Made in America

Well, my scheduled c-section was supposed to be Monday the 6th of August. Instead today was my 6 week check-up. Crazy how things work out, eh? Well above is my cute surro babe Alexander, now weighing in at over 9 pounds! He is doing well. I can't wait to see him in person- only another month until I fly over to Australia to speak to members of parliament about Surrogacy. After three days of working, I'll visit my Australian Surro-family. I'm soooooo excited.

The Milk Lady

My surro baby, Alexander, made it out of the NICU July 8th and then headed back to his home July 13th. He is doing so well and is even up to six and a half pounds! One of the issues with international surrogacy is that you can't ship breast milk (it would melt and go bad during shipping/in customs). However, I was able to pump for Alexander for the first two weeks.

Here was my final gift of breast milk before they left

And here is the last time I got to feed him

Now, anyone who has ever breastfed knows how much it sucks when you stop. Your boobs get rock hard and hurt so bad! This time I decided instead of "cold turkey" I'd slowly start pumping less and less and then finally end it. Since my own surro babe has left the country, I asked my surro group if any of them needed my extra milk.

Tomorrow, after eleven more days of pumping, I'll be sending over 3500mL to a precious baby girl who was born to two marvelous dads several weeks ago. She will be heading back to her home (also International) in about a week but not before I get to supplement what her own marvelous surrogate has been giving them since her birth.

Here she is with her Dads'

I started to get it all packaged up to ship

After this, I have eleven more days of my breast pump rental. I am down to pumping only 2-3 times a day now and by the first week of August should be completely finished. I do have plans for any milked pumped during the final days, a friend of mine is going back to work and is a little worried about her own pumping, so I'm planning on giving the milk to her and her wife to help supplement. Just call me The Milk Lady.

Pictures

Original Post from July 5th . . . I went into the hospital on Friday June 29th and was discharged Monday July 2nd. Alexander is still in the NICU but looks as if he'll be discharged in the next few days (if you can believe it!)

Here are some other pictures from his 2nd and 3rd day on earth, including a video or two . . .

Alexander's sign

In his isolette

Close-up

My first bout at breast pumping, a few hours after c-section

Getting Checked out

Feeding Alexander breast milk

One of my favorite photos

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Alexander

So the morning of Friday June 29th, Stacie and I walked into Labor and Delivery to get my "leaking" checked

About 8 hours later we headed to the Operating Room. Having my best friend with me was an amazing experience. We were only 3 days apart in our journeys so wanted to document the bellies one last time together before mine turned into a baby

The delivery team got me all set up and then Stacie joined us with multiple cameras and phones in her possession. Since my IPs were not able to be at the birth of their first child, we wanted to make sure it was well documented for them and she did an amazing job!

Here I am prepped for surgery and ready to have Alexander make his exit

The doctors got down to business and at 6:29pm on 6/29/12, Alexander takes his first breath

Here is the actual birth video

Alexander could breath on his own

but they did give him a little bubble assistance

Stacie joined Alexander to take pictures while I was taken to recovery.

About an hour later, they wheeled me in to visit Alexander

The entire time Stacie and I were texting and emailing pictures to the Dads, who were stuck in Australia until the next day.

More to come . . . .

I am a HOUSE episode

Tomorrow is 34 weeks, no problem, right? WELL . . . . . . this morning when I woke up I thought I may be leaking fluid so I called the Dr. and they had me come in. By the time I got there I had changed underwear twice, and filled up two Poise Pads. It seemed pretty obvious that I did in fact have ruptured membranes. I was just hoping that I could hang out for a few days/weeks until it repaired itself or until Little Man stayed in a little longer. They tested the fluid and it came back positive for amniotic fluid and the nurse, Andrea, witnessed first hand my leakage. She left and came back in saying we were doing a c-section in 30 minutes. WAIT! WHAT?! I told her that I wanted to speak to the OB and be seen before they rushed me back. I was fine, the baby was fine, they hadn't even checked my cervix, etc. About an forty-five minutes later the OB came over and did a quick vaginal exam. It showed no progression of my cervix and when he had me cough, no fluid was coming out (even though earlier a good joke would have me seeping some fluid). He ran another test which came back inconclusive. He decided to send me up to get an ultrasound, it came back with satisfactory fluid levels. Later, they came and ran the same test again . . . to the nurses surprise, it came back negative. The joke is now that I'm like an episode of HOUSE. Nurses are saying they would bet their licenses on the fact that my membranes ruptured because they have seen firsthand what is going on, my story is conclusive and a test came back positive . . . but then the other test came back negative. They couldn't believe it. So now, I'm waiting for the OB to come over and re-do the test again, do another vaginal exam and make a decision if we proceed with the c-section or if they decide to observe me for longer. We shall see. Now about my IPs . . . I finally reached them. They are in another part of Australia at a conference and the soonest they could fly home and and then fly here would be about 36 hours. I am hoping to have information for them ASAP so they can make a good decision. As of yesterday, they were do to arrive July 25th for an August 6th c-section (if I actually made it to 39 weeks . .. never have). I have been very lucky today in the fact that Stacie has been with me for most of the day. She went home to get changed, eat and will return later. She is going to be my OR/C-section buddy. I will keep you posted. Looks like instead of the Baby Shower on July 7th, they may get a baby instead!

32 weeks

32 weeks and counting . . . . Next friday I'll be going in for a 4D ultrasound that will live stream to my IPs and their family in Australia (Saturday morning to them). It's my Fathers' Day gift to them. Can't wait to share some amazing photos and videos of Little Man with you all!

29.5 Weeks

Just cut off the long sleeves of my favorite maternity shirt so I can wear it!