Surrogacy-What an Adventure!

On Wednesday (8-26-09),  K and I met for lunch.   It was so nice to see her and sit and chat, seems like I had not seen her in so long, I guess  a month.   It was to be a fun filled day and a little goofy too.   I had to text K, to let her know I was running about 15 min behind, then she ended up running 10 min behind me..LOL.    After we ate lunch we were off to the 3D ultrasound, we were both way excited to see the boys again.    We got in the elevator and we did not even know what floor we were going to.    Luckily we guess right the first time.    The boys looked great and the ultrasound was so cool.   You could even see the 4 chambers of the heart beating!!   You can definitely tell that the babies are smooshed with not much room.   They both had their hands and arms up near their faces and at some points they had their legs pulled up, and their knees were practically in their ears!    It think the boys must have been kinda sleepy, because they were not very active.   Not to mention they always come out to play at night and it was in the middle of the afternoon     It was so facinating to see two babies and how big they are getting.   Plus, you can see featured and the boys actually have their own unique look to them.   The boys were laying transverse or across my belly instead of up and down.  This explains why I thought I was only feeling one baby move all the time.   Really, it is both of them at different times and you can not differentiate very well since they are laying transverse, one looking out my belly the other facing my back.   I know I still have plenty of time for them to move, but I am nervous that they will stay that way.   I need them  to get their act together and go head down soon…LOL  

  I wish I could describe the feelings that come over me to see K and her excitement and anticipation.    To be a part of something so beautiful.    It just does not seem real at times…just crazy!   Here is a picture from the ultrasound, I wanted to get both babies in the background but the ultrasound screen could not get both of them in a picture very well, I think because of the way they are laying..

After the 3D ultrasound we had to rush over to the OB appointment with Dr. Lloyd.  This is way too silly but once again we get on an elevator and did not know what floor we were going to!!   When we got there, I was talking to K about my skin condition that has not gone away and instead has become worse.   I am itchy all over my body and some parts have really bad rashy hives.   I told her that I did have another appointment with the dermatologist the following day.   She was so cute, kinda like my mom taking care of me…she demanded that I tell Dr.Lloyd again about the rash and see if he can help me.   It is really cool that she is concerned about me.  In fact, when I would scratch she would tell me to stop…thank goodness because I need help with that.   I am scratching all the time and I am sure that is not helping the situation.  But it is so hard not to.   I itch from head to toe!  It can be overwhelming and frustrating. 

 When they called me back, I had to get on the scale…yikes…it read 151!   My scale at home gave me 148, so I will just go with 150..LOL    That is 25 pounds already and I still have till Dec!   Oh well, part of pregnancy fun!   The nurse found both heartbeats pretty fast and they sounded wonderful.   Dr. Lloyd said all seemed to be going just great.  He scheduled us for and ultrsound in 4 weeks (26 weeks preggo) to check on the boys.   It is important to be sure that they are both growing and that they are not too far apart in percentage.   For example, you would not want one to be 60% and the other 30%, that could mean one is not getting enough nutrition or some thing.   He also mentioned that I will start seeing him every 2 weeks after that.  Plus, we might have ultrasounds every 3-4 weeks.  I mentioned my rash to him again, and brought up something new to me.   He said it might be my liver not functioning properly.   If your liver is not working as it should it can not get rid of toxins.   Maybe my skin is trying to get rid of some toxins and it shows up in this crazy rash.    

The next day I went to see the dermatologist and I mentioned the liver thought to her.    She ordered some labs to check on my liver and my kidney, in addition she did a skin biopsy.   Unfortunately, I do not think will hear from her till Tuesday.  

Ok, here are some more belly pics from different views…22 weeks

Well, we have passed 20 weeks.    I can not believe it!    I feel great, but completly stuffed!   There is just no room in my belly anymore, seriously.    And my belly is very hard, I think the boys have had a grow spurt in the past few weeks and they sure are having fun in their water playland!   

My summer vacation has come to an end, back to work I go.   But I am excited!    I need to change up my daily routine, I am getting bored, plus I actually love my job, seriously!   It is just a blessing to actually do what I love.   I have met some of my new coworkers at the new school I am teaching.   Everyone has been great.    This week is just teacher inserve week, so no students.   Today we went on a staff picnic, it was a blast.    We even played some volleyball.   Tomorrow will not be as exciting…lecture meetings…

Oh and yesterday I had jury duty for the first time.  I got there at 9am, but they did not even start the process till 11am.   The state talked and questioned for an hour, then the defense had their turn for an hour.   Finally they chose 12 jurors and the rest of us got to leave at 3pm!!   The poor twins were starving, poor guys had not eaten for hours!

Here are some new pictures at about 20 weeks and 4 days, and with the end of my summer vacation,  I thought a swim suit photo was needed

I met one of my surrogate friends in person for the first time last week.  Her name is Emily and she is carrying boy/girl twins for her intended parents and is due only one day ahead of me.   She lives about 1 hour and a half away from me, but was going to be driving through to get to the airport in Houston.   We had so much fun, and she is just a doll     It is fun to go through this with another surrogate.  We have alot in common, we are both due at the same time, carrying twins for the first time, and we are both teachers.  This is her first surrogacy and it is so wonderful to see her joy and new experiences.   I took a picture….

I got a pregnancy pillow in July and I love it.    It is huge and my kids call it the candy cane.    The kids just love laying with it and stuff.   Madison was playing the other day and I got a picture, have to share my cutie with you….