Got PRIDE? These Surro's do!

Last weekend a few close surro-sisters came into town for the Long Beach Pride Festival. Fun times!!! Our weekend was filled with lots of food, laughter, and small talk. I love having the opportunity to spend time with these girls that I have come to know so well and have grown so close with.

Dinner with the girls at La Creperie

Our shirts this year said "Filled with PRIDE".
Very fitting, considering our uterus' are/were literally "filled" with pride as we carry a baby for gay men.
Stacie's husband created the design and I absolutely LOVE it.
If you're interested in purchasing one of these rad shirts, you can do so here:
http://www.cafepress.com/filledwithpride

Exactly!!

Rock on, dude!!!

It shouldn't have to be earned... :(

OK, who's IPs are pictured on the poster? ;) And how cute is Grandma!
Love this!!

I've known this man since the 3rd grade.
When he came out in high school, I told him I would carry his baby.
Not knowing what Surrogacy was at the time, just that I wanted him to have the opportunity
to be a parent and have a child of his own if he chose to. My offer still stands.  

 

And last, but certainly not least, my dearest surro sister AMY was in town for her
medical clearance for round #2 (coming this Fall) so she was able to stay the weekend
and celebrate with us at PRIDE!!
She birthed 8lb boy/girl TWINS last November into the arms of their loving and ever so handsome Daddies.
In case you missed it, that was 8lbs EACH!! Whoa baby!!
God love my Minnesota Sister.

15 weeks and feeling great!!

Man-o-man...it's been a while. I'm so sorry. Things here have been so easy going (for the most part) and there's not much to post about. I guess that is a good thing and hopefully a sign of a nice, uneventful pregnancy from here on out!

We are 15 weeks along now. Little Peanut is doing AMAZING! He/She has passed the first trimester screening with flying colors. Such a smart baby already! ;)

I *think* i have been feeling Peanut move now and since about 13 weeks. It's not every day that I feel Peanut move, but when I do, I know it's him/her saying, "Hello! I'm here! Thank you for keeping me safe until I can be in my Daddies arms."

This is the best part of pregnancy, in my opinion. I love watching my bump grow. I love feeling baby move. I love the second trimester when I start to get all of my energy back and the nausea says, "so long!" I love the pregnancy "glow" that comes along with feeling fantastic in the 2nd tri. I love everything about being pregnant. And the most special part about this pregnancy is that I am helping to create a family. THAT is an amazing feeling, and one that I am so damn proud of.

We have an exciting month coming up next month (June). We'll have our 20w ultrasound and hopefully we'll be able to find out Peanut's gender (if she cooperates!). I keep wanting to call her a girl, so we'll see! Daddies will be in town for the big u/s and we're hoping to set up a private tour of the hospital. I can't wait to show A & M how wonderful this hospital is.

I will leave you with a few pictures of my bump progression (sorry for the blurry writing...I don't know how to fix it). It's crazy to see how much has changed already. If you look at 8 weeks, you can see how bloated I am. I am blaming it on all of the hormones and medications that I was on. Week 9 I look much smaller from the week before, and from there on, the bump slowly starts to POP! Did I mention that this is one of my favorite parts of being pregnant?

Hip Hip Hurray!!

I've graduated!!!

..from meds that is. 

After 14 long weeks of daily injections and pills, I am now officially off all medications (except prenatals of course).

My bum could not be happier. It was getting pretty tough there for a while with the daily injections.

I am now released to see my OB for the remainder of this pregnancy. We have the first trimester screening next week and my IFs will be flying into town for that. I can't wait to squeeze them!

Today marks 11w2d pregnant. I had a final u/s with the Fertility Doc this morning and was able to see Peanut squirming all around. Such an amazing sight! I'm looking forward to the coming weeks and when I can start to feel all the movements.

Not the best picture, but here is today's u/s...

11w2d pregnant
Peanut measures 11w4d and is about 2 inches in length
heart rate is 166bmp
(I'm kind'a guessing it's going to be a girl)

9w2d - Wiggle Worm Ultrasound

So, I guess my dates are off? I don't really know how to calculate how far along I really am since we did IVF. I've been going off this website - http://www.ivf.ca/duedate.php and entering our egg retrieval date (2/9/12). By doing this, I get 9w4d and a due date of November 1st. Today at my ultrasound, the RE is saying I'm 9w2d, and that the baby is measuring right on track. It's bothering my that my calculations are off by 2 days from what the doc has calculated. 2 days. Yea.

Recalculated Due Date: November 3rd.

I can't even tell you how excited I am to paint my belly for Halloween! I have always wanted to do this. I need to think of something with lightening bolts so my stretchmarks will blend in better.

We had an ultrasound today. I love these days! I never had the chance to see my own kids on u/s this early in my pregnancies. It is SO NEAT to watch this baby grow from a little "dot" to now - A peanut. I think that is what I will nickname this baby - Lil Peanut. Today was an awesome day. Today was the first time I saw Lil Peanut move on the ultrasound. I saw it's arms moving all around and it's whole body squirming. It seemed to react when I laughed (see video below). I fell in love. It was a beautiful sight. Every time I see this baby on the u/s I can't help but get excited about the future and the moment when A & M hold their for the first time. Brings tears to my eyes at the thought.

Doctor's orders: Decrease meds - Yay!! I would have liked to hear "you may stop meds completely", but it looks like I have a few more weeks yet. Oh, and sorry Eric (hubby), doctor's orders....i'm still on "pelvic rest".

My new insurance cards should arrive this week. Doesn't seem like a big deal to most, but this means that I finally get to see my new OB--I'm so excited!! I've heard nothing but great things about this OB and the medical group. I look forward to a great experience with them.

And now i'll leave you with the best part....a video of the baby! I dare you not to smile while watching this awesomeness.

If you listen closely, you can hear my 3 year old daughter in the background telling the doctor,

"That baby has two daddies."

I love it.

And I'm like whoa.

Ok, i'll admit. I've gained about 10lbs. since starting the meds. But today...today I look pregnant (pictured right side)!!

Houston....we have a baby!!!

According to www.IVF.ca, today I am 7w5d PREGNANT!!

A & M are expecting ONE healthy baby....YAY!!

3/14/2012 - 6w6d
Ultrasound confirms ONE baby!
Baby measures 5.51mm
Heart rate is 125bpm

3/20/2012 - 7w5d
Baby measures 1.28cm
Heart rate is 154bpm

The baby is doing great! Measuring well and has a strong heart beat.

Couldn't ask for anything better. I'm so excited for A & M!

How am I feeling? Super tired. I wake up tired. I go to sleep at night exhausted. I am constantly tired. I get waves of nausea every day, all day, but nothing too extreme. Yesterday I picked up some Preggie Pops and a couple acupressure wrist bands that are supposed to help alleviate the nausea. If this will be anything like my last pregnancy, I should expect the nausea to last another 9 weeks or so. 

I'm still doing intramuscular injections (in my rear) of both progesterone (daily) and estrogen (every 3 days), progesterone vaginal suppositories (4x.day), progesterone sublingual lozenges (under the tongue 2x/day), Estrace (estrogen) tablets (3x/day), and of course daily prenatal vitamins. All of the hormone medications will continue for another 4-5 weeks. At that point, I will be released to my OB. 

Speaking of OB, i'm on the hunt for the perfect OB in my area. He/She has to have worked with surrogates before. He has to be comfortable with same sex couples cause well, that's who this baby's parent are and they will be attending doctor appointments throughout this pregnancy. And lastly, he has to be VBAC friendly. This is extremely important to me. If there is no reason for another c-section, I'd like to preserve my body for another pregnancy. Maybe even a sibling project for this baby! ;)

Pssst. Got a few minutes?

...and the moment we've all been waiting for...

What is the BETA (hCG) result you ask? 

This just in TODAY at 13dp5dt...

(13 days past a 5 day transfer)

If you have a few more minutes to spare...

here is the live video of my first POSITIVE digital pregnancy test taken at 8dp5dt.

CONGRATULATIONS A & M!!!
I am thrilled to be on this amazing journey with you both. Much love and lots of hugs being sent your way.
WE DID IT!!!xoxo

6dp5dt

Six days past a five day transfer...

Hi. My name is Andrea, and I'm addicted to peeing on a stick.

Seven more days till BETA!!

WE did it!!

We had the embryo transfer this past Tuesday...Valentine's Day. It was a perfect day.

I was able to spend a few days with the A & M while they were in town, and we had a great time together. I will miss M giving me shots--they were pretty much pain free!

How am I feeling?
I feel good. Resting a lot. I've been cramping since the afternoon of the transfer. I heard this is common with IVF so i'm trying not to think too much in to it. Easier said than done though. I worry about EVERY little thing that I feel.  Last night I had an overwhelming feeling of tightness in my lower abdomen. I kept moving around to get comfortable, but nothing was working so I just went to bed. The medication that I'm taking causes pregnancy like symptoms as well, so its hard to judge what's going on down there.

And now the dreaded two week wait. I will have blood drawn (BETA) on Monday, 2/27. This will tell us if the transfer was successful. Of course, I will be peeing on a stick before then...but I will keep those results to myself. ;)

Round TWO in 5..4..3..2.....

Just days away from the transfer now!! My guys flew in last night and will be staying until the transfer. The egg retrieval and sperm deposit is happening.....probably as I type this!! The egg donor has produced great follicles, so that's super duper exciting.

I had my final monitoring appointment this morning and everything looks amazing--GO ME!! My uterine lining is 16.27mm and I've got that precious triple stripe that us surrogates all strive for (when the two uterine walls are so thick that they touch in the middle, creating an image on the ultrasound that looks like three stripes. See photo below.). Some say my oven is over heating with my uterine lining measurement, LOL.....I just say that I'm an over achiever. ;) Everything will be fine with that cushy lining and baby will be nice and snuggled in for a good 9 months.

I got this off the internet, but you can see the triple stripes in the very middle

I'm no longer cautiously excited.....I'm full blown ecstatic about our upcoming transfer!!!!! It's really, really going to happen this time!!! I shared a few good/happy/proud tears with myself this morning while driving home from the clinic. I've come so far with my journey, and now my IPs and my path is merging together perfectly to make this wonderful miracle happen. Such a beautiful thing!!

This time next week i'll probably be peeing on a stick and looking for that POSITIVE!!!

I'll leave you with a bit of cuteness......
I caught my daughter giving herself a "shot" with a left over sucker stick. She started with the belly shot and worked her way to the butt shot. "Look Mom, it doesn't hurt!"
That's what I tell her when she watches me do my shots.
Future surrogate, maybe?? We shall see....