CHP - arms with Myer

CHP - arms with Myer

26 March 2013

Conversations with a 4 year old

~ by Kim


While driving to the store:

Lily: Mommy, is the baby still in your tummy?

Me: Yes

Lily: I think he just said, "WHOA!"

Me: What? Why do you think that?

Lily: Because that was an awful big speed bump we went over.



Lily: How does the baby get food? Does he eat your food?

Me: Yep, we share the food that I eat.

Lily: He doesn't take it ALL, does he?

Me: No, there's enough for both of us. We share it.

Lily: Okay. As long as he doesn't take too much.



Lily: Do you think the baby thinks that I'm a good cousin?

Me: Definitely! He thinks you're a GREAT cousin!

Lily: Except for when I scream... I don't think he likes that.


Lily: Mommy, when babies come out of the tummy, they're bloody and messy! Janelle better not forget to give him a bath before taking him home.

(We saw 'Baby Story' on TLC)


Love this kid.

My little one is pretty sweet too.

Here's a recent picture of the two of them. I love how different they are - the photographer asked me if they were sisters. I guess the matching dresses weren't enough of a giveaway.




18 March 2013

Pictures!

~by Kim

While Janelle was out here this past week, my super talented cousin Sacha took some pictures of the two of us, which we're excited to share with you. I'm so grateful to have these pictures; it's such an amazing keepsake of this visit, and where we're at in the pregnancy. I know how much we'll love having these to look back on down the road! 









     







Seriously, how lucky are we?!?

Not just for the pictures, but for so much more.


Thank you Sacha
xox


14 March 2013

Is it a Boy or Girl?

- by Janelle (IM)

These past 5 days have been so awesome for me! For one, it was simply wonderful being in Kim's company and around the baby. I was saying to Kim that her place feels like a second home to me with her girls and her husband Carl making me feel so welcome. I even got to sleep in the girls' new bunk bed!

So apart from eating almost two desserts everyday due to birthday celebrations, the big highlights from my visit included: the 20-week ultrasound, meeting the social worker at the hospital (aka the baby's future birthplace), and an appointment with the midwives.

20-week Ultrasound

I loved being at the ultrasound and seeing the baby moving it's arms, legs, yawning, and stretching out it's body! There were times during the trip when Kim said she felt the baby flutter. Now I was seeing what she was feeling and that was very cool for me!

Here is the token ultrasound profile shot:
First photo of our precious baby!




Social Worker & Hospital Visit

My expectations of this appointment were quite low. I figured we'd simply go over some logistics and talk about paper work but the time spent with the social worker was much more than that! We toured the labour and delivery unit, as well as the aftercare, motherbabe unit. So much fun! With every room I saw my excitement grew with the thought that my little one will be born here :)

The other significant thing I walked away with was an extremely big sense of feeling supported. Hospitals are arranged for dealing with one birthing mom, her partner and of course the baby, and it was evident to me that everything possible was being arranged/considered to take care of Joel and I's well-being the day of delivery as well.

I'm excited for this day to come and also admittedly a little anxious.

Midwives & More

Getting the chance to go to the midwives' office, which is a cute character home in Victoria, was like finding another piece of the puzzle that helps reveal the whole picture. Again, having the first hand experience of being there now makes Kim's future, and even past appointments, seem more real to me. Now I know what the street looks like, with a view of the Gorge waterway at the bottom of the hill, what the charming yard looks like where there are backyard BBQs with Moms and babes, what the entryway, exam room and bathroom look like. Of course above all I got to meet one of the three midwives who will be on hand for the delivery itself.

During the appointment we went over the ultrasound report, with the gender findings blacked out, while reception prepared two envelopes that revealed whether we're having a boy or girl. The ultrasound checked out well and some of the details reminded me of Asher - namely the baby's head measuring within the 90th percentile for size.

Kim and I left feeling good after hearing a healthy heartbeat at a rate of 150...high side of normal...maybe it's a girl?? We also left each with an envelope in hand with the answer :)

Luckily for Kim I was being dropped off at the airport within 2 hours, at which time once I walked through those doors I'm sure she ripped her envelope open, haha! I on the other hand had to get through 1.5 hours of travel followed by another hour waiting for Joel to get home from work. Then once we were sat down at the dinner table with glasses of port to celebrate, we opened our envelope, and.....




11 March 2013

FAQ

~ by Kim

We're just over halfway there now, and people are noticing my bump and are quick to offer congratulations. I have to admit that I do get some pleasure in thanking them, and then telling them that it's not mine. I find it both amusing and entertaining to watch the different reactions; from confusion and questioning, and for some an understanding. It's often followed by several questions, and depending on who I'm talking to or how interested they are, the questions I get can be as varied as the reactions when they find out. I thought it would be fun to share some of the common questions I get. There are so many misconceptions about surrogacy and everyone's experiences are different, and I'm happy to share what it's like for us.


How did I know I could be a surrogate?

I didn't. It's not something that I thought I'd ever do, and truthfully would have never imagined myself doing this. It's not something that I would have ever sought out or considered doing had we not had family in this situation. I've read about people who always knew that wanted to do surrogacy, but this wasn't the case for me. I even remember during my last pregnancy with Rowan, I was so sick and feeling miserable, that at one point I even said to my husband that I couldn't imagine why anyone would ever be a surrogate...that I hated being pregnant and told him that there was not enough money in the world for me to ever do this for somebody else, as it was hard enough to even do for ourselves. He's teased me about this since, and we laugh about it now being where we're at. I still remember that day vividly. I never thought that I would be pregnant again.

It's taught me that the path you think you have laid out is not always the one you choose.

And I'm pretty excited about the path we're on.


What made you decide to do this?

We didn't make this decision lightly. It was a lot of soul searching to figure out first, if this was something that I thought I could do. Not just physically, but there is so much emotionally that comes along with it. As I look back at the beginning - I had no idea how true this would be, and I know there is even more still ahead to come.

The first thing that comes to mind for most people in thinking about surrogacy is giving away a baby, and in the beginning I was no different in my own thinking. This was one of the first things that I wondered if I would be able to do, after carrying this life inside me for 9 months. It's funny, because as you progress with this sort of journey, your thought process changes. I don't think of this baby as mine, or one that I'm "giving away." I'm so excited for them to have a baby, and instead think of it as giving the baby BACK, rather than giving it away.

One of the biggest influencing factors was my own two kids, and how fortunate I felt to have them. I couldn't imagine not having them, or having had the option to make that choice. There were also 2 people in my life, who had unknowingly said things to me that I really took to heart and played a role in my decision to do this. One was my dad, who told me that my husband's family is now my family, and around the same time but on a separate occasion, my aunt had told me that there was nothing more important than family. These are such simple statements, yet they really weighed heavily on me at the time, and I guess I took what I needed or wanted from them as we were making the decision to do this.

Choose your words carefully, as you never know how they may be taken, or what result can come from them.
....someone might end up pregnant! :)


What happened to Janelle? (Why can't she carry?)

People are always curious about this, and I get asked about it a lot. This could probably be a post in itself, but I'll try to keep it simple and share what I know.

It happened when their son was born, two years ago. The birth didn't go as initially planned, and resulted in a C-section. After her surgery, the bleeding wouldn't stop. There were multiple transfusions, (I believe they went through 38 units of blood) and they were still not able to get the bleeding under control. She was bleeding out. Her husband was told that they didn't expect her to last more than a couple of hours. Her mother was in the air - flying out from Florida not knowing what she would land to. In a last ditch effort to save her life, the decision was made to undergo a hysterectomy in hopes of ceasing the massive hemorrhage.

It saved her life. And that was the last baby that she'd ever be able to carry. She went into the Intensive Care Unit, and her husband went home with a newborn son on his own.

I remember at the time feeling so grateful for the outcome, yet devastated for them to have such a life altering event of a forced hysterectomy at such a young age; and thinking they would never be able to have more children. I was pregnant at the time with my second daughter, which made it so much more real and scary.


What do the kids think?

Rowan is not even 2, so we haven't said anything to her, as she won't remember - so that makes it easy. Lily is 4 1/2 and for the most part has been really excited about the idea of a new baby.

Telling our 4 year old...

Since we told her, there are times where I wonder how much she really understands. She's quick to tell people that there is a baby in my tummy for Janelle, but doesn't expand much more than that. There was one day we were talking about it, and she asked again why Janelle's baby was in my tummy. When I told her that Janelle's tummy was broken, we then had to go through the rest of Janelle's anatomy as Lily asked about other parts that might be broken as well, or if it was just her tummy. Another time when we were talking about it, I told her that their son was going to be a big brother, just like she was a big sister, and she got upset saying that she wanted to keep the baby so she could be a big brother too. It's hard to know what goes through her mind, but we still have a lot of time to reinforce and explain things, so hopefully it will go smoothly down the road.


How do I think I'll handle things, or feel at the end?

I only know how I'd like to feel, but honestly have no way of knowing what it will be like. Knowing that I can change someone else's life so drastically makes me feel proud of what I'm doing, and I hope that will outweigh the rest.


"Wow! I could never do that!"

This is not really a question, but I totally get it, and hear this often. Had you asked me 5 years ago, I would have said the exact same thing, and just the thought would have been completely ludicrous to me. At the same time, I don't think I could do this 5 years from now either, so the timing just worked out. Besides being geriatric in the fertility world, the kids would be that much older and I think I would feel like I'm missing out. With them being so young right now, we don't lead an exciting, adventurous life, so being pregnant doesn't really hold me back from too much.

Except from wine...definitely holding me back there.


Is the baby mine? (biological connection)

Nope. This baby is entirely theirs. Despite Janelle's hysterectomy, they left her ovaries, so this baby is 100% their own biological child. Her egg and his sperm, cultivated in a lab to the embryonic stage and then transferred to my awaiting uterus....et voila!


Am I getting paid?

No. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Canada, so it's illegal to pay someone to be a surrogate and carry a baby for you. Janelle and Joel cover any expenses that we incur that are related to the pregnancy like medications, maternity clothes and child care if needed for appointments, etc.

But I do think my karma-bank is filling up. :)


Will I want to keep the baby?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Wait....that may not sound very good.

The answer is no.
If I wanted more children, I would have them.


How will I feel about this baby in life, and watching him/her grow up?

I'd like to think that I'll feel the same way about this baby as I do about all my other friends and family's babies.

Though this baby might be my favourite.





09 March 2013

Seeing Kim's Pouch

- by Janelle (IM)

I'm here in Victoria! We are at 20 weeks and we get to see the baby via ultrasound in 2 days!

I have to admit that I wanted to cry when I saw Kim at the airport. It hit me when my brain clued into the belly that I saw on Kim. When my brain said "Hey, that's your baby growing in there!"

I just want to curl up and talk to Kim's belly non-stop but that would just be awkward, haha! So instead I got to sit down to the most delicious pot-luck meal in celebration of Kim's cousin's birthday and meet a whole bunch of her extended family. There were 5 kids and 8 adults around the table, and 2 dogs keeping us company. What a delight! As usual I over indulged, especially on the desserts. I told Kim that I'm putting on some sympathy weight...I blame the lactation meds.

I wish my husband and son were here with me too :)