September 2018

One last "summer style" birthday party at Bozeman Beach

We crashed the math party so we could see some of Mark's old MSU colleagues. Ella and her friend ended up winning Bingo and the prizes were TVs. They both went home with one. 

Pic of little surro-babe at 7.5 weeks - he is growing well - strong heartbeat and measuring exactly where he should be. I, on the other hand, have never felt worse. I spent more time asleep than awake this month. Food in general sounded awful but I forced myself to eat. I didn't eat a lot but since I have spent very little time moving, I ended up gaining 13 pounds since pre-pregnancy. I was nauseous

most of the time, tired all of the time and had headaches frequently. I am weaning off of meds now and I'm almost in the second trimester so I'm expecting things to get better soon. 

I was long distance monitored by a very condescending doctor at Bozeman Deaconess. I'm so relieved to be done there and starting my pre-natal appointments at the Bozeman Birth Center.  It felt great at my first appointment at the birth center yesterday to be heard and treated like a person and not a number. Argh, I hate hospitals for pregnancy. My blog reflects how I have felt this month, very few photos because I was too tired to do our normal fun family stuff. 

Mark and I went to a Lake Street Dive concert. 

Rocky Creek Farm before the Halloween traffic

A French journalist contacted me months ago to ask if I knew any surrogates that wanted to be interviewed for a documentary. She found my number through Montana Surrogacy's website and didn't realize I was also a surrogate until she called and we got to talking. I contacted several surrogates who reached out to her but none of them worked out for what the film was looking for. This journalist also asked me to share my story, which I did over the phone. She then met me in person where she asked more questions and she took a couple minute video of me telling part of my story. She shared that story with the rest of the team and they decided to use me in the movie. I spent a few hours in front of the camera in a dark room with a bright light on me as I answered very personal questions about being a woman and surrogacy. The crew then came to my home to get some video of me in my neighborhood. The videographer said he could tell which house was mine because the style of my house matched the style of my shoes. I loved that comment. This entire experience was a complete honor. 

The film is called, "Women," and it will come out in the Fall of 2019. The film is done by the same director that did the film, "Human." If I'm not completely embarrassed when I see the film for myself, I plan on having a Bozeman showing. 

9.5 week surro-babe

Run for Longfellow. Gordon ran holding his teacher's hand. 

A party favor from one of Gordon's classmates. 

I went on a walking field trip with Gordon's class. 

Watching the first snow of the season. 

Gordon is thriving in 2nd grade. He got the same teacher Ella had in 2nd grade, that we love and adore, Mrs. Breault. He still has an IEP but he doesn't go into the special ed room anymore. He is very excited to spend all day with his classmates. All those hours of therapy and IEP meetings have paid off!

Ella is, as always, doing well in school. She is not a fan of her teacher but she is handling it well. She has stated that her teacher from last year, Mr. Neilson, is an educator and her teacher this year is a school teacher. These words came out of her mouth! Maybe I should get her TED talk set up now? Last year she came home filled with knowledge that she was excited to share with us. This year she comes home and tells us about all of the rules her teacher has and it seems there are new ones everyday.  From what we have seen and heard, her teacher is on a major power trip. Good thing we have parent-teacher conferences next week so we can express our concerns. Ella has asked to be homeschooled almost every day this year...I'm getting close to doing it.