Once Josie decided that March 20th would be her birthday, we quickly delivered and everyone ran out of the hospital as soon as we could. I left with Jeff the very next day after delivery and Josie along with L & R left the morning of day 2. Being in the hospital during a pandemic is awful. No visitors. No outside food. We all wanted out for many reasons, but the biggest reason was that breaking out of the hospital meant that everyone could finally meet Josie! L & R took Josie to their rental and they were greeted by an excited big brother and two excited grandparents. Meeting his littl ..read more

On Saturday, March 20th at 3:04 PM “Operation Make Eddie a Big Brother” was marked as complete! A sweet baby girl, named Josephine “Josie” Elizabeth, was born 2 weeks early weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and measuring 19 inches long. You can scroll straight to the bottom to see pictures of the adorable little bundle of joy, or you can read along if you’d like to hear about her unexpected entrance into the world. On Thursday, March 18th I went for my weekly OB check-up and final growth ultrasound. I went to the growth ultrasound first and everything measured great with the baby. The only hiccup we ..read more

Once we wrapped up legal, we were given the go ahead for transfer on April 3rd. Woo hoo! L ordered my big box of meds and we were off to the races. For our last surrogacy, L order meds as I needed them. This go around she ordered everything upfront, so I had a huge stash of meds that I needed to organize. Thanks to some suggestions from other surrogates, I used a clear over the door shoe holder to keep everything organized and visible, with all the sharp needles up top. I also tore the labels from the med boxes and stuck them in front of everything so that I could see the labels through the pl ..read more

A question that I am commonly asked is “What do the kids think of all this?” And, I can only answer that based on the perspective of my two kids which is… it’s no big deal! Since we have already gone through this as a family when they were younger, Easton and Everli don’t really see surrogacy as much of a big deal. To them it is kinda normal. For the last 3 ½ years they have talked to L, R, & Eddie on facetime and have seen pictures of Eddie as he’s grown. So, they are well aware of who they are and how Eddie came to be… and we’re just doing it again. Even before, during the first journey ..read more

One thing about this journey is that it has definitely had a different “feel” than my first go around. I have the same wonderful IPs. I had the same appointments and scans. I’ve had the same maternal fetal medicine doctor. I will be delivering at the same hospital. But… none of it has quite been as exciting. Why?… because COVID-19 sucked all the fun out of the experience. L&R haven’t been allowed to attend any of the ultrasounds or appointments. In fact, they haven’t been able to come visit at all. Due to protocols, even my husband can’t attend any appointments. And, some doctors won’t all ..read more

At 37 weeks, we can officially say we’re now in the home stretch! L & R (and Eddie) arrive next weekend to start the waiting game for Roo 2’s arrival. It’s crazy that we’re finally at this point. The due date is April 2nd so it really could be any day now. Some quick updates since my last post: The baby finally decided to turn head down around 32 weeks. Woo hoo! So we’re no longer having to worry about a c-section. And, I went for my follow-up 3 hour gestational diabetes test and passed! I nearly passed out afterwards due to not eating for so long and felt awful all day, but at least I’m ..read more

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog! I’ve been saying for over a month that I needed to post something but between my wedding anniversary, my son’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas I’ve been tied up. Our family tends to have a very busy November and December each year. So, to catch you up to where we are today… we’re 26 weeks along and quickly heading towards the third trimester next week. Third trimester!?! How did that get here so quick?? Before we know it we’ll be on baby watch! In early November we had the 20 week anatomy scan. For those unfamiliar with this, it is a pr ..read more

At 35 years of age, I don’t quite consider myself old just yet. And while I will be 36 before Roo #2 is born, I still wouldn’t consider myself old then either. Well, my opinion versus the medical community’s opinion differ. Any pregnant person who is 35 or older is considered to be “Advanced Maternal Age”. So that means I have the pleasure of visiting the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor to monitor this pregnancy. I saw the MFM specialists during my first surrogate journey, but that was because L’s eggs were retrieved while she was in her late 30s. This time around not only do I have to go see t ..read more

Things have gone by so quickly that I am just now getting to write an update and we’re already getting ready to move into the second trimester! So, to catch everyone up to speed… We went for our first monitoring ultrasound at 6.5 weeks, and everything was perfect. Roo 2 was measuring right on track and had a heartbeat of 120. Woo hoo! It was such a relief to see evidence that things were progressing well after the initial scare with our beta tests. Of course, with COVID, things were a bit different. I couldn’t have anyone with me, but the ultrasound tech was nice enough to let me give L&R ..read more

If you read my previous post about The Great Communicables Kit Debacle of 2020, then sit down for this one, because we’ve got another epic debacle on our hands. But this one could have cost a life… I started taking home pregnancy test 5 days post transfer and started off with a light line that got progressively darker with each passing day. So, once that Friday came I was feeling pretty positive going into Beta day. I went to TMH, did my bloodwork, and then we all had to wait for the official results. Later that afternoon my L&R called. CCRM called them with the results and they decided to ..read more