Our New Journey: Surrogacy Part 5- 3rd Trimester update

Surrogacy is going beautifully and faster than I could have imagined...

 I may be a little sad when it is all over :( 

Pregnancy itself is well... pregnancy lol 

Other than the general discomforts from putting on 20lbs over 32 weeks, and easily fixed heartburn things are going super smoothly! It is definitely different to be pregnant when you have a 1 year old to chase, but otherwise things are pretty similar to my pregnancy with James.

I have been taking pictures in the same dress, so my IP's can see how baby girl and I are growing. I started posting some of the pictures on my last Surro update: Our New Journey: Surrogacy Part 4

23 Weeks

26 Weeks 

I Lost my toes at 27 Weeks :(

29 weeks

My intended mother came and protected me from Mike's shenanigans on April Fools ;)

It was so fun to spend the day with her just talking about our kids! The very best part was getting to see her sweet little girl! I truly can not wait for my IPs to get to meet their baby!

32 weeks 

Now we are planning for delivery! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! 

 Seeing baby is due during the summer my intended parents are going to give me and the kids a vacation to stay near them for a few weeks. This will make it more relaxing for me and my IP's to not have to worry about them missing the delivery, and make for a fun end to this pregnancy for my family :)

This upcoming trip is also giving me something exciting to take my nesting out on...my husband is appreciating any distraction from me continuing to nest on our house lol 

Please continue to pray for my family and my IPs family as we all prepare for June :)

Just Me and My Bump Pictures

I wanted some pictures captured of just me and my bump.

 As much as there are days that I just feel huge and uncomfortable this pregnancy is one of the most amazing times of my life, it is such a beautiful gift! 

I am so very glad that I asked Becky Barry to take my pictures she never fails to make a girl feel beautiful! 

A picture to represent how big I feel ;)
The rest are of how gorgeous my bump really is!

Family Maternity Pictures - 2

A few weeks ago we had summer family pictures done

 Most of them were done for the babies nursery, and some just to capture our family in this amazing time

 We had them done by Rebecca Anne Photography, Becky did a great job! 

Here are some of my favorites :)

Thing 1

Thing 2

Picture for Big Brother Frame for the Nursery

Our almost family of 5

Baby Reece's amazing siblings
Look how much they have grown from the year they became sister and brother 

we have a similar picture Becky took when the kids were 3!
This is going in the Nursery :)

Baby Reece's 1st pair of shoes!
This is going in the Nursery :)

Picture for Big Sister Frame in the Nursery 

Just me and my boy

Me reading "You are all my favorites" to my all 3 of my babies!
This is going in the Nursery 

My very sexy baby daddy 

This was the pose from our wedding invitation
This is how it all started :)

Our song is "God Blessed the Broken Road"
The day of our wedding Becky captured this same moment 

Daddy and his baby boy! 

There is so much to the biblical truth!
Baby Reece is the answer to so many prayers!!
This is going in his Nursery

Me, the man I love, and our baby boy!
One of those life doesn't get better than this pictures for me :)

Peacefully in love with a boy I have never met 

Here is the link to the pictures of Just Me and My Bump

32 weeks

I feel like this is going so fast, and so slow at the same time! I am so ready to meet my little man and not be uncomfortable, but I have so much to do before he comes and can't believe that a year ago this was just a dream!
I am officially 32 weeks this week! There is nothing especially new about pregnancy this week and its a week with no doctors appointments, so no special post. That being said I am going to brag on my other little man, and show you the fun weekend we had!
We were going to go out of town this last weekend, but Thing 1 got a role in the play Hansel and Gretel so we changed plans to be there for his on stage debut! I love theater, so the idea of a child who enjoys it thoroughly excites me!
He was a Rascal... which in the play is a one of the queen's little minions! He did such a good job, and it was such a cute play!
Seeing we were now plans free Saturday I went and had my hair chopped off by Tara with Trey Salon... there is no cutting my own hair when I am pregnant! I love it, and love that I am not just putting it up all the time due to being too long for me to want to style every day! I am definitely a short hair girl!

And I changed our maternity pictures to that evening... I CAN NOT WAIT TO SHOW THEM OFF!! Becky is an amazing photographer, and the kids had tons of fun exploring while we did pictures. She is going to do some of just me in her studio tomorrow... I am so excited to find out what her creativity has in store!
Then Sunday after church we went to a local pool for the kids to play, and me to... well... have a snow cone lol
Then we went home to make homemade pizza & cookies and enjoy the down time as a family!

All in all it was a great down weekend, and not going out of town turned into a blessing in disguise!
Hope everyone has a great week!

Gestational Diabetes...maybe?

So last Wednesday Mike and I spent an hour at my midwife's office, so that I could get tested for Gestational Diabetes. A very standard test for being in my 3rd trimester, and the only bad part was the orange "stuff" I had to drink...yuck doesn't begin to cover it. We had looked into other options for the test, but this being such a big deal we wanted to go with the most clear, tested, reliable option to protect our baby.  They also checked my blood for a bunch of other stuff, because of my medical history. Best part was getting to hear little man's heartbeat which never gets less exciting! We left with all looking perfect on the pregnancy front...
Monday morning not so much... I got a call from my midwife saying that she had good and bad news. Good news is my Thyroid (which was my biggest worry) is right where it should be hormone wise. Bad news is that my iron is very low (insert obsession with snow cones and ice here). She said that the want the iron count to be at least 12 and mine is 6.9 :( add to that my glucose levels are on the high side.
I went in that day to have my iron checked again, and to get an Rx for an iron supplement. They also gave me some really lame rules for how to eat for the week, so I could make an appointment to spend a morning having a second test with food not hindering the results in anyway.
Seeing I only work Friday afternoons I made the appointment for today.  I didn't let Mike come despite his constant asking to. I figured 3 hours is a long time to waste out of anyone's day, he could get some quality alone time in with our older kids, and I could bring my laptop and get some work done.
 I have had no food since 8 last night :( I started with getting my blood drawn at 9 am, then I got to drink 10 oz of the nasty glucose "stuff" (I tried lemon lime this time...DON'T DO IT... worse than the orange which is barely possible). Then they took my blood at 10 am and 11 am. Now I just wait one more hour for the last test at noon, and I can go feed me and my boy! The good part in all this is that I am still loving my midwife's office. They have a really comfy room with a recliner, heated blankets, dim lighting, lots of pregnancy books, and WiFi  (so I can watch Netflix on my phone while I play on my computer... I mean work on my computer). I really am relaxed despite the looming concern, and they even pulled out the Doppler so I could hear Thing 3 ;)
I decided despite my need to over research everything that happens in  my life I am not going to until Mike and I come back Monday to meet with my midwife to get the test results. Until then I am going to make the best out of this weekend, and leave it in God's hands....prayers appreciated and I will update everyone once I know more :)

Bump Update 9 - Week 29

How far along? 29 weeks (tomorrow)

Total weight gain: 13.4 lbs at my last appointment 

Maternity clothes: I bought my 1st maternity swimsuit, because there was no getting the twins ;) into any of my old ones! Other than that nothing new on the clothing front just wearing any of my dresses that I can, because they are way more comfortable than pants!

Stretch marks: No, but there is a red dot that I am pretty sure is going to turn into one. I was recently asked if that worries me, and I had to laugh... I did not go into this expecting to get sexier lol :) Being a mom comes with lots of sacrifices, and my body is one of them... I love being a mom! 

Sleep: The only thing that is problem with sleep lately is that my body forgot to sleep in?!?! Everyday I wake up by 7am no matter what... anyone who knows me knows that Saturday mornings and I don't go together! I love sleeping it :( Needless to say I am hoping this goes away soon! 

Best moment this week: I have just been having one amazing week after another lately! I still can't get enough of my husband being home, and can finally plan now that I know we are having a BOY!! I have posted about most of the fun, but somethings are just simply perfect for me like watching my baby daddy spend the evening playing basketball with our princess while I relax in the sunshine with our fur baby :) 

This weekend Mike and I had a little staycation in Downtown Boise

 for our 4 year anniversary! 

We went to dinner, a comedy show, and for a walk to people watch & get dessert on Friday night. 

Saturday we went to breakfast and the street market before swimming at our hotel and going to Hyde park for lunch and SNOW CONES!

(hey I am still pregnant even on romantic weekends)

Then that evening we had a picnic dinner in the park then went to see Death Trap at The Idaho Shakespeare Festival! It was so much fun I definitely recommend it for all my fellow theater lovers! 

I had such an amazing weekend just enjoying the man that I love I didn't want it to end, but I did miss our daughter & our bed so it is nice to be home! 

Miss Anything? The days when I could eat anything, and not getting heartburn! Other than that not a thing! 

Movement: All the time! At night when I relax he just goes crazy, so Mike gets to feel him and see him move which is my absolute favorite! The other time I can go from feeling no movement to tons is when Big Sister Jenna talks to Baby Reece which makes her feel pretty special :) 

Food cravings: Snow cones! Strawberry Daiquiri Snow Cones with cream!!! Seriously though I love ice and all of it's related friends, but Snow cones are just the yummiest and easiest to eat! Lots of other cravings come and go, but that one is pretty constant... the lady at the Hawaiian Ice shack knows my order ;)  The only other constants are cantaloupe and fresh veggies with ranch! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope still doing good on this! 

Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks... I hate you! 

Belly Button in or out? In, but I am pretty sure it won't be long :(

Wedding rings on or off? On! Mike says he will buy me a bigger stand in ring if this one gets tight, but so far no problems there! 

Happy or Moody most of the time: I have two modes tons of happy energy and lets take a nap! lol  

Looking forward to: Next weekend Friday night is girls night out with my girlfriends for Sara's Birthday, and then we have fun plans with the kids to get them excited for their new roles with baby coming! Other than that just for spending time in the sunshine with my little family!