2 Months Have Come and Gone..

Some days I look back and just cannot believe all that has happened this past year.. Our whole lives changed. It has now been a little over 2 months and surrobaby is doing great. I love when I get pictures of her and talk with her parents. We actually just talked today and they said she was baptized recently and she's starting to smile more and more. I am still pumping and shipping but my supply is taking a big dip :( I am hoping to get it back up but we will just have to see. Even though this pregnancy was my hardest out of all of them and even though emotionally I went through a lot during this pregnancy I would still do it all over again. I am so thankful I was able to be a surrogate.

I have had a lot of people tell me they have thought about being a surrogate and ask me questions about it. That is the main reason I did this blog. To educated people on surrogacy. So they not only see the ugly that the news reports but also the good.

A lot of people are still asking if I will be a surrogate again. Well I finally have somewhat of an answer. It's the best one you will get for now. I have considered doing another journey but for now the Army and NY laws will be preventing that.. Adam's orders were changed from Alaska to New York and in New York surrogacy is illegal. Sad I know. I doubt I would have done another surrogacy in the next 2 years but I still dislike the fact that I can't even if I wanted to. And once we move from New York we may be trying to move to Germany or Italy and I won't do surrogacy there either. So we will see what happens later on.

I enjoyed doing this blog so I decided to start a new lifestyle blog about our upcoming travels and changes in life. If you'd like to follow that blog you can go to it by clicking here. It will take you to my new blog. Or you can go to www.movingwiththemorenos.blogspot.com. I will continue updating this blog from time to time but not as much as I once did. If you'd like to get updates whenever I do post a blog post go to the right of my and you can enter your email and subscribe. So when I do update on here you will get it right in your email. I will probably update every few months on here but don't hesitate to ever ask me questions. I really don't mind them..

Thank you to everyone who supported me during this journey in life and for everyone who followed and read my blog post.

1 Week Later..

The first week was harder than I expected.. From what I remember after my 2 kids I bounced back pretty quickly.. With Brett I had a harder time because he caused some bruising and swelling that made it painful for me to sit, laugh, sneeze, move, etc. But he was also my first. With Brynna I felt amazing after delivery. But this time around was totally different. I was really sore in my stomach area from them pressing down on it trying to get all the blood and clots out. I also hated that I had to go home and pretty much do nothing.. Thankfully I didn't have an infant I was bringing home because how can they send you home with an infant and tell you to relax and do nothing? It's pretty impossible after you have a baby to do nothing. haha. But since I was a surrogate and baby didn't come home with me it was a little easier..












The first few days were the hardest. I was EXHAUSTED but I wanted to go and do things. So we tried... On the 4th since it was only 24 hours after I had been released from the hospital we stayed home and watched the fireworks. We wanted to go watch the fireworks and to a concert but I knew my body wasn't up for it so we bought the kids a few small fireworks that they could do in the back yard and they had a blast. Saturday we ended up taking the kids to chuck e cheese.. About half way through I was pretty much having to hold my head up and force my eyes to stay open I was so exhausted. But the kids had a blast :) That evening we did another fire and just relaxed outside and finished off the s'mores we had left. Sunday I think we relaxed at home but honestly I have no idea haha.

Monday it was time to get back to reality. Adam is in the military and the people he works with knew I was pregnant and most of them knew I was a surrogate so when I went into labor Tuesday night he just gave them a heads up that I had the baby and that he wouldn't be at work on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday they were off but Monday he went back to work. So Monday morning he goes in for PT and they didn't know why he was at work they expected him to be home with me and told him if he wanted to that he could fill out the paperwork and go on paternity leave. Have I ever told y'all how much I really like the people he works with?? If not, let me tell you they are amazing! They have been so supportive and took me being a surrogate WAY better than I expected. AND he never once brought up maternity leave. I know a few surros in the military whose husbands requested maternity leave after their wife delivered a surrobaby and it was denied because it wasn't their baby.. We decided before hand to not even try for paternity leave because he doesn't really work now anyways. He is out processing and is just getting forms signed. He's constantly in and out of the house printing out paperwork, dropping off paperwork, and things like that. Even if he was on paternity leave he'd still have to out process so we could get everything done for us to leave in time. Plus again its not like I have a baby I need help with. Yes with my low blood count and iron I could pass out or hemorrhage again BUT I did good over the weekend and wasn't too worried plus if I noticed I was getting a little tired I'd just sit down and relax for a bit. And if I thought I was hemorrhaging again I'd call him immediately to take me back to the ER. So he was back at work.

Tuesday was a GREAT DAY!!! We finally got answers from the movers.. For those of yall that don't know we are moving soon.. VERY SOON. July 18th is the last day we have in this house.. Well the transportation office and port call have been making this move EXTREMELY stressful. I finally just gave up and was just done with everything and told myself that this was just going to be a horrible PCS and that they were going to make everything as difficult as possible. Which they did. Transportation scheduled the movers for August 5th(YES AUGUST 5th not August 1st) and we have to be out of housing by July 18th.... AWESOME. AND my husband has to be at Fort Sill, OK no later than July 24th.. Well Tuesday we got a call from the movers and they were able to fit us in to pack up our house on the 17th and pick everything up on the 18th!! YAY!! Then we had to schedule our move out inspection and pre inspection. The pre inspection was the following day and thankfully everything went well on that.

Wednesday I had a chiropractor appointment and boy did that feel great. I think its been about 3 weeks since I last saw the chiropractor and I was in a lot of pain. I felt like such a little kid because before I scheduled my appointment I had to call Adam and see what his schedule was like and make sure he could drive me to my doctors appointment. Wednesday was also 1 week from delivery.. WOW... A week. Surrobaby was officially 1 week old. I couldn't believe 1 week passed by so quickly. How does it do that. Before we know it she will be walking and talking haha. J&J said she is doing great. She had her first doctors appointment and is healthy :)

Emotionally I feel great.. Physically and sometimes mentally I'm exhausted. I don't even want to go back and read my previous blog post because I have a feeling I had a lot of typos in it and probably some bad ones haha. Adam and the kids have been doing great helping me relax and just lay around. I'm up moving more than I was in the beginning but its more my choice and I know not to push myself too hard and to just take it easy. Pumping is going great. I can tell it is also helping my uterus contract and go back down to normal. But I also know that it'll take time for that to go back to normal too. I gave in and bought a belly bandit.. I like it and wished I would have started using it sooner haha.

My last baby bump photo. This was a few days before delivery..



My one week post partum picture.. On the left I'm not
wearing the belly bandit. On the right I am wearing the
belly bandit. Everything is still wiggly but not too bad.

Questions I've been asked lately..

Was it weird to leave the hospital without a baby?
A little bit. I had a few tears(I didn't cry I held them in haha) as I was being wheeled out but it wasn't sad tears it was more wow it's over...

Were you sad?
Not at all.. I was happy for J&J, their daughter, myself, and my family. I was also very proud of myself. I had just given J&J the best gift they could ever receive. And I knew she would be loved by both of them.

How did the kids do and did they get to meet her?
They did great. They got to meet surrobaby and see her with J&J and they knew she was going home with them and not us. And they were perfectly fine with that.

Will you do another surrogacy?
This is one of the hardest question for me to answer I honestly have no idea.. I would love to be medically cleared in 6 weeks and start the matching process all over again but I wont. My body needs time to heal and I want to focus on getting back in shape. I'd love to start running again and doing some fun runs with the family. Plus we're in the process of moving... We are actually moving in just a few days!! AHHH!! And then we will be moving again in 10 weeks.. So I want to focus on that. AND I want to spend time with my family not pregnant. Yea we had fun while I was pregnant but their was some stuff I wanted to do and being pregnant made it a little more complicated haha. I'd like to sit out back and have a few drinks with my husband while the kids are asleep or go ride fun rides at 6 flags with my son, and jump on a trampoline with my kids. Well that's still a little complicated after you have kids haha.. So honestly I have no idea ask me again in about a year or five haha..

Will you continue blogging?
Yes I will. I will continue blogging. I really enjoyed blogging. It wont be as often because things slow down a lot once you deliver but surrogacy will always be a part of my life. BUT I will also blog about our moves, living in Alaska, and if/when I do another journey I will start blogging about that process.. BUT I may just create another blog for our life in Alaska :)

Those of yall that want to read the delivery story its in the previous blog post :)

8 Months Pregnant!!!!

Can y'all believe it! I am 8 months pregnant. While I'm sitting here typing this blog my 4 year old is asking me to come JUMP on the trampoline with her.. Ummm... Sorry Brynna ask me again in about 5 weeks then I will be okay if a baby falls out mid jump haha. Even though at night time I am pretty miserable I am still not ready for her to come yet. She still has some baking to do :) Well I guess last blog post I kind of left yall in the dark about the OB appointment and levy briefing so I will start with the surrogacy stuff first since this is a surrogacy blog.

WOW! 32 weeks! I know I say this pretty much every post but this pregnancy is going by SO QUICK! I am getting to the miserable stage of pregnancy, mainly because I'm short. EXTREMELY short. On a good day I am 5 feet tall.. But depending on who is measuring me, if I'm wearing shoes, and how my back is I range from 4'11" to 5' .5" so most people either complain the baby is squishing their lungs or squishing their bladder.. Whenever I am pregnant no matter if I carry high or low the baby does BOTH! I'm to the point of wearing depends and an oxygen mask to bed every night. JUST KIDDING! BTW NO I don't pee on myself at night! Only when I sneeze! If you have never been pregnant before DO NOT JUDGE ME! Everyone does it sooner or later while pregnant. And if you didn't do it your first pregnancy believe me it'll happen.. JUST WAIT! Other than that though the pregnancy is going good. I have contractions pretty much every other day.. Some days they are REALLY strong where I actually have to remind myself to BREATH through them! Other days they are just little baby contractions. OH YEA I went grocery shopping with Brynna last week.. Had contractions the WHOLE time I was there but we needed groceries bad so I had to just deal with them. Well I go to buy some eggs and normally I just grab the eggs from the shelf that is pretty much arm level and I don't have to do much bending. Well sure enough this time all the eggs were gone except for the eggs on the very bottom shelf at the back. I have to squat all the way down and reach for these eggs(if we didn't NEED eggs I would have just kept walking and made Adam go back over the weekend but we needed eggs). When I go to get up a lady asked if I needed help. I felt like such a fatty and I couldn't help but laugh. I was taking my time to get back up because I was having a contraction while I was squatting and I was waiting for it to end. But man she made me laugh. I guess I must look REALLY pregnant now.

How far along: 32 weeks

Total weight gain: 10.5lbs
Maternity clothes: I haven't bought anymore maternity clothes and probably wont. I MAY buy a swim suit top but that's probably it. I only have about 8 weeks left at most so I shouldn't need to buy any more clothes.
Stretch Marks: honestly I have no idea lol
Sleep: HAHAHAHAHA!
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- J&J got my package I sent them last week and LOVED it!! I sent the 3D ultrasound pictures and CD's and also bought surrobaby an outfit and some mittens(those of y'all that don't have children of your own yet, mittens are like a HUGE NEED!! They are kind of like socks and the dryer likes to eat them up so you need a lot of them) Not surrogacy related- It's a 4 day weekend and we have fun things planned :)
Miss anything: Energy, Sleep, Wine??
Movement: All the time. I don't think she ever sleeps.
Food cravings: Still ice but I think ice is what's making me sick :-\
Anything make you sick: I THINK ice.. 
Have you started to show yet: OH YEA!
Gender: It's a girl
Labor signs: I'm kind of hoping whenever I go in this next week they will want to check me to see if I've dilated any. YES I know that dilation means nothing. I could be stuck at a 2/3 for WEEKS or I could go from a 1-10 in a matter of hours. But I'm still curious if these contractions are doing ANYTHING!
Belly button in or out: In.
What has your mood been: tired. But today I had a little bit more energy than normal.
Looking forward to: This long weekend :)
Any issues: Not really.
Baby is the size of: Jicama(what in the world is a Jicama?? Doesn't this thing looks smaller than a head of lettuce)

Upcoming appointments:

May 27th- OB appointment

May 28th- Chiropractor appointment
May 29th- EFMP screening for the kids and I
July 16th- Due date!!

July 22nd- Moving Date!

Non-surrogacy part of this blog post :)

So last week we went to the levy briefing. Seriously NO HELP! Okay it was a little help but not too much. I had way higher expectations. I left more confused than when I went in.. So my plan is once we get everything finished I will be creating a blog post(it'll probably be after surrobaby is delivered) about PCS'ing to Alaska. And once we PCS I will create a blog post about that. I plan to keep the blog going after I deliver and it will be geared more towards our life living in Alaska. I will give updates about the surrogacy part of my life but it wont be as much as I update now.

But for now I am pretty much on my own trying to figure out exactly what we need to do. Thank God for facebook and helpful military spouses.

Week 30..

We have at the most 11 weeks left but hopefully we only have at the most 9 weeks left. I SHOULD find out next week at my OB appointment if I will be able to be induced at 39 weeks IF she doesn't come by then. But I'm hoping she will come at 38 weeks and 6 days all on her own. Not much has changed this past week but I did start having contractions or Braxton hicks contractions I guess you can say.. They were PAINFUL! Extremely painful. I was at gymnastics with the kids gritting my teeth and just telling myself to breath! Thankfully after about an hour and a half they went away because they were starting to worry me. I also was really sick Monday and was planning on calling my doctor Tuesday morning if it continued but Tuesday morning I woke up feeling much, much better.

Adam and I have been waiting for an email to give us the levy brief date (pretty much a meeting to give us information about our move to Alaska) and he finally got the email. Next Thursday we should finally get some good information and answers about our upcoming move to Alaska. I already have a list of questions to ask :) but hopefully they will answer most of them during the briefing so I wont have to look like this crazy wife asking a million and one questions. I also scheduled mine and the kids EFMP screening(this is just an appointment with an on post doctor to make sure that we are healthy and if anything is wrong they need to make sure they are not moving us somewhere that medically cannot take care of us) we have had an EFMP screening before and did fine so I'm not worried about it.

How far along: 30 weeks
Total weight gain: 10lbs
Maternity clothes: I went to Ross and bought 2 more pairs of shorts because I only had 1 pair of summer shorts and man I'm so glad I bought those shorts! It has been HOT here lately!
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: It depends on the day. Some days I sleep amazing and others I toss and turn all night.
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- scheduling the 3D ultrasound. Not surrogacy related- My 3 year anniversary was today :)
Miss anything:
CLEAR SKIN!! and not peeing every 5 minutes


Movement: Still lots of movement.
Food cravings: ICE! Sonic ICE!
Anything make you sick: I was sick Monday but nothing else besides that.
Have you started to show yet: yes :)
Gender: It's a girl
Labor signs: Braxton hicks started last week..
Belly button in or out: In
What has your mood been: good :)
Looking forward to: This Friday. I'm taking Adam somewhere. It's a surprise and he reads my blogs so I can't write about it yet.
Any issues: I am guessing its pregnancy acne but it is getting worse and worse so my next OB appointment I will be asking to see if their is anything they can give me to help with it. For now I am trying out this apple cider vinegar toner that Kelly told me about. Adam hates the smell but hey if it'll help then I don't care haha.
Baby is the size of: a head of lettuce

Upcoming appointments:
May 13th- Chiropractor Appointment
May 13th- 3D Ultrasound(If you'd like to see what the previous 3D ultrasound looked like you can click here and it will take you to my blog post about the one we did at 24 weeks)
May 14th- OB Appointment
May 15th- Military Levy Brief



Today was mine and Adams 3 year wedding anniversary. We have been together for about 7 1/2 years but got married 3 years ago.. I love spoiling him. I love going all out and finding the perfect gift but this time I had no idea what to get him. I really wanted to get him corn hole boards but he'd only get to use them for a month MAYBE two before we moved and then he wouldn't get to use them again until next YEAR!! So then I was like well he likes to golf why not give him a gift card to go golfing.. He said no to that. Well he has been fishing some so I think he's just going to go buy a fishing pole and call that his gift haha. BUT he knew I really wanted a new purse. Tonight whenever I got home from gymnastics I walked in and saw the purse I wanted AND a matching wallet! I cannot tell you the last time I had a wallet and how badly I NEEDED a wallet. Not only did he get me the purse and wallet he also wrote me a sweet letter. I love my purse but seeing the wallet and the letter made me cry. The wallet he didn't have to get. He didn't even know I wanted that exact wallet. I have never mentioned a wallet only a purse but he knew how badly I needed one. This Friday while Brett is at school and Brynna is with a friend of ours I am taking Adam for a little surprise since he's off. He has no idea what it is and it's driving him crazy but I'm so excited about it. It's my treat to the both of us for not killing each other these past 3 years..

Week 29.. Time Has Just Flown By...

Their are days I look at myself and still cannot believe that I am pregnant with my very first surrobaby. Whenever I first started this journey I expected it to take a few years. But whenever I deliver it will exactly a year since I received J&J's profile from the agency. I got their profile the beginning of July and I will be delivering beginning/mid July. I love talking with people about the surrogacy journey just as much as I love talking to people about my own children. Surrogacy is still kind of new to a lot of people and most people have no idea what surrogacy really is. So it's nice being able to educate people about it.

Well in the past 2 weeks a LOT has changed and I mean a lot. Last I told y'all Adam had changed his mind about what he wanted to do in the military. Well he finally re-enlisted into the military and ended up reclassing to a different MOS(a different job in the military).

Once he re-enlisted he gave his wish list about where we wanted to move to next. Our choices were Fort Carson(Colorado), Alaska, Europe, and Fort Campbell(Kentucky/Tennessee). We waited and waited and WAITED! It seemed like it took forever. Then he came home from work one day and told me his orders were posted but not on his website yet. It goes through a process and certain people can see it before they are posted to where WE can see it. Well we got Fort Wainwright(Fairbanks), Alaska! Those of y'all that know me know that Alaska is my DREAM BASE! It always has been. Yes I know that its going to be FREEZING and that during the summer it will be daylight even when its night time and during the winter their will be days with little to no sunlight. I know that. BUT Alaska is another once in a life time opportunity. We will get to visit the North Pole, see the Northern Lights in real life not just in a picture, go dog sledding, and experience things that some people can only dream of doing. Yes the winters will be BRUTAL! But we will bundle up and make it work and enjoy our home away from home for the next 4 years :)

 

I am so nervous about this move. Not MOVING to Alaska, I'm excited about that, but just about the process. Thankfully we will be going to a levy brief here soon and they will help us understand the whole process and what exactly we need to do to make this an easy move.

We also had spring break this past week. Even though it was spring break for the kids Adam still had to work. So the kids and I just hung out outside and played ALL WEEK LONG! From sun up til sun down. We lathered on the sunscreen and they played with all their friends while I worked on my tan. It was very relaxing for me and the kids enjoyed the time off. But come Monday I was ready for normal bedtimes and to send Brett back to school haha. This is Brett's last week of physical therapy for his foot and next week he will have a follow up appointment with his orthopedic doctor to see how things are going with his foot. His ankle is still swollen but no where NEAR how it was. It looks so much better. I have a few questions for the doctors about the septic arthritis when we go in for his follow up. I did some googling but I didn't get many answers since most people really don't get septic arthritis so I am hoping he can clear up a few things. My main question is what are his chances of the infection coming back. Does he have the same chances any other person has that has never had septic arthritis or does he have a higher chance of the infection coming back because he has had it once before.

Enough about all the changes. Now to update about the pregnancy. We are now 29 weeks(tomorrow) and everything is going great. We have had a few minor complications with me but not with the pregnancy(I'll update y'all about those in the questionnaire). Even though this pregnancy has had the most minor complications out of my 3 pregnancies I have still really enjoyed it and am sad that this part of the journey will be coming to an end soon. But I'm also really excited to see J&J with their daughter for the very first time.

28 weeks(left) and 28w2d(right)
As you can see someone hit a growth spurt.

How far along: 29 weeks(tomorrow)
Total weight gain: 10lbs
Maternity clothes: I haven't bought any new ones but that's pretty much all I wear now..
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: Falling asleep is the hard part but once I'm asleep I'm good. If I wake up in the middle of the night its normally only once to pee.
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- feeling surrobaby move all over the place. Not surrogacy related- enjoying spring break with my kiddos
Miss anything: just a glass of wine :)
Movement: Oh yea she is an active little girl
Food cravings: WATERMELON! It's been so hot lately that watermelon has been so refreshing
Anything make you sick: No
Have you started to show yet: More and more everyday.
Gender: It's a girl
Labor signs: Not that I've noticed.
Belly button in or out: Still in but it is coming to surface a little more each day
What has your mood been: great :)
Looking forward to: The rest of this year! So many good things are happening! Surrobaby will be here before we know it. We will be moving across the country. A few mini vacations hopefully to enjoy the rest of our time while here in NC.
Any issues: For some reason my chest has been so broken out I have tried lots of different things to make it go away but I'm pretty sure its due to the pregnancy and all the hormones. So hopefully after I deliver it will go away. My hair is shedding like crazy! The skin stretching in the belly area is getting a little uncomfortable. But other than that we are good haha. Thankfully those are normal things to experience during a pregnancy though so its nothing to worry about.
Baby is the size of a: butternut squash

Upcoming appointments:
May 1st- Chiropractor appointment
May 13th- Hopefully I'll be doing the 2nd 3D ultrasound on this day
May 14th- OB appointment

I HATE PUBLIC RESTROOMS!!!

This is a picture of a toilet in the women's
restroom in South Korea. Even though
I hate public restrooms I will be glad
that our public restrooms are
not the same as theirs..

I am not a germaphobe or anything like that but public restrooms disgust me more than anything in this world.. Even the really clean ones are disgusting! Normally I do anything possible to try and avoid peeing in a public restroom and NORMALLY I can make it to the house before I have to pee. But lately anywhere I go my bladder is just so excited to release itself in the public restrooms.. My previous 2 pregnancies were nothing like this. My non-prego friends peed more often than I did but this time around I am CONSTANTLY PEEING!! Even after I go pee I STILL FEEL LIKE I NEED TO PEE!! I feel like a child because before I go anywhere I make sure and pee that away I don't have to visit any public restrooms. But it never fails I get out of the car and where is the first place I go? THE PUBLIC RESTROOM! Well enough about my bladder :)

Besides the constant peeing everything else is going fine. Sleeping is getting a little more uncomfortable but that's to be expected. I have started to use coconut oil to help with the stretching of the skin. I swear with each pregnancy the skin stretching gets a little more painful. Baby girl is moving around like CRAZY! I don't think she ever sleeps haha but feeling her kicks makes me not worry so I don't mind them. BTW I forgot to mention we are now in the double digits!! 99 days until J&J's baby is due.

How far along: 26 weeks(tomorrow)
Total weight gain: again I have no idea. I'm going to make sure and ask my nurse whenever I go in this next appointment
Maternity clothes: Well I am pretty excited about this one. We had our first hot day of the year about a little over a week ago and my only option was my maternity skinny jeans and a tank... IT WAS HOT!! So I finally caved and knew I had to go buy some maternity shorts.. I'm cheap and do not want to spend an arm and a leg on maternity clothes because I'll only wear them a few more months. Well I found this resale shop and they had a pair of SUPER cute maternity shorts!! They sell online at motherhood maternity for about $35 but I bought them for $10!! BTW if any of y'all are pregnant and hate the maternity shorts, look into indigo blue maternity shorts they are super cute!! I also went to ross and bought a few maxi skirts that I'm in love with! Sadly one skirt wont fit me after I have the baby because the only way it fits now is because I put the waste band above my bump and the bump holds it up haha
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: I'm becoming nocturnal.... I have also learned how to walk to the bathroom and pee with my eyes closed..
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- tomorrow I will be going to my very first chiropractor appointment and hopefully it'll take some relief off my back and help with my sleeping :) not surrogacy related. Brett went back to school on Monday after a month of being out due to his infection. Also Adam finally made a decision about his military career :)
Miss anything: sleep......
Movement: yes! TONS!
Food cravings: I have had this one for a bit but keep forgetting to put it. Cheerios! They are my new obsession. Also apples. A nice juicy cut up apple on a hot summer day is amazing!
Anything make you sick: Thankfully no
Have you started to show yet: Oh yea.

Gender: surrobaby is a girl :)
Labor signs: nope..
Belly button in or out: still in but slowly coming to surface
What has your mood been: better.. Life has started to slow down some and go back to normal. I am able to actually relax and I feel like I can breath again.
Looking forward to: Adam getting his next orders.. We should find out next week if we will be moving the end of this year. I'll explain more of that in just a second.
Any issues: Just the lack of sleep and back pain but isn't that normal in a pregnancy :)
Baby is the size of an: eggplant

So about Adam.. Adam has again changed his mind about what he wants to do in his military career. I say again because he has been going back and fourth about 2 different paths to take. But honestly can you blame him. It's a huge decision. It decides not only what happens to him for the next 4 years but also the kids and I. It is a big life changing decision no matter what choice he makes. I have tried to help him as best as I can and give my input but this is only a decision that he can make. He knows no matter what the kids and I will support him 110% but I want him to be happy with whatever decision he makes. I could honestly careless what choice he made as long as he doesn't get out of the military right now. The military has treated us very well these past 3 years and we have no reason to get out right now. Now if I knew that he absolutely HATED being in the military then I wouldn't ask him to stay in but he loves what he does just not so much his current MOS.. I am thankful for these past 3 years we have met some amazing people we have experienced so much more than some people ever experience. I am also thankful that in these past 3 years we have not dealt with a deployment. I know it will come with time but I will count my blessings and be thankful that we have not dealt with one yet. We have lived in a foreign country, near the beach, and hopefully now we will be going to the mountains. We SHOULD find out next week if we will be staying here or pcsing in the near future. I am nervous but also excited. I am just glad that we now have some what of a plan. Now I just need to know if we are pcsing and where so I can get the ball rolling on that :)

Upcoming Dates:
April 9th- Chiropractor appointment
April 14th- OB appointment and glucose test
May 12th/13th- I will probably do the 2nd 3D ultrasound around this time

A Week Full of First Times..

This week was a very busy week.. And most of the week were first time experiences. And for this hormonal momma it was very emotional and I had to fight off the tears a lot..
Brynna started gymnastics this week. She is in the 4-5 year old group and is the smallest but no surprise there. So the coach has to help her out with some of the stuff because she is so small. But she LOVES it!! She goes 2 days a week and gets so excited about it. Brett also wants to start gymnastics so I may have him go 1 day a week because he will also be starting tball soon and I don't want him to have to much going on and him fall behind in school. Here are some pictures from her class. BTW these are zoomed in phone pictures so not the best quality.

Another first was Brynna had her very first pageant. It was SO not what I was expecting but we had a good time and she enjoyed it. I knew in pageants some people prepared a little skit thing or whatever you want to call it but I didn't know you did that in this pageant so we had nothing prepared. She was a little shy when going on stage the first time BUT daddy stepped in and helped out the second time. Also she was not a fan of all the waiting around. This pageant started at 11 and didn't end until about 2:30ish and it was a LOT of waiting because you have 2 different outfits so she went on stage in her first outfit and then you have to go change and wait for about 20 other girls to go on stage with their outfits and then you go back on stage again for your second outfit and then you wait for 20 other girls again to go show their second outfit. THEN they had a 3rd outfit if you wanted to pay for it but we didn't do the 3rd outfit. And THEN it was time for judging. It was a good experience and we enjoyed it but for now we will stick to gymnastics. (btw it was nothing against this particular pageant or any pageants she just wasn't a fan of waiting and was ready to leave before it started. She enjoyed being on stage but the waiting part not so much haha)

 Brynna was crowned 2014 Doll Miss Princess.

And the last and worst first experience.. Adam(my husband) is in the military and they went to the field for 3 days. Well he left Wednesday morning and my mom, grandma, and brother got here Thursday. So thankfully I wasn't home alone long.. I HATE sleeping home alone. I have no idea why but I'm such a big baby whenever it comes to that. Well Thursday night they had some night training to do while in the field and around 3am they had a training accident. I didn't know about this training accident until about 1-2pm whenever I got a call from Adam saying that he was okay and everything was fine... My first thought was "Ummm... Why wouldn't you be okay??????" He called me thinking I'd be home freaking out about him. Well what he didn't know was that I was out with my mom and had no idea what was going on. If I would have been home I would have seen on the TV, Internet, and facebook that his unit had a causality and some injuries. He didn't tell me over the phone what happened so I had to find out on my own and when I found out what happened I wanted to vomit! Adam has been in the military a little less than 3 years and we have been extremely lucky so far and have not had a deployment yet. I know it will come sooner or later but as of now I will count my blessings and be thankful that he hasn't deployed. Well we also have been extremely lucky and haven't dealt with any deaths or major injuries to anyone close to him. Until this past week.. They had a training accident that killed one, seriously injured 2 others, and 5 others had minor injures. It was a very emotional day for me. I was extremely thankful that my husband was not hurt or killed but it also made me extremely sad for the guys that were and for the families involved. I just cannot imagine the pain and fear they were dealing with. I know I have posted this on my facebook page a couple times but one of the soldiers has a wounded warrior fund to help with some of the cost and I wanted to share it one last time here too. I know most of yall are thinking the military will help him out and while yes the military will cover a lot of the cost. There is more to it and every little bit will help out. You can read the page and it will explain more in depth of what the money will help out with. https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/dhiT2


Now enough about first here is the surrogacy part of my post.

How far along: 19 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain: I have not gained any weight since my last appointment(a week ago) YAY!
Maternity clothes: Still 2 pairs of maternity clothes and I got my first maternity tank today. I also just bought a normal take in a bigger size
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: I wake up every night to pee and sleeping on my stomach isn't always an option anymore.
Best moment this week: Baby related- We scheduled our first 3D ultrasound!! Not baby related- My mom, grandma, and 2 brothers got to come visit us this past weekend!
Miss anything: not peeing on myself when I sneezed!!
Movement: A tiny bit.
Food cravings: Pink sherbet ice cream!!
Anything make you sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: I'll let you be the judge of that from the picture I posted of todays belly shot
Gender: It's still a girl
Labor signs: No more Braxton hicks thankfully.
Belly button in or out: in :)
What has your mood been: Aggravated not sure if its because of the pregnancy or other stuff.
Looking forward to: Honestly just the next few weeks. A lot of stuff is happening :)
Any issues: I may have MRSA but waiting for my culture to come back..
Baby is the size of a: Since I'm 2 days shy of 20 weeks we will go with the 20 week baby size and it is the size of a banana

What Do You Think Surrobaby Will Be??

Today I had an OB check up, all they did was weigh me and listen to the HB but I have been so excited for this appointment BECAUSE I could finally schedule the anatomy scan. J&J will be flying in for the anatomy scan because as long as the baby cooperates we will be able to find out if its a he or a she. I cannot wait for them to finally know. I know how exciting this must be for them. We picked 3 dates that worked best just incase the OB's office couldn't give us the exact date we wanted. And thankfully we got our first pick. We will be having the anatomy scan on President's Day, February 17th! It works out best because they will both be off that day so they won't have to take off work, and Adam will also be off that day so he can keep the kids while I go to the appointment. So it worked out great.

I have started to feel the baby move. Not too much and its only at night. I still sleep on my stomach so whenever I'm laying there at night I can feel little flutters. I have also somewhat started to show.. I wish I had a better bump but most days the bump hides.. Here's my "bump" at 16 weeks(black and white shirt) and then again at 16 weeks and 1 day(grey shirt and pink pants). At night I look much bigger compared to during the day. I think the baby will be a boy because I carry boys so much better than girls. But with the way things work with me thinking its a boy it'll be a girl. We will know in 2 weeks and 4 days :) Be sure and vote on my poll what you think the surrobaby will be. I have my poll on this post below the avocado picture and above our snow pictures.

 

I have decided to start doing a questionnaire each time I do a blog post. And I will use the same questions each time to see what has changed..

How far along: 16 weeks
Total weight gain: I think 10lbs but I'm honestly not 100% sure what my starting weight was so it may only be 5lbs
Maternity clothes: Still none. BUT it's also winter so I have been living in sweats, leggings, and dresses
Stretch Marks: no new ones.. I still have all my previous ones from my kiddos
Sleep: I wake up at LEAST once a night to pee sometimes 3 times a night. Normally I wake up around midnight and 4am(whenever my husband wakes up for work). I have never woke up to pee before during a pregnancy but this one I have been waking up since I became pregnant! This is probably my biggest complaint because I hate waking up in the middle of the night.
Best moment this week: Baby related- scheduling the anatomy scan. Not baby related- IT SNOWED a ton! I'll post a few pictures of the snow day at the end of my blog post.
Miss anything: WINE! I'm not a big drinker but man lately I could go for some wine haha. Also sushi I have been craving sushi lately but I am terrified that surrobaby wont agree with sushi so I won't try it.
Movement: Very little. I have to really be paying attention and laying very still.
Food cravings: Salads.. But some days nothing.
Anything make you sick: Not anymore thankfully
Have you started to show yet: It depends what day it is and who you ask haha
Gender: We will know in about 2 weeks!!
Labor signs: none thankfully
Belly button in or out: in and it'll probably stay that way.. My belly button has never popped out.
What has your mood been: Honestly I think it's the same as normal. I don't even feel pregnant..
Looking forward to: J&J coming to visit again and finding out if surrobaby is a boy or a girl. Also going car shopping.
Any issues: I have a UTI which has sucked.. Apparently their pretty common during pregnancy though but I am still ready for it to be gone!
Baby is the size of an: Avocado



So be expecting my questionnaires from here on out haha.

What do you think surrobaby will be?
	boy
	girl
pollcode.com free polls

Here are some snow photos from yesterday we had a BLAST!

 

Here are a few photos that we went out and took today before the snow melted away completely

 

YES I KNOW I TAKE WAYYY TOO MANY PICTURES!! BUT I hope yall enjoyed them :)



It's Still One..

Every time I go to the OB I get so nervous about another baby showing up. I know with surrogacy its not too common because the doctors normally search pretty good if they know you transferred more than one embryo BUT I could be that 1 in a million with the way my luck goes.. So far we are in the clear and their is only one. Tomorrow I will be going to the monitoring clinic and I am so nervous that since I'm seeing a different doctor and it will be a different person giving me an ultrasound using a different machine that they will be the one to find the second embryo hiding out.. Hopefully that doesn't happen but I am so nervous about it..

On an extremely good note though I have less than 2 weeks left of shots! I cannot wait to stop doing these darn shots. They are not getting any easier! I HATE THEM! Yesterday I was 8 weeks and I felt like a little bump popped out but today it seems to be gone. Speaking of yesterday it was Brynnas 4th birthday party! We had such a great time. I really wanted to get a bounce house but due to nasty weather we decided against it. She had a Doc Mcstuffin Party we had some of her friends over, had a piñata, cooked out on the grill, she had a Doc McStuffin cake made, and she just had a great time. Here are a few pictures from her party.

 

 

A few things that have changed due to me being pregnant is I cannot eat onions. I can eat them cooked but not fresh. I also don't like eating breakfast. Normally I eat oatmeal or special k cereal but now I only eat a banana. I can't drink coffee, a lot of yall are probably thinking your not supposed to anyways. Coffee isn't really bad to drink while pregnant. Its bad if you drink an excessive amount and if I drink coffee its normally at most 4 times a week. For it to be harmful to your baby you probably have to drink around 4 cups a day. I can't drink coffee at all. It makes me feel so sick. I LOVE orange juice. And hate wearing jeans. So I pretty much live in leggings and sweats because jeans just make my stomach feel weird. Still no morning sickness and the nausea has let up for the most part. BUT I'm waiting for my energy to come back :)

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day of doctors appointments. It will be Brynna's 4 year check up and then my 8 week monitoring appointment(an hour and a half away) so we are calling it an early night. Be on the look out for an update tomorrow and hopefully their will still only be one :)