16 Weeks!

Well here we are at 16 weeks today! As you can see it definitely looks like there are babies in there.

Some of the past four months have been rough; morning sickness that requires medication, injections in my butt for twelve weeks, tiredness, 14 pounds of weight gain, etc, etc. There are some things that I am welcoming with this pregnancy; my new long beautiful finger nails (I'm normally a biter), good skin, thicker hair and my new bigger boobs. I have to say the enlarged chest is my favourite....they are wonderful....too bad they're going to be short lived!!

What It's Really Like.

When I told people I was going to be a surrogate the first question was always "Aren't you afraid you'll become too attached? How will you give the baby(ies) to their parents?" My answer was always; Not my baby to keep and I will be fine giving the baby to those waiting arms.

I thought it might be good to revisit those questions now. I'm now 15 weeks and feeling these little people moving around in me. How do I feel (emotionally) about it now? Are my answers still the same to those first questions? Yes, I feel the same way now as I did before. When I went in with the mindset of these not being my children to keep then I was able to separate that attachment. I'm not the one planning a nursery or picking out names. There are two very excited people out there that are doing that instead. I am included in many discussions of cribs, car seat and stroller options, but hey, I'm the baby guru, people come to me for my expertise in this matter. This does not make me long to want or keep these babies. Actually it increases my desire to see my IP's as parents.

I think that these questions are very valid to look at when someone is thinking of being a surrogate. Can you let go? Especially in my situation where we plan to stay very close to my IP's once the babies are born. I plan to revisit this topic again as the pregnancy goes on and see where my emotions are at throughout.

I Know You're in There!

Over the past couple of days I have started feeling the babies move. At first it was baby A two days ago. I wasn't sure at first what I was feeling since this week I will be 15 weeks and I haven't felt a baby move that early. Yesterday baby B was on the move. I knew for sure that it was babies since the feeling was now on both sides of my ever expanding belly. Nothing feels more amazing than that of a growing baby in your belly moving around.

Goodbye Injections

We've hit 12 weeks in the pregnancy. I can't tell you how happy I am. Actually my husband is as equally happy. Today marks the end of the Progesterone injections. I think in total there were 94 needle pokes in my butt. Now finally it can heal from all the oil build ups in the muscles. No more golf ball butt for me! I can also stop taking the Estrace today too. That's 6 less pills for me. I have had to start taking the Diclectin. The morning sickness was so bad that I just couldn't function in my normal everyday duties. In my own pregnancies I have never had to take anything for morning sickness but my surro babes are making sure this is a a completely new experience for me. Oh well, it's all completely worth it in the end!

A Peek At The Babes

This week we headed to Toronto for my last appt at the clinic that did the IVF. After this I will be going to my OB back home.

Although it was a quick overnight visit in the big city, it was a nice visit. The night before the appt we met my IP's and their families at a restaurant for dinner. This was the first time that some of them were able to meet my husband and two of my older children. I love the feeling of being accepted as part of the family when I am with them. Now M could see first hand why I always enjoyed these visits with everyone.

Our appt the next morning was nice and early at the clinic. This time I was put in my place by the tech right away. I laid down on the bed and stayed put. She had the screen turned far away from me so only IP's could see everything. I could tell by the looks on their faces that everything was just fine. When I finally got a chance to look there there were....both beautiful babies....in 3D!!!

I honestly feel that they are boy/girls twins but it was too soon to tell...or is it? One of the pictures may be showing us something but the tech wouldn't confirm anything. In the pictures posted Baby A is on the left and Baby B is on the right. At our next ultrasound around 20 weeks we should find out the gender of each baby....as long as they co-operate.

Update on a "Couple" of Things

I have to admit I'm lacking in my blog posts.....about a month behind to be exact. At the end of June I went back to the clinic in Toronto to have our first ultrasound. I was 6 1/2 weeks pregnant and already feeling some of pregnancies lovely effects on my body.

When I arrived the night before the appt in Toronto I was really feeling the love of my IP's and their families. Our plan was to go out for dinner....I thought it was just going to be the three of us but both sets of grandparents were there at the restaurant to surprise me. And since my flight three hours late coming in, I was really surprised that they were still there waiting for me. Everyone was just so excited. You could see how finally they're dreams were coming true and they were are so thrilled to be going through this with my IP's. I felt like a member of the family. They have truly embraced me and I love them all.

Ok, so Saturday morning comes and we head to the clinic for the ultrasound. As we are sitting there we are looking aroud at all the pictures of babies that the clinic helped to create. I had told many people since the transfer that I thought both embryos had taken. I started feeling pregnancy signs right away, my belly really "poppd" fast and besides, I have a top shelf uterus as my friend Liz likes to tell me. I had this in the bag. So for fun we counted how many pictures of twins were born with the help of the clinic. Just from the pictures we could see the number got upwards of close to 40 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets that I noticed. I mentioned to my IP's that my mind was ready for us to be told that they would be expecting twins, but if by some chance an embryo had split and there were more than two it may take me a minute...and a couple of tears to let that information sink in. After all, I was a twin pro, not a triplet or more pro!

Once we had sat in the waiting room long enough and the nerves were starting to take effect we were called in to the ultrasound room.

I'm going to fast forward here and get to the point....the tech started the ultrasound and right away we saw THEM! TWO BABIES! I was right, both embryos had taken and up there on the screen were two little peanut shaped babes with perfectly strong heartbeats.
That's when the tears started and for some they didn't stop for days. The tech continued to take measurements and pictures, give me some trouble for not laying still and even after that I didn't listen. How could I, we were all just too excited.
After we left the office the calls to family, texts to friends and updates on Facebook started. The outpouring of support, like always, was amazing. This was it....what everyone had waited and wished for for so many years was finally coming true....times two!

I can't tell you how happy I am for my IP's. I was thrilled for them when we got the positive pregnancy results but to have two babies at the same time is such a blessing. I also welcome them to the exclusive twin parent club. Let me tell you, I love being a twin mom myself but there are days when I wonder if I will survive it....but don't tell my IP's that....let them figure it out for themselves!

In Their Own Words.

My IM emailed me today and has asked for me to share this with our readers....their side of things.  The shock has started to wear off and now they can form full sentences again to express all the emotions they have been feeling the past week.  It's a great feeling to see the excitement that this has brought to them.  I love being a part of it.  So, without further ado here it is.....

Well it's been a week and it has started to feel real!!! The shock is beginning to sink in!!! And really I think the IF and I have really been walking around in a cloud! We dreamed of this day but never really imagined it ever happening! We were determined to never give up but we had many days that we just thought it wasn't meant to be! So on June 4th when I looked at my email and saw the pregnancy test from Lisa and it clearly looked like two red lines I just couldn't register what it really meant! We weren't suppose to get the results for another 5-6 days.  I knew Lisa was going to do a home pregnancy test but i had to convince myself that I was going to have to wait! As I looked at the email I knew what it meant but trying to convince IF was a different story. IF was laying in bed reading his emails and I said I just got an email from Lisa ......no response .... So I said I JUST GOT AN EMAIL FROM LISA!!!!! That got his attention!! He looked a bit scared as to what I had to say....... I showed him the pregnancy test..it's positive!!!! He said shut the f...k Up!!!..,we were both smiling bigger than we ever have!!! We couldn't believe it was happening!!! We called Lisa right away and she's right we had so many questions... Well IF really had more than me! lol  IF didn't believe what he was seeing!....he didn't think a home pregnancy test was accurate!.. deep down I knew it was right!...he wanted Lisa to take another one just to make sure....and then he still wasn't convinced he wanted to wait for the blood test...that still didn't convince him..he wanted to wait for the second blood test ...

OK now does he believes it...WELL....he does but I think he needs the 3 month mark to go by to really believe it!!!..especially since everyone he's told has said well you should really wait for 3 months anything can happen!!..I mean really people can we not be positive about it!!!!!

So if we didn't seem excited on the outside inside we are bursting at the seams..everything seems sunnier..we can't wipe the smiles off our face's!..We immediately called our families and heard tears of joy!...everyone is so excited for us and were so thankful for their prayers and supporting us.

Our biggest thanks though are for Lisa!!!! How can we ever thank her enough....how do you thank someone who has given up the last 2 years of her life to help make this happen for us and her husband Mike!..there's not too many men that would want there wife to carry another Mans baby..Thank you we love you too!!!!.....Lisa you are a very special person and you will be forever in our hearts...We will continue out friendship until the day we die!..xoxo...

When can we go to Disney?.....LOL....

PS..I'm already driving the IF crazy...I want to start decorating the babies room!...but I guess I should wait to see if it's a boy or girl?...or if there's more than one!!!! LOL