Cause for celebration

I Had my last injection last night!!!  Ya-hoo!!!  I have had almost 100 injections this year and that's not even counting blood draws.  Yikes! I can not even tell you how thrilled I am to be done with those things.   I have welts, bruises and giant knots on both sides of my rumpus and when searching for a "good spot", I found that there were none!  I also had adhesive spots all over the place from band-aides.  That was always fun to scrub off...

Did I mention how happy I am to have those behind me? 

As for me, I go in for yet another ultrasound this week and I am hoping for some good news.  I am still spotting and still on bed rest.  uuuggghhh... I do feel like it has slowed down which I am taking as a good sign.  On that note, I leave you with this funny...I'll update soon!

8 week Ultrasound

Well I had the privilege of spending my birthday yesterday flying to LA and back for my 8 week ultrasound.  The babies are measuring at about 8 weeks 5 days and looking great!  They each are about the size of a Lima bean.  It is always so wonderful to see and hear those little heartbeats.  

Me, on the other hand,  well, I am still on bed rest.  bleh.  The doc could still see a pooling of fluid in my uterus and until I stop spotting, I am parked.   I go in for another ultrasound in two weeks and I hope, hope, hope, things will be back to normal by then.  I am also really starting to show which surprised me for this early on.  I guess it's time to bring out the old maternity clothes. 

So that's all the news about me, but I did come across kind of a sad story in Surro news this week.  Rest assured, there is a happy ending.  This story really puts the spotlight on the need for educating people regarding surrogacy.  This kind of thing should not be happening. 

Click here for the full article.

No one ever told me...

Well, things have been a little rough around here lately. The bleeding/spotting has continued and now I am hearing from everyone my Mom, that it really is quite normal with IVF.  Top that with the fact that there is more than one in there, and ya, that's extra normal.  Hearing someone tell you that bleeding while pregnant is completely normal goes against everything I have learned thus far about being pregnant.  It just feels wrong, but the babies have had 3 ultrasounds so far and they look great!  

In the mean time, I have to stay on bed rest until the bleeding stops.  It has only been about 2 weeks and  I am ready to be a Mom to my boys again and a wife to my Hubby.  I am tired of laying around. {never thought I would be saying that! ha.}  Oh, top that loveliness with a two day migraine, a trip to the ER, and morning sickness and what can I say?  I'm feeling a bit beat up lately. Please don't misunderstand...I am still thrilled to be a part in growing these little babies, I just would like to enjoy the journey a bit more is all.

I went into this thinking that my pregnancies were always relatively uneventful.  I knew there was a possibility for bed rest {especially with more than one baby} but I did not expect that until the end.  I was completely unprepared for this.  So the purpose of this post is not just for me to whine and feel sorry for myself, but to let you know that this is a real possibility and apparently completely normal.  

Crazy as it sounds.

A little scare...

Monday afternoon I started spotting and I of course, being the hormonal mess that I am, freaked out just a bit.  I called the Doctor's office and they assured me that for some reason there is a higher instance of spotting and bleeding with IVF versus traditional pregnancies done the old fashioned way.  This made me feel somewhat better.  Oh, and my blood type is negative so I could just be attacking the baby(ies) and need a RhoGam shot to help calm things down.  Great!  I am no stranger to the RhoGam shot.  I had one with each of my pregnancies but usually not until later.  So feeling a little bit better still.  A shot to fix everything.  I could handle that.  Then she said we want to get you here for an ultrasound just to be sure.  The nurse also said there was no way we could detect a heartbeat this early, but they needed to see what was going on in there.  And I'm back to freaking out again.  The nurse told me to stay calm and stay off my feet.  Just relax. 

So I get to LA for the ultrasound and Dr. S tells me that we should see a sac, but that because I am only 5.3 weeks along, we will not see heartbeat and it may be too soon to see anything in the sac.  So he does the Ultrasound.  He gets really excited and tells me that he sees one sac...oh, wait two sacs.  {I'm thinkin' stop right there mister!}  Thankfully he did.  So I am pregnant with twins! Yay! He also said they looked really good and I am thrilled, as are my IP's.

Then he starts zooming in on the little gummy bears and says, "I can't believe it!  I can see the heartbeat on this one!  Wow!  That's a great sign!"  Then upon closer inspection he sees the other one, and it's little heart was beating too!  We were all shocked and excited!  He said he is not worried about the spotting after seeing how strong they are.  So he told me he suspected the Rh factor to be the culprit for the spotting and they gave me the RhoGam shot and sent me merrily on my way.

Whew!  I can not tell you how relieved I was walking out of that office yesterday.  As a surrogate you feel such a sense of responsibility carrying another persons dream {or dreams} around.  I was so glad things looked good.  So I am watching the laundry pile and toys scatter from the couch today.  Taking it easy...doctors orders.

The boys are loving this whole Mommy on the couch thing.  They keep coming up and laying with me, bringing me books to read to them and chattering away about this and that.  It makes me think that maybe I need to slow it down a bit in general.  I am always running here there and everywhere, I pace when I talk on the phone and there is always much to be done around here.  Some days I think hmmm...I don't think I have sat down today.  Looks like I need to make that more of a priority.   

So that's the long and short of it.  We had a little scare, but all is well now.   I have my next ultrasound on Valentine's day.  I can't wait to hang with my IP's again!  I am most excited to see their faces when they see their little bambinos for the first time.  :)

Surro Mammas Lunch

I went to lunch today with some local surro-mammas and we had a blast.  It ended up being a 5 hour lunch but as the saying goes...time flies when your having fun.  I had a great time ladies!

On the way home I couldn't help thinking how important it is to have a good support system when going through this process.  Who better to be your sounding board than someone who has walked in your shoes, down that same path as you?  

I'm telling ya', all that girl gab is better than therapy in some ways...

Good times.

Drumroll please...

Well, the results are in.  The nurse called this morning and said,  "Congratulations...you are VERY pregnant!"  

My BETA came back with a whopping 797!!!  All I can say is WOW!!!  

I think I am still in a bit of shock.   I am feeling a lot of things all at once.  On one hand I am really excited, happy and relieved that it worked, but on the other I am really anxious and nervous about the road ahead. I am still trying to wrap my head around it.  Nothing like hearing you are probably carrying 2-3 babies to wake you up in the morning right?  My hands were shaking and I felt like I was going to throw up.  Whether it was morning sickness or just plain shock, i don't know.  What I do know is that I am going to try and take this one step at a time and try, try, try to be patient until our first ultrasound.  By the way, we are scheduled to have that on Valentines day.  :)

My IP's are also feeling a bit shell shocked.  Here I am worried about how I am going to make it through the next 9 months, they have a lifetime to think about.   I'm sure that has gotta be a bit overwhelming...

So, I'm curious what other Surro Mammas came in on there first BETA.  I just want to see if there is any kind of rhyme or reason to the number or if everyone is different.  If you don't mind sharing, I would love to hear.  If you don't want to post it on my comments, you can email me too.  { h.grosser@sbcglobal.net }

Well that's all for now,  I've gotta go relax.  It's been a long morning.

I wasn't gonna' do this but...

Well, I was going to wait until I had my BETA on Saturday, but what can I say?  I'm feeling positive.  Excuse the pun.  Ha.I simply can't hold it in!  I did the old POAS test {well 4 actually} and each day my little pink line gets darker.  I am VERY optimistic that all of those sticky vibes worked.  Thanks y'all! 

So, not only are my lines getting darker, but all the symptoms are there too.  From the sore boobs to the nausea, I've got my bases covered.  I haven't felt this way since hmmm, last time I was pregnant!  Not to mention, I was in bed with lights out at 8:45 last night. That does not happen unless I am on my death bed.  

I will keep you posted on my progress Saturday, but I will be shocked if I don't have good news to report.  With that I bid you all a goodnight,  I am sooo ready to hit the hay as they say.  :)