perfect at 6 weeks 5 days and 6 weeks 4 days. (I am currently 6 weeks 6 days). 

My favorite part of every prenatal appointment came next: listening to the heartbeats. There isn't a more wonderful sound in all the world, if you ask me. To think that these little babies, each no bigger than a blueberry, has a heart that is beating on its own is such an amazingly awesome thing to me. I will never stop marveling at the awesomeness of that sound. I absolutely love that sound!

Baby A cooperated and allowed us to easily hear the beats and count them-130 beats per minute. Baby B was a bit more tricky to get to, but we were able to hear the beats as well-124 beats per minute. Perfect for almost 7 week babies!

B & R are so excited to know that everything seems to be going well and the babies and I are healthy. I don't know if its really hit any of us yet, there are going to be two little people joining the party in 7-8 months! I'll probably write about it once reality hits me that I'm carrying two babies. :-)

I am so excited for small miracles!

A Fun Weekend

Saturday afternoon B & R flew in to MSP for the weekend. Of course we wanted to see them and introduce our girls to them.

My oldest instantly had new best friends. What? People who want to talk with her and play I Spy? Friends for life! My youngest took a bit more convincing and didn't say much for a few hours, but would shoot them little looks and grin. 

We enjoyed showing B & R a bit of Minnesota, namely, the Mall of America. After a casual dinner and some shopping, we called it a night.

Yesterday, we met for lunch and since my kiddos still have a rest time, I took them home, but not before inviting B & R over for dinner.

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner and conversation. At bed time B & R left with a promise of meeting me at my ultrasound appointment the next morning.

So, that's where we are. I'm getting a couple of munchkins ready for the day (slowly-nausea is ever present this morning) and later this morning will be making another trip to the U of M for an ultrasound to check for viability and to count how many there are! I'll post about that later.

For now I'm enjoying the little miracles in my life.

Welcome Back, Nausea

Since a few days after the transfer I've been experiencing what I'd call mild nausea. As of this last Friday, the mild has since been upgraded to moderate-to-severe. 

Yesterday, I was pretty much out of commission for the entire morning. Today, I was awakened at 3:37am with "oh my word what is going on" nausea. I dozed on and off for a few hours, but still have quite the upset stomach.

Unfortunately, the nausea isn't going away as early as it was previously. I'm learning how to cope and function at an almost normal level by taking a lot of breaks, drinking my icy water, and keeping a bit of food in me at all times. Most days these tricks work.

This may sound crazy, but I don't mind the nausea. I know that this is a sign that the pregnancy is going well, and since I can't yet feel movement inside, I like the reassurance of some symptoms. 

Miracles make it happen!

The Pregnant Stomach

Last night Shawn and I were able to get away for a couple of hours without the kiddos and enjoy a nice meal together. (Many thanks to my cousin who watched the girls for us!)

The humor happened when we arrived at the restaurant. We had a Groupon for a new-to-us Brazillian Steakhouse that we decided to check out. It is your typical "guys wearing nickers carrying spears of meat" kind of restaurant. 

The first bit of humor happened when Shawn asked if we could substitute the bottle of wine that came with our meal for something else as I am pregnant. The server said no, but he could bring me something else and we could take the bottle home. Okay. Send the pregnant lady home with a bottle of wine. Whatever works for them.

Next was me trying various foods. I am in LOVE with red meat right now. Yum! Apparently, seasoned chicken tastes good, but my poor stomach won't let me enjoy it. The same goes for bacon wrapped turkey, cheese puffs, ham, and quite a few other things I attempted to eat last night. I felt bad that I kept rejecting foods, but I was able to find the humor in the situation. I love foods, so the fact that I would instantly reject foods after what can only be considered a small tastes is kind of funny to me. 

Gotta love pregnancy tastes and aversions! Its all for a good reason, right?

Little miracle, you sure have funny taste in foods!

Making Guesses

My coworkers are all making guesses about how many babies I am carrying. I've been told that when I have the ultrasound on Monday I'm supposed to text practically the whole school and let them know what the answer is. (We will see!)

Most people are guessing 1 or 2, however, a couple evil ladies are guessing 3 and 4! Yikes! Evil, evil ladies!

I've been asked what I think and I go back and forth between 1 and 2. However, I have also had a crazy dream of 3! Last week I kept having twin dreams, this week has just been strange dreams not at all about babies. Not sure what that means (if anything).

So, what's your guess?

I can't wait to see this miracle!

Surrogacy Support

Today's post isn't about how I am feeling physically, cravings, or upcoming doctor's appointments. Nope. It's about my wonderful hubby, Shawn.

Today is our 9th anniversary. As a bride I remember being excited about our future together and wondering what God had planned for our days together. I NEVER dreamed that we would have two beautiful and smart girls of our own and I would be helping another couple have a family of their own by carrying a baby for them.

Shawn has been absolutely wonderful throughout the surrogacy process. He was with me for both of the transfers, even joking that "if my wife is going somewhere to get pregnant I'd like to be there for it!"

He has encouraged me through the all of the meds and helped me when I'm just too tired to stay awake to administer them. (He hasn't been on the giving end of the shots yet, just waking me up so I can do them.)

He held me and let me cry after hearing the bad news of a chemical pregnancy and then once again when my IP's bitterly told me they weren't continuing.

He has laughed (a lot) with me as we have heard the insanely high beta numbers called to me from the nurse.

He has held my hand as I've nervously anticipated meeting my IP's.

He has brought home dinner for me when I'm just too tired (or nauseous) to cook anything.

He will eventually be the one to stay with me after the baby/ies are delivered and safely in their own room with B & R. 

Even though I'm the one taking the meds and carrying the baby/ies, there is no way I could have or would have wanted to do this without Shawn's support.

Thanks, Shawn, for your love, encouragement, and support throughout this journey. I'm glad you are by my side as we wait for B & R's miracles!

Our blessed family.

Surrogate Get-Together

Yesterday was the Agency's annual Surrogate Social. My girls and I were able to attend and what a great time we had!

A quick funny story from yesterday. The director was chatting with me and asked me how things are going with my journey. I said things are going well as I impatiently wait for the ultrasound next Monday. He asked why I am anxious about that. I told him that my last beta was rather high and I want to know how many are in there.

A bit later he introduced me to others and said "this is Shawnee, the one with the scary beta!" 

Proudly wearing my fertility helper bracelets

I love that all of us surrogates have such unique stories. Some have had really difficult journeys, others have had fairly "easy" ones (if there is such a thing as an easy surrogacy experience!)

What really hit home for me was the differences in IP's and interactions each surrogate has with them. Some of the ladies talk with their IP's a couple of times a month. Others Skype every day. Some have language barriers and time changes to contend with. There are a few that live close enough to go visit every week.

I'm somewhere in the middle. My IP's and I text a couple of times a week and have been calling about once a week. I met them in person the weekend of the transfer and will hopefully get to see them again soon at an ultrasound. We don't have time differences or language barriers (unless you call my Midwestern accent a language barrier!). They aren't within day trip driving distance, but they are within the continental 48. All in all, I'm pretty lucky.

Back to the Social...

The surrogates I know are some amazing ladies who really know how to support each other during the good and bad. We each had our own reasons for going into surrogacy. One thing is certain with each of us: surrogacy is a life-changing experience for not only us but our families and the couples we are working with.

Little Miracles, my friends and I are excited to meet you!