Retired or Not….

Hello everyone who has kept up since day one or welcome if you are new! I love that I can see that people all over the world have seen and read my little blog posts. It’s crazy to think that this all started 9 years ago. I hope by me being open and honest through all this it has helped others. I hope women who have struggled getting pregnant have felt encouraged, uplifted, joy and most of all seen!

Because of my journey to help others I have read so many stories of women who want nothing more then to be a mom. I have women reach out to me probably once a month wanting to know more about surrogacy and how it all works. I love trying to help in any capacity that I can. Infertility is a dark difficult place for so many women. I truly wish I could help everyone! I’m inspired by these women who speak up and speak out about the pain, discouragement and disappointment they face. I’m also sensitive to the fact that so many cry and suffer in silence sometimes. I can only try to imagine the way it all must feel. I’m truly sorry.

I hope that my choice to help will spark an interest in others so that they may also help someone somewhere. Obviously having babies for others is not for everyone and I know I’m a bit of an oddity for loving it all so much. But I also know there are others like me and even if you can’t do something like this you can be inspired to do things to help others and make this world a better more beautiful place. Donate blood or plasma sign up to donate a kidney. Check into bone marrow donation. Foster children who need love. (This is also on my to do list) 🥰 Donate time at animal rescues, food banks or women’s shelters. Help the homeless. Honestly the list could go on and on.

Now before I get too far off topic… As we all know I always say every pregnancy is my last pregnancy until well the next last pregnancy. 😂

After my last pregnancy I was definitely sure I would be done because of some of the complications I had at the end. While I know they were very common in pregnancy and somewhat normal. To me they were very scary and concerning since I’ve never had anything except basically picture perfect pregnancy’s and deliveries. (Minus one c section and breech delivery) 😆

So I was on the road to finding my new normal after pregnancy and babies have filled my last 12 years of life. Retirement was off to an okish start you could say. Until I got the call and was asked about coming out of my so called retirement and doing one more!

I know I know insert all the gasps, shock and confusion here. 😂

I know you are all thinking who asked? Before I always went through an agency and found these couples to help. I definitely wasn’t on a search this time. But sometimes life just works in fun little ways and things turn out perfect.

This time it was someone I considered a friend. ❤️ It’s funny because I only knew her because of wait for it…. MOLLY! My first Baby mama. Its just so crazy how the world works sometimes. Molly tried to get me to help her have a baby years ago before I ever even met Jen. The timing just wasn’t right. So then when the timing was right I was equal parts shocked, honored, excited and sad that she would ask me. I’ll get to the sad part later. I have had some fun times in Chicago on my girl’s trips! I can’t even talk about how crazy and fun our night on the town was. I partied HARD this particular night it was a treat for all of Chicago and the girls that were there! 😂 So after literally seeing me at my craziest party girl self you could imagine my surprise when she was still ok letting me carry her unborn child! I wish I was exaggerating a bit but honestly I’m not. I was a mess that night🤣🤪🤣

I was sad because I didn’t think I would be allowed or ok to be pregnant anymore. I mean 6 babies is a lot. Not like 19 kids and counting a lot but a lot none the less. I explained that I was old and wasn’t sure I would be allowed to help but we decided to ask Dr Kaplan anyway and just see what he would say. I was basically in shock when the nurse emailed me back a few days later and said that after going through my files he would approve me! I still had to go get a ultrasound done in his office though to check and make sure he thought my uterus was strong and healthy enough. So I went and did that. I was still a little worried even then that they may say no. Again to my surprise they said everything looked perfect.

So I guess my old trusty uterus may have one more in her. Haha Im still honestly a bit shocked this is all happening again. My 5th journey! I would be lying if didn’t admit I’m a tiny bit nervous too. I really really want to help them have a perfect healthy baby. So I would appreciate any and all prayers, good thoughts, well wishes for us all and the precious baby!!!! I hope this pregnancy goes smoothly and we have no issues at all. I’ve already been praying for the baby they will be preparing to implant in me via IVF. I hope she or he is perfect and digs in deep. I hope my uterus is strong, fluffy and the perfect little home until baby is ready to come into this big world and go home with mommy and daddy!

So the details are as follows…

We are finishing up our contracts now. Just 17 days until meds start! All the shots…. I can honestly say I’m definitely not looking forward to that part. 😂 Lupron rage, headaches and the giant butt shots. My poor butt is already sore just thinking of it. Ricky on the other hand I think will secretly be excited on my grouchy days to stab me knowing he can torcher me a bit and get away with it. Then on March 28th as long as everything goes at planned I will be in Chicago getting pregnant again! I’m seriously so surprised I’m even saying that again. I always have so much going on in my world and honestly I think I love it that way. It’s busy and mostly fun!

I know this was a long one. Thanks to everyone as always for all the love and support. Especially to Ricky our kids and my parents who support me through all my crazy life adventures. Plus all my other friends and family who always offer support and love for us all. I’m beyond grateful and appreciative for everyone. It seems fitting to me that when I began this all years ago I started in Chicago and with Dr Kaplan and now here I am all these years later likely ending in Chicago with Dr Kaplan. How perfect is that. 🥰

Without further ado I would love for you to meet my new IPs and friends who now already feel like family too. Rodger and Karen. My heart is bursting with excitement to help you both! What an incredible journey we have both had to get us here together. I just know it was meant to be.

All my meds are here!!!
So many things to keep track of.

Ultrasound to check my lining.

Yesterday we did an ultrasound and blood work to check my uterine lining and blood work for my estrogen levels. Good news was my ultrasound went great and my lining looks to be even better then it did last time!!! I’m at a 10 with still a little over a week to go! So they said we can keep everything the same now. Meaning my meds. I’m still taking Lupron each night and estrogen pills 3 times a day. I’m waiting for them to call me today to let me know when I will be starting all my other meds. Pills and butt shots. 😔☹️😢 I already feel bad for my butt. 😂

We will be flying out on the 15th in the morning and as far as I know transfer still looks good for Friday the 16th. I’ve been praying for this next transfer of this sweet baby boy! I’m excited for this next try. I’m honestly not sure if I’m going to test this time after transfer or not. This was obviously the first time I have ever not been able to share excitement and good news. So I’m honestly scared to test again and not see good news and feeling as bad as I did last time. I know I will feel bad even if I don’t test and get bad news. I’m just not sure what I will do.

Thanks as always to everyone for all the love and support. I’ll be sure to update more this coming week.

See that triple stripe! 🥰 I want to be nice and fluffy and cozy for baby boy!!!
Here’s where some of my crazy comes from. 😂

Today is the day!!!

This week has been crazy! All the meds were delivered and contracts are finally done! Woohoo 🥳. Tonight I get to do my first Lupron shot, these are the easy ones. They basically put my body into menopause so hello hormones, headaches and night sweats. 😂 eventually I’ll be able to take some estrogen that will help even me back out. I’ll add some pictures of all the meds I have to keep track of. Just keeping track of all the meds is like a full time job! I’m already so excited for this sweet little baby! I love him or her so much and have been praying my body is a great home for the next 10ish months. 😍

This is the big shots! The ones that go in my butt! It’s literally as big as my hands 😭

Guess who’s back…

Yep it’s me again 😂. So our fun Florida trip wasn’t just about beaches and fun in the sun. I also had a drs appointment with the reproductive endocrinologist (RE) there! My last IPs (intended parents) have been wanting baby number 2 for a bit now. Our original plan was to wait until after our Disney trip in august/September. Obviously Disney is not happening for us this year 😢. So we decided may as well get into baby making. So we started calling our lawyer’s and making plans for my medical screening. Good news is screening went great he said my uterus looks perfect. That’s a big compliment from a RE! So as of now as long as things go according to plan with contracts I will be starting meds on July 20th!!! Bring on all the shots. Then the plan is to do the transfer of baby on August 20th. I’m already praying for this sweet baby. I want my belly to be a perfect home for him or her for the long haul. We would appreciate all the love and prayers and happy thoughts you all have to offer. I’ll be updating as often as I can. I seriously can’t believe I’ve had 5 babies and planning for a number 6! What an incredible body I have. I’m so happy I can use it to help other’s. We also got a super cute picture of us while social distancing of course. 😆 I can’t believe this guy is almost 2!

😂 Ricky Hates me 😂
He’s a great camera man though.

Contracts….

Well I finally got a contract and it was like 48 pages! Mostly just lots of extra wording lol. But there was a big issue in there for me about aborting and that if Jon and Molly wanted me to then I had to all the way up to week 20! I FREAKED I had already talked with my agency and Molly about not wanting to and that’s why I was so happy that they had done genetic testing already so they know the babies are great! So I was concerned why this would still be in there? My lawyer then told me she would call me on sunday night at 7:15. She really called at 6:00 and said she was hoping to talk with me because there was a more pressing case she had to work on! I was upset I mean does that mean my case is of little importance?  We have to have contracts done by the 22 that’s this Thursday. So I had to call her yesterday we got to talk. I told her my major issue and she said she would fix it and e-mail me a revised copy last night. I never got one. She also told me to call her this morning to go over the canges. Well I guess I can’t do that! I’m sure she is busy and I understand but don’t tell me you are doing something and then don’t do it. She could have said ill try to do that tonigjt or tomorrow.  I don’t want to mess this up for Jon and Molly I can’t believe I’m saying this but I want to take a shot on Friday night lol! My lawyer did tell me to call Molly and talk to her though about the issue and I didn’t really want to but I did and I’m glad I did. I can’t imagine having a more caring person being the intended mommy. She said she told her lawyer I didn’t want to and they just didn’t take it out. So what a relief that was! She just kept saying she wants me to be completely comfortable with everything! So now I just have to get my lawyer on the ball so this all gets done lol. Wish me luck guys and ill update soon! Thanks for all the continued praying and support!