5 weeks postpartum

They left a week ago today. It was a sad day but, so far, so good. The babies are growing and their big brother is smitten by them. Apparently he has suddenly become more independent. I'm sure dads are happy about that!  It also sounds a bit full over there with Nona and dads and big brother and 2 newborns and all their stuff, very busy I'm sure. I'm still feeling great, other than a sprained ankle I've been doing great. Not gonna lie though I shed a couple of years after their departure, it was sad to think I wouldn't get to watch them grow and hold them. Also I wasn't gonna get to watch their daddies hold and love them and I really wanted to see big brother with them. That's my favorite part about being a labor and delivery nurse, seeing the siblings get introduced to their new baby. It's always so sweet to see how excited they are. Although, some are absolutely appalled by this new little screaming thing that is in their moms arms. Not this big brother, he is excited and helpful, at least for now!
Now, a week after they have left I'm feeling good. They've emailed a lot, pictures included, and Skype message me also. They plan on visiting in March, hopefully, and then my daughter is going to visit them in May or June. They are officially a part of the family and we are part of theirs. Knowing that this isn't ever going to be over helps the sadness. In fact, I feel no sadness now. Only hope for the future and I think I see another surrogacy in that future ;)

the after affects...1week later

I was going to make D day my last post but then I realized that a lot of you probably are curious as to how I'm feeling now that it's all over. Well, I'm physically doing great. The cramping is mostly gone the weight, so far, is falling off and the gym is calling my name. Here in a week or so I'll be back in the gym. My boobs are pretty sore, I have been pumping milk for them since birth and will continue to until they leave the country if they want it that long. Pumping is VERY different than feeding a baby. Babies are much more gentle than a plastic machine.
 I have so much energy I want to move all the time, but then I'm up for too long and I will start bleeding a little more. That's my body telling me to slow it down. So I do, for now.
Now for the emotional part. I feel great emotionally, I can definitely tell I had a couple of babies. One minute I'm happy and wanting to go go go, the next I'm yelling at my kids or husband for something stupid. I've gotten to see the babies a couple of times since delivery and they are adorable and I love them, but I don't feel like they are mine at all. Their fathers and Nona (grandma) are head over heels in love with them!  I love watching them taking care of them. They are all smiles even after a night of crying babies they are just plain happy. That makes it all worth it!
I think the part that makes me the saddest is knowing that once they leave here in a few weeks they will be gone.  I probably will never or at least very rarely see them in person. They have their own lives to get back to. I'm talking about my IP's not the babies. Obviously, I'd love to see the babies in the future, but the bond with the IP's, myself and my family has become great. My oldest daughter is going travel to Sweden next summer to see them so there will be contact, but to me that's the hardest part of all of this for me. I'm gonna miss my IP's. I will look forward to the emails and whatever kind of communication we can share in the future, but also understand that they have jobs and family and friends and now 2 more children to raise. They will be busy, so I will take what I can get. I do know they will do their best to stay in touch because that's just how they are. I am excited for the future and to watch these little guys grow up with their daddies!

37.1 weeks ie: D day

Had my dr appointment at 11am. We listened to the heartbeats measured my fundus only 44 and last week it was 47. So I asked if she would be so kind as to strip my membranes because one of my IP's arrived on Wednesday and we all just wanted to get the show on the road. So she checks my cervix and I was dilated to 6cm already. WHAT?  I seriously thought I was in a dream. Who dilates to a 6 and doesn't really even notice?  The night before I was pretty nauseous and had some diarrhea so I got in the bathtub to help and started timing contractions. They were pretty mild and irregular, like every 3-6min, closer than they had been the whole pregnancy, but still very irregular. I never had any bleeding or loss of fluid so I just hung out in the bathtub for a while. Took a reglan for the nausea and went back to bed. When I woke up I was still pretty nauseous and had a lot of indigestion so I ate and took my kids to school.  Then Dr's office....
So apparently since I was already a six she thought I should probably go to the hospital to get them out. OMG I got so nervous. It was so surreal I really felt like I was in a crazy dream where I have babies without any pain at all. Well, it was not a dream, and there was plenty of pain!  I got to the hospital got my IV and got my water broke. A few contractions later I felt baby A drop into my pelvis and the pain started. It was tolerable still because the contractions weren't very close yet. And an hour later I was an 8, so off to the OR we went. Then about another hour later after a lot more contractions I was ready to push. And a few pushes later baby A, 5lbs 11oz was here perfect and pink and with a couple of very happy daddy's. (IP number 2 was there via skype.) Then checking on baby B.....breech of coarse it can't be that easy. So a few contractions and they break water talk about a waterfall I didn't know there was so much water in there. It just kept coming and of coarse my LDR nurse brain was thinking prolapsed cord, but thank goodness that wasn't a problem. Then a couple more contractions we have one foot through the cervix and the other still in the uterus, seriously kid, I was back to being dilated to an 8 so we were gonna have to dilate again so Dr pulled his foot through the cervix which by the way hurts really bad when you start a contraction in the middle of it. But she got it and a few contractions later it's time to push again. This part seemed to take forever because I knew if he didn't come a cesarean it was for me. But he came and it hurt!  But it didn't matter baby B 6lbs 8oz happy and healthy- in shock, but healthy. And dad was ear to ear smiles. Made it all worth while!  So now he's getting to know his 2 sons.  These 2 little bundles of joy that just 34ish weeks ago were little frozen Popsicle embryos and are now 2 perfect little babies. It has been a strange but very gratifying experience I am so blessed that everything has gone as well as it has I am thankful to everyone for their support especially my IP's. I'm so happy for them and their 2 new members of their family!  Till next time????

36 weeks

Wow, 36 weeks pregnant with twins. I feel huge and pretty much everyone who sees me says I look huge, which, by the way, isn't very nice people!  I had a patients family member when I walked in the room say, "wow you are huge!"  Rude you are allowed to think it, just don't say it so horribly!  Speaking of huge though I went to the Dr's last week and was measuring 43 weeks. So I am huge, but I don't need everyone else to tell me so! Trust me I feel it. One of my IP's will be here tomorrow which is a relief. I won't feel as bad if I go into labor with him here. The other will be here in 10days then we have a scheduled induction. Hoping to make it the 10 days then go into labor on my own miraculously!  To bad there's not an eviction button I can push when I deem necessary! Of coarse if that were the case I wouldn't have a job!
   Now for my weekly complaints. More pelvic pain, had one really bad day but most days haven't been horrible. I did experience some lower back pain the other day which I've never had with any of my pregnancies but the sono the other day said baby A was 5lbs 14oz and B was 5lbs 11oz so that's almost 12lbs of baby in by belly so I can imagine they are pulling on my spine pretty good. Attempting to maintain good posture is almost impossible but I am still attempting because I feel like my back feels better if I can.
It's crazy to think that in 2 weeks I will not be pregnant anymore!  It's been a little over a year since I started the surrogacy process and so far have enjoyed it. I really do like being pregnant even with all the complaints. I'm so lucky to not have complicated pregnancies and hopefully the delivery is uncomplicated as well. Keep me in your prayers for that one!  Till next time. ;)

35 weeks

So, 35 weeks....TIRED!  Need I say more?  I was measuring 41 weeks at my appointment this week. The week before I was at 39. Doesn't seem quite fair to gain 2 weeks in 1 week, but I guess there are 2 babies in there and they seem to want sweet things like ice cream!  That might have something to do with the weather also since it's been pretty hot these last couple of weeks. I really should plan this surrogacy thing a little better. IF there's a next time it'll be a winter delivery. :)
The swelling is kicking in full force this week no matter how much I elevate my legs they swell! I've definitely seen worse being a nurse and all, and I kinda like the swelling because in my head it's weight that's gonna just fall off after delivery. You don't have to workout to get rid of fluid!  Of coarse I'll still have to workout but those pounds will be easy to loose. As of this morning I'm up 50lbs :( this is normal weight gain for a twin pregnancy but still saddens me a little I think that's why I'm so happy about the fluid retention.
Induction day is set for the 21st if I make it that far?  Kinda torn about it because I want things to start on their own, but I want my IP's and my Dr to all be there when it happens. The obvious solution to everyone being there is an induction. Maybe I'll get lucky and go into labor on my induction day?!?!  That's only 3 weeks from today I can't believe it. 3 weeks that's nothing!  That's only like 9 more work days for me. I can do 9 more days of work right?  I guess time will tell.
Lots of contractions this week. They seem to be more frequent and a little stronger, but still not regular. I'm interested to see what my cervix is doing, but also don't want to irritate it by checking it. So I'll be patient and wait.
Right now my bed and my bathtub are my best friends I love them they make me super happy!  And my husband and my kids are also very helpful. My son made me Mac and cheese the other day for dinner and brought it to me while I was in the bathtub. He's so good to me, and my husband has been doing a lot of cooking lately so I don't have to which is awesome. I think I'll keep them all, at least till this pregnancy is over!  Lol
I guess that's all for now till next week! :)

34 weeks!!!

34 weeks, yay!!!  With twins this is quite an accomplishment.  And I'm still not terribly miserable (just a little miserable)  I think if I had to stress out about cribs, and feeding them and taking care of them it would be more stressful maybe, but I don't have to worry about any of that.  I don't even get the "nesting" that women get towards the end of their pregnancies with my surrogacies.  I kinda wish I did though because my house could use a little "nesting" behaviour!  Instead I'm in lay around and relax mode, hoping to keep these babies in at least until their dad gets here in a few weeks.  Not much I can do if they decide to come early, but I  sure can do as little as possible to try not to bring it on.  I am still working full time, but again my charge nurses take pretty good care of me, I think mostly because they don't wanna be down a nurse and up a patient!  Kinda funny if you think of it like that.  My feet are starting to swell, and I also get blurry vision when I'm pregnant off and on-No I'm not pre-eclamptic, I have model blood pressure and am planning to keep it that way! (not that I can really plan that) 
While 34 weeks is awesome I sure hope to get to at least 36 or 37 weeks that would make for much healthier babies.  And surprisingly the closer I get to delivery the less nervous I get. You would think it would be opposite, but I've had so many contractions some smart pretty good, but are still very sporadic and I just think oh yea, these are what those early labor contractions feel like it's only the active labor ones that really hurt, and those, for me, don't usually last very long.  My main concern would be post partum hemorrhage, being my 5th delivery and a multiple delivery I'm at a higher risk for hemorrhage.  I have the best OB in town, and the best LDR nurses too, so I'll be very well taken care of!

33 weeks

So all the legal stuff appears to be taken care of so my IP's will be the power of attorneys until they have the legal adoption stuff taken care of. Which is great because if they were born premature there would be medical decisions to be made for their well being. I would, of coarse, honor whatever they wanted anyways, but I'm sure this just gives them peace of mind. And apparently their plane tickets are booked for a few weeks from now and the apartment is also booked , so it is feeling more real I'm sure for them. As for me, I'm ready to have my body back! I want the babies to be term and healthy, but am so ready to get back to the gym and be normal again!
The "contractions" continue and my pelvis is doing its usual, as I say "falling apart" thing. For those of you who don't know, when your pregnant your body produces a hormone that is rightly named relaxin that "relaxes" all your joints to help your pelvis open more for childbirth. Well mine, I feel, goes a little overboard and my pelvic bones pop and click and move constantly. Although I do feel like it's better with this pregnancy which I again attribute to having lost so much weight prior to getting pregnant. The back pain isn't too bad, my worst days are, of coarse, work days when I'm up moving so much. I do think I might be more emotional with this pregnancy, my poor husband, I'm not sure that he'll ever let me be a surrogate again if I keep acting like I am! He's a trooper though!
That's a question I get frequently, do you think you'll do it again?  I feel like at this point I would, but there's still at least 5 weeks to go and a delivery to accomplish before deciding. With every pregnancy the risks go up for complications during pregnancy and at delivery. I don't want to be foolish and end up with lifelong problems or even possibly not surviving a delivery and leaving my family without a mom so if I did do it again it would probably be my last time. Unless, this is my last time! I guess only time will tell.
The babies are still moving like crazy! I'm feeling sorry for my poor stretched out uterus it really is an amazing organ to be able to provide everything for these little guys that they need to thrive. It can get so big and then shrink so small. I don't care what you men say, we are lucky to be able to be pregnant! It is truly a miracle and I am glad that through all the aches and pains and annoyances that pregnancy brings we can accomplish such an amazing feat!  Helping to create life, and I feel like it makes it more wondrous when I can do it for someone else. I am truly blessed!

31 weeks

Had an appointment today with my OB, I'm measuring 37cm at 31 weeks, so essentially my uterus is the size of a 37 week singleton pregnancy which is normal, but gonna start getting really uncomfortable probably from here on out!  Also had a sono which is routine in twin pregnancy to make sure they're both growing equally and they are. A is about 3lbs 14oz and B is about 3lbs 12oz. That's almost 8 pounds of baby already! Not to mention 2 placentas and 2 bags of water! No wonder my belly's getting so heavy. 7 more weeks, 7more weeks, 7 more weeks. And that's ok I want healthy babies I don't want them to have to spend any time in the NICU. I want them to go home with their daddy's happy and healthy!
Work is definitely getting harder though but I'm really hoping to push through and tough it out till I deliver. I've always worked up till delivery with all my pregnancies and I know this ones different, but I think I can do it. I know my charge nurses try their best to take it easy on me, but Sometimes, in LDR there's no such thing as taking it easy on anyone! If you can't do the job get out of the way because an emergency in LDR isn't a "shuffle your feet" kinda emergency. We have 2 lives on the line and we want both to be safe and healthy in the end!  So we run and we even have to sometimes push people out of the way to keep the patient safe!  We leave our hands in vaginas for what seems like forever and lie under a surgical drape until were told to move. (Which by the way is really difficult pregnant). We turn patients who are sometimes (a lot of times) morbidly obese who can't move because they are numb from their epidurals. A lot of time in a hurry because heart tones are down and while calling the dr on the phone and turning off medicine and putting on oxygen all somehow at the same time!  It's a lot of work when you're not pregnant, but a lot more when you are!  But again worth every minute to be there when someone gets to meet their little miracle they've been waiting so long for!  Sometimes years, and sometimes during those years with very little hope that it would ever actually happen for them, but there he/she is in their arms crying and pink and perfect and it was all worth it!  And that's why I do what I do, not just the labor and delivery nurse, but the surrogacy!  Why should these couples who have tried so desperately for so long, or who can't conceive because they are both men be denied such a basic right as being a parent?  I see people come in pregnant who don't care about the life growing inside of them, they smoke, drink, do drugs and sometimes even call their baby names because that's how little they care about it. It's not fair for those who try for years and get nothing. Who just want a baby they don't care even if it's the woman's who did meth her whole pregnancy, they just want to be a parent and to give their love to that child who otherwise wouldn't get it!  That's why surrogacy is important to me and adoption for that matter, and I'm so glad that my mind and body are able to provide this surrogacy for these men, and maybe in the future another couple??  Till next time. :)

30 weeks

This week has been stressful because my 14 year old daughter got her learners permit and won't let me go anywhere without her driving us there...wow so scary teaching someone to drive. I told her she was going to put me into preterm labor from anxiety!  She's actually not a bad driver, it's just scary. 
Other than that it is so hot right now! I wake up and am fine, but as soon as I go outside it's like the heat sucks all the energy right out of me and I just want to take a nap!  The pool is a nice hangout though.  It holds up the weight of my belly and cools me off at the same time. But I have to talk myself into going because its so hot I don't even want to go outside! Once I get there though it's all good.
I still generally feel pretty good though.  I still physically don't feel any different than I did with my singleton pregnancies, actually I'd say I feel better.  Again I'm gonna attribute that to the weight loss prior to pregnancy and the eating healthier and staying active.  I remember when I was pregnant with my son just laying on the couch from exhaustion.  Not for an hour or 2, but all day long!  No wonder I gained so much weight with him.  The only other difference would be the movement.  I feel a lot of movement and it's pretty forceful.  I think maybe because there's less room than with a singleton? 
The "contractions" continue  irregularly and not too painful. Last but not least, Shaving!  Forget shaving! If you've ever been pregnant you know what I mean.  I'd say around 26 weeks shaving became virtually impossible, but now shaving is totally impossible! I still manage, but I'm thinking waxing is the answer.  Never done it before, but I think at this point it's worth a shot!  Too bad it's not winter ;)
Still having dreams about labor and delivery too.  I've never had an epidural with any of my deliveries, but I think my subconscious is taking over and since I've never delivered twins before it's worried that it'll hurt more than the normal?  Who knows?  My husband has very little faith in me he says I'm gonna get it this time.  I'll give him a little credit I was pretty close last time, labor hurts! And when it's not your baby why suffer? But I sure do love being able to get up and walk and use the bathroom on my own right away.  Also the IV comes out faster and I can get out of the hospital sooner.  So many advantages to not having it, and if the painful part goes quickly, why not try?  I guess here in about 8 weeks we will see what happens!!!

29 weeks

Well I'm now 29 weeks pregnant with di-di twin boys for two of the most awesome people ever. My family and I have officially met both dads and are even more excited about our journey. 9 weeks or so  and they will get to meet each other (the dads and the babies). S was here for a couple of days and got to spend a little time with everyone. It went well, hopefully his next visit we'll get to spend more time with him but he did get to see and feel the babies move!  That was one of my main goals. Oh and he brought me chocolate! What pregnant girl doesn't LOVE chocolate?  Well it's delicious!  Anyways still feeling pretty good been having several contractions a day, but of coarse these aren't real contractions just practice but they bring lots of pressure and a tiny bit of pain, nothing severe of coarse or I'd be worried, but they are very irregular like extremely irregular! Baby A still moves a lot more than B I decided one has to be the calm one for their sakes. They can't have 2 crazy babies that wouldn't be fair!
S will be back down in like 7-8 weeks and shortly after that hopefully we will have some babies? All my dreams lately have to do with delivering the babies. Of coarse being a labor and delivery nurse doesn't help that I'm sure, but so far they've all been good dreams. No bad mojo here!
Let's see I've gained about 37 pounds so far which isn't bad for carrying twins I think I read I can gain 35-45 pounds so hopefully I only gain about 8 more pounds, but a pound a week would be 9 more pounds. What's a pound anyways? I actually gained most my weight in the first trimester which worried me because I kept reading you shouldn't gain any or only 2-4lbs the first trimester so that really stressed me out in the beginning because I had just lost 80lbs prior to getting pregnant and I didn't want to loose all the hard work I had put in. So far it has all evened out so if you are pregnant just eat healthy, it's ok to splurge once in a while to cure that craving, but try to eat healthy and stay somewhat active. I haven't been working out lately but I was up until a few weeks ago and now I try to still go on short walks or take my kids to the park. Something so that I'm not sitting on my butt all day. But I'm not gonna lie, I like a good nap!!  Till next time, thanks for reading!

28 weeks

So I passed my 1 hour glucose tolerance test. First time of 5 pregnancies I've ever passed the 1 hour!! I chalk it up to having lost weight prior to getting pregnant and eating healthier with this pregnancy. I'm getting so big and I still have at least 10 weeks to go and these are the BIG week where the babies will gain all their weight. Time to get uncomfortable!
Excited to meet S this week he'll be down for a couple of days hopefully he will be able to fell them wiggling around in there. I'm sure he will they move all the time!
Thinking about D day a lot. Of coarse with twins I'm at high risk for a c-section but I have one of the best OB's in town so I'm sure she'll get the babies and I through it all 3 healthy and happy. And of coarse my LDR team they are awesome too!  Right now baby A is vertex (head down) and B is breech (butt first).
  I was just talking to my grandma the other day about possibly having to deliver one breech and she told me her birth story, which surprisingly enough, I'd never heard before! Her first born was breech and she endured 18 hours of labor and finally delivered a breech baby!  That would never happen today! We never let first time moms deliver breech and rarely do they let anyone else deliver breech. So I figure if my grandma can do it with her first I can deliver a breech twin!!
I'm almost done still can't wait to meet the little guys? Do they look alike? I know they're not identical, but they are brothers so I wonder how similar they are and how much they look like their dad?  It will be fun to see their faces!  10 weeks

27 weeks

I know I'm a slacker. 4 weeks from my last post but I'm tired a lot and it's summer and my kids are demanding my constant attention but my body demands my beds attention. Carrying twins is super exhausting and it's hot out which makes me feel more tired. The headaches continue and round ligament pain.  They move almost constantly which is cool to know they're doing ok in there and my kids love to feel them and see them moving in my belly.
I Had my glucose test on Thursday, I almost always fail my 1 hour and have to take the 3 hour so we'll see. Hopefully since I had lost weight prior to this pregnancy I'll pass this time. And I'm eating better too so maybe I'll get lucky. Speaking of weight, I thus far have gained 35lbs. From what I've read for twins this is pretty good I gained a lot in my first trimester so I was really worried in the beginning that I was gonna gain everything is lost plus some with this pregnancy so I was really trying to be cautious with what I ate, but was so hungry all the time. Now it's slightly easier I don't feel ravenous like I did in the beginning but now it's harder to get exercise because the baby bump weight is getting a little out of hand. Lol.
Delivery is gonna be here before I know it, I have an awesome OB whom I trust considerably, but there's only so much she can control so I just have to hope and pray these babies cooperate and are positioned appropriately for a vaginal delivery.
I saw a picture on Facebook of two men holding their newborn baby skin to skin and I got little butterflies in my stomach. So excited for them to meet their babies. I am glad to wait till the little bugger are big and healthy though. Until then I can have dreams about them getting to meet them and it'll be nice when it's all over too to have my body back for now though, the little body snatchers can borrow it for a while longer.  Till next time!  

23 weeks and counting

So as a labor and delivery nurse my pregnancies follow the timeline of: non viable, viable, term and get this baby the hell out of me!  Currently still in the non viable, but in a few days- VIABLE!!  Yay. They are moving so much and it's getting hard to distinguish which one is moving now. I have a lot more headaches with this pregnancy than my others which I'm told is normal with twins and I can feel my abdominal muscles stretching in my upper abdomen and I still have a ways to go. Blah!  But what keeps me smiling is the thought of getting to see my IP's hold these 2 little buggers for the first time! And I'm not gonna lie I think it's gonna be pretty cool to hold 2 newborns that I helped to create at the same time.
The guys still keep in contact almost everyday by email just to check on me and see how my family is doing. I can't imagine how helpless they feel not only having to have someone else do "the dirty work" but being so far away from the whole situation. I can tell they just want me to know that they are there if I need them. I'm not the needy type though which I think they like about me. I don't feel neglected or abandoned if we haven't talked for a few days, in fact, sometimes I feel like they feel neglected or abandoned, but I'm sure they'd email or skype if they felt too left out!
I've also decided this week that God gave me the worst memory ever so that I could be a surrogate. Really, who's crazy enough to go through all this for someone else?  While I was laboring with my second child I remember telling my husband (more like yelling) "why would anyone do this twice?"  And then proceeded to have another one of our own and now 2 surrogacies. I'm definitely not mentally stable! I have no clue how I passed that psychiatric evaluation?  Lol.
Well, next week viability then hopefully only 14ish more weeks to go! This, so far, is flying by but it'll be a hot summer for this preggo so we shall see!  Tata

Where to begin..

I am starting this a little late in my surrogacy pregnancy.  But lets start with my back ground.  I am 31 y/o married and have 3 beautiful children whom I adore! I started my very first surrogacy journey with a dear friend of mine who could no longer have children of her own, but being remarried wanted to have a child with her new husband.  I myself, love being pregnant and am pretty good at it (not to brag).  So, this was not even a hard choice, in fact I don't think I even took 5 minutes to think it over.  She loved him, I loved her, and I wanted them to have this extra little ingredient to their already perfect recipe.  You could say the cherry on top of their already 3 awesome kids!  He was born in January of 2013 and is a huge blessing to them and I love that I was able to help them to achieve this happiness. 
I knew before I was even pregnant with him that this was something I wanted to do again but this time for a stranger.  Helping a friend have a baby was easy, almost like I didn't deserve all the awe I was receiving from everyone.  I felt like it was just something I should do as a friend, it was a given? At least that's how it felt.
So once he was born I started loosing weight to get down to the ideal BMI for surrogacy.  I found a great agency online and applied to be a surrogate.  The process was slightly tedious, they wanted my whole life story, family background, sexual history, my husbands history, and a psychological test. WOW that's a lot to get through, but it will all be worth it, right?  Next came the couples profile.  First a couple from France who seemed perfect, but didn't think I was perfect.  Then my IP's (intended parents) I received their profile and thought they seem great, but they are gay. What will everyone think about me if I help a gay couple become parents?  I personally have nothing against gays. In my opinion everyone should live their lives as they wish with whom they wish.  Love is love.  The next problem, they're not married.  Again who am I to judge?  I had 2 children before I got married.  They were by accident, people don't just decide to spent hundreds and thousands of dollars to have a baby together if they aren't 100% certain of their future together, so...we meet by Skype.  I am not very good with conversations so it was slightly awkward at first, but we talked and got to know each other and it was great, they were perfect.  They were so excited to be on this journey and excited about me being their surrogate and I was excited to get the process started with them.  They already had one surrogate fall through for medical reasons so they were a little shy about the process with me. 
(By the way they live in Sweden, so all this is being done over Skype and email.)
Next stop, medical screening.  My husband and I both have to be tested to make sure we don't have any communicable diseases and what not so that means a plane ride to the north east.  Neither of us had ever flown before so this was an adventure for us.  All the testing turned out great so then I started the meds for the embryo transfer.  I guess I'm not really getting into how all this made me feel.  Well I felt great I just couldn't wait for the process to get started I was excited more than worried.  The hormones weren't that bad really (my husband might say different if you were to ask him).  Transfer day couldn't get here fast enough for me and that also meant another flight, but this time we were gonna take a side trip to New York City.  One of my dreams has always been to see NYC so there was no question we would go at least for a day.  So the day before the transfer we went early to the DR's had our testing done then headed to the city.  It was amazing, being from Kansas and being able to see for miles it was crazy how cluttered and tall everything was.  As neat as it all was, I wouldn't trade Kansas for anything!
So the next day, it was transfer day! We went to the office, got all ready and went into the room for the transfer.  My IP's living in Sweden posed a slight problem for them in that it is a long flight for a 5 minute procedure so Skype was our friend on this day!  They got to see the whole procedure and we go to chat for a while after.  The procedure itself was fairly painless.  A little pinch here, a "funny" feeling there, and done.  Really you just put 2 little "babies" in me? That's crazy! Now for 3 days of bedrest and a flight back home.  Thank goodness I think the worst part was being away from my kids I missed them and felt bad to take time away from them, but again, it will all be worth it! 
Almost immediately there was cramping, most likely from the procedure, and minuscule amount of bleeding, again, probably from the procedure.  Then, when I get home nausea, cramping, headaches, I'm pregnant?  I have to be these are all my normal pregnancy symptoms minus the breast pain yay, it worked.  but we have to wait to know for sure.  Then I start reading online that the progesterone that I'm still taking can cause all the same symptoms of pregnancy and I become unsure.  Again it's all about waiting......2 week wait is what it's referred to, anyone who has ever had infertility treatments knows it's the worst.  Then 1 week after the transfer my lab makes an error and draws an HCG which turns up negative.  I'm not pregnant.....now what? It was supposed to be easy, I've been pregnant 4 times before, this sucks!! And what a disappointment I am to the guys!
Was it something I did?  When do we try again? I don't want to have to fly again or leave my kids again and my husband doesn't have anymore days vacation, who was gonna go with me?
None the less, it all worked out.  My sister went with me and my kids survived.  I think it helped that dad was with them.  So we spent another day in NYC my sister also had never flown before or seen NYC so she was very excited for the opportunity.  Then there was transfer number 2 another 2 embryos transferred with my IP's viewing from the corner via Skype and another 3 days bed rest.  But, another week later lab error HCG draw and......we have pregnancy!  Yay, I'm not a failure.  I was so worried! Those were the last embryo's they had, I was so excited and the level was crazy high for only 1 week out, is it twins?
Another week went by and another crazy high number, oh no is it twins?  Another week and another ridiculously high number, and six week sono day.......TWINS!!!  The guys were there on Skype they were shocked to say the least and so was I but also, excited.  I always wondered what twins were like and now I would get to experience it without having to take them home after and actually raise them.  Although, that might have been fun too when I was having my own children, hard but fun! Now it's like any other pregnancy. 
I am a nurse in labor and delivery, so I get daily questions about how the pregnancy is going and how I'm feeling which is fine.  I love that I have so much support at home and at work and of coarse from the guys!  We email almost daily and Skype when we can.  Its a 7 hour time difference so it can be difficult sometimes to Skype.
 We had our anatomy sono done a few weeks ago and one of the IP's (we'll call him J) came to visit so he could see the sono.  Wow what a great guy!  He was so fun to have around and so kind.  My children loved having him here and getting to learn about the different culture was awesome! Oh and he brought candy and chocolate with him! Who doesn't love a guy who brings chocolate? I love that our futures are forever tied together in a good way.  Anyways we had the sono and J was there with S on Skype when we found out that there are 2 little boys growing and healthy in my belly!   They were again shocked.  They already have one boy at home so to think of 3 boys was slightly overwhelming to them, I don't blame them!  Now though, they are getting used to the idea, I think.  It's been 3 weeks since that sono and these little guys are rambunctious!  always moving and twisting..there was one just as I spoke of it!
 I think we are all caught up now? feel free to comment questions if you'd like!!