cuteness!

Big sister and IM came up with a relative to join me for my 24 prenatal appointment with one of my midwifes.

 Baby is growing fine, I'm gaining weight nicely, too well if you ask me. Had lunch with them after our apointment. Sammy joined us and made quick friends with their daughter Camilla. THey held hands and played all afternoon. Later we went for a 4D ultrasound to see the baby. He is still head down but completely frank, meaning his legs are straight up with his feet in his face. His hands and cord were also in front of his face too so we didn't get a really clear image but he did lots of yawning and kept sticking his feet in his face. Maybe IM (Vanessa) will have a shy guy on her hands.

I've been given permission to use pictures and names of the intended family. Mom is Vanessa, dad is Gus and big sister Camilla is the cutest!

IM (Vanessa ) and Big sister (Camilla) 

<3 LOVE <3  

weeks 28-30 belly shots

28 weeks with my amazing Midwife, Kaleen at my last prenatal

29 weeks and already getting the "any second now?" comments. 

30 weeks! AHHH, only 10ish more to go!

week 24-27 belly shots

24 weeks

25 weeks at the zoo feeding birds on our spring break road trip.

26 week at the Magic Kingdom! 

27 weeks and still pulling off non-maternity dresses!

Birth Without Fear conference

Last week I went to the Birth Without Fear conference when it came to Orlando. I know my blog is surrogacy related but I'm a birth doula so birth and babies are my thing and Birth Without Fear likes to feature surrogacy stories when they come up. If you are a birth junkie like myself and haven't checked out January's blog, I highly recommend it. There can be a lot going on there so I usually just stick with their facebook feeds . Its a snap shot of whats on their blog as I could read birth stories all day and I already have a problem getting sucked into Reddit most days so I don't need another site taking up all my time.

The conference was great. Several of my friends went, my ladies over at ICAN were there too. January, Mrs. BWF, stopped me to rub my belly and when I told her about the surrogacy she asked for a photo of us to use for her site. EEK! Sammy was with me too wearing his "baby" since thats what all the mamas were doing. I was super nervous to have my 5 y/o with me to a 6+ hour conference in a crowed ball room with no other kids his age. Luckily there were a few other kids his age and our local Once Upon A Child provided a play area in the conference room, what a live saver. I almost forgot I brought him with a few times he was so quiet and well behaved.

Break out sessions happened after lunch which was nice. We were split up from our friends and asked to talk about our fears. Fears not just for pregnancy or birth but parenting, fertility, you get the point. I spoke of risk. IVF comes with a higher risk of Preeclampsia which would risk me out of my birth center birth and possibly wind me up in a cesarean section which is not my goal and very unwanted. I have wrapped my mind around all the possible out comes because being blindsided by it would be harder to deal with for me personally. I wanted a few things out of surrogacy. I wanted to be pregnant because lets face it, I'm freakin adorable when I'm pregnant ;-D , I wanted to have my out of hospital birth that I didn't get with my own. Don't get me wrong, I had healthy vaginal births and Sammy's was great but not that peaceful waterbirth I want. Instead I had to kick my OBGYN away so I could deliver my baby. Seeing and being apart of so many amazing births over the last 5 years makes me want that experience. Lastly I wanted to give a family the gift of life. This journey I've been on with my IP's so far has been incredibly rewarding, almost as rewarding as having my own children. I speak with my IM every few days through text, sending her pictures or telling her about the new things the baby is doing, what weird things hes making me eat (yes, I blame him) or general updates. Its the best feeling when she gets giddy from me telling her about how much he's moving or that kicking has started. That alone was why I did this. I wanted to give what I felt in my own, magical amazing pregnancies, to another mother. Seeing her face light up during the ultrasounds or calling her if she can't make it to my prenatal appointment that month so she can hear the babies heart beat is the BEST! Even if it comes down to an unwanted c-section I will still feel fulfilled although the thought of that happening gives me a bit of anxiety if I'm going to be honest. I'm lucky enough to live in an area where we have a TON of support of moms who've had c-sections and I'll know where to turn if that happens, ICAN. It also helps that VBACs are my specialty (and MY doulas specialty) as a doula and I have many tricks up my sleeve for preventing one.

January (Mrs.BWF) stopped me for a belly rub and photo.  (22 weeks 6 days here)

Every birth junkie loves a pregnant belly to rub. 

Blessingway yarn ceremony for ALL 100+ of us connected at once. 

The kids play area. Sammy is in the monster jacket
and monster backpack. 

With all the baby wearing mamas there he
requested his unicorn about 2 min. into the conference
and wore his baby in his "Ergo shirt" all day.
How freaking cute!!!!!

belly pictures 20-23 weeks

20 week ultrasound. Its still a boy! 

20 weeks

21 weeks. As you can see, my feet are starting to disappear. 

22 weeks

23 weeks and 4 days.

The baby and I keeping busy

I try to stay active during pregnancy. As much as I'd love to hang out in my pjs all day I've got 2 busy boys to keep occupied so this baby is coming along for the ride. He joined me at a birth last week for a doula client of mine and I kid you not, once I arrived he went nuts for 10 straight hours which was the legnth of the moms labor. Must be those faromones in the air.

20 week ultrasound.

According to the report and ultrasound tech, this baby boy has "perfect anatomy". The 20 week anatomy u/s went well. My IPs and their daughter came up for it so I let my 7 y/o Benji skip school to come too since he had not met them yet and he wanted to even though he became shy and wasn't very friendly.

Here is the little guy who's been moving and kicking up a storm. He seems to be very reactive to direct sound already. When I play his parents reading a bed time story for him, which I asked them to record so he could get used to their voices too, he goes nuts. Same when my kindle is testing on my belly while I have music on. He's also more active at night.