Dakota Brooke

Where in the world has time gone?! How has it been TWO WEEKS since Dakota came running into this world?!

I had every intention of writing this story much earlier, but honestly, I needed time to reflect on everything and then life happened (something about keeping up with a 4 and 2 year old at home? Ha!)

Below you will find the story of what I mostly recall. The day was a huge blur due to emotions and how quickly everything happened but I will do my best!

Sunday, November 12, 2017

On Sunday, E and P arrived with big sister C. They planned to stay at a hotel in order to be up and ready at the hospital the next day for induction.

We met them at the hotel and let the kids swim for a few hours and then headed to dinner together. My kids then went to Nana's (my mom’s house) for the night since we had to be at the hospital by 6 am.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Monday morning came really fast and that set the stage for the rest of the day! We all arrived at the hospital at about 6 am and checked in. Dan and I were given a room and the parents were given a room right across the hall. This was perfect as big sister was with them and everyone could go back and forth to check on her and me throughout the day.

Unfortunately, there was a rush of women that checked in around the same time as me. They were in active labor so we were put off for quite some time. We were bumped from nurse to nurse slowly getting checked in.

At 7:45 my doctor came in to check on me and had planned on breaking my water. At this point, nothing had been done. We had been there almost two hours and honestly expected me to be much further along at this point. Judging by my past labors my doctor knew that I would progress quickly once my water was broken. She gave me two options, wait for my IV and Pitocin to see how things progressed and she would be back around lunch to break my water OR she could break my water right then and get things going. I opted for her to break my water and then us play catch up. So, she broke my water at 7:50am.

I had already informed my nurses that my “birth plan” included only two things: get her out safely and EPIDURAL!  Due to the fact that the morning was so chaotic, I had yet to have blood work done. So, the nurse put a rush on the blood work so that we could order the epidural. My first contraction was marked at 8:20am. (just 30 minutes after she broke my water)

At 9:45am, the anesthesiologist finally came in to set my epidural. Within 15 minutes my right side was starting to go numb but my left side still felt normal. I knew the drill, the nurse had me lay on my left side to have gravity assist in the numbing. Well, the baby didn’t care for that and I had to turn back to my right side. By 10:30 am I was still feeling everything on my left side so we called the anesthesiologist to come back. At abut 5 minutes till 11, everyone but Dan stepped out of the room for the dr to fix the epidural. He attempted to ‘re-dose’ the epidural at 10:59am  and try to get it to take. He said “give it 15 minutes.”

At this point, I looked at my nurse and said something along the lines of “I’m feeling a ton of pressure.” So she checked me and I was at an 8.

E took big sister to the cafeteria really quick to get a snack (she knew it wouldn’t be long but that after her arrival it would be awhile before they ate). My good friend, Lindsay, was there with us as well and she was in the waiting room having a quick snack too. (She was with us the whole time and is an amazing photographer. She was able to capture all of the wonderful emotions of the day and I can’t wait to see the pictures)

By 11:15am I told the nurse that it was time. She checked me and said “Oh ya, look at that!” The tech’s had just come in to start prepping the room and here I was already ready to deliver. The parents wanted the baby’s cord blood banked and in the chaos, we didn’t have the kit ready. I looked at Dan and said “go get P (the dad) and the blood kit, grab Lindsay from the waiting room, and for goodness sake, get E (mom) back in here!!” P called E and E said she literally threw food back on the shelf and booked it back to the room.

The on call doctor was called into the room to deliver since my doctor was now on her way but had not yet arrived.

Let me take a minute to talk about the pain. The pain, that I didn’t want. Remember now, my birth plan... EPIDURAL! I could not feel ANYTHING on my right side, I couldn’t even wiggle my toes (which is unusual for an epidural) but I could literally kick my leg in the air on the left side. It hurt. The contractions hurt. The pain hurt. I was squeezing Dan and E’s hands so hard. After a few minutes E said, “just push! It’s okay if your doctor isn’t here.” So with her blessing and the next contraction, the on call doctor coach me through a push. Out popped her head, just as my doctor walked through the door! My doctor took over and on the next push she was out.

At 11:28 am, just 3 hours and 8 minutes after my first contraction, Dakota Brooke was born. She weight 7lbs, 15oz and was 21 inches long! She is beautiful and had hair! (which is a first in the delivery world for me! Dan and my genes only produce bald babies!)

P (dad) was there to cut the cord and baby girl was handed to her momma to be snuggled! There were so many tears of joy and it all felt so surreal! Immediately after I said “That wasn’t that bad!” Nature’s way of protecting you! Ha! You forget almost instantly the amount of pain it takes to bring a baby into this world, she was completely worth it!

Given that our rooms were so close, we got to visit often. Tucker and Lainey came up in the afternoon to see the beautiful child that had been growing inside me all this time. My mom and Dan’s parents also got to come up to see her and congratulate E and P. Tucker and Lainey then went to Dan’s parents house (Boy does it take a village!)

We were all discharged the next day. E has become like another sister to me and I am so thankful for this friendship! She's been updating me regularly on how Dakota is doing and I get pictures as well! She is growing like a weed and is so darn cute! Her mom and dad are adjusting well to having a newborn and big sister is loving her new role! We are hoping to get to go visit soon!

The whole family! :) 

I am healing well and have been enjoying a few weeks off with my family. I will reopen my daycare next week!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! Delivery was a whirlwind, but so amazing! Watching Dakota grow is sure to be fun as well!

Lastly, I can't begin to thank my husband enough for all his support over the last year. He has tolerated me when honestly he shouldn't have (IVF hormones are no joke!), he has encouraged me, he has picked up the slack, and most importantly, he has loved me through all of this. I picked a good one! 

39 Weeks!

I started this journey a long time ago. It was on my heart for a long time. Then Dan joined me in prayer about it for over a year before we found an agency we liked. On October 24th of last year, I applied to be a gestational surrogate. Today, one year ago, on November 8th we officially matched with E and P. The day before, Dan and I had been handed their profile and we knew instantly we were a great match. We took the profile home to "think about" but we already knew. We knew that if you were to pick two couples who were the perfect match we were them. Honestly, check out our wedding photos...

It's amazing how similar we all are. It has made this journey truly special and one that I will never take for granted. So much has happened in the past year. Here is a recap by numbers:

-One single embryo!

-4 Medicines 

(I was on 4 different types of hormones and meds to get this little girl to stick in my uterus)

-9 Ultrasounds

-14 Blood draws

-39 Injections to my backside

And this doesn't include all of the blood draws, injections, and procedures that E and P had to go through to get the embryo! 

We have all worked so hard to get to this point. On Monday, it will be day 371 since that profile was placed in our hands. And we are so thankful everyday for such a wonderful friendship that has formed! We are thankful for the trials that brought us to that day last November. For the delays in both families that prolong the process so that we could match. For the faith we had in each other. For the support we each had individually and for one another. 

So... We did it! We have officially made it to 39 weeks. Baby is fully baked and ready to meet her mom and dad! We have 5 more sleeps until I am induced (Monday morning)!

The parents are planning on arriving Sunday mid-day so that we can relax for a while. They will be heading to a hotel to attempt a good nights sleep before we are admitted on Monday at 6 am! I can't believe this time is finally here! Until then, I plan on walking A TON and bouncing on my yoga ball in an attempt to help labor progress! Here's me bouncing yesterday! :) It is surprisingly difficult to take a selfie while 39 weeks pregnant and bouncing on a ball haha!

I will update after the birth and once all of the parent's family has been notified! If you could join us in prayer though for a smooth and healthy delivery. For the doctor's wisdom, for grace and patience for me, and for a healthy baby girl! 

Thank you all for all of your support over the past year. We all truly could not have done it without our villages! 

A baby shower and 37 week update!

This weekend some of E and P's friends hosted a baby shower for them! They invited me up to meet some of their closest friends.
They have a wonderful village surrounding them, their oldest daughter and now sweet Pixie! They received so many great items and I think they are officially ready for her arrival. The day was filled with a lot of laughter and love.
I had a ton of energy this weekend and by Monday morning I felt drained. Maybe it was my body's way of saying, "Okay, bags are all packed, baby gear is ready, let's get ready to have this baby!"

Selfie with E and P!

 A beautiful diaper cake prepared by E's Mom!

 The wonderful hostess' that put on a beautiful shower for them.

 Proud daddy!

Big sister, C, in the middle surrounded by some of her friends. C kept asking if the girls could feel the baby kick. It was adorable watching them feel my belly! :) Their favorite was feeling the hard bump, the butt! Ha!

I go to the doctor this afternoon for my 37 week check up. I am anxious to hear if my body is preparing for labor. With Lainey, my body prepared really early, but then I went over due with her!

According to the Bump app, she is now 6.17 pounds and is the size of romaine lettuce!

AND!!! The best news of all, Danielle had her baby boy on Monday! Welcome to the world Jameson! It has been so great to go on this journey with her! :)

33 Week Check In

Today we are 33 weeks along! It is crazy to think that in just 7 short weeks this little girl will be welcomed into this world! She is sure to make a huge impact in this life!

I am currently seeing the OB every other week at this point. I will go back again at 35 weeks and then will start going every week until Pixie decides she is done baking and wants to be reunited with her mom and dad! At my appointment yesterday, everything looked well. Her heartbeat is strong and she is measuring right on track. I am still having Braxton Hicks contractions but nothin too alarming. My feet and ankles have started to swell but thats also typical of this phase, oh and the 90 degree weather we have been having in SEPTEMBER probably isn't helping!

Here is a picture of our 33 week 'bump!'

In other news, remember the "Lucky Transfer Shirt?" If not, check it out here . Basically it is the shirt I wore for transfer. It is now 4 for 4 with transfers!!!

I received it from a friend, Leslie, who had had a successful transfer. It was then given to another woman who had undergone multiple IVF rounds and this was her first SUCCESSFUL transfer. Then just yesterday, we received news that another surrogate sister, Olivia, had a positive beta test and is officially pregnant! She goes for an ultrasound tomorrow to confirm! 

Last, I wanted to share this picture of my best friend and myself! She is one of the biggest reasons I have become a surrogate! She is 35 weeks along (so just two ahead of me!) After being unsure if Danielle would ever get pregnant and Dan and I knowing we were done having our own children, we figured we would never get to experience pregnancy together. But, God has blessed her with ANOTHER baby boy, coming soon, and we have been able to enjoy this journey together! 

Sending love to everyone! I will update again around 36 weeks! :) 

27 Weeks Update!

Officially 27 weeks and we are transitioning into appointments every two weeks! This is my last week in my second trimester as well! :)

Last week, on Friday, I got a bonus look at sweet Pixie. I was really feeling completely fine, but when I went to the bathroom I noticed I was spotting. I didn't spot through either of my first two pregnancies but knowing the basics, I knew that brown blood means it's old and in general you are okay. 

I went ahead and sat down on the couch for a bit, drank a ton of water and put a call into my OB. Pixie was moving around pretty good, so I knew she was okay, but the OB wanted me to come in for a quick check just to make sure everything was okay. Given that is was Friday at 11 am, I appreciated the extra check before the weekend.

Dan came home from work to tend to the kids and I popped up to the doctor. They did a quick ultrasound of my cervix, which was long and closed so no worries there. They also did a quick peak at Pixie. Her heart rate was great, the placenta looks good, and nothing was out of the ordinary.

Spotting is something that can "just happen" occasionally as old blood loosens and escapes. My OB informed me that if it turned red or became very heavy to contact her again (Or go into Labor and Delivery on the weekend). I took the rest of the day easy and by Saturday all was normal again.

I felt great all weekend, on Monday I had some Braxton Hicks. They were coming pretty frequently, but nothing alarming. I did have my sister come over mid afternoon so that I could take a nap. Auntie to the rescue!

Yesterday, I had my regular scheduled appointment. After talking with the OB and an exam she concluded that baby girl was just doing a lot of flipping causing me to contract some (note that Braxton Hicks are very common and nothing to be alarmed about. My OB said to call her if I start to have 5-6 an hour but that some women just get them more than others, especially with subsequent pregnancies) On Friday, Pixie was head up and sure enough yesterday, she had completely flipped and was head down. She may flip a few more times before the end of this so I shouldn't be alarmed if she's doing acrobats in there and subsequently causing my uterus to say "HEY! could you settle down in there!"

I also sat for my gestation diabetes testing. No news by tomorrow means that I passed and there is no concern for it. 

Overall, although stubborn, Pixie is super healthy and growing right on track with our November 15th due date! I am healthy which is also important! Pixie's parents are getting more and more excited and can't wait to meet their baby girl!

We are headed up to Naperville on Saturday to see Pixie's parents and big sister. We wanted to get in one more pool day for the summer! I am really hoping she decides to be super active so that they can see and feel her moving! She is a wild child that's for sure! (Note: With both my kids my placenta was in front. So I actually didn't feel a TON of movement. I felt kicks and them moving about but nothing like sweet Pixie. This time around, my placenta is in back (so in between her and my spine) needless to say, I can feel her EVERY move! It is so neat to compare the three pregnancies and how they are all different!)

24 Weeks!

Today we officially are 24 weeks along! This was always a big milestone for my kids as there is a huge increase in viability at this stage! The relief this morning when I awoke was no different thank with my own. We are still doing great and baby girl is growing right on track but it's always good to know when she can survive thanks to modern day medicine!
Last week I went for my routine check up and all looked well! I will go back on August 16th for another check up as well as the standard gestational diabetes test (my office does a two hour test). I have to fast and then get a blood draw. They will then give me a super sugary drink to consume, wait an hour and draw blood. I'll wait one more hour for another blood draw. They will be able to tell how my body reacts to the sugar and whether or not I will need a special diet for the rest of the pregnancy. I have never had GD before, so hopefully I don't have it this time either!
I will update more after the appointment unless something changes before then. Until then, I'll be baking this baby girl!

Pixie is currently the size of a cantaloupe!

Baby Pictures!

This journey has been so amazing! There have been so many firsts for all of us and so many special moments and memories made! Today, was no different!

Pixie's parents (and big sister) made the trip down to Normal today for my OB appointment. They made it from door to door in 1.5 hours! (We may need to do a few more trial runs for D-Day!) The timing was great, so note to self, Friday morning at 8:30 would be an okay time for traffic to go into labor! :)

First stop was the OB office where we had the mid-pregnancy anatomy scan done. This is a thorough ultrasound that involves measurements of bones to check the growth of baby, and a check on the heart, brain, and major organs to make sure they are developing correctly as well. Everything looked great! Baby weighs one pound and is measuring a few days ahead of schedule. I personally think she had a big growth spurt this past week as my stomach has become more firm and feels like it is stretching, plus the numbers on the scale went up :)
As I said, this experience has been so cool. One of the best things about the journey to parenthood is getting a peak at your little one. E and P had their eyes glued to the screen. I had the pleasure of watching their reaction! It was so overwhelming. You can just feel the love that these two parents have for the little one inside me that they have yet to meet. I get emotional thinking about it and of course I had tears flowing! Luckily I don't think they took their eyes off the screen so they didn't notice me!

Technology has come a long way since even Tucker was born 4 years ago. 4D is very popular so the tech was able to 'flip' the machine so that we could see her move in 4D as well. Here are some 3D pictures of her. She kept her hand over her face the entire time. What a stinker! It's like she was saying "no pictures, no pictures!"

 You can see her nose in the middle and her mouth and chin. The squiggles in the middle are her fingers!

 She was tucked in tight and did not want to give in to move her hand. We tried so many times!

I love this one! Her mouth was opening and closing! You can see her little tongue in there and nose in the middle. Again, the hand up!!

After the sonogram, we met with the Nurse Practitioner at the office because my OB was out. She said the scan looked great and asked if we had any questions. I said I was feeling good with no issues so we were sent on our way! I actually go back in 2 weeks to see the OB again (I saw her 2 weeks ago and visit every 4 weeks with her until the 3rd trimester, then I will go more frequently!)

Next stop was the hospital for a tour. (Ok we may have diverted to Steak N' Shake for a shake first!)

We arranged a private tour since our scenario is a little different than most! The nurse was awesome and answered all of our questions! The hospital is so surrogate friendly too which is amazing (Some hospitals won't even let surrogates deliver there. Usually due to religious views) Pixie's family will get their own hospital room when we check in for delivery and baby will room in with them. Our hospital is great and has huge rooms so they will have plenty of space to spread out. 

We then went down to registration to get baby registered. I am registered as a patient already, and usually the baby just gets attached to my file at birth. Well this is different and Baby needs her OWN file because she is in no way attached to me (ok except she literally is right now!) So basically, I will deliver and then it is already on record that she is E and P's baby. In addition, the lawyers have already filed all of the necessary paperwork so that E and P go on her birth certificate as parents!

 Big sister waiting to check on little sis!

 Hospital tour

What a big day we had! I am exhausted but it was so good to see them and catch up. And of course it is always wonderful to hear and SEE that Pixie is growing and getting stronger! 18.5 more weeks is the goal to keep her in! Keep those prayers coming! She still has a lot of growing to do!

Sending love to you all!

19 Week Check In

Hello everyone!

No news is good news in this part of pregnancy! The weeks are long and appointments are far apart.

I went today for a check up so thought I would just share that we are doing well. Pixie is measuring right on track with her due date of November 15th.

Next appointment will be on Friday, July 7th. We have the anatomy scan that day. We already know that she is a girl due to genetic testing but they will check bone growth, her heart, brain, and so much more during this ultrasound. E and P will be joining me that day as well as big sister C! After our appointment we are headed to the hospital for a tour so that they can see where their little girl will be born!

Here is my 19 week bump photo so you can see how much she is growing! She is the size of a MANGO. I finally look pregnant and not just like I ate a big lunch.

I wanted to share this picture too (although we need an updated one!) This is my best friend Danielle. She is expecting her second miracle baby! We never thought in our wildest dreams we would be pregnant at the same time since I was done having babies before she even got her first miracle!

I hope everyone is having a great summer! I will update after our sonogram in July!

A visit with the Parents, Telling the kids, and a Check up

We have had a lot going on the past few days!

On Saturday, we went up to Naperville to enjoy the day with Pixie's mom, dad, and sister. The plans were to swim and hang out by the pool, but mother nature wanted us inside. We had a great lunch and the kids played for hours on end. C (Pixie's big sister) is eight years old and was a fabulous cruise director. Most of our friends have children around our kids ages, so this was something fun for us. She played games with them, dress, up and so much more and we were able to just sit back and relax!

We did sneak in some pool time in between storms and of course some Portillo's chocolate cake for dessert! 

The kids had a great time and were asleep in the car before we even left the neighborhood!

Last night was the night we decided to talk to Tucker about what is going on with mommy's tummy. He has seen lot of the past few months. Mommy taking a lot of medicine, shots in my rear, sleeping a lot. He always thinks I have a tummy ache so I wanted to set the record straight. Plus, I am showing now so before someone else tells him, we wanted to have a talk with him.

We started by reading The Kangaroo Pouch. It is a story about a mommy kangaroo who knows someone who can't carry a joey, so she carried the joey until she is big and strong for the other kangaroos. (We also have Sophia's Broken Crayons and The Very Kind Koala that we will be using in the coming weeks) After the story I asked him to retell it to me, he had the major concept of it down so that's when I told him that E has a tummy that can't hold a baby anymore, but mommy's tummy could. We went to the doctor and the doctor put the tiny baby in mommy's tummy so she can get big and strong. Once she is big enough, she will come out and then will go live with E and P and sister C. I reiterated that the baby girl would not be ours, that she is just growing here and will have to go home when she comes into the world. And that she would be C's little sister! He thought that was cool that she was going to have a little sister like he does. He asked if we could have a baby at our house and I told him that we already had two babies, him and Lainey. He then informed me they were big kids not babies! 

I asked if he had any questions and he didn't at the time. We put him to bed and about 5 minutes later he called me into his room, he had a question. Okay, here we go I thought!

Me: "What is your question?"

Tucker: "How do babies sleep?"

Me: "Like now? She sleeps in my belly, but after she is big and strong she will sleep just like you, by closing her eyes, laying down, and going to sleep." (no hint there that it is bed time ha!)

Tucker: "No, babies sleep in cribs!"

Me: "Well okay then!"

So apparently he doesn't have any major questions yet! :) 

On to today, I had a check up at the doctors office. E and P made the drive down today so that they could meet my doctor. The first thing Tucker said to them was "Mommy has a belly in her belly it its yours!" Clearly her understood so thats a good starting point. I figured we would have to reiterate it a few times! Someone at the agency gave me the idea of the kids meeting the parents first, and I am so glad we did. I think it made it more concrete to Tucker 9Lainey is clueless)

On our way to the appointment we went past the hospital so that they could see where we would be welcoming their little girl into the world! At the office, we got to hear Pixie's heartbeat (a steady 160 today!) Since E has already had a baby, she knows a lot that first time moms might not know, so we didn't have a lot of questions. But, our doctor is completely on board with everything we are picturing for a "perfect labor and delivery." Goal is to have E and P present and for baby to go straight to mom for some skin to skin. Our hospital is very surrogacy friendly as well. We will be doing a hospital tour with them around 20 weeks so that they are familiar with our situation and can have rooms prearranged. 

I went into labor with Tucker, but with Lainey I was induced at 40+6, so the doctor said that if things are favorable, we could look at an induction after 39 weeks if we wanted a more scheduled timeline. We will play that by ear. I am somewhat nervous for how quick this labor could go and I want to do everything (safely) possible to have E and P there. We will see as the time goes what is right for us and baby girl. 

Overall, things are looking great! I will be 15 weeks tomorrow! Thanks for staying with this long post! Love to you all :)