T-Minus 4 days!

I’ve been telling myself for about a week that I need to do a quick update on these last few days before birth of baby girl and kept putting it off. Well let’s see how far I get....

About a week ago I re-shared my post from June about the “unsung heroes of Surrogacy” which is about all the hard work my loving husband has put into this journey. I was motivated to share it because the flu bug hit our family HARD the second week of January and Daniel became our Florence Nightingale for 4 days straight. I cannot remember ever feeling that weak and sick but I’m sure being 36 weeks pregnant at the time made it even harder. Luckily, I didn’t have fevers or vomiting but the Prego body aches combined with sick body aches kept me in bed for almost 3 days straight. Each of the boys came down with their own versions of the bug and they each seemed to get it a day apart from each other. They all dealt with fevers and then combinations of runny tummy and vomiting. Daniel was able to work from home and did such an amazing job keeping us hydrated and eating whenever we could. And by the grace of God, and multiple doses of Airborne, Daniel never got sick and was able to avoid his own bed-ridden consequences!

Originally, Grammy (aka Daniel’s Mom) was due to arrive from South Africa that Thursday but she was facing her own intense bronchitis and had to push her flight back a few days just to recover. 

By day 5 I was finally feeling a little better and the boys all had stopped with the fevers. I decided we would take the whole weekend off in order to make sure all the germs were gone and allow us to recover. 

On Sunday (Jan 14) we all were feeling better and Grammy arrived that afternoon! And I have been spoiled rotten ever since!

I know that I would find a way to survive if I had to but having Grammy here has been SUCH a blessing! She’s been cooking and cleaning and taking the boys outside to run around. I am STILL dealing with congestion left over from the bug which makes me even more tired and lethargic and both her and Daniel have been so good to me, letting me just sit and sew or nap and relax!

I also have been spoiled by friends as well! Our group of homeschool moms put together a care basket for me and a couple from our church offered to watch the boys one night so Daniel and I could go out together (Grammy went to Arizona for the weekend to see her sister and we still got a night away).

Today was my last OB check-up and I asked Daniel to drive me because I’ve just been so tired and been having sinus pressure from my cold. It was really special cause Stephanie was able to make it so she could meet the doctor who will be performing the C-Section in person before the big day! Stephanie had to rush from her clinic and made it just in time! Right as she walked in the receptionist called me over and said the doctor had just been called over to the ER and wasn’t sure if he would be back in time. She asked if I wanted to see someone else or wait and see if the doctor would be back in time. I told her I would like to wait since our IPs were here and the C-Section was Friday. Luckily the doctor was back in about 20 min so we all got to meet with him. 

Of course, every other appointment, baby girl has been pretty easy to find the heartbeat and this time she was hiding a bit. I was laying there thinking “come on big girl, don’t make your mama nervous!” But the whole time the doctor was searching for a good reading, you could see her rolling around so we knew she was ok, it was just a little nerve wracking for a few minutes! But when we got a good read, her heartbeat was steady at 130 and strong! 

At my previous appointment, the doctor measured my belly and said “well she isn’t going to be a small baby!” Even though baby girl is 100% biologically Chad and Stephanie’s and has NO DNA of mine, the birth size of babies can be some genetics but also how my body “grew her”. My own babies were 8lbs 7oz, 8lbs 2oz and 9lbs 2oz so chances are that baby girl could be on the bigger size. The doctor gave his “guesstimate” of 8lbs but I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

After the appointment I walked Daniel and Stephanie around to the Center for Childbirth where we will be on Friday and then we said our goodbyes!

We stopped by CVS on the way home to grab me some Sudafed to help relieve some of the sinus pressure I’ve been feeling. I told Daniel on the way to the appointment that IF the doctor tried to postpone the C-Section AT ALL because of my congestion, I wanted him to push to keep it on Friday because I just need to get this little girl safely into her parent’s arms! I have been so nervous these last 2 weeks about getting baby girl into this world safely that I would rather deal with congestion and healing from a C-Section instead of postponing! Luckily the doctor didn’t say anything and we are still on schedule for Friday!!

And so, we wait! I’ve continued to see a chiropractor about every 3-4 days to try and help my sciatica pain and to keep me as aligned as possible! I have one more appointment on Wednesday before birth and am still praying that the pain goes away after birth of baby girl and doesn’t turn into any form of chronic pain.

Well I think that’s about it! Probably won’t write again till about Baby Girl is here! I will have 2-3 days of healing in the hospital so hoping to post in my spare time but no promises! I will definitely post at some point with the birth story! 

Thank you to everyone who has followed along on this journey! And for those who have been praying us through it, words could never adequately express our gratitude! The very first day we even considered Surrogacy was Nov 3, 2016 and here we are just shy of 15 months later about to complete this journey! We are still in shock of how smooth and “God soaked” this process has been! Chad and Stephanie have truly become lifelong friends for us and not just because of my carrying baby girl. Sometimes I can’t remember NOT being their friends because we get along so well!

If you think of us, keep us in prayer for these last 4 days! Baby girl has REALLY slowed down (which is normal in the last few weeks) but I find I get nervous more easily when I haven’t felt her move. But just when I get nervous she’ll make a nice slow roll across my belly. I told people at church that it’s like she is JUST as ready as me to be done. She rolls over and gives a little kick like “I’m out room, let me out!”

Thank you again for all the love and support of our family! We’ll check in again soon from the other side!