16 weeks!!!

I guess its picture time. first belly shot! No bare bellies yet, I have on my newly bought today bella band though, lol

I have been feeling flutters and little bumps for a few weeks now. I am feeling pretty well right now. Heartburn is my only real complain but I try to stay up on it and not let it get the better of me.

Our last OB apt was June 9, BP was fine, no weight gain, Heartbeat was 160 and we recorded it and I sent the recording off to S&G.

Our next OB apt is July 14 and the big gender U/S is July 17 when Sam and Grif and M are coming then the next day we are all going to the Pitts zoo for the day, yay!!!

Ok so heres the pic

Week Ten: Embryo is now a Fetus


You are 10 weeks pregnant. (eight weeks after conception)
From this week until birth, the developing organism is called a fetus.
The fetus is now the size of a small strawberry.
The feet are 2mm long (one tenth of an inch).
The neck is beginning to take shape.
The body muscles are almost developed. Baby has begun movement.
While still too small for you to feel, your little one is wriggling and shifting.
The jaws are in place. The mouth cavity and the nose are joined.
The ears and nose can now be seen clearly.
Fingerprints are already evident in the skin.
Nipples and hair follicles begin to form.

The unborn baby is now called a fetus. Though the fetus is constantly moving, you will not be able to actually feel fetal movement for several more weeks. All of the organs, muscles, and nerves are in place and beginning to function. As the hands and feet develop fingers and toes, they have lost their paddle like look. The touch pads on the fingers form and already have fingerprints.

During this week of pregnancy the crown to rump length of the fetus is 0.9 inch to 1.2 inches (22 to 30mm), weight 0.07 ounce (2gm). They are now on the way to forming their testicles or ovaries, getting ready for the next generation. Until the ninth week of fetus development, the fetal reproductive apparatus is the same one for the both sexes. The head is still large and curves into chest.

Each week your uterus grows larger with the baby growing inside it. You may begin to see your waistline growing thicker by this time. A pelvic exam will detect that your uterus has grown from it's normal, size of your fist, to a little bigger than a grapefruit.
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I received a mothers day gift in the mail from Sam, she took lots of pictures of the kids while we were at their house for the last transfer and I was on bedrest. She framed one of the pictures of my boys kissing their little sister for me. And sent the sweetest card with it. Feeling appreciated is so very nice! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.Also a couple of weeks ago, she sent me flowers out of the blue. You guys are the best!

On other fronts, I pulled a 4.0 this semester which will help the old GPA, yay!! And we have been super busy having 2 boys in baseball this spring. So far Dylan's team is 2 and 2, Gage hasn't had a game yet, were supposed to have the 1st one today but it got cancelled. We are having a great time, Mark got me a ball glove the other day and said happy mothers day, lol, and he got sissy a pink and purple one, now we can all get out there and play catch.

I'm behind as usual, lol But with finishing up the end of the semester at school and still being tired most of the time, I just couldn't find the strength or time but here are the updates. For some reason I didn't get the 8 week email but I think you get the idea form these whats been happening. This little one is now the size of a large grape. In exactly a week, we will have our first OB appointment and Sam is coming up for it again. I love that she is close enough to come to some of the milestone appointments, not that I want her at all of them as they are mostly boring, lol I am hoping we will once again take a look at the little one while there. My morning sickness is pretty much at bay now. I have to stay on my hunger as if I feel too hungry the nausea comes back but I am mostly able to keep it under control. Still tired! Pants are definately getting tight and I broke out a pair of maternity shorts the other day. But for the most part I just look fat, praying this belly rounds out soon so people can tell its a baby belly and not just Kari needing to got on a diet, lol



Week 9 Fetus



Miscarriage is most probably on your mind at this stage of pregnancy. Once you are into the second trimester, the peak risk period for miscarriage will be behind you and you will be find it easier to relax. But for now you may be obsessively checking for any signs of spotting; it is pretty much the standard behavior for most pregnant women whether they are willing to admit it or not.

What is going on with your baby during week 9?

Your baby is now a little more than an inch long roughly the size of a large grape, 2.2-3cm (1-1¼ in). Your baby's arms and legs are longer. The head is more erect, and the neck more developed. The eyelids almost cover the eyes. External ears are evident and well formed. Your baby now makes some movements and this can be captured via an ultrasound exam. The baby looks more recognizable as a human being, although it is still extremely tiny. It is not possible to make a distinction between a male and a female baby at this point.



Week 7 Fetus



Chances are you are experiencing at least the odd symptom of early pregnancy, whether it is nausea, heartburn, frequent urination or food cravings, or all of the above (lucky you). You are very likely not so thrilled with this aspect of pregnancy.

What is going on with your baby during week 7?

Your baby's head is the largest part of the body - indicative of the rapid brain growth that has been occurring. All four chambers of the heart are now in place. Intestines are also developing but they are not yet encased inside your baby's body as yet. They bulge out into the umbilical cord. The crown to rump length of your growing baby measures at 4 to 5 mm (0.16-0.2 in).

first u/s

So, we had our first u/s this morning! Looks like our due date is slightly off from what I had calculated, I will change the tickers when I know more. We saw one little bean in there this time, which is overall better than 2 or 3, lol. We are right on track according to the due date the RE gave me this morning, so that is Dec 5, 2009. We have one sac with the beginnings of a yolk sac, but no fetal pole which is fine if we are only 5w1d pregnant. We will have the heartbeat u/s in two weeks, on April 20 and Sam is gonna try to come up for that appointment, hopefully she will be able to make it this time. S & G had a scare with M over the weekend and she had to miss out on this first one. M is ok, so hopefully she remains in good health and S gets to have a night alone in a hotel room with a good book and then gets to see her new addition's heartbeat the next day.

updates

Beta numbers and symptoms at 5 weeks! (actually 5w2d today!)

March 25 11dp3dt 103
March 27 13dp3dt 246
March 30 16dp3dt 689
April 1 18dp3dt expecting 1200-1400 but it jumped to 1900

U/S scheduled for Monday morning, and Sam is coming, yay!! Have a safe, relaxing drive!!



I am feeling really well so far, no morning sickness but I had none with the 3 of my own but did have it from 9-18 weeks with the twins I carried, so if its only one this time maybe I will get away with not puking for 9 weeks at least 5 times a day, lol I am very tired and could take a 3 hour nap everyday, if only I had the time, lol
Boobs are sore and feeling more hungry than normal, have to eat a bowl of cereal about 11 PM every night. But other than those things I feel great! So excited to be pregnant again and for a great family!

I got to actually order refills of all my medications, that was exciting!

Each week I will be including an info about the developing baby including pictures of what stage it should be at, hope you enjoy!____________________________________________________________________________________

Week Five: The embryonic stage begins
You are 5 weeks pregnant. (about three weeks from conception)
The amniotic fluid is being built up.
The embryo grows from a tiny speck about 2mm - the size of a pin head.
By the end of the week the embryo will have more than doubled in size to about 4-5mm.
The egg has now completely grown into the mucous membrane of the uterus which covers the egg, the umbilical sac and the amniotic fluid cavity.
A fibrin clot closes the hole to the uterus cavity.
The placenta is developing.
The embryo starts receiving oxygen and nutrition through the placenta.
The cells making up the ovum are beginning to differentiate and specialize in areas of development. Some cells will make up the embryo; others the amniotic sac and placenta etc. The ovum, which has been floating around in your uterus, has now implanted into the wall of the uterus. Now comes an exciting time of rapid growth! The amniotic sac, amniotic cavity and yolk sac are developing. The placenta is beginning to form now too.

Implantation - Some spotting (also known as implantation bleeding) may occur about 10 - 14 days after conception. You may believe you are starting your period but generally this spotting (bleeding) is extremely light and lasts only a day or so.

At week five, you might begin to suspect you're pregnant since the embryo produces hormones which stop the mother's menstrual cycle. The fertilized egg, now called a blastocyst, is a fluid-filled cluster of about 500 cells, still multiplying madly. It is attached to the uterus wall and divides into two parts. The half attached to the uterine wall becomes the placenta, the vessel-filled support system that nourishes the developing life, and the other half will become the baby.

At the end of week five; nerve growth begins when a sheet of cells on the back of the embryo folds in the middle to form a tube, which will become the future spinal cord. At one end tube enlarges to form the brain's major sections. The amniotic fluid that cushions the embryo begins to form. Between the forth and fifth week the embryo more than doubles in size to about, 4-5mm about a 1/8 inch in size.

on cloud 9!!

So this month just keeps getting better and better.

blood test result were 103 this morning which is a nice strong number yay!!

and I got my acceptance letter for nursing school today.

I can not be happier!!

maybe I can do better now that we have stuff to write about

Let us recap the last year:

April 2008 transfer with negative results
June 2008 transfer with negative results
Oct 2008 transfer with negative results

one last try!

March 14, 2009 transferred 3 embies
March 21 @ 7dp3dt I saw the faintest line

March 22 @8dp3dt this is what I saw

and these

March 23 @ 9dp3dt they just kept getting darker and then I saw this


March 24 (aka today)
they are still getting darker and we have the beta (blood pregnancy test in the morning)

I wanted to immediately call the parents since it was the weekend and I could get them both on the phone at the same time but I wanted to be sure before getting their hopes up, then Sun rolled around and I was still too nervous to call and Mark said to just wait til the beta and let the nurse tell them. I was torn on what to do, so I decided to wait til I got a digital PREGNANT!! But lo and be hold the phone rang before I could test on the digital, it was S and she asked if I was pregnant!! That sneaky woman, had a vision as she laid down for a quiet little nap yesterday that she should get on SMO and check out the stats of getting a bfp at 9dp3dt! She came across my signature which stated oh so boldly that I had gotten many BFP's!!! Not the way I wanted her to find out but boy oh boy her reaction on the phone when I told her that yes indeed we are pregnant!!! was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.

I later that evening took a digital and you of course have already seen the results of that pee! I tested again this morning and the lines are getting increasingly darker! We have waited for a long time for this and its finally here. I am so very grateful that our prayers have been answered and that I get to help this awesome family to grow!

Thank you S and G for sticking with me and giving me the opportunity to help you! I feel very privalaged to be your surrogate.