Blueberry's Birth Story

It's finally time to sit down and write Blueberry's birth blog story! First a picture, with the sweet Blueberry as well as Milkduds that his Dad's gave me after the birth.. they did not last long, haha!

I guess before we can get into the birth we need to work back to 37 weeks, which is where the last blog entry ended. Look at this huge belly!!! 37 weeks also included the halloween celebration at the kids school, where I happen to see our awesome L&D nurse Jessie. Of course I needed a picture to compare how different our pumpkin shirts look haha! and yes Blueberry was a visitor to the school :-)

                                          

36 weeks of pregnancy is the point at which I started to feel like an "old" pregnant lady. Apparently over the age of 35 (I'm only 36), is considered AMA (Advanced Maternal Age), which means I had to get weekly NST's (Non Stress Test) and weekly sonograms. Honestly it means slightly longer appointments but it was nice to make sure that Blueberry was doing well every week! Plus we found out at 38 weeks Blueberry was breach, however I swear he flipped back that night and really just wanted to give us all a huge scare! I am so grateful that by 39 weeks he was head down again and stayed that way through delivery! 

As we were nearing the end of the pregnancy I was happy that I was still able to work out almost every day, although once he was breach at 38 weeks I was paranoid that rowing and anything other than running would keep him breach so I really just ran at home after that point. 

I was so excited after the 39 week appointment that Blueberry was head down that I decided to stop for a celebratory apple fritter at one of my favorite bakeries! So delicious!

I also had an amazing secret admirer who ordered me milk duds on amazon... no one has claimed responsibility but to whomever it was... THANK YOU!!!! It was super sweet and I really enjoyed them!!!!

Now to get to the part that everyone is waiting for... delivery day! As most of you know we decided on a 39 week induction for really a few reasons. The first and most important reason is that I know my body and since I was already 3cm and effaced I knew that my body would do well, and the second is that I really wanted to plan ahead to have my favorite OB and favorite L&D nurse there, the same as I had for last delivery <3  It also made for a much more relaxing birth knowing that both of the parents could be there as well as Jeremy and that I could make sure to have child care for my own kids. 

Unfortunately planning for the induction wasn't the easiest since my OB happened to not be on call at my hospital for the week before birth, however she is truly the nicest and sweetest doctor ever and came in on her day off just to care for me and no one else. I really cannot ever fully express to her how much that meant to me to have her there to help bring this baby into the world and how grateful that I am to be her patient and to even know her as a person. She is such a kind hearted person and an even more amazing doctor, and I would never hesitate to trust her with my life or with the life of any baby that I am carrying. Not only did she come in on her day off but my good friend Jessie came in just to be my Labor and Delivery Nurse.  They truly make the best delivery team and I could absolutely not do it without either of them! Plus Jessie and I had the best conversation on the ride in that morning and I always love seeing such a talented nurse do so amazing at her job! 

Back to the birth story... Jessie and I arrived at the start of her shift and she quickly got to work admitting me and getting my antibiotic started (I'm GBS positive) so that we could get the show on the road. We started pitocin super low since I was already contracting, though not feeling it, and moved it up as we needed to until we broke my water at noon! The parents, as well as Jeremy, arrived around 9:30 but after sitting around for awhile I sent them to lunch with one set of grandparents who were so amazing to come in from Florida for the birth. Let's just say Blueberry is so lucky to have such an amazing family and support system.  While they were at lunch, Dr H broke my water and I knew things would start a little quicker and we'd be ready for the baby soon! 

The smiles lasted a little while until maybe 2 or 2:30, and then they started to disappear or atleast become a lot less frequent.  I always love natural labor without medication, but I will not say that it isn't intense. As many of you know with the first two I did get an epidural, and then with Cody I got one but I don't feel like it kicked in before pushing, so then with Emily I decided that I knew I could do without one and wanted to give it a shot.  It was intense and painful but I loved the feeling of knowing what my body is capable of so I wanted to do it again this time.  Jessie was awesome and of course made sure that I was comfortable, but I was sure of my decision and decided to keep going without one. Honestly the pain during contractions really is like a wave, where you can feel it get more intense and more intense until it's at it's worst and then it slowly comes back down until you get a small break.  As we were moving towards transition period I did put in my music and ask everyone to be quiet (I may have asked in not such a nice way to Jeremy) but I really needed silence to focus. At about 2:30 I was checked and only 5 or 6cm which was sort of discouraging but I knew my body was close I just needed to stand back up, laying in bed was horrible at this point.  I'm pretty sure that this is when I made Jeremy come over to me and I basically had him hold me up through the contractions, the pain was just so intense when I would try to sit or stand. I then started to feel like my body was pushing, regardless of my choice, which really is a terrifying yet amazing feeling.  I then  got back into bed to be checked and was only 8, but after a few more contractions there was no choice and the baby was coming out regardless of what I did so we decided it was officially pushing time.  I am sure the Dad's were equally excited and terrified by everything but they were so awesome and just sat quietly and watched, I cannot imagine the excitement that they felt knowing they would meet their baby boy soon. I only pushed for 9 minutes however I will say that the 9 minutes felt like much longer and right after Blueberry's head popped out he stopped for a second and had to have his shoulder moved before he came the rest of the way out. I cannot even pretend that him sitting part way out, during the moment when I had felt "the ring of fire" was not the most terrifying thing during birth that I have experienced, but my doctor was amazing and he came out with her help, just not quite as smoothly as the last births.  I am sure it lasted less than 30 seconds but to me it lasted a lot longer and part of me was wondering what would happen if he didn't come the rest of the way out, haha! Once out it took him a few seconds to breathe, they even had to call the NICU but then we heard the most amazing sound ever which was his beautiful cry <3 I am sure that everyone felt the same sense of relief that I did and his dad's were able to cut his cord and finally hold him! I don't think there was a dry eye in the room and it was truly a magical and special moment for everyone involved. In fact I am teary eyed just thinking about how perfect it was!  Once I was cleaned up we got a beautiful picture of everyone involved in the birth (I did cut out the parents and Blueberry for their privacy), but honestly my support team was so amazing that I had to share this picture. I could not have done this, especially drug free, with out each of them, and I truly cannot thank Dr Helmbrecht or Jessie for taking time out of their lives to be there with me and with Blueberry and his dad's. We are all so appreciative. Plus to give Jeremy credit he did stop talking when I asked and did hold me up when my legs would no longer support me... thanks Jeremy, I love you! 

Born at 3:05pm, 7lb 6oz 20 inches

After I got cleaned up and was able to relax I invited the grandparents to come back and meet their baby.  It was so amazing to witness their family grow and to see the love that each of them had for each other. I cannot share the picture on here but there is a picture of all four of them watching Blueberry in the warmer, and I just know that one day he will see this picture and feel the love that was in the room that day. <3 

After Blueberry was checked out and I was cleared to move to postpartum we were all transferred over so that we could rest. The hospital was not too busy so we were able to get rooms next to each other which was such a great experience. I was able to take milk over to them and we were able to spend a lot of quality time together before they went home with their new baby.  Speaking of delivering milk,  I was so excited that I pumped a good amount of colostrum the first night so that Blueberry did not have to get as much formula! I also got to hold Blueberry for the first time, he really is one of the cutest babies that I have ever seen!

After a good night of sleep I wanted to get a picture of how much smaller my belly looked without a baby and all of the fluid! I mean yes I still look pregnant, but not nearly as big as I was! I also need to note that I looked better the day after delivery than I did 2 days later or even now, haha. When I came home from the hospital on Sunday the kids kept telling me how tired I looked and how I had dark circles under my eyes, leave it to the kids to be honest! Pretty sure I felt worse on day 3 and 4 than I did on day 2 as well.  The after pains with the pumping were horrible and even with pain meds and a heating pad I think I cried multiple times. I am so glad that I warned the Dad's ahead of time that with pain and hormones I may just cry for no reason, I can imagine that if I hadn't warned them they would wonder why I kept tearing up for no reason, haha! I also had a lot of ab pain, I guess pushing a baby out is a great ab workout! 

While in the hospital three of my amazing coworkers came for a visit with delicious treats!  I really enjoyed their visit, as well as the treats, and I think Blueberry's parents enjoyed meeting other case managers from CFC as well! 

Speaking of awesome coworkers look at these absolutely amazing socks that my coworker in CT sent to me today!!! Thank you Amanda.. I love them and they are perfect!!!

Blueberry and his Dad's were released from the hospital Saturday night but I decided to stay until Sunday morning so that I could pump for them up until they left and then not wake my family up pumping all night that second night, plus with the pain I was still having it was nice to rest in a hospital bed that you could just press a button to move. 

I am always so grateful to have such wonderful nurses so I made these chapstick keychain holders to hand out with snacks while we were there. Of course I also made Dr Helmbrecht a wine cup and a keychain as well, as I said there is no adequate way to thank her for coming in a day off for me and for taking such amazing care of all of us but I wanted to do atleast something to show my appreciation. 

 

 

For the next few weeks my life revolves around pumping, resting and washing pump pieces. I am glad to say that my pain is finally getting better now that I'm 5 days post birth, the after pains are so much more intense with each kid!  Of course now I think I may be getting a sinus infection, which sucks when you really can't take sudafed because it drys up milk, and you also want to avoid antibiotics when pumping. I am hoping it just clears up on it's own, but for now I will sit and relax on the couch with Baxter :-)

Oh and for those that have asked about the kid's meeting Blueberry. Of course they want to and Blueberry's dad's want them too, but we always try to wait atleast a week or two and then do it not in the hospital. I feel like it's better for the kids to see him at home with his family and then for Blueberry to not be completely brand new. Once they meet him I will post pictures :-) By then Blueberry should have an official name! 

Weeks 22-36

I am officially the worst blogger ever! It has been over 14 weeks since I have blogged at all and yet I've had an alarm on my phone almost every day to remind me to do it! Life is just so busy with work, 3 kids, being pregnant, and really its just mostly the 3 kids and all of their activities. I rarely get time to just sit and relax and when I do I'm either working or too exhausted to think about doing anything else. 

So here we are at 36 weeks, let me see if I can bring the blog up to speed quickly for the past 14 weeks. Let's start with all of the belly pictures. My last post said 22 weeks but the belly pics only went up to 19 so let's start there! 

 As you can see my belly has grown QUITE a bit and I am feeling huge! I really feel bigger than I did with the last pregnancies but my weight gain is pretty much the same so maybe I just forgot how huge I felt before.  

To jump back to where the other blog left off, that annoying blood clot that I had finally disappeared and I was cleared to run/work out again at 29 weeks! Woohoo... thank you Blueberry!   Here was our first run together after we were cleared!

Here are a few other fun pictures of runs/races that the kids and I have done since I was cleared to run again! It is amazing how much better and more healthy I feel when I can work out, and start my morning that way. I am also so appreciative that I have my three little cheerleaders to run with me. I should also add in that my running right now is SUPER SLOW, but honestly I don't mind, I'm just glad I can go.  The girls have been super fast and beating me by quite a bit, but I think they are loving that. My goal post baby is to catch up to them again! I think they are averaging 23-24 min for a 5k and have placed in a few races recently, honestly I'm just so proud that they are trying their hardest and having fun!  

The last race we did together was actually this past Saturday and it was a fun halloween run! I was shocked and happy that I managed to run the entire 5k without walking (it was super flat) and finish in a better time than my first 5k ever! Cody and Jeremy ran the 1k and won for best parent/child costume <3  Such a great time for all of us! 

Ok enough about running, I know I talk about it a lot but I was just so happy to be able to be active again. Currently the only running I am doing is at orange theory, because I can do a run/walking combination and keep it completely flat which is what I need right now, but it's good to know I can still pull out a 5k when I want! 

I also want to go back and share some of the pictures from a beach trip that we did towards the end of the summer. Due to the blood clot I made sure to take it easy and even rode in a wheel chair for our trip to a zoo. I was really happy for the kids that we were still able to enjoy the trip!

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After our fun beach trip we enjoyed the rest of the summer with camp and other fun activities until it was time to start school again. Believe it or not my baby started kindergarten. I cannot believe that all 3 of my kids are in school, and for one year only they are all in elementary school! I cannot even think about Zoe starting middle school next year so we won't even talk about that yet, I will keep pretending that it's not happening. Needless to say we had parent teacher conferences the other day and they are all doing well, no concerns noted which is awesome! They all seem to be ahead in reading and/or math, but more importantly enjoy school! 

I know this blog is more about my belly buddy but how can I not share all of these cute pictures of my babies :-) I guess in the grand scheme of things I am carrying blueberry because of my own kids. The happiness and joy (of course there are a ton of tough times too) that they give me every day is why I chose to help other families have this same happiness! 

I will jump in and share a little more about the pregnancy before I post more pictures of my own kids <3 Before I start my complaining let me say that this baby, and being a surrogate is well worth any issues that I have had or am having, I haven't for one second regretted my decision to do this :-) 

Up until recently I have been feeling pretty good but the past few weeks the heartburn has really been creeping in as well as just feeling huge and uncomfortable especially at night.  I really try not to take medication when pregnant but I have had to take zantac a few nights or else I wake up at midnight and get sick and cannot go back to sleep at all. Even with the zantac I tend to wake up when blueberry is moving all over but atleast I don't have the sick feeling.  As for the feeling huge, in the morning I am okay which is why I can work out then, but at night I seriously can barely breathe and roll over. This belly is just huge on the front of me and hard to move around! I've also had some leg swelling, which really is just from my fun varicose veins, but I have these fun donut compression socks that help. I really got them for marathon training but they help with this as well! Oh and not to forget how tired I have been, I am typically okay in the morning (like 6am when I wake up and can't go back to sleep) but by 8:30 I am in bed and exhausted and cannot function! Dinner has been a struggle to make some nights, but Blueberry's parents are amazing and got us a gift card for Vintage, which really helps on nights that I'm truly tired and just cannot make dinner for anyone :-) 

Snacks are still one of my favorite things.... sadly watermelon is out of season now but here are a few that I have enjoyed recently!

Another issue that we had, or I was just paranoid about  for a few weeks, is that the baby was in a breach position for a few weeks straight. I was so paranoid about it that I started seeing a chiropractor which I do feel helped, he's now head down, but also helped with some hip pain I was having.  Hopefully the adjustments will also help with a nice smooth delivery, crossing my fingers! I am hoping for a drug free birth again so I will take all of the help I can get! 

So not only have I been horrible at blogging but I have been horrible at taking pictures when we see Blueberry's parents. We actually saw them at a halloween event last night and I did remember pictures, but by the time we got around to taking them it was too dark. Hopefully we will get plenty when this baby arrives! Speaking of Blueberry's parents, we had the amazing opportunity a few weeks ago to meet one set of his grandparents.  It was really such a great experience and so fun to see their excitement about the new grandchild! I was a little scared my kids would be too much for their visit but I think they actually behaved okay and didn't scare anyone off, haha! Three kids can be a lot for some people, even me sometimes! I am excited that I will get to see them again at the birth and will hopefully remember pictures at that point! I do have one picture to share, this was after we saw Blueberry's parents and were talking about swaddling babies, Cody wanted to come home and swaddle his Porg and send a picture to the Dad's <3 He will be such an amazing Dad one day!

As for Blueberry, he has been cooperating and has looked great at all of my past appointments. I will say I am a little worried that he's already 6lb 11oz at 36 weeks, and on the bigger end with a lot of fluid, but hopefully being my 5th pregnancy it will all work out okay! My kids were tiny, Zoe was 6lb 7oz, Ellie 6lb 3oz, Cody 7lb 1oz.. and then the largest was the last surrogate baby at 8lb 5oz... let's hope Blueberry is not bigger than that! Here is a cute picture of him and his sweet little face. 

I also wanted to share these onsies I made for Blueberry, as well as shirts for his dad, and burp cloths to use for after he's born! I really love that I could make things that he can enjoy! We of course also made a trip to Carter's, and Jeremy should feel lucky we didn't buy everything in the store. They seriously have the cutest clothes!

I cannot believe I haven't even mentioned the most important news yet... we have an induction date!! Originally we thought we had a date of 11/19 (Due date is 11/21), however my OB realized that she is at another hospital that day so she changed the date to 11/14.  I don't think that she was originally supposed to work on the 14th, but she is amazing and coming in just for us! Of course the awesome induction date would not be complete without my awesome and amazing friend Jessie who has so kindly offered to come in and take care of us that day! As long as the baby holds off until the 14th we will have the same wonderful doctor as before, as well as Jessie who is the best Labor and Delivery nurse ever (and a wonderful friend) <3 This is obviously all contingent on blueberry staying put until 39 weeks, and of course my body being ready for induction, however with this being my 5th pregnancy I really doubt by that point my body wouldn't be ready, haha! In case anyone is wondering induction is not a must to be a surrogate at all, I am choosing it (of course with the Dad's permission) because I want to have my doctor and my nurse that I know take care of us. If for some reason my body isn't ready, or they couldn't be there I would be a lot more hesitant to go through with it.  I really would love to avoid pitocin and just have my water broken, so that I can really try for drug free again, and I know that they are super supportive of that! As I said I would also not proceed with induction if Blueberry's parents did not agree, however they really are the sweetest and have said that I can do whatever I feel most comfortable with for the birth and they will be supportive of whatever that is <3 

Ok now I have to end this blog post with some really cute fall pictures of my own kids, and of course halloween since that is coming up this week! Hard to believe that I will be 37 weeks on Halloween!!! Just to explain... Ellie is a graffiti artist, Zoe nerd, Cody Pikachu and Baxter a Loofa sponge, haha! 

 I will end on this fun Halloween shirt that I made to wear since we are so close to the end.. I imagine that this is exactly how Blueberry feels right now!