Appointment

So I had my appointment and everything is good! No problems came up and all is well with the baby. And after all the discussion of C-section vs. VBAC it doesn't matter at all. After she spoke with someone else they no longer do natural birth after cesarean at that hospital and for good reason. The policy now is that if you don't have an anesthesiologist on staff 24/7 then they can not allow it to happen. The reason for that is that if I go in there in labor on their off time, even being on call it could be half hour before they get there, and my uterus ruptures I could be dead before they make it in there. So it really doesn't matter if we wanted to try it or not it can't happen. Scheduled C-section for me and I am OK with it. The recovery may be rough but there will be less stress all around. Next appointment I will get an ultrasound to so stay tuned!

Frustration!

I am very frustrated right now! This surrogacy process has been riddled with problems this time. Just about every thing that could go wrong has. The parents are great! But I am just getting annoyed with the agency. I know these are things that may not be any fault of theirs but it doesn't make it easier to deal with. Here is my problem (this time!) I get paid a predetermined amount according to the contract and it starts at 8 weeks and continues every four weeks until delivery then I get the rest of the agreed upon amount. At 8 weeks I asked if they could send it early because we had a trip planned they said we can schedule it to be delivered on the day you are eight weeks but not before. I said great we didn't plan on leaving till the following day so it worked out good. Well that was a Friday and it didn't arrive that day or the next. It came on the following Monday. That was frustrating but as we all know the postal service is unpredictable. The next check came exactly 4 weeks later. Of course this means I would expect the next one four weeks after that. Monday or Tuesday it didn't come so I emailed the agency to see if they could check on it to see when it was sent out. She told me it was sent out Monday but it comes once a month so it won't be on the same day every time. I knew the contract said four weeks not a month, I know it is not a big difference but those of you who know me know that I am very particular and a big time planner so I need to know the exact date of each check so I can budget accordingly. When I told her that she looked into it and decided I was right (was there really any doubt) they would mail them every four weeks and sent me the scheduled mailing dates. Well again it was just a few days difference but to me a big deal, they scheduled to mail them 3 days after my weeks change. When in reality they were supposed to send them on the day the weeks turn which is Friday not the Monday dates they are now sending them. When I asked why they changed it the response was they are just going by the last one they sent and sending them every 4 weeks consecutively to that. Well that just screwed my previous budget to hell and back! I was expecting them to come on the day they are actually sending them out so now I have to adjust and change everything. This is not things that should be done to a pregnant woman. Needless to say I was thinking about whether or not to do this again with my age and multiple c-sections. Now I have to consider if I want to stay with the same agency again or find a new one. I am just very annoyed right now thanks for reading my venting.

Delivery decisions

I know I haven't wrote in a while but that is a good thing! So far this has been pretty much a normal pregnancy. I can definitely tell the difference between a boy and girl now. The boys I was sick but not 24/7 and I would throw up and feel better, for a while at least, but with this girl I am nauseous all the time but have only puked twice. Unfortunately when I was pregnant the other four times I took Zofran for it but now they say it can cause birth defects so I can not take it so I have to live with it. I am almost 15 weeks and the stomach rolling is still there and with the boys it was gone with the first trimester. Now my biggest dilemma is the delivery decision. The first 3 times I had a vaginal delivery but as most of you know with the twins I had a c-section. The midwife I saw said after looking at the incision she thinks we could try a VBAC ( for those of you who don't know that is a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). My worry is my circumstances first of all I have only went into natural labor once and after c-section they do not do inductions at all so I would have to go into labor on my own. That being said I have a few worries about doing that first of all the hospital is 45 minutes away so I am afraid I won't make it and inadvertently deliver in Tennessee which would not be good. There is also the circumstance that John works an hour away so it could be almost two hours before we could make it to the hospital. Also the boys are a concern since they will be in school and we don't have the family down here to lean on for help with them. So I am not sure what we would be doing with them if I went to the hospital unplanned. With a cesarean the recovery is rough but being able to plan it and have everything in place is very desirable. But it is more expensive and since we are doing it all out of pocket that may be a factor. It would also ensure that I deliver in Kentucky and not Tennessee. I am still discussing this with parents, agency and doctors but I am leaning towards a c-section. Right now we don't know but we will come to a decision soon!   

Insurance sucks!

So since my last post so much has been going on. After confirming pregnancy I decided that I needed to look up the hospital and doctors on my insurance plan so I can have a clear view of where I needed to go. Well I went to the website and typed in Kentucky Hospital. I got 0 results that came up so I tried specific cities and still nothing. When we purchased the policy it was rough to find one with a hospital that was in network and in Kentucky since that is where I need to deliver. This one seemed so perfect because when she put in my address the hospital that came up was there. Well I decided there must be something up with the website so I called the number on my card. The woman on the phone worked with me and searched for a hospital any where in the state. She couldn't find anything either and concluded they must not carry any policies in Kentucky therefore there is no coverage in that state. Of course I relayed all the information to my agency so they could check it out. What they found out, through the broker who helped us purchase the policy, is that after we got it the network for the company changed. Apparently they are allowed to do this with no notice. So now we have the dilemma of insurance that will cover my OB here in network but the hospital and OB in Kentucky would be out of network therefore costing almost as much as it would without insurance and they would have to pay a monthly premium. Needless to say now our plans have had to change again. We are still making them but I will no longer see the doctor here in Clarksville instead I will see one in Hopkinsville KY. So they can get one price for a doctor and not try to deal with two separate places. In the mean time I had my first appointment here, with a doctor I probably won't see again. They told me that a VBAC is not an option at all so I would need a repeat cesarean. In Ohio my OB told me if I waited a year between pregnancies they would try it if that is what I wanted. That is not the case here but we will have to see what the new doctor says about it. I was really wanting to try to deliver vaginally. In vaginal the labor is long and hard but the recovery is so much easier. With C-section the delivery is planned, which I love, but is rough and recovery really sucks. I will go with whatever the doctor thinks is safest but I wanted to at least consider both options not just be told that it will be a cesarean. I am 9 1/2 weeks now so almost out of the first trimester. My body is already starting to change. I am due in November so happy Thanksgiving!

Heartbeat

Today I had an ultrasound appointment to confirm the heartbeat. The fetus is growing right on track and has a heart rate of 122. Last time I went John was worried because the amniotic sac was normal sized but the baby was barely registering because it was so small. I said that is normal size I was only 6 weeks along. This week he understood, it was much bigger. It had tripled in size in just one week. I told him normally you don't get ultrasounds this early so you don't see the process. On a side note I get all my monitoring done at a fertility clinic in Nashville and there is always a lot of people in there. Today it seemed like so many couples. Well I saw two women very upset and it broke my heart. I do not know what upset them it could have been many different things but it made me really sad to see it. I really wanted to help each and every one of them in any way that I could. I almost told them all I would carry their babies if they needed me to. I hate seeing people having to go through that and that is exactly why I do what I do.

OMG

So yesterday I had a horrible scare! When I went to the bathroom I had some blood then some spotting for a few hours then it stopped. But the first bit of blood I freaked out thinking that I was miscarrying. When I contacted the clinic she said just relax and put my feet up that it may not be anything. Of course deep down I knew this because I bled with the twins and with my youngest child both and they are all completely healthy. So I went to my ultrasound appointment this morning and we were able to see the baby! We couldn't quite capture the heartbeat yet but I go back for that next week. This is so exciting! Everything looks good on ultrasound so there is no reason for concern. I did feel like I had to tell the mom about the spotting and she was so worried about it. I tried to reassure her but I am sure it was very scary thinking that they might lose this precious gift. Luckily I got to tell her good news today and she was so happy to hear it. I may be doing the work now but emotionally this process can be trying for all involved. It is still early and things may still happen but we are thinking positive and looking towards the future.

Good News

So last week I went for my blood test and the first one was over 800. They want it to double in 2 days and my next one was 1983! So I am definitely pregnant but it is still early. I need to go this week for an ultrasound. I am very excited to be pregnant again! I have had a lot of other stuff going on too. I looked up my insurance policy to see if I could find the hospital and a doctor for me however I couldn't find any in network hospitals in Kentucky at all. That is a problem because with the laws I need to deliver there. So we are in the midst of trying to figure this out since we were assured in the beginning that it would be covered in this insurance plan. Also Trevor broke his arm so we had a lot going on with that. There is so much more happening that I will not bore you with. I am just hoping all goes well and I get to deliver another healthy baby!