Fourteen Week Appointment...

I am happy to report that once again I received some good news about the growth of our baby. I heard the heartbeat which happened to be within the normal range. Baby is growing big and healthy and with no concerns. Thanks God! I know I have to constantly remind myself of how blessed I am to not ever disappoint my Heavenly Father :-) I know how easy it is to forget our blessings and start to take everything for granted and don't ever want to do that. So, everyone feel free to remind me of that at anytime...

This time I also had the opportunity to go to lunch with "A". I am so glad I was able to spend sometime with her.  Since we both have busy lives and live four hours away, it is hard to find the time to just sit down and chat. I am glad that she is slowly starting to feel back to her normal self. 

Looking forward to our next dr's appointment at the end of next month. Stay tuned, as I will be revealing the sex of the baby right here in just a few weeks...

I asked "A" to have a picture together so you can put a face to this story. I have to warn you that I am an awful photographer. So believe me, we look way better in person ;-) I think it is interesting how we have had some "look alike" comments. Maybe if I had her beautiful long dark hair and gorgeous eyes :-)

The End of the First Trimester...

Photo of pregnancy at 12 weeks via Parents.com

I have to admit that I feel a great sense of relief knowing that today is the last day of the first trimester. There is always so much unknown during these first few weeks that I think I subconsciously told myself not too get to excited yet. My husband and I talked about waiting until after the end of the first trimester before telling our friends about it; however, that didn't quite happened. I am happy to report that I did so much better than my husband, who is known for not been able to keep any secrets whatsoever :-)

Also, I have to admit that because of the nature of this pregnancy, even when people ask me how are things going, I feel I don't have very much to say. No physical evidence, symptoms, or changes to report. The truth is that this pregnancy is more about feelings, emotions, and thoughts about the baby. Perhaps, that would make time go faster for me.

Next week I get to see "A" once again for the next doctor's appointment. I can't believe it has been a month already. I want to see the growing belly and spend some time with her. This time I won't forget to get some good pictures of us while there. Thanks for stopping by!

Ten Weeks...

On Friday we woke up at 4:30 am for our 4 hour drive to get to our 9:30 am appointment with the OBGYN on time.  Each time I am there it seems a little bit like a surreal experience. I feel like I am dreaming it and I feeI like pinching myself to come back to reality. I guess sometimes I  have that  "it is too good to be true" kind of feeling... However, this time as soon as I saw that little baby move on the ultrasound all of my fears seemed to go away. It was the first time we saw little baby move! He or she was squirting all over the place. I could see tiny little hands, feet, and head. It was so comforting to hear the dr say that this was one little active baby that looked as healthy as he or she can be. I am so grateful that everything is going so well with "A" and the baby. 

A Very Meaningful Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day was of particular significance to me for a number of reasons; reasons that I feel keep increasing by the day. I feel so blessed! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mother once again! Looking back, I don't think I ever would have imagined to be a witness of such an amazing miracle in my life! As I sat during Church on Sunday I couldn't help to just feel absolutely emotional at everything I heard. I wish I could blame it on my hormones but I can't (lol).

 During the Relief Society class I was particularly touched by one of the discussions about Our Savior's mercy as showed to Mary of Magdalene when Jesus told her (in my own words) that she was saved because of her great love. The teacher emphasized how amazing that was, how merciful of the Son of God to forgive someone because He knew he had a loving heart. How amazing is that! That most of our imperfections can be overlooked because of our great love towards others, a quality that characterizes most women. I couldn't have heard anything more fulfilling this Mother's Day! I felt a very strong spirit of gratitude, humility, and  immense love toward my Heavenly Father and everyone around me there. But, especially to someone who I wished I could have hugged on mother's day and of course that is amazing "A". This time I am celebrating you and the immense love that you have in your heart! I don't think my heart and mind would have been open to understand the magnitude of "love" have I not gone through this experience! All my love to all the mothers and women I know, especially to the one who is sacrificing so much right now to bring more happiness into our lives. Love you "A"!

Viability Ultrasound...

May 2nd at 10:30 am was our very first ultrasound. Typically, among normal pregnancies, OBGYN's do not perform an ultrasound this early in the pregnancy, but considering that  a fertility process is involved, the clinic ordered this for us.

We live about 4 hours away from "A", so we woke up at 5 am on Thursday. Considering the scare from the day before, (read more about it on "A" blog here) and the fact that I couldn't sleep the night before, you can imagine that this drive seemed like an eternity. I did most of the driving while my husband slept peacefully on the passenger seat he reclined to be more comfortable.  How can he sleep right now?  I thought to myself more than once while driving. And then, once again, I had to remind myself how different we women are from men ;-)

Once we got to the dr's office, I got very excited again to see "A" seating in the lobby, and then I got anxious one more time not knowing what was going to happen later. Will they tell there is one baby, two, or perhaps none? I kicked that last thought out of my mind and I felt at peace once again. A few minutes later "A"'s husband arrived, and all of a sudden, for no reason, I felt nervous once again. That just to show you what a nervous wreck I was...

Soon the nurse called "A" in. She went in there by herself, which I figured was a good idea so she can explain to them this unusual situation of having two couples waiting for this appointment instead of one. Shortly after, "A" called me in and we both went in together to the ultrasound room. The ultrasound tech was very polite and did a great job at explaining what was on the screen. I so appreciated her making eye contact with me as well; that meant a lot to me. As the picture above shows, she explained to us that 2 sacs initially develop for two embryos, but one of them was empty. All of a sadden, a feeling of sadness overcame me, just as when you loose something you care very much for. I don't know how to better explain it than that. Then, she went on to explain that the other embryo sac looked good, healthy, and the heart rate was in the normal range. I felt so grateful at that time! We are so blessed, so so so blessed! I am so eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven for the opportunity to be a mother once again and for trusting me with one of his little ones to one as imperfect as I! What else can I ask for? I will continue to be the best I can be and to serve Him with all my mind, heart, and strength for the rest of my life and all eternity...

Ah, and, before I forget, we are seven weeks now... with a next appointment scheduled for the 24th of May.  I have decided that this time I will ask to meet with the doctor for a minute before the next appointment. Although that is not an easy thing for me to do, I think he needs to understand a little more about this (yes, I know), awkward situation. I know and understand there are very few doctors, especially in this state, who have dealt with a gestational surrogacy. On the other hand, if he doesn't know where we all come from and why is this is taking place, he may just guess it, and that I don't think is a good idea. I need them to know and understand that we are the biological parents of this tiny baby and that, perhaps next time, he will not call me the surrogate and perhaps the nurses and receptionist will make a little more eye contact with me, as none of us here have anything to hide :-)

On a different note, these beautiful flowers were given to me by beautiful "A" as we said good bye that day! She gave them to me for my birthday which was on the first! How much better can my stressful day turn! Not only did I get the best news in the world but I also got some amazing flowers from an amazing woman! I can only say this was the best birthday I had in years! I have received the best news I could expect and I only have one person (and a whole family) on this earth to thank for that! Thanks "A"! We love you!

The Most Meaningful Gift I Have Ever Received....

Painting: Be It Unto Me by Liz Lemon Swindle

Last weekend was amazing! We drove for about four hours to see "A" and her family. B and I had planned this trip before we received the results, and decided that we were going to drive there regardless of what the results turned out to be. I loved spending time with "A"! This time with had the opportunity to come to her house and meet her wonderful children. They were so nice to my little "K" and had such a great time playing together. K kept telling me they are her friends and didn't want to go home after spending time with them. I wished we would be closer...

Before we left, "A" gave me a beautiful gift bag. I opened it in our car as were driving back home. It was this beautiful picture of Mary, Jesus' mother with a cute card that said:

"Remember when I told you I opened my night stand and found a picture that comforted me, but I had never seen it in my life before? This is it. I stare at it everyday and think of you". Love always, "A"

I am filled with joy and gratitude every time I see this picture. And it now represents way more than I ever thought I was going to be able to experience in this life! What a wonderful reminder! I will cherish this in my heart forever! Once again, thank you "A", words are short to express the immense gratitude that I feel towards you and your family! You will be blessed!

The Results!

I am so overwhelmed with joy, gratitude, humility, and peace after receiving such an amazing news! "A" texted me this picture on 4/16/13 while waiting for the results of the blood test that she took that morning. We were hoping to get the results that same day, but the typical calm person that I am was about to eat all of her short fingernails during the wait :-) So "A" and I, after talking to "B", decided to have this pregnancy test done right away once we found out that the blood test results were not going to be received until the next day. The chances of getting a false negative, however, are somehow common so I tried not to get too overly excited.

The next day in the morning I received a phone call from the nurse at the clinic confirming the pregnancy with a "Beta" number of 351 which is considered a good number. She also gave me a December 20 due date and congratulated us. I am soooo excited!!! This is the best news that I have received in a very long time!
I feel strongly that my Heavenly Father's will was done here and an immense feeling of peace has come to my body and mind and has remained since then...

I wish "A" would be closer so could give her a very big hug, so we plan to come over to visit them on the weekend!