The nuchal translucency test

Well, I hope you all know that I'm going to report nothing but the best news! LOL Everything so far from just the ultrasound anyway, looked absolutely awesome!!!! The baby is measuring at 12 weeks, which is about 5 days ahead of schedule and the NT was less than 1 which is great too! I had to have blood drawn which was being sent to a lab and there they measure 2 proteins in my blood and those results coupled with the u/s results will say there could or could not be a chance of the baby having downs. I'm going to say that all is well and the baby will be healthy as ever!

Now, it took the u/s tech a whole hour to get the baby in the right position to measure the NT, which is like a pocket of fluid at the back of the baby's neck. He needed to see the nasal bone AND the spinal cord at the same time. When we got there the baby was doing good and just as he was about to measure it the baby moved. So he pushed a bit on the baby (my tummy) to try and get it to move and no luck. He had me cough a few times to try and no luck with that. Sooo, he tried a couple more times to push it around and the little stinker rolled over on its stomach and curled in a ball!! LOL Oh that was so cute and so funny. I had to roll over on my side for a few minutes to see if that worked and it did.......a little but not enough. Then I had to fill up with loads of water AGAIN, about 20 oz I would say. And finally he was able to get what he needed. The genetic consultant said that based just on V's age the baby had a 1 in 450 chance of having downs which amounts to about 99.75% NOT. This is very good news.

And, in all this I did ask if he was going to be nice enough to give us some pictures of the baby and he said he sure would as long as it cooperated. LOL He would have anyway but it was funny.
So, V&K, since I know you are so anxious to see this little one and the u/s tech said that they scan really nicely (which I had done with my own) I scanned one of the pictures so here you go before it comes to you in the mail! I hope you enjoy it because I know I smile every time I look at it. Love you guys!!!!

Just some thoughts

Some people really amaze me. Since I'm so close to the end of the 1st trimester now I'm feeling more comfortable and open with telling people that I'm a surrogate. We visited with some friends we hadn't seen in a while this weekend and of course got offered alcohol. Naturally I declined, I don't drink too much anyhow but then comes the question as to why. So I start off by telling them that I'm pregnant. No biggie, there are times that I don't want to jump right into the specifics. Before we left we got told by one of the older friends that he hopes we have a healthy baby. I don't know why but I blurted out that it wasn't ours. LOL Oh the look on his face, it was priceless! He kind of shook his head and said what? I'm confused, please explain that to me. I did and told him that biologically this isn't "our" child and that I'm carrying it for some friends. To my utter amazement he got a great big grin on his face and said that is wonderful thats just so great and on and on and on!
I haven't come across one person yet who has said anything other than what I'm doing is great and they are proud of me for doing it. And you know, I'm proud of myself too. Its not always easy especially when we are so terribly far apart. I feel just horrible that I, or more like we, will get to experience the first movements of the baby, the ultrasounds first hand and all that stuff. I'm already dreading telling V that I can feel the baby move and that others can feel it and things like that. I know that may sound silly but V is so in love with the baby already, in my mind I think that it has to be doubly hard not to be close to me to experience these things. Ok, so she is going to think I'm crazy to think all this but I know she will understand. Ok, enough sad thoughts before I make myself cry.
On a good note, after I made my last entry I received an email from K. Its not very often that I talk with him so its always a great pleasure to hear from him too. Well, his email simply said, "You made my day". That was enough to keep my smiling big and wide all day long. I can't say it enough, these are some of the most wonderful loving and caring people I have ever met! I don't know the words to describe how I feel most times but I do know that I never want to lose contact with V&K.
I'm ready to have this baby right now. Not because I want to get back to normal life, if there is such a thing, but because I'm so anxious to see their faces and hand their baby back to them. I can already see the love there and I'm so honored that they chose me, ME of all the people in the world, to carry and take care of their baby until its ready for life outside of the womb.

Boy, that was some deep thinking for the day and its only 10 am! LOL With that I'm going to end this one. I've got a little one of my own that is chatting my ears off and some other work to do.
God bless your day!

Its been a while

So I figured I would write a quick little update. As of today I am 10 weeks pregnant! I can't believe I'm already that far along. This is just so cool!
I've been feeling much much better. The morning sickness seems to be going away thankfully and other than being so darn hot here lately I feel great! Now if I could keep my weight gain to a minimum. I really want to work out with some special pregnancy videos but with it being so hot I don't want to risk getting over heated or anything like that. I might give it a try in a couple weeks. Maybe it won't be as deadly hot then but this is MN so its hard to say.

I'm still on all my meds, the estrogen, progesterone and HCG shots. Not a big problem really but I will be soooo glad when I don't have to try and remember all this stuff each day. Only 2 more weeks left! WOOHOO

Also, I have my first OB appt. on July 27th but I'm sure it won't be too eventful. Hopefully they will let me hear the heartbeat again though. Then on July 25th I have a special test called a nuchal translucency test. I've never had one before but I do hope everything is ok and I'm actually pretty sure it will be. Its a long ultrasound and I have been told I can bring 1 adult but absolutely NO kids. Thankfully my friend said she would watch the kids for me so Ansil could go with me. I don't really want to be alone but of course I will if I have to. I also have to talk with an genetisist that day, or at least I think thats what they are called. So that will be a long day. I'm going to try my hardest to get some pictures of the baby from the tech though. I'm excited since I can't feel the baby move yet.

I think thats it for now so I will leave it at that. As always, if there is any news I will definitely write as soon as possible.