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

The Glucose Results Are In!

Those of y'all that read my previous blog post know that I failed my 1 hour glucose test and had to take a 3hr glucose test. Tuesday morning I went in and took my 3hr test. That glucose test was BRUTAL! The drink was a little bit more than the 1hr drink but had a lot more sugar. I had 5 minutes to drink it and used up the WHOLE 5 minutes! It was taking everything in me to not vomit right there while drinking it. To keep my mind off vomiting I took my laptop and caught up on all my tv shows.

Can you tell which side she is on??

It helped some but I still felt like I was going to vomit. I had to have my blood drawn 4 times in 3 hours! Once before the test and then again every hour. I planned on rotating arms but sure enough my left arm vein didn't want to cooperate and the vein blew so we stuck to my right arm. I have 1 good blood drawing vein in each arm and that's all you get with me. I just knew I failed so I was pretty much waiting for a call to tell me that I failed and I would need to change my diet. Yesterday my plan was to go grocery shopping while Adam stayed home with the kids on his lunch break. I decided to wait to go grocery shopping because I didn't want to do a big grocery trip and THEN have to go back and buy MORE groceries for my new diet. Well around noon I called my OB's office because I still hadn't heard from them(yes I am that patient). I left a message and a couple hours later they called me back.... I PASSED! It lifted a huge weight off my chest. Yes I know GD(gestational diabetes) isn't all that bad. Most people can manage it just with a diet change. BUT it is still a complication and an added expense. I did not want J&J to have to worry about me having GD or have to pay extra for me to see a specialist about GD. Also the fear of having a bigger baby because of GD TERRIFIED ME! haha. I have 7lb baby's... So an 8lb+ baby scares me.

Peanut butter & banana's on
wheat bread.

Almond milk, ice, strawberries,
bananas, flaxseeds, and spinach

Now all I have to do is change my diet to have more iron in it. I am hoping to get my iron levels up naturally instead of having to take an iron pill. So yesterday while I'm at the commissary buying groceries I am checking labels on everything and looking at the iron. Did y'all know chocolate ice cream has iron in it?? Now I don't feel so guilty about eating ice cream for lunch sometimes. Hey I NEED THAT IRON! haha. I looked at the list of high iron foods and I'm not a picky eater but really let me just cook up a batch of chopped liver and oysters with a side of tofu and prune juice to chase it down. Okay not really, but a lot of things on that list just sounded disgusting. So I had to get creative. Well someone mentioned making a shaking an adding a cup or 2 of spinach leaves. I also am changing up my breakfast. Yes I still have my cheerios that I am addicted to but not every day. Some days I will make eggs for breakfast and then a couple hours later I'll make my shake with added spinach. Or I'll have wheat toast with some peanut butter and banana's and then a bit later my shake. I also have added more beans to our dinner meals. It's not that I didn't eat much iron before but my body needs more now. So instead of 2 scoops of ice cream I will now request 3!

How far along: 27 weeks 2 days
Total weight gain: 9 lbs
Maternity clothes: Still the same from my previous post. A few skirts, a pair of shorts, skinny jeans, and a bunch of different shirts.
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: Last night I think I slept all night. I'm not really 100% sure but whenever I sleep all night or only wake up once to pee its like I haven't peed in days! I am terrified that when I move to get out of bed that I'm going to end up peeing on myself. Yes its that bad!
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- passing my 3 hour glucose test. Not surrogacy related- going to the beach this past weekend with my family. We really had a great time just getting away for a few days and spending time together as a family.
Miss anything: being able to control my bladder! :)
Movement: YES! Yesterday I thought she was trying to come out of my belly button! She was going crazy in there.
Food cravings: cheerio's and water(I know water isn't a food but yes I crave it) and ice! I craved ice with both my previous pregnancies and now again this one.
Anything make you sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: More and more everyday.
Gender: It's a girl :)
Labor signs: Nope it ends up just being gas -___- haha
Belly button in or out: In but it is slowly coming to the surface..
What has your mood been: tired. But hopefully adding more iron to my diet will help with that.
Looking forward to: Getting Adam's orders. We are checking 3 times a day to see where we will be moving to the end of this year and they are taking FOREVER! :)
Any issues: The leg cramps have started and they are strong! I don't get them everyday but when I do its in the middle of the night while I'm in bed and I have to jump out of bed, make the leg cramp stop, and THEN go pee before I end up peeing on myself. Also my bladder I would love to be in control of my bladder again. But one kick to the bladder and its RUN to the restroom..
Baby is the size of a: head of cauliflower

Upcoming dates:
April 24th- Chiropractor appointment
April 29th- OB Appointment
May 5th-  Brett's orthopedic follow up(not surrogacy related I know but still important)
Beginning of May- 3D ultrasound :)

A Few Minor Complications..

I have had 2 extremely easy complication free pregnancies. With Brett I had low iron which was no big deal I took prenatal pills and was fine. With Brynna I had no complications what so ever. So whenever the surrogacy agency and RE reviewed my pregnancy and birth records I was cleared in that area because I had no complications. This pregnancy has seemed to be the complete opposite!! I have had a few complications that yall know about and a few that I haven't posted on here. Thankfully though none of the complications have affected the baby but the thing is their is very little they can do to help me because I'm pregnant and am limited on what I can use/take while pregnant.

 

This morning I had a 9am doctors appointment before the doctors appointment I'd drink the drink for the glucose test and then see my OB and once I was done with my OB visit I'd wait to have my blood drawn. The glucose test is just a 1 hour glucose test and it test you for gestational diabetes. From the get go I knew I'd pass this test. I have never failed it before why would I fail it now? Well turns out I was wrong. My OB wants the results to be 130 or lower and mine was 153. They let me know that its very common to fail the 1 hour test and a lot of people that fail the 1 hour end up passing the 3 hour test. So tomorrow morning I go to another lab to do the 3 hour test. Oh JOY! I am so nervous about this test but hopefully it will come back normal. Well whenever they did the 1 hour glucose test they also checked my iron and turns out my iron levels were low. They want it to be no lower than 11 and my iron level was a 9.. So we ended up switching my prenatal pills. I'm not taking iron pills just yet but we switched to a different prenatal that has a little more iron than the ones I'm taking now. They also gave me a list of foods high in iron. So hopefully that will help get my iron levels up. I was so upset whenever they told me I failed my 1 hour test and THEN told me I had low iron levels. I felt like such a failure. I felt like I failed my IP's. I had 2 perfectly healthy pregnancies of my own but then get pregnant with their child and have all these complications. Yes I know they are very minor complications and it could always be worse but I don't want them to have to worry about any complications. PLUS its more money for them to spend. I don't want them to have to spend money on things they shouldn't have to. They could be saving this money for other things. But hopefully tomorrow I will pass this 3 hour test with flying colors. My only issue is I will have to get my blood drawn 4 times!! In 3 hours!! Have I told yall before I have horrible veins :(

Well besides my blood work coming back with bad results, everything else looked good :) The OB said my belly is measuring right on track at 26 weeks and the baby's heartbeat was strong. So I'm happy about that. I also found out exactly how much weight I've gained. With this being a surrogacy pregnancy my weight has been tracked since before I became pregnant so I have 2 different amounts for you haha. I gained 9 pounds from the IVF meds and then once I started seeing my OB for the pregnancy I have gained 9 pounds from then. So if we are going off my OB I have gained 9 pounds. BUT I will be wanting to lose 18 pounds total once I deliver. Tomorrow once I get my 3 hour glucose test results I will update the questionnaire part because that will be exactly a week after my last questionnaire.

I thought I'd also show yall what we did this past weekend :) The weather was gorgeous this past weekend so we ended up taking the kids down to the beach. Myrtle Beach is only about a 2 1/2 hour drive from us so we packed up a cooler, took some beach toys, and headed to the beach. We stayed the night Saturday night and really enjoyed our time there my only complaint is we were being cheap and didn't want to spend the money on a nice hotel when we were seriously just using the shower and sleeping in it.. Next time I won't be cheap I'll spend the money for a bit nicer hotel. The water was freezing but Brett didn't care and Brynna prefers playing in the sand over the water.

Upcoming Dates:
April  15th- 3hr Glucose Test
April 16th- Chiropractor Appointment
April 29th- OB Appointment
May 5th-  Brett's orthopedic follow up(not surrogacy related I know but still important)

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