He's Here!

It's a BOY!

September 29 2012

Corbin Rehe

7 lbs 13 oz

20.5 inches

11:48 am

We reported to the hospital at 6:00am on Sat morning as requested. Pitocin was started at 7am, Dr came and broke water somewhere around 9 am. Epidural was given 10-10:30 (which took over half hour since the anesthesiologist couldn't get it in, and had to change locations on my spine). Doctor was called back to the hospital to deliver at 11ish( I was progressing fast and didn't want her to miss it, she was at a restaurant with her family and had to leave them there to be with me) Doctor came in at 11:20ish and after a few short moments of pushing he was here :) 

This has been one great journey for me and I'm sure D&J feel the same...We couldn't be more blessed to have such great family and friends in our lives and I am glad that we were able to share this journey with the world as well. More on the birthing fun later...for now I leave you with all the good stuff :)

Welcome to the World

                

Dave and Jenn 

had the hospital staff put his lil footprints on their shirts

                   

First Weigh In

                                

Mommy finally gets some snuggle time

  

And so does Daddy

His first bath

All ready to go home at about 30 hours old

The Happy Family

Final Stretch

It's getting close to D-day! Doctor had me scheduled to get a Non-Stress test done this morning but the Maternity Center at our local hospital didn't have a monitor available so they called and rescheduled it for tomorrow...I had scheduled it for a time that I already had another appointment (pretty sure this baby is taking all my brain juice some days) so I called them immediately back to re-reschedule, and I am glad I did. 

The delivering Dr was there and after she talked to me on the phone, asking the basic questions, decided that the test would not be necessary and that I could instead just come in on Sat morn and get induced ;-)

So guess what my next post will be about??

Stay tuned for delivery updates and pics and please keep us all in your prayers for a speedy and complication free Birthday for Baby-K!

2 Weeks Notice

Can anyone else even believe that Mr. Baby K will be here in under 2 wks...I am so excited to meet him, probably not quite as excited as D&J are but pretty close! I am also very ready to have my body back to single occupancy :) 

Just to catch everyone back up...2 wks ago we went in for the millionth U/S to make sure all was still good on Baby boy's development and growth. It was great, possibly too great since the tech says he is looking like a big baby...but anyways he is still perfect in every way.

Went to OB appt last wk for what is supposed to be the next to last fetal check-up before delivery day, which is still tentatively scheduled for Sat. 9/29 supposing he behaves himself and doesn't come sooner. Found out at that Appt that my Group B strep test came back negative, which is great since I am sure that D&J will be nervous enough and the antibiotics would have just given them one more thing to worry about that day.

This coming Thurs I will go in to OB again so that she can check for dilation and so forth and at that appt we are supposed to set up a day for me to go to the delivery hospital to get some final monitoring done a day or two before delivery. 

Baby wasn't cooperating during the last U/S so we didn't get any pictures of him to share, but fret not...soon we will have lots and lots and lots of pics of him in living color for all to see :D

In other news:  On Sept 4 I managed to convince the very patient and understanding owner of the house we are in the process of buying to let me and the kids move into the property ahead of a closing date, so that my kids wouldn't miss anymore of the new school year. So the last few weekends have been very busy for all of us as we are still getting settled in. And of course in true fashion, the house refuses to behave itself, so my very helpful family, especially my soon to be a father Brother and my Dad, has been doing a great job of getting things in working order for me and the kids before Baby K gets here and begins to demand all of their attention. I gotta give them credit, they never complain. We should be finally 'officially' closing on the house this week and I couldn't be happier to get that out of the way, especially since we haven't been able to bring my dogs with us to the new house yet and I am really starting to miss all the craziness they provide to our lives.

Well time for this excessively pregnant person to crawl into bed and catch a few winks. Sleep has been a precious commodity this last few weeks, since my bladder, which is pretty good during the day, seems to only hold about 2 ounces during the nighttime hours...I'm sure the 7 lbs of ice I eat a day doesn't help, or it could be the 7 or so lb child that resides there like to sleep on it. Well hopefully now that I have my Internet back I will be able to update again sooner than delivery time...but if not keep us in your prayers for a safe and speedy delivery :)

30 Days

Well folks we are getting close! Tomorrow Me, D&J go in for what will most likely be the final U/S for Baby K. Even better than that today is what we are hoping to be 30 days till his arrival. Last week we went in to the OB's office for the standard 33 wk fetal check up and the Dr. had suggested that we decide on an induction date. We informed her how much easier it would be for me and my kids if his arrival fell on a weekend and asked her how early she would let us do it. She said since all the U/S's to date have shown his developmental EDD to be 9/30 that she would let us induce anytime after 9/28...so we picked 9/29.

Backing up a little...The last few weeks have been exhausting. The bank decided that we needed to make repairs to the house I am trying to get before we are able to close. So with the help of my brother, father and a few other wonderful family members we were able to spend about 5 days total putting in new flooring/carpet throughout the whole place and giving the bathroom and a few walls a new updated look. I am started to get real frustrated with the delays, especially since the school at the new house is already in session and our old/current district is delayed this year until Sept. 10, so my kids are going to miss nearly 2 whole weeks of classes if we don't get a clear to close date soon...

On a cheerier note this weekend we had a baby shower to celebrate Baby K...it was a great success and it was nice to see all of the support D&J have from their friends and family. Overall there were over 50 guests that came to enjoy the food and our not-so-traditional baby shower games, like pin-the-sperm-on-the-egg(with diaper blindfolds)!! Overall everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and D&J got lots of new stuff for Baby K. And because D&J are super awesome IP's I got a present too...they bought me a new TV for my new house :)...check back soon for updates

28wk Fun

Well it has been another crazy busy week. I managed however to go and get the 1 hr glucose test done and last weekend we went for the 3D U/S...Here are a few of the  pics that D&J got from the 28 wk U/S. 

 I am starting to think this kid is gonna be born with one very stiff arm, as he has had it up by his head like in every U/S we have had...

 This was my first experience with the 3D U/S and I must say, it was pretty cool to get to actually get an idea of what he will look like.

According to the U/S tech he is still measuring an EDD of 9/30...which is 1 wk ahead of schedule so there is a good chance we are already in our final 10 wks :)

27wks!!

Well today I went in for my 27wk checkup...I can hardly believe how fast this is all flying by. It seems like just last week that I was telling everyone about the 20 wk appointment. Now here we are 7 whole weeks have gone by!!

I just happened to peek at my little countdown calender widget this morning and saw that there is only 89 days until Baby K's due date! Wow, that actually sounds better than 13 wks, this is getting very real...and the closer we get the more excited I am getting for D&J. The closer we get to Due date I am also finding it very strange but also kind of comforting that I don't feel any real emotional or should I say maternal bond to this baby. I have heard a thousand surrogates say the same thing but never really understood what they meant until just recently. Now I'm not saying I don't love the little guy already...he is my nephew and I am just as excited as the next family member to meet him, but it truely is different than when you are pregnant with your own kids and I am happy about it because...well...he isn't mine, so I'm pretty sure it is supposed to feel different?? Am I wrong?

Anyways, Baby K is still doing just fine as am I. Doctor said today that I am the easiest patient she has ever had...what can I say, I have always had uneventful pregnancies...and that is just fine for me. Baby is still not a super active little guy, IM says he is just being polite since he knows he's living in borrowed space, the doc insists it is just because I am so active. Today she told me to start doing fetal kick counts and that as long as he moves around 10 times in an hour during his most active parts of the day(for me it seems to be bedtime) that he is perfectly fine and no red flags will be raised. I am comfortable with that strategy since I know for sure he moves that much at least.

Saturday we get to go in for the 28wk 3D U/S. I never got a 3D with any of my own kiddo's, so I'm super excited to get to experience this one with D&J.
Sometime next week I have to find some extra time to go get the 28 week glucose tolerance test done...Blah...it's the one thing I find repulsive in pregnancy, but I suppose it is necessary so I will suck it up and get it done like a good girl :)

Hopefully we get some great pics of the little guy to share with you all this weekend...
The next few wks and months are surely gonna be busy as my divorce will be finalizing and me and all the kids will be moving into our new home and schools...so I'm not gonna even try and promise to update often. But I will try, especially as we near the home stretch.

20 Week U/S

Last sat 5/19 me and the IP's went to the hospital for baby K's big 20wk U/S. As usual all was great. Baby K was still a boy :) and was actually measuring a week ahead of schedule. The tech said she was getting an EDD of 9/30...I seriously doubt that te doctor will change his due date since he was obviously not concieved a week earlier, but who knows? I know I wouldn't mind meeting the little guy a week or so early and neither would his parents ;)
So here he is...what a perfect little profile he already has!!

I am REALLY Bad at this :)

Yeah I know I never update...but something else always seems to take priority. Anyways, today I went in for my 18WK check-up. Yep you read that right....18 WKS already. This pregnancy is seriously flying by, which in someways I find very unfair because with my own kids it seemed like every trimester took FOREVER. Oh well I guess I shouldn't complain, fast is good right??
Since I am a bad blogger and never updated after my 15 wk appt I guess I will start there....well actually it was pretty much the same as the 12 wk. Quick U/S to show one perfect lil baby...here is that pic

Today's OB appt was a little more interesting. To start off Dave and Jenn were able to make it down for this one, so it was the first time they were able to hear the lil ones heartbeat in person. Doc says HB is perfect at 150bpm. They were also able to determine that the lil bean is in fact a wee LAD!! YEPPERS Doctor believes they indeed have a BOY!! For anyone who knows how to see those things on U/S maybe u will see it too.



There you have it...baby K's boy parts.?! and Here is a less provocative picture of him waving hello...

And last but not least a belly pic of me this afternoon. Finally getting a noticeable baby bump.

How am I doing?? Well thanks for asking...:) Still not feeling much different, very few flutters that are indicative of baby movement, but not too much activity as of yet. Still having slight cramping mostly at nights which I am pretty sure are just BH Contractions.

Overall this pregnancy has been quite easy for me. I am currently recovering from what proved to be a very bad sinus/respiratory cold...Mucinex is my new best friend.

I have also been having a rough time with recurrent anxiety attacks(anxiety is something that I have battled for years)and even though I swore that I would make it through this entire pregnancy antidepressant free, it is becoming clear that I may have been overly optimistic. It is to the point now where I have to wonder if the emotional stress is actually going to do the baby more harm than any medication will. The main problem with this is that my old Psychologist decided that they wouldn't accept my new insurance plan so they dropped me about 2 yrs ago, Since then my family Dr. was treating my anxiety if/when it gave me problems...however they will not See me for this problem while I am pregnant....

The OB, upon hearing this news, gave me the name of a local Psychologist that may be able to provide some options that I can live with for the next 20+ wks if I do in fact decide to tough it out with/out meds. So i guess it is worth looking into.?? Only time will tell, and when it does tell...So shall I tell you all! Until next time.....................................................................................:)

Casino Night

Had a wonderful time at the New Blossoms New Life Foundation casino night benefit on Saturday! It was fantastic to see so many people come out to support such a great cause. This was my families 2nd year to attend this event, our first as family members of recipients who were blessed to benefit directly. As you may recall, thanks to NBNL my IP's were given the opportunity to take this one final attempt at having a child via IVF/surrogacy.

With this organization, the founders, Chris and Renea, have created a living legacy for their beautiful little girl who was taken from them at a very young age. It is people like them that continually reassure my faith in the Lord, and we will all be forever grateful to them for what they have done for my brother and sister-in law as well as so many other families who have battled infertility for so many years.

I think IM put it the best when speaking at the benefit..."Although we will never be able to repay them for what they have done...Chris and Renea along with their daughter Maggie will live in our hearts and the heart of this child forever..."

In other news...15wk OB appt tomorrow morning, just a few more wks and we will know if D&J are having a boy or girl :)

12 Wk U/S

Yesterday I went in for the big 12 week check-up and the OB decided to do yet another U/S just to check the lil one out...once again S/He is perfect, slightly alien-like but I guess u will have that at this point. Looking forward to having a less-stressful 2nd trimester, but short of secluding myself on my own happy island somewhere I doubt that will happen. It is however already a lot better not having to take those darn shots every day, and immediately after stopping them I noticed that my energy levels definately increased 3 fold. OK, OK here is a pic...

Hands up eyes and mouth open!! Kinda cool and creepy at same time :-) I gotta say I love this new OB mostly because she loves her little U/S machine, so we will prob be seeing him/her again at my 15 wk appt...
In other news, Went to court on Monday with the hopes of finding out that the little girls would be heading home with their parents by the middle of my 3rd Trimester at latest...only to find out that that most likely won't happen. So I am sad for them because they really do miss their parents and scared about not knowing what will have to happen if for some reason it becomes too much for me or I have to be put on long bedrest/hosp stays etc...gonna talk to the caseworker today to see about having someone else certified as a kinship/foster, just in case.

Well since I am a horrible updater, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter now because I will probably forget with all the holiday madness and travel that usually comes with family holidays!!

10 wks :)

10 wks today!!! WHoooo Hoooo. You know what that means?? NO MORE PIO!!! Actually I am really worried about not using them anymore, and I actually even called the RE's office today just to be sure they were 100% positive that this was when I should stop and that they were sure that I didn't need to wean off or have a blood test first...they chuckled at me and assured me that it is really fine to just stop any time now. I felt better after talking to the lady there though because she told me that from 8-10 wks is really just a safeguard and is not really needed. From what their studies are showing they are soon going to lower the recommended time for PIO altogether.
Oh yeah...I had a great and relaxing weekend away from home! D&J even surprised me with some new shirts and a bumper sticker...they love to spoil me :)

9 wks

Well another week has flown by on me, which means that D&J's baby is now at a little over 9 wks gestation. I checked out the baby growth ticker today and happened to notice that the lil lad/lassie is now growing nails on it's newly formed digits!! Pretty cool! Of course this also means just a few more days of the PIO injections left to go and as much as I am looking forward to being done with those, I have a feeling I will be a nervous wreck when it actually comes to discontinuing them. It just seems wrong that after so many wks of being an essential requirement that they can just be stopped cold turkey.?? I do have trust in the RE tho so I'm sure they know what they are talking about.

In other news, I woke up this morning with a migraine and a toothache. I am hoping that the migraine is causing the tooth pain and not vise verse because I still have a good 3+ wks left of this 1st trimester and I know that most dentists won't do any non-emergency dental work until the 2nd trimester. Being someone who refuses to take even a Tylenol for pain unless nearing death this could be a long couple wks. I am getting a much needed escape from my normal life this wkend. Leaving tomorrow on a 3 day long trip with the kids to my sisters and also to IP's will hopefully do some good for my insane anxiety and moodiness.

8wk Check

Finally got in to the new OB's office today...she was at the hospital on a delivery this morning so I had to wait a while for her return, but the alternative was to reschedule for  different wk and I just am not that patient. So wait I did, and it was worth it because she was great! I was a little surprised because she decided to do another U/S today and I was just expecting a paperwork/meet the Doc type of appt that you normally have with any doctor's office.

But, anyways...our official Due date is Oct 10th ish, the U/S looked great, and I am happy to announce that Baby K at 8 wks has a definable head now :-)...and is starting to look much more humanoid-like.

As for me I am still feeling fine. I have always been kinda lucky with pregnancy, as far a morning sickness etc. For now I am just trying to avoid this crazy flu bug that everyone is getting. Yesterday I had two kids home sick and today one of the lil girls is hacking up all kinds of goo. So today has been a day full of trying to teach a 2 yr old how to cover her mouth when she coughs.

Still have to take the PIO for 2 more wks, which is becoming more difficult since my butt muscles seem to be running out of good spots and I often have to restick a few times to avoid ridiculous spasms and or blood flowing from the site of injection...but i made it this far, I figure there is no sence in switching to to the suppositories now. The new OB plans to see me every 3 wks for basic checks/blood work etc so time should go by pretty fast since Baby is already 20% done baking :-)

First Post Transfer U/S

To start off I suppose I should apologize for being such a horrible blogger. I always think of a million things I should write about everyday, then life always gets in the way!

ANYWAYS...we had our first U/S at 28dp3dt (6wks 3 days prego) and seen...1 perfect little bean (which I totally think looks just like a lemon seed with a Heartbeat).
The nurse was teasing Dave and Jenn the whole time that there is going to be a second one in there that the Dr missed on scan, but only time will tell if her intuition is right. :D

Here is a look at the pics the monitoring DR gave Dave and Jenn

Called the RE's office today and she said all looks good and that I need to continue the PIO for a few more weeks, less if I decide to switch to the Suppository type. Can't say that I am gonna miss those things but not sure if the shots or suppositories will be a bigger pain. She also didn't tell me when we are released from them and when I should schedule my first appt with the home OB so I guess a call on Monday will straighten all that out.

Thanks again everyone for all those Prayers...and keep em coming we still have a long 33+ wks to go to get this little one in the well deserving arms of his/her proud parents. And I promise I will try to update more...

21dp3dt Beta

Well today was the day for our final Beta check...at 14dp3dt we were at a solid 688 and today it was..............10,674!! As far as doubling is concerned that is way beyond what I had expected, so of course I immediately headed back to the beta threads to see where we lined up... 

Here is what some others have listed
14dp3dtSINGLETON: 78, 110, 126, 128, 144, 161, 183, 189, 207, 219, 223, 239, 241, 258, 273, 273, 278, 279, 290, 300, 310, 311, 321, 323, 371, 388.5, 390, 394, 420, 447, 450, 462, 482, 531, 628, 658, 687, 740, 775, 788, 813, 842, 862, 1458, 1531
TWINS: 238, 254, 304, 326, 397, 562, 593, 596, 623, 650, 735, 815, 826, 900, 903, 906, 1002, 1007, 1120, 1352, 1433, 1469, 1537, 1864, 1952, 2130, 2175, 2425
TRIPS: 1197, 1250, 1400, 1448, 1642
QUADS: 1798

21dp3dtSINGLETON: 1630, 1790, 2828, 3841, 5134, 5221, 6629, 12238, 13685
TWINS: 2741, 12268, 13324, 14458, 17904, 22241, 23687, 26549, 30091
TRIPS: 28855

Once again I am in the realm of 1 or 2...so I Guess it is still up to the U/S, which is scheduled for next Thurs 2-16 to let us know how many little beans are in there :-) I'm still thinking One just because I still don't "feel" very prego, but then again I have never carried Twinkies so maybe it doesn't feel very different in the beginning??

Drumroll Please!

After a very long and stressfull 2WW filled with so many hormones that make me super emotional one minute and pscho bitch the next...the results are finally in...14dp3dt and Beta is 688.4!!! Oh yeah that is definately a BFP!!! Needless to say D&J are psyched! Me being me I decided to take the 2 hr trip to their house to deliver the news myself. All in all I am glad I did, their response was priceless, especially IM who nearly tackled me at the door as I marched in with flowers and balloons in hand. Totally wishing I had a cameraman there because it was great!!
RE says that is a fantastic number and that we have great reason to be very optomistic. For now we can only speculate as to how many lil beans are in there. After hours spent studying beta threads it seems that it could easily mean 1 or 2?? Guess only time will tell. Next week I will get a 2nd beta at 21dp3dt to make sure all is still going good and in 2 wks an U/S to hopefully see one beautiful HB but 2 would be OK too :)
In the meantime I must continue the Estrogen patches and to take the PIO injections every day.


 
I can't even begin to tell everyone how much all of the prayers and well wishes mean to all of us. And it is still very early so definately keep em coming! THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!! Most of all I would like to send a special thank you to the NBNL Foundation. You guys are truely making a dream come true for D&J and also for the rest of us who have stood by helplessly as they dealt with infertility and all of it's trials.

Check back soon for more updates :-)

And Now We WAIT...

Guess what today was?? You got it today was TRANSFER day :)
Upon arrival at the Med Center with IP's in tow we were given an update on how the little egglets were doing. As of this morning 5 of the 6 fertilized eggs were still doing good and splitting as planned and #6 still has hope to catch up. We were told that 2 lil embies were getting transfered a 7c and a 9c. While we are all a bit concerned on the chance of Twins + we were also super excited that our chances of success increase with them putting 2 back.
After some arm twisting I was able to get the big bro to come along with me and J into the OR to watch his potential child/ren be placed on my super fluffy uterine lining. :) They put on their hazmat suits and away we went into the sterile santuary of the OR, well...after taking a few snapshots of our silly looking selves

Look he secretly does want 2...LOL

SO...now we enter the dreaded 2WW and atleast 3 and maybe 4 lil Embies get turned into Totsicles today.

Keep sending all that Babydust...and I will update soon!!

Retrieval

Well yesterday was retrieval day...overall not that bad of an experience. I woke up today feeling like I had been run over by a truck, but I'm pretty sure that was my fibromyalgia's reation to the anestesia more than that of the procedure.

Now to the good stuff

A total of 8 eggs were retrieved, seven of which were mature and according to the lab call I got this morning 6 of those fertilized. We will find out how they are all doing tomorrow morning and will be told at that time whether we go in on Thurs for a 3dt or Sat for a 5dt...and then we start the dreaded 2WW.

I suppose I should also add that today I had to start taking the PIO injections. TBH thosse things have been intimidating my dreams and had me scared to death...Even the doctors were scared when I informed them that I intended to give them to myself. yeah I am a bit of a contral freak, but even if i wasn't my choices were my husband who can't even take the dogs to the vet for shots and my dad who has moments of extreme shakiness... Now don't get me wrong I am not afraid of needles, shots or even pain but I have read enough blogs and forums to know that those things suck! Anyways, I figured I would go for it and thanks to the circles that I had the nurse draw on my hind quarters and some tips from a few blogs of those of you who have been here...it was nothing!

Looking good :)

Let me start off by saying that this started off as a really informative well written post, However as i went to send it to the blog wall something horrible happened and I accidentally deleted everything i just spent an hour writing...Grrrr. Well here's the shorter more boring version.

Monday's U/S showed that there were definitely some nice follicles growing but the RE's office was concerned that my estradiol level was getting too high too fast.(it was in the mid 400's) Decision was made to cut the Follistim in half to 150i/u daily...One less shot for me=no problem.

A second U/S today showed very similar results many nice 12-14 Folli's and a perfectly pillowed lining, however Estradiol is still climbing, (mid 900's). To be honest I have no idea on how this effects this whole process, but since they keep commenting on how they need to make sure the eggs have time to catch up I am assuming it has to do with Follicle growth or ovulation in some way??(The RE did try to explain it to me and said it isn't a huge deal, but I still don't quite understand)...Google here I come :-)

Anywho...another monitoring appointment has been scheduled for Friday morning with the close to home center who has been doing my monitoring. Meds will continue the same as before today. And I have already been warned that I will probably be making the 80mile drive daily trips over the weekend and thereafter to see our RE until retrieval which is expected Monday or Tuesday if not sooner!

IVF- Here we go!

So much has happened in such a short period of time that I don't even know where to start. The Attorney I chose to use was out of the country during the Christmas/New Year weeks so we had to wait for him to fax the doctor verification that everything was good on the legal side. Luckily he came back on the 2nd...just in time...because Aunt Flo decided to come over a week earlier than expected and along with her I got some sort of Flu bug for New Years that is just now letting up.

With AF showing up early a lot had to happen very quickly in order to get started on injections in time to make a go this round. Lucky for us my AMH level was concidered to be low enough at 1.25 that I didn't need to start Lupron injections until CD 3-5. and even luckier for us we had our Psycholgical stuff done with the new RE's recommended Dr, so the nurse was able to get all of our records expidited and transfered the same day.

Tuesday the RE ordered all of the medications I will need for the month...Yesterday I recieved them and can you say OVERWHELMING?!!

There were WAY more meds than she initially told me about, most of which I found out today are for after the transfer.

So today I had my baseline U/S and blood work done to verify all sysyems were a go...I have to admit I was a little worried that after having the flu that my blood counts wouldn't cooperate...but they were all PERFECT! Lupron (micrdose)injections 20units start tonight and continue twice daily throughout the next few wks and Follistim starts Tomorrow morning 150units twice daily.
Next U/S and labs are on Monday morning!!