Surro Sister GTG

L-R (Rebecca, Me, Beth, Krystal, Kristina and Dominique)
Rebecca is new to surrogacy and currently matched.  The rest of us have completed at least one journey already.

I have been so blessed throughout both of my journeys for a fantastic support system, from my family to IP's to my surro sisters.  I'm lucky to live within such close proximity to several other surrogates and that we are able to get together every now and then to visit and catch up with each other.  This was a smaller group than usual, but we all still had a good time visiting with each other.  I was at my oldest son's soccer game before the lunch and then had to get going to our middle son's basketball game after, so it definitely made for a very full day.  I really try not to miss a GTG because sometimes we go a couple of months in between, plus Dominique was here from Houston visiting family, so I definitely wanted to see her again before she headed back.  She is one of the surrogates that met me in Houston after one of my appointments last year.

I was excited that I got to break in my new shirt that C &W gave me for Christmas.  It says "Their Peas......my pod".

Surro GTG

L-R (Kayla, Me, Dominique, Krystal, and Beth)

Some of the sweetest ladies I know.  I absolutely love my surro sisters and the community that I am so blessed to be a part of.  They were an amazing support during my last journey and have been even more so during this one.  They are there for the good, bad and ugly.  We make each other laugh and cry.  I'm the only one preggo in this group so far.  We decided to meet at Chick-fil-a in Grand Prairie since most of us had our kiddos.  It was a long drive, but totally worth it.

E2 (Estradiol/Estrogen) Check

Today was my first blood draw to check my E2, or Estradiol (Estrogen) level.  I'm able to get this done at the monitoring clinic here in FW thank goodness.  I can't imagine making a trip to Houston just to have my blood drawn. 

The weather was horrible and I definitely had a hectic morning, but it all worked out just fine.  Again, timing is everything (I'll get to that in a bit) because I ran into my surro-sister, Lisa, who was there for a lining check.  I've met her a few times and she is so sweet.  She is scheduled to transfer next week.  Definitely helped turn my day around a little.  I was running a little late to my appointment because of some car trouble.  Well, specifically, the motor on the back passenger window broke, so I couldn't roll the window up.  It was pouring down rain, so I had to stop at Home Depot and get some plastic and tape to make it to work in the rain.  Not fun!  You should've seen me.  I would've laughed....and I did.  Here I am in my dress and heels sprinting into Home Depot during a torrential down pour.  It was THAT bad.  Luckily I had my hoodie in the car, so that helped a little, but still.  You know there are no close parking spots at Home Depot.  It's just funny, that if I had been on time, we may have missed each other.  Hehe.  Now we just wait for the results.

Surrogate GTG - Just what I needed.

 

Over the last 2+ years, I have gotten to know some wonderful ladies, who I call my surro-sisters.  We all share the love of surrogacy and building families.  I was blessed to be able to get together with so many of these wonderful ladies today for lunch.  Totally made the drive to Plano worth it.  They are such a wonderful support system and we can all talk about ANYTHING with each other.  The good, the bad and even the ugly (sometimes literally).  We always have some good laughs and conversations catching up on every one's journey's.  Our group has definitely grown over time and it's amazing how large our community really is and it amazes me how many families our being built and completed by all of these wonderful women!

The Preggo Group.  10 (maybe 11) babies on the way.  3 of them are carrying twins.  The Surro on the far right MIGHT have twins too, just waiting on her first ultrasound.  ; ) 

The Reason We Do It

Me with Miss Molly

 

Tonight was such a wonderful night.  I had the pleasure of visiting one of my surro-sisters and her intended family tonight.  I have known this surro-sister for quite a while now and have been following her journey from the beginning.  We cycled together once and supported each other through our difficult times/losses, as well as celebrated the good moments too.  I got to meet her IM when they were down here for an appointment back in the beginning too.  We all had lunch together. 

 

We were able to visit for a couple of hours and I got to get some snuggles in with Miss Molly, who I watched grow in her surro-mommy's belly.  After a very long labor, she delivered an 8lb 10oz baby girl to her awaiting parents and big brother.  With permission, here is a link to the video of the labor and The Birth of Molly with photo credit to Terah Pliley Photography. 

 

Unfortunately, I'm not able to post the pictures from "E"s birth, so I'm glad I can live vicariously through this video and want to share the beautiful joy and blessings surrogacy gives.  All the meds, restrictions, and months of pregnancy are all totally worth it for the end result of creating and building a family.