How Many?

Luckily I had so much to do today for work which kept my mind busy. I never make appointments in the afternoon, simply because I hate waiting all day but I wanted the IM to be there so we made it for 3:15. The appointment finally came around, I had picked up my mom to take her with me and met the IM at the office.

We got in the room and she started looking. "I see 2 sacs" she says as she scans from one ovary to the other. Then she goes back to take a closer look. "I see a heartbeat flicker on this one." Then she moves to the next sac. Baby B was tucked up in the corner of the sac. "This one is a little smaller but I see a heartbeat flicker on this one too." Wow! Twins!! She goes back to measure baby A who measures 6w6d with a heart rate of 121. Measuring 2 days big with a healthy heart rate. Then on to baby B who measures 6w2d with a heart rate of 125. Measuring 2 days smaller but also a healthy heart rate. I looked over and IM had tears in her eyes. It was priceless. This is the farthest they have ever gotten towards having a baby and she's never seen an ultrasound. It was such a special time and I  am so glad she was able to make it.

Baby A

Baby B

We went into another room and I got my paperwork to take to my ob along with my stop medication date. Of all the dates I get, the stop date is one of my favorites. After being on medication for the majority of 2014 and now for the start of 2015 I will be celebrating on March 13th. We also got our official due date of October 10th. We won't make it that far but it's good to know.

Because of my last surrogacy journey when I lost one of the twins around 7 weeks I will be holding my breath a little longer this time. I may start believing I could carry twins to term if we make it into the second trimester. I would love the opportunity to carry them both to term. Thank you for all the loving words of support and prayers today. It is always very much appreciated.

2 blood draws, an ultrasound appointment and take a guess

My life has been crazy busy lately. For those of you who don't know, I help put on workshops for parents in our local schools and we started our main workshops last week. We've been busy trying to iron out details and make sure they run smoothly. Besides that, my body has decided to catch a cold and afternoon sickness has started to creep in (not too bad). I don't know why it's called morning sickness, mine is more 2:00pm on sickness. Either way, I'm hopeful it doesn't get any worse than this.

Enough of the rambling...get to the good stuff. So Wednesday February 4th was my second blood draw. We just needed the numbers to double from Monday (1225). The level was 2716. My head was very cloudy that day and so I had to call back on Thursday for them to tell me again because I could barely remember the conversation we had. Yay for doubling! At that point they told me I had to have 2 more blood tests. I thought that was a bit excessive but they make the rules.

I went back again this past Monday February 9th and they wanted the number to be over 10,000 to be sure the pregnancy was progressing. I got a call and it was...23,539. Overachiever much? This baby wants us to know he/she is here to stay. I asked if I could skip the 4th blood test since my numbers were so high and they said yes and scheduled my ultrasound. We get to finally see how many babies are growing next Wednesday February 18th at 3:15pm. I always think it is fun to let people guess how many babies they think are growing. Please leave me a comment with your guess and I'll let you all know next Wednesday.

On another note, my first surro family is coming for a visit in a couple weeks and I am so excited to see them and take new pictures. I'll be sure to share. I'm so grateful that they allow me to be a part of their lives and watch their little one grow. Can't wait to give you snuggles K.

Farewell my friend

 Yesterday I had the privileged to attend the funeral of my dear friend, Edna. It was a full day event of tears, laughter, family, friends, food, music and lots of great memories. Edna herself had planned out every detail and her loving husband and good friends carried it out beautifully. We arrived at St. John's cathedral in downtown Fresno. A gorgeous Catholic church in the heart of Fresno. As everyone arrived there was a mariachi band playing out in front. We went and sat down and they proceeded with a traditional Catholic mass. I loved how the priest told us that as believers, we aren't saying goodbye to our friend, just farewell. 

Once that had concluded we went to St. Peter's cemetery for her burial. Being a state correctional officer she was honored with the firing of the guns and a flag presented to her husband. The pallbearers placed their boutonniere on her casket and then her family placed theirs. Finally, they placed her in her spot on this giant wall and played Amazing Grace. As emotional as everything was, it was a perfect service. 

Everyone then headed to the reception where they showed a lovely montage of her life, served delicious food and had friends and family share some of their favorite memories of her. I didn't have the courage to stand and speak at the reception so here is mine now..My name is Johanna and I had the great privilege to play soccer with Edna. The month I turned 25 my brother invited me to come play with the team he played with. Edna allowed me to play with only the credentials that I was Jason's sister. You see, she didn't let just anyone play on her team so I was honored. She wanted us to be family so she was cautious about who she let on the team. She worked hard to keep us together, even paying our league fees when we flaked and didn't get them in on time. She loved soccer and the people she played with. When her disease progressed I wanted to help so I stepped in the role of helping to manage the team. I can see now how hard she worked and how much she cared for this team. I am very honored that she trusted me to take over what she has worked so hard to keep together. And I feel like I have a huge responsibility to her and to our team that we continue to stick together, treat each other like family and play as she would want us to. Thank you my dear friend for inviting me into your family. I will miss you every day but know you will always be with me. Until we see each other again...I love you.

The handsome pallbearers

Lastly, we packed up the flowers and returned to the cemetery to enjoy a drink and some music, just laughing, reminiscing, dancing and enjoying the fellowship. That was my favorite part because we all knew she would have loved that.

My Soccer Family

The last time she played with us - a year ago

At the "after party" - The guys

The girls

Transfer and 1st Beta

I'm so sorry I haven't undated but those of you who don't know, a dear friend of mind passed away last week and I moved my kiddos to a different school. So I have been a little preoccupied.

So, I showed up to my transfer at 10:00 for a 10:30 transfer with my awesome supporter, my mom. Things were a little hectic in the office and they didn't start the transfer until about 11:15. Once I got in the room both of the doctors who work there were in the room to help each other. I said "oh I get the VIP treatment" and one of them said "we want you to get pregnant". I said "yeah, that would be nice". Everything went perfectly. They had 9 out of the 10 embryos make it to day 5 so they picked the 2 very best and were able to freeze 7. Once he was done he said the transfer went very smoothly and I even got to see the 2 little white dots on the ultrasound machine. Very cool.

I came home and laid on my couch for 2 days. That was blissful. Then, because I'm addicted to home pregnancy tests, I started testing Saturday night. Yes I know, that was only 2 days after my transfer. But with 30 home tests what else am I supposed to do? Well, it was negative of course. Then Sunday night I tested with one of the "good" tests. In my world, this is the first response brand. I saw a line..wait, is it a line. Yes, totally a line. I brought in Travis to look "I think I see something". Not quite dark enough to take a picture and post to other surrogate friends. (This is what we do..we take pictures, post it to our secret groups and analyze each others home pregnancy tests. Don't judge.) Monday morning I took another one and it was definitely there. I was elated. Finally, this is it!

I took a few more to make sure it got darker and sure enough it did. I could take a little breath knowing the pregnancy hormone was rising making the possibility of a chemical pregnancy a lot less. I still had to wait until today (11dp5dt) to get the first beta number to feel even better that this pregnancy was progressing. I couldn't wait any longer so I called the doctor. I was put on hold and when the girl came back she said "we have your results and they look good...your beta is 1225." WHAT??? This number is outrageous. I had to ask her to repeat herself because I was floored. Just to give you a perspective, the last successful surrogacy of mine started off with twins and that number was 478. Granted, it was drawn 2 days earlier but still, this is a very high number. I'm a little concerned there is a litter growing in there. They told me I have to go back on Wednesday to make sure the number increases. We are hoping that it at least doubles and then I will be scheduled for an ultrasound. So, I have to wait until then to actually find out how many babies are growing. The doctors did only transfer 2 (I made sure) however, there is always a possibility they could split. I'm just happy we have a strong beta and we will take each day as it comes. I will try to update on Wednesday but it is going to be a long emotional day for me, but I'll do my best.