The Heat Is On

My IM and I have this little joke where she calls me her watched pot. I, in turn, told her that I would text her, "The water's boiling! The water's boiling!" when it was time. So, we're in the final days of this pregnancy and the heat is on...I'll let you know when the water's boiled. :)

We had a great visit with my IPs this past weekend. It was just DH and me and my wonderful mommy watched all three of my kiddos. They love it over there and it was nice to have a mini-vacay. That's really what it felt like since my IPs totally spoiled us while we were there. Yummy food, a movie and a comfy chair to put my feet up added to sleeping in late made for a very chillaxin weekend. When we arrived that Friday night, my feet/ankles were pretty puffy.


Exhibit A

My DH and IM told me to put my feet up and IM got me some water. I proceeded to chug water all weekend. I started getting headaches Saturday and had mentioned the puffiness to a nurse friend/former surro. She advised me to call the doc if I began having headaches. Sure enough, I had been having them off and on, nothing horrible, but I did notice I had them throughout the day Saturday and Sunday. I called my OB while at a surrogate luncheon (about half a dozen of us surros, some of their kids and my poor DH, the token male, and I had lunch on our way out) and I ended up going in to the hospital on our way back home because my blood pressure reading at a CVS showed 153/99. Either the machine was wonky or my BP settled down on the drive back to Houston because my 3 readings were fine at Labor & Delivery. Still, better to be safe than sorry, so I'm glad I got it checked out. I've been trying to keep my feet up and taking it easy this week and trying to stay on top of the water.

With all of the unknown about whether or not I was developing preeclampsia, my IPs had a talk and decided they would like to have a little bit of a game plan in place and opted for a scheduled induction should Baby L not make her arrival by the 20th. So, there ya have it, folks. If this little girl doesn't come on her own, I'll be delivering 2 Thursdays from now.

How do I feel about this? Honestly, I secretly love having an end date. Not because I'm uncomfortable or ready to end it, but I am just such a planner that I feel a peace with knowing I will be able to take my kids Trick-or-Treating in their super cute costumes (A Bride, an Angry Bird and Little Red Riding Hood...we will be quite the entourage) and I have a Halloween party to go to, a wedding, a Fall Festival, a birthday party to plan...do you see what I'm getting at? I would never push for an induction and especially not just to suit my schedule, but that's only 6 days early and chances are, she'll come on her own before then. But if I'm being honest, it's kind of nice to have a countdown. I would give up all of those events in a heartbeat if I had to, but it's kind of nice that I don't have to.

Everyone always wonders how my kids will feel and I think this answers it:

Rachel (almost 7): My mom's having a baby but we're not keeping her, we're giving it away! (Ummm...okay, not quite, hunny). When asked if she'd be sad about the fact that baby L does not belong to us or will not be coming home with us, she replied that she would not. She has met E&J and knows that Baby L is their daughter and she said she is so happy that we are growing her for them.

Logan (almost 5): There's a baby in there, I'm serious!! (in reference to seeing baby L move) I asked him if he'd be sad that baby L wouldn't be coming home with us and he promptly replied, "Nope. There's no room for her here." That's it. He knows this is not her home or where she will go. They've always understood where she belonged and that her time with us was temporary.

They still love to feel her kick and like to talk to her and hug my belly. I think that's normal, tender behavior but I do not think this will negatively affect them in any way or I wouldn't have done it.

Here is our latest belly picture. It's not my favorite...I look tired and puffy. I AM tired and puffy, but I really like this shirt so I'm posting it. 14 days and counting!