Austin Surro-sister Get Together

Beth (32 Wks-Singleton), Simi, Shannon (8 Wks-Singleton), Kate (?), Christi and Me

Well, due to the incentive trip for work to Mexico, hubby and I both needed passports.  We haven't been out of the country or on a beach vacation since our honeymoon, over 8 years ago.  Apparently, to get a passport these post 9-11 days, you have to have a "long form" birth certificate.  Luckily for me, my Mom had mine.  DH wasn't so lucky.  His parents only had a copy of his, which doesn't work for these purposes.  That meant that I would have to travel to Austin to get his long form directly from the Department of Vital Statistics.  Since we were born prior to 1983, they are not kept at the local level. 

It all worked out, as I was off work today anyway, but the Vital Stats office was open.  Woohoo!  Road trip!  My surro-sister and friend Beth volunteered to be my co-pilot since she wanted a bit of a break for the day too.  It was so nice to have a travel buddy.  (Thanks Beth!)  I had posted in our FB group that we would be in Austin for the day and we were blessed to have a few surrogates in that area that were able to meet us for lunch. 

We went to the Vital Stats office first and then met everyone at Chuy's in Round Rock on our way out.  It is always great to meet other surrogates that are part of such a wonderful community.  We had a good time (although I can't say the same for the service), but we all made the best of it.  Several of them brought their kids too and they were all so well behaved.  After lunch, Beth and I stopped at IKEA since they have some great glasses that DH likes and have unfortunately broken several of them.  It was a quick trip, but really was a great day.  Rain and all.

DFW Surro-sister Get Together

Amber, Me, Beth (32 Wks-Singleton), Kayla (28 Wks-Twins), Kristina (25 wks-Twins), Meredith (5 Wks-Singlton), Mitzi and Vanessa

I'm very lucky to live in an area with so many other surrogates.  It is a great support system and it's good to be able to get together with them to be able to put names with faces.  We are able to coordinate GTG's through some Facebook groups and message boards.  This one was a GTG on my side of town at the Cheesecake Factory in Southlake.  It allows us to celebrate and vent with those that are going through/been through the same things as each other.  We always have a great time seeing each other and usually spend at least a couple of hours visiting. 

The funny thing about this one is that the way the seating at the Cheesecake Factory is, there were people directly on either side of us and we had fun looking at their expressions every now and then to some of the things being discussed in our conversations.  Since we are all surrogates, we have no fear discussing all aspects of pregnancy (how we got pregnant, issues, delivery, etc). 

Backstory

Feel free to skip this if you like.  Just a little history on how I got here. 

Pregnancy History
I have been so very blessed to be able to get pregnant easily, have fantastic pregnancies and as far as labor and delivery go, they have all gone smoothly. I gave birth to my first son in 1998.  He was two weeks to the day early, but perfectly healthy.  Labor and delivery were fine.  I had my first and only epidural (with no issues), but due to the epidural, I couldn't tell how hard I was/wasn't pushing and they had to use the vacuum to assist him out.  There were no issues with the birth, but about a year later, I saw a 60 Minutes or 20/20 about how many babies were injured by the use of vacuum assisted births.  I made the decision at that point, that I would not have an epidural in the future unless absolutely necessary.  I think I could've delivered my first without it too, but I was young and figured "why not have one?".  My next pregnancy was in 2006 and our middle son was born in Jan, 2007.  I was sick the entire first 3 months with him (morning, noon and night).  Other than that, the pregnancy was smooth.  We decided to induce with him 3 days prior to his due date since I was already dilated to a 2 and my Dr. was on call that Saturday.  That way, all of our family could be there for the big event.  I did not have an epidural and just had some Demerol.  My 3rd pregnancy, I had almost no morning sickness and went into labor on my own 1 day before her due date.  I had the same meds with her as our middle son.  Just some Demerol.  She definitely seems to be the balance to our family. 

Surrogacy History
In late 2009, I really started researching surrogacy since we decided that we were done building our own family.  In March of 2010, I made the decision to pursue surrogacy.  I had signed up with an agency shortly after making the decision, but I really wasn't getting what I thought I needed from them, so in August, I signed up with a 2nd agency, Surrogate Solutions and everything went quickly from there.  I was matched with "A" in November of 2010 and we had our first transfer in May of 2011.  "A" was AMA (Advanced Maternal Age) and due to that, the embryos were not great quality.  In June of 2011, we found out that 2 embryos had implanted, but that only one had a heartbeat.  Sadly, in July, we discovered that we had lost the heartbeat of that baby.  I miscarried in mid-July.  It was definitely the toughest part of the journey.  "A" wanted to try again, so she went through another retrieval and in November 2011, we had our 2nd transfer with a new clinic in CA.  This clinic had it together and it made the biggest difference.  With only a 34% chance of a singleton pregnancy and a 6-7% chance of twins, we remained optimistic and were both determined to make this one work too.  In December 2011, we had our first ultrasound appointment and saw one strong heartbeat.  I didn't have any morning sickness with the pregnancy and aside from being pregnant in the peak heat of summer in Texas, it was great.  I delivered Baby "E" into his mommies arms on July 17, 2012 at 38 weeks and 5 days.  It was everything I had hoped it would be and thanks to my wonderful doula Gina, had a completely natural delivery.  I am even more blessed that "A" and I have stayed in touch and I get to see a new picture of him every few weeks.  I also pumped milk for 3 months, some of which "A" used for Baby "E", but the remaining I was able to donate to 6 different families and a milk bank. 

I absolutely love being pregnant and this is the perfect opportunity for me to experience all the enjoyment of pregnancy and help someone start or even complete their family at the same time, as the baby will join his/her parents immediately after birth.

I just can't imagine our lives without our children and our family feeling incomplete. I feel so grateful and blessed that someone would allow me to share in this journey with them and give such a FANTASTIC gift. I think it will be the ultimate lesson in compassion for my children as well. Especially my oldest, who is now a teenager. With all of the negative things in the world today and all the people that choose to hurt others, this will be everything opposite. The best thing that we are able to contribute to this earth.....a new human life.

I truly feel that I'm called to this journey and when people ask me why I do it, although I know why, my response is typically, "Why not?"

Brand New Blog

This is the start of my 2nd journey as a Gestational Surrogate.  Overall, I had a great first journey and I'm so excited about the possibly of the next one.  I delivered a healthy baby boy into his Mother's arms on July 17, 2012 and was so blessed by that journey.

Surrogacy has it's ups and downs just like anything in life and this will be the details of my next journey, however it goes.  I like to stay positive, but I'm still real at the same time, so I hope you enjoy the ride.  It's a lot of hurry up and wait and right now I'm just waiting for the right couple.

I am hoping that any new IP's will be open to me blogging publicly.  I love surrogacy and the families that are built through it.  For me, it is just as much about educating and bringing awareness to others as it is about the journey itself.  I am so blessed that I get to do this again and can't wait!