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!
