I had a wonderful opportunity this past year to help a couple achieve their goal of having children. I was able to serve them as a gestational carrier of their babies.
This was a very difficult and physically challenging journey, but also one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences I have had in my lifetime. I delivered (via C-section) two healthy baby boys on Thanksgiving morning of 2012. They were born at 35 weeks and 4 days and were very healthy weights and are doing well and their mommy and daddy are so happy and in love with their babies.
I am so happy that I could play a part in helping them all come together.
God has blessed me and my family by allowing me to have a healthy enough body to carry 2 babies.
There were (many) days and months during this pregnancy that were extremely difficult for me, both emotionally and physically. I am 5 feet tall and don't have a lot of room for 2 babies to grow, and carrying these babies took every last ounce of strength I had, just to walk a few steps, or get up from sitting down. I could not even reach my feet to put on my socks the last couple months of pregnancy (my poor children had to help me) :-)
I have 3 young children of my own, and the fact that I was carrying these two babies and could not move easily, meant that I was not able to care for them the same way I did prior to pregnancy. I could not lift them, I could not chase them or even play as "normal". I did get down on the floor and play with them and read to them, but it was painful for me and did not happen as much as I would have liked.
During this time, I really missed my kids. I missed the snuggles, I missed chasing them and carrying them in my arms. This was very difficult for me emotionally at the end.
Another aspect that was the most difficult, was that during the night time, I had to go to the bathroom to go potty (urgently) every hour. I felt so happy and almost refreshed if my body would let me go more than an hour without waking up and having to "waddle" to the toilet. For this reason, I was super tired every day, less patient then normal, had even less energy to do anything, and was sore all over.
I remember praying often that God would carry me through one day at a time and keep the babies and myself safe and guard the precious babies so they would grow healthy and strong and be able to meet their mommy and daddy in God's timing. I also remember praying very often that God would "hurry up" and grow those babies healthy enough so they could "get out" and go to their mommy and daddy, :-) so I could get back to normal life and not be uncomfortable and in pain physically.
Well, God is very good and very faithful to me, and He answered my prayers in His perfect timing and in a very perfect way.
I went in to the doctor on Wednesday November 21st for a regular appointment and stress test and told the doctor that I just did not feel well. The doctor told me that physically everything was fine and that I was only dialated to 1cm. She also said to call her if I didn't feel well later, because she was on-call at the hospital that night and I could come in and get checked out again if things didn't improve.
So, later on that evening, I was still just "not feeling right", and I went into the hospital. They checked me over and again said things were fine, and gave me some medications for sleeping. I was not having any contractions and had just had an ultrasound and learned that the babies were still breach in position. I had contacted the babies parents to tell them that I was going into the hospital to get checked out, but that they should stay home and not worry and I would call them if I learned anything important. I was convinced however, that I would be going home in the morning after I slept the night.
Well... I was wrong. I closed my eyes to get some rest and then... MY WATER BROKE!!!
So, I pushed the button to call the nurse and told her "I think my water just broke". She agreed, and immediately the room was flooded with nurses and the doctor.
The doctor said, call the parents, we are doing a C-section in a half an hour. I started to have very strong contractions and was given some medications to stop them and prepped for the procedure.
Whew... it is late, and I have to get some sleep, but I will finish this story on the next blog :-)
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