A Surrogate Adventure

At 38 weeks and 1 day (barely), my little belly buddy decided he was ready to meet his parents!  I had been bouncing back in forth in my head about being ready to be "done" and wanting more time with the little being in my belly so it actually caught me a little off guard that I was going into labor early.  Both of our kids were right on time around 40 weeks and I felt like I had mentally prepared to lose the bump before hand.  I hadn't really done that officially with this round but none the less, it was go time! Around 4:30am I started to have contractions. Because we were all concerned about baby coming very quickly, I tracked maybe 3-4 contractions before waking Mike up. After a few quick phone calls to the IP's (who answered on the first ring! They must have sensed it.), my parents and our case manager, the contractions started to pick up as we gathered up our last minute stuff and paced the house.  My mom showed up about 20 minutes after my call and out the d...

How Many Weeks? 37 weeks Size of Baby? Baby is the size of a head of romaine lettuce, measuring about 19.1 inches and is about 6.3 pounds, and baby is gaining about half an ounce each day. Symptoms?  The braxton hicks aren't slowing down!  And the last two days my sciatica pain has been back with a vengeance. I'm also really really tired by the end of the day. Sleep?  Yes, I'll take more of that!  I'm headed to our sweet sweet bed basically right after I finish this post.  Can't get enough! Miss Anything?  Putting my shoes on without feeling like I'm going to pass out. Movement? Still constant.  At times this past week it felt like baby is trying to climb out of my body. Food Cravings? Meh. That's basically the work that sums up my feeling on making food decisions this week. Anything making you queasy or sick?  Hopefully we are in the clear with that for the last few weeks.  Been nausea free - hooray! Recent Doctors Appoi...

How Many Weeks? 35 weeks Size of Baby?   Baby is as big as a pineapple or a honeydew melon. Baby measures about 18.2 inches from head to heel. From here on out, he or she won't get much longer, but will keep plumping up. Your 35-week fetus now weighs about 5.3 pounds, and will put on a pound or more of baby fat before you meet him or her. Symptoms?  More and more braxton hicks contractions. Most always at night after plopping down for the day but randomly in the middle of the day.  I guess my body is just gearing up now!  I also feel like the baby is beginning to drop. Words I said many times with my own kids but they never actually did... but this time feels different. Much more lower pressure and when I buckle my seatbelt I use to have a flat area for it to sit still and now that part is not so flat... Sleep?  Still mostly great.  I've had a cold so that has hindered some of my great sleep nights, but overall no complaints. Miss Anything?...

Before I start answering the usual questions, here is a bit of an insurance update.  By some miracle Stanford approved our continuity of care! So much YAY!  Even though the plan B route would have been just fine - the doctor was lovely and everyone keeps telling me how great El Camino is as a hospital - I'm really relieved we can just stick to the original plan of delivering at Stanford.  I'm not a person that cares who actually delivers the baby (my own doctor vs. whoever is on call), so that wasn't the concern.  I've been told by almost every doctor or support person involved in this pregnancy that I'm going to have to head to the hospital the second any sign of labor starts because of how quickly I had Charlie.  They all seem to predict this one will come even quicker.  Not that Stanford is right in our backyard, but it's much closer and easier to get to than El Camino for us.  I did a week day morning run down there from our house, which took about...

How Many Weeks? 30 weeks Size of Baby?   B aby is the size of a zucchini. 15.7-inch, 2.9-pounds and continues to grow about half a pound and half an inch each week. Showing? Goodbye to this question! I'm showing to the point where complete strangers have started to congratulate me and grill me  Symptoms?  My back pain is a pain, but has been coming and going so tolerable.  Sarah and I had an outing to buy some supportive flats so I can start to wean myself off my heel addiction.  I do not promise to go 100% without though!  Also, dog nose is back with a vengeance.  The smallest, normal smells have been making me nauseous. Like my deodorant that has basically no sent at all!  Sleep?  Some nights I've been waking up more frequently than my usual single bathroom break. But luckily I've been able to fall back asleep quickly. Miss Anything?  Vacation.  It feels like for-ev-er since we were able to really get away and I thi...

How Many Weeks? 28 weeks Size of Baby?   Baby weighs 2 1/4 pounds - about the size of a large eggplant - and measures 14.8 inches from the top of head to heels. Showing? Oh so very much so! I definitely feel larger this time around! Symptoms?  Ugh, hello sciatic nerve pain.  Along with that, or tied to it, is my tailbone pain from sitting too long. Thank goodness for a stand-up desk at work! Sleep?  Still sleeping really well. Even with a nightly bathroom break I tend to fall back to sleep within seconds.  I did flip my "boyfriend" pillow upside down so I can use my normal pillow again due to constant headaches/neck-aches. So re-learning to rolling over and get readjusted caused a few more wake-ups. Miss Anything?  Snuggling the kids on my lap without the pain when lean back too hard. Charlie's seemed extra lovey lately so I've been coming up with new ways to hold my baby boy. Movement? Party in my belly! The kicks are getting big...