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!
