I Should Be Asleep..

BUT I'm going to update instead.. I know if I don't update now then whenever I get back from my mini trip to Cali I will have a LONG overdue and I'm not a fan of super long blogs. So what has been going on? I got our final contract. I didn't ask for many changes. Just a few and in my opinion they weren't outrageous. So most of them were approved. The one that wasn't I was okay with it just because we are only trying for one baby and they change had to deal with if I got pregnant with multiples. My next journey if I do a next journey I will change a few more things just in case I get paired with IP's(intended parents) who want to try for multiples. So now we have the final contract in hand and I have signed all of my spots BUT Adam left Monday morning and he has to sign to. So we wont be able to mail off the contract until Saturday whenever he gets back. I feel like I signed my life away. Their were 38 pages in the contract! I had to print out 2 contracts and will be faxing a copy and mailing both copies so I had to sign 16 times! But its for the legal part of the surrogacy to protect me, the IP's, and the child. I can't imagine someone being a surrogate without a contract.

Since Adam is in the field for a week training I will be going to this appointment by myself. I was kind of bummed out about it at first BUT also a little excited. I am able to have ME time with no kids and no hubby. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my kids and husband and love spending time with them but sometimes you need time to yourself. BTW at the ripe ole age of 22 I will be flying by myself for the first time. I have done tons of flying but never on my own. Always with family or friends. I'm a little nervous flying on my own but at least I will maybe get to sleep haha. But its times like these I wish we lived a little bit closer to family. Normally I'd have my mom, Adams dad, or my Gigi(my grandma) keep the kiddos if Adam was working or not home BUT now that we live 18+ hours away its not that easy. Thankfully I have met a good friend recently and my son and her son are the same age and she offered to help in the beginning whenever I told her I was going to be a surrogate. So whenever Adam got the news that he wasn't going to be here I asked her for a HUGE favor and she said yes. So the kids will be staying with her either until Friday whenever Adam gets back or Saturday whenever I get back(this is only if Adam doesn't come back Friday you never really know when they will be home until they are home). This will be the first time I have ever left the kids over night with someone that is not family =0 but I trust her :) now lets hope the kids don't scare her and make her run hahahaha. Well its 10:30pm here so I need to get some sleep. I will be waking up at 6am,probably should wake up earlier but if I wake up BEFORE 6am I don't know if I will be able to function the rest of the day haha. I guess thats all for now. I will update more Saturday or Sunday depending on how I'm functioning. I forgot to mention my flight LEAVES Cali at 10pm and LANDS in NC at 5AM!!!!!! But its only a 3 hour flight! Thats CRAZY! Darn time changes. Well I'm off to get my beauty sleep :)

Back To Reality I Go.... Do I Have To???

Well we have been on a week long vacation with the family, my mom, younger brother, my mom best friend(who is really like my aunt, she was there whenever I was born), her 2 kids, and it was a BLAST! We stayed at North Beach Plantation and it was AMAZING! We were upgraded from a 3 bedroom to a 4 bedroom just because(I wasn't going to complain it didn't cost us anymore than the 3 bedroom). I would recommend them in a heartbeat. My only complaint is their customer service wasn't too great. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the best. It was a HUGE condo area that had a choice between houses or hotel type condos. The houses were not right on the beach so we decided on the hotel condo and we did not have any regrets.

It had 2 kiddie pools that were like 1 1/2 feet deep, a 3 foot pool that was great because Brett could touch but he could also swim in it, a pool with a swim up bar that was also 3 feet deep but it was adult only with little tables in the water, another pool that went to about 5 feet that the older kids liked, 3 hot tubs, 2 other pools that started out 3 feet but went to about 4 feet, and another pool that we actually didn't get it so I'm not sure how deep it was haha. 

Then the beach was right outside the gate from the resort. It was so peaceful at night just relaxing on the balcony and listening to the waves crash and some nights we were able to watch fireworks go off on the beach. We also got to pop fireworks ourselves and the kids loved the sparklers and bottle rockets or whatever they were called. 

 

 

We went to a place called Broadway that we should of went to before our last evening there but we still enjoyed it. If you ever go to Myrtle or North Myrtle Beach I recommend going there with or without kids. TAKE CASH! They have ATMS but still just take cash

The kids were AWESOME(all the kids were awesome, not just mine)! Brynna wasn't a fan of the water at the beach but she enjoyed playing in the sand. She was a little afraid of the waves(her words not mine) but the last day she did great jumping in the waves. Brett loved the beach(water, sand, waves, and everything else). Adam was stung by a jelly fish in the beach on day 2 or 3. Thankfully it wasn't too bad but you could kind of see the red lines of where he was stung. He wasn't for sure if it was a jelly fish because the water wasn't too clear while we were there but he was around a few people whenever it happened and they agreed it was probably a jelly fish. I ended up also dropping my phone in the ocean while taking pictures. Typically ME! haha. Did I mention that I have an iPhone 5? Thankfully I have an otterbox and keep it on my phone at all times. It was only in the water for 1/2 a second and it hit mainly sand but thank you otterbox for saving my iPhone :) BUT since the otterbox saved my phone from the ocean the ocean stole Adams ray ban sunglasses which were not cheap. You win some you lose some haha. The last day we were there he wore his ray bans in the ocean and the waves were hitting hard and coming one right after the other and somehow they were on his face one second and gone the next. He tried to scoop them up but missed them and they were gone like that. So I guess those will go on his Christmas wish list? 

Adam and I also got a date night with a guy that he works with and the guys girlfriend. It was nice getting a night out as husband and wife.

Overall we had a great week. It was so much fun we asked to stay an extra night and at first they had no open rooms available and it was completely booked full but the last night we were there we called to ask one more time if we could extend our stay and guess what??? A ROOM OPENED UP! It was only a 3 bedroom but it was just for one night so it worked out great in the end.. And we got to enjoy one more day and night at the beach!! We had a great time but now it is time to go back to reality. Adam goes back to work on Monday and its back to reality. Time to prepare for our screening appointment in California the beginning of next month and continue our surrogacy journey. We emailed with the IF's over the past week and it was great hearing from them. I cant wait to meet them and start the real part of the journey(signing contracts/making it official) and then GETTING PREGNANT(I cannot wait to tell them that I am officially pregnant I think that will be the best part besides the delivery). Well that's all for now.

Kayla

Someone Pinch Me..

I may rewrite this post because I'm still trying to figure out how to put this day into words haha. Let me first start out from the beginning.

Adam and I had all weekend to go over the profile but we knew by Friday evening that we wanted them to be the IP's(intended parents) we worked with during the surrogacy. And I knew that since I was looking forward to Monday that the weekend would just drag on and take forever. Normally I want the weekends to go by slow and I hate Mondays but I was so ready for Monday to be here so I could know yes or no. Well Monday finally came and that morning I woke up to an email from the social worker she was glad that I was happy with the IP's profile but let me know that she didn't know how the IP's felt yet. She told me she would let me know once they emailed her. Finally on the way to Busch Garden I got an email and she said that the IP's are also happy to schedule a skype session. I let her know our schedule for the week and she told me she would let me know what day and time. 

Whenever I got this email my heart felt like it stopped for a few seconds. It was REALLY happening! I was so nervous, excited, anxious, glad, and just felt positive about it all. That night whenever I was finally able to reply to my emails and see all of the emails I noticed that I not only got an email from the social worker but also from one of the IF's(intended fathers) he just pretty much said how he was excited about the skype call and that he was looking forward to speaking with Adam and I. Getting that email helped put me at ease and not as nervous about the whole conversation. It was like it kind of cracked the ice(not completely broke it just cracked it haha). 

Tuesday morning was FINALLY HERE! I got up early and started getting ready for my doctors appointment that afternoon. I had to have my IUD removed and get on a different form of birth control. It was only an hour long so I had 3 hours pretty much to get ready to skype haha. I was already dressed and had my make up on but with all this humidity I had to do something with my mane! It was a mess! So I decided since my hair does best curled I would curl it :) it seemed like the day just dragged on! I was so nervous I thought I was going to vomit but thankfully I did not.. 

3pm FINALLY got here and we put on a tv show for the kids in the living room and explained to them that we had to go upstairs and make a phone call(the kids still don't know about the whole surrogate thing just yet but we will be telling them hopefully by the end of this week). I also let them know that they could go play cars or barbies but if they needed anything to ask GP(Adams dad) and I went upstairs and waited, and waited, and waited. Adam was not as nervous as I was. I swear(not even kidding) I was sweating like I was standing outside in 100 degree weather. I even had the fan blowing on me haha. The closer it got the more nervous I got. 3:20 got here and they signed on!!!! YES THEY SIGNED ON TO SKYPE! The email said that they would skype me so I just waited, staring at the screen. Those last 10 minutes took FOREVER! But finally at 3:30pm on the dot the computer started to ring. I didn't know what to do. Adam was sitting right there beside me and I still let him know "they're calling RIGHT NOW." He was laughing at me. And then it happened. I clicked answer! And my skype "quit responding"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS! The only time skype ever gave me an issue was whenever I would skype Adam overseas! COME ON SKYPE!! REALLY???? So it hung up on them. Thankfully it was an easy fix and then we skyped again. After that everything went smooth and we talked for about 50 minutes. It started storming here and the connection would mess up every once in awhile but other than that it went great. I talked a LOT. Yes people I know I already talk a lot but whenever I'm nervous I don't know how to STOP, its like it won't turn off! I didn't have many questions but it was great talking with them and getting to know each other. They had a lot of questions but I was glad. I wanted them to have more questions than me just so we could all be on the same page with the surrogacy experience and what to expect during the journey. They seemed very laid back about the whole thing which is what I really wanted. A lot of IP's want a certain sex but they are happy with either. They also want just want baby so no pressure to try and have multiples. We will only be transferring one embryo. I was kind of bummed about the single embryo just because the more embryo's you transfer the better chance of getting pregnant. But I will just pray extra hard that the single embryo sticks. With transferring a single embryo its less likely for multiples so less complication. Even though I'm fine with twins a single baby will be much easier than 2-4 babies..

Now the next part of the process is to wait and see if they still want me to be their surrogate and then the contact part is next. Well I guess that's it for now.

Kayla

Here's a few photo's from our day at Busch Garden's 

Us waiting to get on a roller coaster

the top of the roller coaster

 Brett on the boat ride

 He went first with daddy

Then with mommy(he said this was his new favorite ride)

She thought it was so cool that daddy got to ride with her :)

Everything Happens For a Reason.

Well today I got news about the prospective IP's they decided to look for another surrogate. Since Adam is military and we have Tricare insurance I cannot use my health insurance to cover my pregnancy. So the IP's(intended parents) have to either pay for all the doctor bills and hospital bills or they have to pay for an insurance policy that covers surrogacy. I was a little bummed but also okay with it. The past few days I have done a lot of praying for a sign to show me should I go with them or not. I had no issues or red flags with the profile but for some reason I just didn't feel that click or connection everyone says they feel whenever they first got their IP's profile. There was nothing wrong with their pictures or their profile. They looked like great parents to their child and it seemed like their first experience with surrogacy went great. BUT I think that was my issue. That they have already had a surrogate before and in a way I want my first experience to be with IP's that have never had a surrogate before. Even though I didn't feel that click I still didn't feel like it was fair to them for me to just say no. Adam and I decided to still go through with the Skype date and see how we felt after that and if there was or wasn't a connection we'd decide yes or no. So in a way them declining me saved me the guilt of saying no. I didn't want to let them down. I would love to help every single one of them if I could. But I can't. It's impossible.

So after that email came another email with another prospective IP's profile. And both Adam and I liked this one right away. We were kind of annoyed because the last profile gave a lot more information about the IP's and this one gave very little. I still can not give much information for privacy reasons. What I can say is they are also IF's and also live on the east coast which I'm super glad about. I kinda wish they were a TAD bit closer but I'm just glad they are not on the west coast haha. This will be their first child so I'm super excited about that :) I'm just hoping the insurance is not an issue again. But if it is than it wasn't meant to be. I will continue to pray about this and see where it goes from there.

GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!

On to a different subject I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Adams uncle and his girlfriend came down to visit since Adams dad was here. We all went to dinner that evening and then went to the fireworks show. Fayetteville won a 4th of July contest called red, white, and you and it was a big concert/festival type thing. We all had a great time. And I ended the evening in the ER with Brynna. Nothing serious thankfully. But since we came back from visiting family in Texas we have all been fighting a cold. Everyone is better now except Brynna. Those of y'all that don't know my family personally, Brynna is what I call my sick baby. Everything hits her the hardest. A little cold can turn into pneumonia or bronchitis. Well I have been giving her breathing treatments to help with the nasty cough and slight wheezing but I guess from all the fluid it caused a painful double ear infection. Thankfully I got her in that night because if I would of waited to see her doctor it could of been Monday or Tuesday next week before she was seen.. Now she is on medication and feeling so much better all ready. And she's back sleeping through the night. Hallelujah!!! Haha. 

They enjoyed all the bounce houses, slides, and mazes.
Brynna is finally big enough where she can get up the steps by herself with out big brothers help.

 Kind of describes our evening haha.
But I guess she had an excuse with the double ear infection and all :)

My wonderful husband and I on this awesome 4th of July.

My little firecracker :)

Well that's all that's been going on for now. Hopefully next week we will know if we are officially matched with IP's :) 

Kayla

The MMPI and Potential IP's

I have now finished up all of the pre-screening AND screening process. Today was the MMPI(Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Invetory). It's an hour long video chat where you take a true/false test. Some of the questions are normal questions like "I am not afraid of spiders" and for those of yall that know me I answered FALSE! And other questions are pretty crazy like "I feel like people are controlling what I do by using hypnosis." I feel like I did good but some of the questions were a little confusing and tricky to understand. Now I'm just glad to have that over and done with, and thankfully I didn't pick my nose while taking the test :)

I was hoping to get the profile of potential IP's(intended parents) on Friday but we didn't. I was a little bummed because we could of talked about the profile all weekend and gave our decision today. Well this weekend we were super busy enjoying the first weekend with my father in law visiting so it worked out well. This morning I slept in due to the kids and I being sick lately and when I woke up I checked my email and GUESS WHAT??? We got an email from the agency that they have matched us with potential IP's :) I was so excited and grinning from ear to ear. Morning breath and all. Adam was already at work so I text him and told him about it and once he came home for lunch we looked over the profile together. I'm not going to give out much info for privacy reason's and because we are not officially matched yet. Its IF's(Intended Fathers), they already have a child from a previous surrogate and are ready for a second. They live on the east coast which is great. Hopefully we are able to see each other in person more than once. Plus since they have already had a surrogate it mentioned in the profile that they are still in contact with the previous surrogate which is something I would like. I don't expect them to call me everyday once the baby is born or to see the child once a week but I'd love to have updates every once in awhile. Whenever I started the surrogacy process Adam and I had a lot to think about. Do we want a man and women? single male/female? gay? lesbian? And in the end it didn't matter. I wanted to help a family finally have a child, add to their growing family, or complete their family.

Both Adam and I and the IF's have to agree to skype and from the skype we will either agree to move forward or disagree. As long as both parties agree then we will start the contract process. That's all I have for now.

 Kayla