Chugging on through the 3rd Trimester!

Please forgive me!!! I know it has been over 2 months since my last post, lots of folks have been reminding me. :) Life is just so busy! I need an assistant...any takers?!

This is my most recent belly picture. 29 weeks, 2 days! Hubby and I were getting ready to go out for our anniversary dinner.



Lots has happened. Let's see if I can remember to add everything...probably not. Thanks pregnancy brain. haha

Ok, well for the most part, nothing major has happened. The pregnancy has continued to be smooth sailing.

In July, I took a trip for a class to Jamaica to teach underprivileged youth. We were there in a local town, getting a local experience for one week. It was quite the experience I have to say. I had to be very careful because of the heat. We were there, living in local homes, with no air conditioning or hot water. We lived in Jamaica for a week without any air conditioning at all, and outside most of the time. Which was actually better than being inside with all the homes and buildings being made of steel and concrete. I kept a cool rag on my neck ALL THE TIME, and never went without ice water. I managed though, with the help of my midwife (via phone) and the family I stayed with, and the community we were in. They were so great at making sure I had what I needed, and that I was taken care of. :)

This is me at 23 weeks in Jamaica! It was a little awkward at first to have my belly being bared for all to see, but the Jamaicans loved it! haha. They definitely made a very pregnant white girl feel comfortable. :)

The worst thing that has happened, is I ended up having an extremely bad urinary tract infection. Something I am not new to, but was new to this level of infection; it was by far the worst I have ever had. So much so, it had us all thinking something else was going on. After a very overly, unnecessary, dramatic trip to the ER (driven by worried mother, speeding, pulled over, cop overreacting to situation, ambulance was called, treatment as I was in preterm labor)we found that it was in fact, just a UTI, nothing more. It was just at a higher level of infection in my body than I have experienced before. I was taken care of very well and the infection was treated and everything went right back to normal. :)

I will tell you though! That was one ER trip I will never forget! haha. At least the cop was very concerned and understood the importance of the situation, had it been to the extreme he treated it as it was.

While at the hospital, I had an ultrasound done of baby boy, just to make sure he was ok in there. The technician was able to get a great picture of his face! So cute, you can see those little chubby cheeks already!


That's about all the excitement we have had so far. :)
Still so incredibly fortunate that nothing has actually been SERIOUS. All still minor little bumps that just happen in life. I continue feeling blessed to have such a great journey. I'm pretty sure there is a surrogacy angel in control somewhere. :)



The third trimester has been pretty typical. So much movement!!! This is little guy is STRONG! My placenta is anterior...

To help those that do know the significance of that, it can make it difficult to hear the
baby's heart beat early in pregnancy (which is was), and baby movements are not near as
easily felt. Typically. This baby boy is the exception to that.

I have had absolutely NO problems feeling him at all! lol. No decrease in the ability to feel him move. He kicks and punches, and jabs, and lets himself be known in there for sure! Strong baby boy. :)
I have to say, the third trimester is my favorite. So much activity, and you can "play" with the baby. Lol.
My hubby is so sweet, and rubs my belly for me. It feels soooooooo good, not really sure why, but it does. One night while he was doing this, baby boy started kicking his hands. So my hubby began to "play" by putting his hand on my belly, and baby would kick. Hubby moved his hand to another location...kick. Move it again....kick. No matter where he moved his hand, baby boy would kick it. It was funny!

I felt sad that Doug and Charles couldn't be there to experience that, but I shared the fun story with them! They were tickled by it. :) When they finally get to come down, they get to experience some of this fun part....I can't wait to see them interact with their baby inutero.

I love watching my belly. When he is active, it is incredibly entertaining! I have taken a few videos for Doug and Charles to see it, (having trouble sending it to them, technology is not always my friend). I can't wait to hear their reactions!
The last week or so, movement has slowed down. I am now at 31 weeks, 3 days, and baby boy is head down, and running out of room.

Our long-term followers may remember us finding out that I have a unicornate uterus. For those that do not, that means I am missing a lobe of my uterus. The upper left lobe that connects with the fallopian tube to be exact. So baby boy doesn't have quite as much room as he really should have, so it gets a little tighter in there a little quicker than normal. We are both fine, I just get uncomfortable quicker. haha.

I also have a condition with my pelvis. I had it with my youngest child, and so of course, it is present now as well. It is quite common actually, symphysis pubis dysfunction. Not fun. With my last pregnancy, I was so incredibly miserable, I could barely move, it killed me to walk....it was just horrible. Mainly because I was never told there were ways to manage the condition and the pain. This time, I have a great provider and more knowledge myself. I have been seeing a chiropractor the entire pregnancy, and it has helped SO MUCH!!
With classes being back in session, I am walking all over campus so it can get kind of painful sometimes. But that chiro really helps and wrapping my hips really helps too. So it's not nearly as inconvenient as my last pregnancy.

When you know better, you do better. :) (love that phrase)

Seriously ladies, if you get pregnant in the future, or are now, and aren't doing so already, SEE A CHIROPRACTOR DURING PREGNANCY!!! You will NOT regret it! It makes late pregnancy so much more comfortable and tolerable. Seriously.

So other than the stiff rib kicks, bladder jabs, and the day or two before I see the chiropractor, I'm not THAT uncomfortable. Definitely a plus I would say! :)



The downfall if you will, with surrogacy, is all the legal stuff. No one likes the legal stuff. It gives ya a headache. Right now, it seems like we are rushing the labor clock. Because of the difference in laws in Missouri and Illinois, concerning both surrogacy, and same-sex parenting, we all have to sign court documents stating every little detail about the surrogacy, how the baby came to be alive and everyone's involvement, in addition to the fact of me signing over my "parental rights" once baby is born, so that Charles can be on the birth certificate, and then Doug can adopt baby boy when they return home.
Understandable right? Right. The problem has been...the attorneys. *sigh* This all started in June. We were under the impression we would have this court date done and everything ready for birth by August at the latest. Well here we are, nearing the middle of September, still with no court date. grrrrr......this MUST be done before baby boy arrives. Which is only 9 weeks away by EDD, but in my case, may very well be only 6 weeks away, and in the legal world, 6 weeks is not very long at all!!! If this is not done before he arrives, it can still be done of course, but it will make the process more difficult, and take much longer, which could potentially keep the guys from taking their precious baby home. I don't want to see that happen. These attorney's better hurry up!! haha

It is what it is, it's out of our hands. All we can do is wait. And so we wait...

On a better note, the guys will be coming down soon, and we should be doing a maternity photo shoot. Just because they are using a surrogate, doesn't mean they don't deserve to have those shots too. So we are going to get creative and have some fun getting some photos of us together and this big 'ol belly that homes their unborn son. :)

As we draw nearer to baby boy's day of arrival, we have finalized the birth plans and making sure we are prepared with all the tools necessary.
Baby boy will be born at my home. Ideally in water (unless I decide in labor I don't like the water). I'm very excited for their baby to be born in that kind of calming, quiet, soothing atmosphere, vs the high energy, bright light, anxiety filled atmosphere of a hospital.
The birth kit has arrived and I have everything ready at home for the big day (minus the birth pool which will be coming soon). Doug and Charles were so sweet to make sure I have everything I feel I will need for my post partum healing, and I now have all of that as well. They take such good care of me. :)

They are going to be GREAT parents.

Right now at this very moment, I'm battling allergies (hate you ragweed) but enjoying these last few weeks of pregnancy. I keep getting questions about if I'm ready for it to be over.

No.

It's bittersweet actually. At times I am ready to be done with pregnancy. But most of the time, I'm not. Because I know I will never get to experience this again. And again, depending on the day, depends on how Ok with that I am. The miracle of pregnancy never fails to amaze me, and I never get tired of it.

But at the same time, I am so anxious to see Doug and Charles holding their baby finally!!!! Sometimes I try to imagine what their reactions are going to be to him finally coming earth side. Oh it's going to be so amazing to watch that.
I'm so glad we are going to have a photographer there to capture that moment for them. It is definitely going to be priceless. :)

I will be updating more often. Making sure to document as much during these last few weeks, since things will be changing somewhat rapidly from here on out.



P.S. I have created a FB page specially for our surrogacy journey. I never, ever, thought we would gain such a volume of readers and followers. That was never my intention in starting this blog and sharing my journey. I just wanted to document the pregnancy for the guys and myself, and maybe help some others understand what we are doing. But our story really soared into the public. I was becoming too overwhelmed with trying to keep everyone updated with everything. I had to post to several different places, and the guys had to post, and it was just chaotic. Lol. So I thought having ONE central location for info and updates would make it easier for us all, and be able to allow people to interact with us if they chose. (so many questions to be asked) :)
This blog will not end at baby boy's arrival. My journey will continue as I exclusively pump for him and that alone comes with it's own challenges. I will be giving updates on his well being and his (I know will be) wonderful life with his daddies.

So if you haven't already, and would like to follow us on our new Facebook page and so you don't miss baby boy's arrival: here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Surrogacy-Journey/329999400470102

"like" the page, so you get the updates in your news feed.

Thank you to everyone that follows our journey. Friends. Family. Strangers. Whether you know it or not, you all have provided so much support for us (especially me) and I can't tell you thank you enough or how much I know we all appreciate it.

Much love.

Half-way There and Gender Update!!!

Whoo! 20 weeks and 1 day, we are half way there!!!
I actually have a feeling we hit our half-way mark a few weeks ago, but for the purpose of calculation... :)

How have things been this last month? Pretty great!!
Sickness is COOOMPLEEEETELY gone! Not even a little here or there. So happy about that.
I feel more energetic, but do get fatigued easily if I don't watch myself. The only thing I have to really complain about, is that my appetite hasn't come back yet. Not really sure what that is about. I'm not *worried* yet, but I would like to have a normal pregnant appetite, so I can make sure I gain the amount of weight I need. I'm gaining, just very slowly. Midwife isn't worried, we still have about 20 weeks to go. Plenty of time to gain what I need, but...I would like to WANT to eat.

Other than that, everything is pretty boring around here. Which is a great thing as far as pregnancy is concerned! This has been the best pregnancy I have had. When carrying my children, each pregnancy I had something happen to cause a scare at one point or another. Everything always turned out ok, but there were scares along the way. There hasn't been any of that with this one, and I'm not complaining one bit! haha

I have been able to feel little bean moving around for a little while, but it was never hard enough to feel on the outside. Not quite a week ago, I started to be able to feel little "bumps" on the outside. :) Go figure it would start when the guys weren't here. :-/ But it's pretty cool the little bean can be felt on the outside now!

So far, this journey has been so amazing. I really consider us to be very lucky. We haven't heard of a lot of first time surrogacy journeys going as great and smooth as ours. Now we have had our bumps along the way, but they haven't been major and they haven't been among each other. I'm just so continually grateful for matching with Doug and Charles, and for them being as great as they are. This journey wouldn't be the same with another couple. I'm a lucky surrogate!!

Speaking of those wonderful dads-to-be. We had our ultrasound on the 17th of this month. They came down and stayed for a few days so we all could spend some time together. It really was a wonderful visit!!

The ultrasound itself was fantastic!! I wish I would have known about this option a long time ago! We went to a private practice Sonographer that my Midwife recommended. It was such a different experience than having them with ultrasound techs at the Dr office or hospital. She didn't rush at all, we were there for almost an hour! She was so incredibly sweet and patient. She kept encouraging the guys to ask whatever questions they had, and she explained everything we were looking at, very thoroughly. You could tell she cared. Plus, she not only gave us a FULL report of how everything looked, she even SHOWED the guys the report! I have never seen that happen before. It always has to be reviewed by the care provider, then the care provider will give the report to the patient, leaving parents to wait and wonder how their baby is doing. If I every have to have ultrasounds again in the future...I will be going there! OH! AND she put the entire thing on DVD for them, and gave them a TON of pictures!! I mean a ton! The room was huge, with several chairs, and two large flat screen TV's; it was pretty cool! My husband and our 3 children all went, so there was plenty room for all of us. My kids (especially) my daughter, are very interested in pregnancy and how the baby grows, so I was very glad they got to attend, and the Sonographer was so great; they got to really get a good understanding of what was going on in my belly. It was a great experience for all of us.

Later after the ultrasound, we met up with both of my doulas. This was the guys first meeting with them. That was a fantastic meeting. Full of many laughs and lots of great info and learning. You could really tell the guys were really interested in the labor process and what the doulas could do for all of us, including once the baby is born. Of course, this being a surrogacy, things will be slightly different than with traditional couples at birth. So we had discussions about how everything would be handled with baby at birth; ex: where baby would be placed immediately straight from the womb, immediate skin-to-skin, how THEY could bond with baby right after birth with skin-to-skin, nursing/immediate nursing after birth, etc. The doulas were so great at providing them with evidence based info about the options and we all were talking openly about what we all thought was best for baby and myself for recovery after birth. Conversations like that are so great. (just another reason I'm so lucky to have these guys for IPs)

This baby is going to have such a great start at a great life! We have so many wonderful people supporting all of us and we all have great communication!

So blessed.

Doug and Q hanging out waiting for time to meet the doulas.

Buddies!



Ok, moving on to what I know lots of people are so anxious to hear. (Many of you that are close with us have already heard)
We had planned to find out what the guys were having. At the beginning of the ultrasound, the Sonographer told us she was going to start at the head and work down the body, checking out everything she needed to check and what we were interested in. Well, this little bean was just making it way too hard to wait for the gender reveal! lol. I believe the Sonographer's words were, "Well I was going to wait, but he's just making it too easy!" haha!!

That's right, Doug and Charles are having a BOY!!!!!!!!! Let me tell you what, this little boy was very proud to show it too! I saw his little penis before she announced it! She was trying to go around it, but he just wasn't having it! haha I think he wanted his daddies to know they are having a boy. :)

I'm so excited for them!!!

Such a sweet little profile.

His little arm rest on his head.

His little legs. He was sitting with his ankles crossed and his hands behind his head, like he was reclined back relaxing. It was so cute!!!! (she couldn't get the whole thing on the picture)

A boy. Doug and Charles are having a boy. A son! Aaaaaaaaaah!!! :-D

So for the rest of our weekend, we had an appointment with my Midwife, they got to hear the heart beat and talk to her about what they had on their minds. We went out to dinner...Charles mentioned wanting Red Lobster...that was music to this pregnant lady's ears!! I had been wanting crab so bad for the past month! haha I definitely had an appetite then! I stuffed myself on a pound of snow crab...man was I miserable afterwards...but it was worth it! Thanks for that Charles!!! :) A preggo and her food = pure happiness. ;)

Then Saturday we all went and spent a day at Worlds and Oceans of fun on Saturday! It was a blast!! Doug really wanted to visit Planet Snoopy (he loves Peanuts). It was really neat!! They had a little boutique and the guys did their first bit of baby shopping! LOL Oh that was funny! Charles came out of there carrying 5 big bags of cool Peanut baby stuff! haha They got a great start! I love seeing their excitement, and I'm so glad we get to be a part of it. :)

This is where Doug and Charles bought the baby stuff.

Snoopy's #1 fan!

Had to get one of the hubby...he always tries to hide from the camera. :)

Doug, Charles, hubby, and the two oldest kiddos getting wet!

All in all, it was a fabulous time, I'm glad they were able to stay for a few days.
They will be down again in August. I'm already excited for that visit!! We will be doing the maternity shoot at that visit also.
By then, they will be able to feel the baby move! I can't wait for them to feel their son kicking around. Every little thing they can experience, helps it be more real to them, and helps them be more of a part of their son growing and developing. It is so important to me they get as much of that as they can. So much exciting stuff coming up!!!

2nd Trimester is here!

16 week belly!

The second trimester is finally here!
Well, it's been here for a few weeks, but I'm just now able to be happy about it since the sickness is *finally* going away.

Uterus is getting bigger and baby is moving up farther in my belly. I'm looking more and more deformed every morning when I wake up. haha
Baby likes to ride high, just under my belly button and kick. Those little kicks are quite obvious the last few days. Today, I was holding my 2 year old son (whom I might add is quite big for his age), he had wrapped his legs around me quite tightly, right about where baby was, and he must have made baby uncomfortable, because that little bean starting going crazy in there! If felt very cool! Those movements cannot be felt on the outside yet, still too early for that. But my midwife says here in a few weeks, we should start to be able to feel them from the outside.
I'm hoping we can feel them by the time Doug and Charles come down for the ultrasound in June! So they can feel their wee one kick!

So I'm finally feeling like me again. I missed feeling like me! The only sickness I have now is a little in the morning shortly after I get up. Then after I eat, about mid-morning it goes away.
I have more energy now, which is really coming in handy chasing around my 2 year old and all the gardening I have been doing. :)
(We have a HUGE garden and lots of flower beds) Without my energy returning, I wouldn't be able to keep up with it all! My other 2 children and the hubby are pretty helpful when I'm feeling tired. Which is ALWAYS great!

I finally went out and got some clothes that actually fit comfortably. :)
Let me tell ya...I have NEVER bought maternity clothes this soon before! lol. I have heard a lot, that I'm "so small!" But I think for only being in the very beginning of the second trimester...I should be smaller! haha
I'm not really complaining though, that just means I get to enjoy the pregnancy belly a little longer. And that, I'm totally ok with. :)
But it feels mighty nice to wear clothes that fit like they are supposed to!

I also had an appointment with my midwife on Friday. Charles got to cam in! It was good, and pretty boring. haha. But for pregnancy, boring is a good thing! My midwife told me I'm boring because I don't have anything for her to figure out! hahaha! I'm sure I will give her something before this pregnancy is over. ;)
That's your warning, just in case you are reading this. hehe

Guesses on if it's a girl or a boy????

Midwife says boy; she has 5 of them, so it's a pretty good guess for her. :)
George and I think girl. We have 2 boys, 1 girl. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I craved sour stuff a lot. As a matter of fact, I kept Kool-aid sour cubes in the freezer from the second trimester, until she was born!
Weeeeell...I'm having that craving again! I made the sour cubes yesterday. :) They work very well at satisfying my sour cravings! Not they healthiest thing I can eat, I know, but I like to think I'm making up for it from everything in my garden. haha. That counts....right???
So anyway, girl is our guess!!!
What's yours????


June 13 is our ultrasound! It will be in 3D. We are all so very excited!!! June 14 we will visit with our midwife again. I want the next few weeks to by quickly!!!

hmmm....I think that's all I have for ya fine people thus far. Things are great! I feel great! I'm rocking a nice baby bump, feeling movement and just a few short weeks, get to see the wonderful future daddies to this little bean and find out what they are having! It's going to be a great summer!!

Way Overdue

Shame on me!!! I have not updated for a while! Please forgive me.

We have some newcomers here recently, and I would like to thank you all for reading and following our journey of surrogacy. It's so great to have so much support and so many people interested! I'm sure Doug and Charles really appreciate the support as well. They really are awesome guys! Can't wait to see them holding their little bean!

Well let's see here...where to start...

I finished my meds! That was so great! It's so nice not having to take my injection supplies with me whenever we go anywhere in the evenings or worry about having to do it before bed. I just....go to bed. :) I don't miss having the sore hips either. :)

I had my first Midwife appointment. It was pretty short and sweet. Baby's heart rate was in the 160's. The little bean is hard to tract down, that's for sure! haha Midwife has to search and search, and pin it down when she finds it! It usually hides behind my heart beat, which makes it sound so much more amazing when we hear it.

So everything is going great so far. Belly is definitely getting bigger, pants getting tighter.


This is what I woke up to a couple mornings ago. :)
Little baby bean saying hello! As I was waking, in my sleepy stuper, I couldn't figure out what that bump was...I moved my covers, and looked down and instantly realized and actually said, "Well hey there!" lol. The picture really doesn't do the bump justice, I stood up and looked all kinds of weird! haha
But baby must have moved because shortly after I started walking around, the hard protrusion of my belly went away. For a while anyway.

Those are the little moments, I wish I could share with the guys. I hate they have to miss that. :(

Oh such great news!!!! The sickness has pretty much gone completely away!! Woo hoo!! I know, I know, not the greatest of great news you were expecting, I'm sure. But let me tell you folks that have never had to experience the "joyous" pregnancy sickness...when it finally goes away, that is something to celebrate! haha

My children are really beginning to get excited. Even my newly two year old little Q responds well. I have little talks with him about there being a baby in mommy's belly. He will come up to me out of the blue, life my shirt and poke my belly saying, "baby." But then, he wants to SEE the baby. haha. I'm curious to see how he will respond to mommy having a big 'ol belly!
The biggest challenge I am having right now, is protecting my belly from Q when he wants to climb on mommy's lap. Lol. He isn't so gentle about it anymore, and he likes to rough house...soooo, I'm constantly holding something over my belly to shield it from his surprisingly strong little jabs of the elbow, knee, or whatever other body part it may be. Yesterday he did a headbutt to my belly. Ouch. I kind of yelled out, "be careful! The baby!" His sweet response was, "Oh...! Sorry baby." Oh sweet boys....

No worries, he hasn't done anything with enough force to cause any harm. :)

Our next Midwife appointment is on May 20. Then our ultrasound is on June 13. It will be in 3D! How awesome is that?! I have never had a 3D ultrasound before, so I'm pretty darn excited! We will be finding out the gender as well. :) I figured if the guys didn't want to know, I still would! I just get too antsy with that kind of info! haha

That's all I got for ya for now! I will continue to update and back on a regular basis again. Sorry again for it being so long since my last one! I have just been a busy, busy lady! I have been getting ready for finals (coming next week!), being at a client's birth, and celebrating my Q's 2nd birthday...not much rest for the weary!

I will be taking pictures every week. I probably won't post EVERY picture. Maybe I will. Eh, don't know yet. haha

Thanks for following our journey! See you all very soon!

10 week 2 day belly!

Here is the first belly pouch picture!

(please ignore the box and any other random thing that may be noticeable, I'm in my basement haha)






Here we are at 10wk 2dys!!!
Now I know that may not look like a baby pouch to some of you. That was previously a very flat tummy. :)
Not to mention, my pants are now so snug they are becoming uncomfortable. I feel the rubber band usage will commence very soon.

I think this is one of the most exciting parts of the journey. (Well aside from their little bean coming earth side to me his/her daddies of course!)
Being able to share with Doug and Charles, the growth of their little miracle. I just wish they could be here every day to personally watch it grow. But pictures will have to do....there will be a lot more to come!

Time with the RE is ALMOST over!!!!!

Ok, so I'm a little behind this week. :-/
I have been so busy I just haven't had the energy to sit and update lately.

So, last Wednesday (April 3) I had my initial appointment with my Midwife. It was no big deal, just giving her some info and such.
Then Thursday I had my 3rd and final ultrasound. It showed the little bean is still growing just as it should be! With a strong little heart beat in the 190s!! Holy batman that's fast!

After the ultrasound, I was informed by my RE's nurse that when I am 11 weeks, I can stop all medications!! Woot woot!
Not gonna lie....excited about that! I'm sure that will still be an adjustment, since I'm so used to taking them....I'm gonna feel like I'm forgetting something every day! haha

At that point, I will be completely released from my RE and fully under my Midwife's care. :)
I have my actual prenatal appointment with her on the 18th! Excited!!
Doug and Charles will hopefully be Skyping in so they can still "be there" and ask questions as we go along, and keep up with how their little bean is doing. :)

Oh! TOMORROW I have my first doula appointment! I'm super excited about that!! For once, I'm on the other side of that arrangement. ;) Add in the bonus of having 2 AMAZING doulas (one of which I had the honor of training under) and that calls for some SUPER DUPER EXCITEMENT!!!!!

Yes, I said "super duper" don't judge me. ;)

Things are definitely starting to slow down overall.
Pregnancy sickness (I don't call it morning sickness, let's face it, that's total false advertising) is mostly gone (mostly). I have good days and bad days now. One day recently was a baaaaaaad day, but they are far and few between.

Still tired. I don't really think that ever actually goes anywhere.
Pregnancy brain is kicking my hiney bad! Ok, ok, for those that know me personally, I know right now they are thinking, "you are spacey all the time anyway!" Yes. This is true. BUT, it is so much worse now! lol!!!

I tell ya, some days....I just am not sure I know where I am and what I am doing! haha.

Yes, pregnancy brain is real.
No it is not just a silly excuse for pregnant women to get away with being spacey. (well, most of us).
Men, if you don't believe us...

:-P

That's all I got cause you will never be able to know what it's like to make another human inside your body. It's hard work man!
:)

So that's about it for me at the moment. Pretty boring I know. Sorry nothing super fun is happening right now. Pregnancy does have some boring times about it. It can't all be super exciting! We women wouldn't have ANY energy left! ;)

But right now, I AM craving some yummy pinwheels I tried over the weekend, and pizza. Cheese pizza. hmmm......

Speechless.....

Two posts in one day....whoa, I don't really know what's happening! haha

I just have to share with everyone.

**WARNING** I am about to get all gushy, mushy, and very personal. So if this isn't your thing, don't read any further. If it is your thing, grab a tissue.

For those that do not already know, I am a labor doula.
I was just interviewing with a potential client when in the middle of conversation, she realizes I'm the surrogate she has been following in a parenting group on Facebook we are both a part of.

This was her reaction:
"Oh my God, you're THE Kimberly?! You're like a legend! I can't believe I'm talking to you right now! I'm kind of like...starstruck! LOL"

I can't even tell you how that made me feel!!!!!!!
Not in a big-headed, stuck-up way, more of a heart swelling, teary eyed, deeply touched, I can't believe someone just said that about me, way!

That just made my whole year!!!!!

To know I am making THAT kind of mark on people with my surrogacy journey...there are no words. I am doing things in my life I never thought I would....making a difference for people, being their inspiration....growing up how I did, I never thought it was possible I could be that person.

You have to understand. I did not grow up in a life that raised me to be this person. By statistics, I should be living the exact opposite. I was not treated very well by the man that took part in raising me. I don't usually talk about this much, but to really grasp where I am right now in response to that potential client's reaction...a nutshell explanation is necessary.

I was told as a child I would grow up to be no good. Becoming a mother at 16, I was told my life was going nowhere, I would never amount to anything, etc.

And here I am, being told things like I'm "like a legend" and being referred to as "THE Kimberly" in a positive way, because of the choices I have made and things I have decided to do with my life....I just can't even put into appropriate words what that does to me emotionally. What it does to my heart. (All in good ways of course!!)

I have spent much of my life, including my adult life, looking at people who inspire others, who have inspired me, listened to people rave about others that do such amazing things with their lives and touch so many people; I see them, in complete "awe" wishing I could be like that one day. That one day, people may see me as I see them. But always thinking that would never be me. I can't ever be like that. Not in a celebrity type of way, but in positive light, to be seen as a positive person that makes a difference in the world.

I just had that day. That moment. If that person was in front of me right now, I'm pretty sure I would be strangling her with a hug. Such a sweet woman to say amazingly sweet things to me; to see me as she does....

To know I AM amounting to something. I AM making a difference. I AM touching people and inspiring them. To be heard. Respected in that way....

I never felt I was that person before now. Never. I still don't really FEEL it, but just to know that someone sees me like that...is such an amazing feeling.

Thank you, to the woman that said those things to me. You know who you are. You didn't know it, you didn't even try, but you have made a huge mark on me by your words. A mark so big and important to me, I will always remember it. Thank you so much for your kind heart.

I'm on a teary cloud nine right now!!!!!!!!!

Much love xoxo