Sweet Sanna Turned FIVE

gratulerer med dagen emil

happy birthday emil

 absolutely the sweetest, dirty little face ever... celebrating his third birthday today!

sending lots of love, wishes & hugs from this side of the ocean.

you will be a charmer

full of spirit and grace

may your days be long

and your heart be full

we love you!

xxoo

four years ago today

Four years ago, today, I helped start a family.
The only girl I would give birth to
entered into this world,
and into her parents arms,
and gave them
every reason in the world
to believe in miracles!

I am so blessed. 

Gratulerer med dagen, Sanna!

May your year ahead be filled with blessings abundant.

You are loved.

two years gone by

 

9.3 lbs of JOY

completed a family

and changed so many lives

two short years ago.

 

Happy Birthday

Emil

 

love you lots!

miss you all

 

Thursday's child has far to go!

Five years ago today, the days lined up exactly the same as this year, and the morning of the 26th was a Thursday!  It would be a very crazy morning, just ask my husband (*both of them!). 

I had been up the night before timing contractions with an online contraction timer.  Yes, folks, we have evolved that much.  Good thing, too, because I didn't want to wake anyone in the house to help me time and focus, as they needed all the sleep they could get!  However, by the time JP came down the stairs at 3:30 am for work, I told him he wasn't going to work and to start making telephone calls.

He called the OB's office, my parents to come watch the boys, my coach in labor, Kara, and last but not least...  baby daddy, Mister J!

The conversation on our end went something like this...
"It's baby day...  yes, today...  no, he's not waiting until induction day on Monday.  I suggest you get on the next plane to Minnesota.  By noon?  Well, if you want to see your baby born, I suggest you leave now."

After that, the morning was a blur.  My folks showed up to watch the boys.  JP got to drive me, yet again, to what he affectionately calls "the baby factory" to give birth to Little J.  Through the streets of Minneapolis, bump after bump after bump...  not breaking any driving laws, nor rushing through red lights this time, and we even beat the morning rush hour...  we pulled into the parking ramp about the same time Kara did. 

Hooked up to monitors and ready to go...  but Mister J wasn't there yet...  it didn't matter, baby boy had an agenda of his own.  Dr. E broke my water and we were a go!  Commotion heard from outside the room, and Mister J had just arrived with his Baby Nurse - phew!  All was going to happen as it should and he would see his son born.  He told us that he had to rush down the runway and exclaimed, "My wife is having a baby in Minneapolis, I need to get on that plane!" while being followed by female Baby Nurse...  the odd looks apparently provided much needed amusement to keep the brevity of the situation light during transit.

Once again, Little J had decided to change up the game plan... he was much bigger than we thought, and with decels in his heart rate, and a couple hours of attempted pushing, Dr. E decided that it was time for my first-ever c-section.  Folks, the thought had never even occurred to me that this surrogate pregnancy would end up there, on the operating table!  Also dumbstruck was Mister J in this new set of plans, "here, put these on, she will be down in the OR waiting for you, make it fast" and before I knew it, I was watching the ceiling lights float overhead and my husband was left standing in the doorway... 

Activity like I've never seen before broke out around me - heck, I'd never even seen the inside of an operating room, who am I kidding?!  Twice as many people were suddenly in the room with us - shift change!  Really?  Just our luck.  Dr. E wasn't very pleased about the timing of it all and sudden urgency was heard in her voice to make it snappy...  and then the first cut...

To say I wasn't just a little freaked out at this point would be a gross understatement.  I was calm on the outside, and freaking out on the inside. I knew that we had decided JP wouldn't join me in the OR (and hospital policy wouldn't allow me to have two people there), but I wanted my husband next to me.  Knowing that the man at my shoulder was focused on the action below the draped sheet at my midline...  well, suddenly everything around me became very real about this situation of helping another become a father.  But I had faith.  Dr. E had been my doctor for almost 20 years, and I knew I was in good hands.

Shortly after we started, Little J entered the world...  screaming, happy, healthy & into the arms of his Papa he went.  I survived my first c-section.  JP would later join me in recovery, and I had emotions wash over me like I never imagined.  Sure, I was prepared to hand over the life that had grown inside of me for the past nine months (and another few months of preparation that went into it)...  but, well, to not see more than a glimpse of him until the next day...  that, my friends, was raw...  still, I told myself that I was strong enough to get through this too... and I did.

Fast forward...  five years later...  today marks the anniversary of his BIRTHday...  Little C (name changed on the tarmac while waiting for gate clearance 24 hours after he was born) and I can only imagine that he is the most loved, spoiled and cherished little blond boy on the East Coast. 

This day will always hold a special place in my heart.  I welcomed a fourth little boy into the world...  three I had grown of my own, and one under my heart. 

Little did I know that it would be the beginning of an admittedly slight addiction to helping someone create a family.  After all, I had survived a c-section...  giving of life and love...  seeing the pure joy of a new family through the father's eyes...  I was hooked!

And blessed.

Happy Birthday, Little C!

May you be celebrating in style!

carrying Little C "on the outside" at 6 weeks old

A picture worth a thousand words

Headline: Retired Surrogate Sits on Couch

Yep, it's that exciting today.  And I'm pleased that the blowing, cold SNOW is on the outside today and I have no where to go, no where to be!

Backing up a week...

March 14, 2011:  The birth went as smoothly as possible...  he was a big baby (biggest I birthed) at 9 lbs. 4 oz. and almost 21" long.  He was wedged in there and not coming out.  Good thing it was a scheduled c-section, let me tell you!  Kudos go to my doctor of 20 years for doing a fabulous job for all of us.

Milk production is 2-3 oz. total per pumping session (every 3-4 hours); finally back in bed and not sleeping upright on the couch.

Swelling in the ankles and elsewhere - still pretty sore...  internal muscles are hurting since yesterday at the incision site.  Too much running, I'm sure. 

Just a few more days of visiting with the Kleiven family before they head home to Norway and show off their newest bundle of joy!  We did it again...

 

Let the fun begin!

Our friends are back in town...  and with that comes a wonderful, full-on, love filled March ahead of us!!  If you don't find me posting here much this month, hop on over to Mining Another Gem to stay in the loop.

Wednesday giggle

Just have to borrow what could easily be a wordless Wednesday photo... but I cannot remain wordless because it just makes me LOL!

Isn't she beautiful!?

It's a ...

Healthy, bouncing baby.....

The impact of song

So yesterday I was a bit stirred up about recent events at church. As the mind often wanders from one thing to the next, so did my fingers. I started by Googling "child of God" to find an image and post it on my blog for Wordless Wednesday. Momma often said, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all". So I was trying hard to bite my tongue and while searching online with a heavy heart, I found Jaeson Ma's new song, LOVE. His video then became my wordless wednesday post. Funny how quickly I was able to soothe my soul with images, song and God's word.

Jaeson Ma has a video response contest to discover what others choose to define love. Of course there are many, many things I could have chosen, but with Sanna's baptism this weekend, I set off to make a mini-movie of how much LOVE she has brought to the world.

Here is my video response. If you agree, find it on Youtube here and vote!



...more later on what got me stirred up.
Right now, I celebrate LOVE & LIFE!!