Meet the parents, and friends and relatives (journey #5)

Wow, what an amazing weekend!

My IPs flew my husband and I to their hometown to meet IF, Big Brother, friends and relatives. We had already met IM and I was excited to see her again and meet the rest of the gang.

Lovely Rita (IM) picked us up from the airport with Hey Jude in the backseat. He kept saying hurry up Jill and John, let's go while we were still inside waiting for our luggage. He was a little shy at first with us though. 

Driving through their neighborhood was amazing. We saw some of the neatest houses. Their house was great too. I liked so many things about it inside and out. 

I finally got to meet Sgt. Pepper. He came down the stairs and straight to me. He even pushed aside a friend to hug me first. I believe at that point he told me they weren't going to let me leave, that I wasn't going anywhere.  And then he touched my belly. He jokingly said, I don't have to ask, right? And I said, nope!

:-)

I believe he then asked John, my husband if it was okay. Lol

They had some close friends over for dinner including the surrogacy counselor who helped facilitate things on their end and an awesome actor who had twins through surrogacy. (Not NPH)  Everyone was dressed up, so I went upstairs to put on my dress that I had brought "just in case".

Talking intently about something, must be surrogacy. Sgt. Pepper (IF) is to my right.

With the surrogacy counselor.

We ate Indian food which was a new experience for John and I. One of Lovely Rita's friends asked if she could feel my belly and I said of course. Everyone there was so nice and welcoming.

Cool fertility goddess IM had on their table.

After dinner and I believe after ice cream, we were chatting and baby was moving as Lovely Rita was talking, so I went to sit by her so she could feel baby move. It took a bit, but eventually she could feel her.

I brought the stork I had bought for IM. I originally was going to give it to her at Baby CeCe's birth, but I felt I should bring it now for her to put in baby's room. She loved it and eventually Hey Jude saw it and became interested in it. He ended up taking it to bed with him. 

Lovely Rita asked if I had seen my daughter Jessica's picture on the fridge. She had drawn her a stork when we mailed the ultrasound pictures to them. So sweet that it was on their fridge.

We stayed the first night in a hotel nearby. When we checked into the hotel right before bed, we had gifts waiting for us- a hoodie/jacket for me and a hat for John. I could actually use a jacket that fits right now and it fits great, plus it's cute!

Doesn't Lovely Rita have lovely handwriting?

We ate breakfast at a lovely bakery across the street from the hotel and then Lovely Rita picked us up and took us back to their house.

When Hey Jude woke up that morning he asked where we were. So sweet.

Back at their house, I got introduced to another awesome friend.

Lovely Rita and I

After awhile, we were headed out on a 3 hour drive to Lady Madonna's house (Lovely Rita's mom). It was great to talk and chat on the way.

We stopped to get pedicures and at that point I got to meet Lady Madonna. She took me to get a sandwich while Lovely Rita got started on her pedicure. Soon, it was my turn. I hadn't decided what color of polish I was going to do. When I saw the color Lovely Rita brought, I decided we should match. She said she'd be honored. I got to sit in a massage chair which was nice. My feet are sensitive and at some points, it tickled.

Then, we were off to Lady Madonna's house for dinner and to stay the night. What a beautiful house! We got to check out where we'd be sleeping. Lovely Rita told us we'd have some personal space in the basement with our own bedroom and bathroom. She didn't mention the theater room!
Oh my gosh! Their basement was amazing! It was pretty much everything I want to do to our basement, only on a much larger scale. 

Dinner was lovely and yummy and it was great chatting with more family. Lovely Rita's dad is awesome too. We'll call him Dr. Maxwell.

I have interacted with Lady Madonna since the beginning of our journey and already knew she was great. It was nice to finally meet her.

We also met Lovely Rita's brother whose birthday is just a day after mine. There are so many birthday coincidences (and other coincidences) between our families that I wouldn't be surprised if Baby shared a birthday with someone. She could easily share a birthday with my daughter, my twin uncles, my grandma or even Hey Jude.

We went for a ride in this awesome vehicle, the Jeepster.

Who can turn down ice cream? Then we rented a movie to watch in the theater room. John fell asleep early on and then I fell asleep and he woke up and finished the movie.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, Baby CeCe was moving and I just took some time to take it all in. I wanted to stay in the moment of it all.

Then we got up and went to brunch at Lovely Rita's aunts' house. We got to meet more family and eat more good food. John was loving the country atmosphere! Again, everyone was friendly and welcoming.

Lady Madonna is to Lovely Rita's right and then to her right is LR's brother. Dr. Maxwell is to the left on the front row. We have 2 aunties in the pic, one next to my husband, left top row, and one in the bottom middle. And then a cousin to the far left and nieces on the bottom row. You should know everybody else by now.

:-)

I absolutely love this picture!

My husband John with Hey Jude. 

Next stop, was back to Lady Madonna's for a quick break.

I got to sit down with Lovely Rita and have some belly time together. Sgt. Pepper joined us. They both got to feel baby move. So did Lady Madonna. I got to meet more family.

:-)

Finally, Hey Jude sat on my lap and cuddled with me and baby sister. Yay! I got lots of loving in. Him and dad talked to her and dad kissed her through my belly, but big brother wasn't too sure about that.

I love his smile here.

We needed to get going. Sgt. Pepper was staying behind with Hey Jude, so it was time to say goodbye to them. I got a hug from them both. I even got an extra hug from Sgt. Pepper as he got a little choked up and thanked me. I can't even begin to explain the love I have for this family and I got choked up later as I told John and our kids.

We were running out of time and needed to stop for a quick visit to Lovely Rita's grandma. I decided she needed a nickname too. Lady Madonna suggested Eleanor Rigby- perfect.

We needed to eat before heading to the airport. Since we don't have a sit down Pizza Hut in Utah anymore, we thought that would be pretty cool. 

An hour later we were at the airport. John didn't have a seat and needed to check in with an agent. Anxiety was setting in. We were running behind and might not get to sit together or even get on the plane. We checked in and they had put us in the same row, but not next to each other. Luckily, someone offered to switch. 

Our next flight home was delayed getting luggage on. Ugh!

And then somehow our luggage didn't make it to SLC.

It finally arrived the next night.

We had a blast! Such an awesome weekend. I am so grateful to be a part of this journey. I will treasure these memories forever!

Sweetest thing ever- Big Brother can't wait! Journey #5

This is my sweet buddy, Hey Jude. (Baby's big brother) 

He's been asking questions and my IPs have been trying to answer them. They read him my book (which he is holding in the pic) and now he requests it at naptime and bedtime. He also won't go to sleep without holding a picture of me. Aw!

I've only Facetimed with him once the weekend of the transfer when I first met Lovely Rita in person. He is so excited and full of so much love for his baby sister. I feel so blessed to be the one carrying her for this family. Only 2 1/2 more weeks and  we'll all be hanging out together. Baby's still got awhile longer to finish cooking though. Lovely Rita says he's processing it all well! 

They recently got some girl hand me downs and he sleeps in the pile of clothes and cuddles with this monkey that LR told him is about the size of baby sister right now. 😍❤️

He also knows that I'm coming and asks everyday if I'm coming today. So sweet.

Back To School We Go ( from homeschooling back to public)

I haven't had to worry about back to school shopping for 2 years.

My kids are going back to public school this year after being home schooled for the past 2 years. I have mixed emotions and feelings about it. There are things I like and advantages and disadvantages to both. 

The girls chose  to go back this year. I really struggled with what to do with my son and we have come across a path that has led us to him going to school and living with his grandma. It wasn't exactly an easy choice to make but it definitely feels like the right choice. 

Lots of changes going on and I hope that everything will turn out for the better. Who knows what will be in store for us next year. Homeschooling was a wonderful experience and I do not regret it!

My oldest daughter will be in seventh grade starting tomorrow. My youngest daughter will start third grade on Tuesday. My husband goes back to SLCC for Fall semester on Wednesday. My son will start 10th grade next Monday. I can't believe we'll have someone in Elementary school, Junior High (middle school, whatever you want to call it), High School and College. Let the fun and chaos begin.

Surrogacy update, life and health

So, I've been kind of boring. I even went a month between posts. You must all hate me. Not really, but I thought I'd be dramatic. Maybe you're a little disapponted? Maybe you forgot I even exist?

Well, here's the updates:

I am still unable to find insurance that will cover me as a surrogate. So after going over the few options, I realized there was only one way to go. That would be to not use insurance, and to have the IP's (intended parents) pay "cash" for the medical fees. Sometimes, I think a cash discount plan is better than even having insurance. We pay alot in premiums, copays, etc. We can hardly afford our premiums, let alone go see a Dr.

Anyway, I got sidetracked. I've been making calls, collecting information. So far, I've only been able to connect with my ob/gyn's office.  The lady there was helpful and gave me a breakdown of costs.  I thought it actually sounded pretty decent. Now these were just the Dr.'s fees for visits and the delivery. She gave me the price for ultrasounds, etc. It all sounded reasonable. I just have to get the fees for the hospital stay and anesthesiologist, etc. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but I think it's going to be just about the same as if I had insurance and they were paying all the premiums, copays, deductibles. I was told about a pay out plan aawhile back. You pay $XX for the plan, they pay out $XXXX if you are hospitalized, for whatever reason. They do not care if you are a surrogate, how you got pregnant, etc. I already talked to this guy and he made it sound like this plan would work for me, etc. I thought it sounded great, but then I said, what about Dr. visits? Oh I don't know what you'd do about that... I was so excited that I thought I had found something to COVER the surrogacy and all the maternity costs. But I think we could do this along with the cash discount for the visits and everything else. At least that would be some kind of coverage.

You would think that it would get easier each time. I mean technically, I 've been a surrogate 3 times now. Each surrogacy has it's complications, it's hold ups. I'm not even matched yet!  Gotta get this all squared away first. Hoping to be matched this Fall though.    :)

Other news?

I'm still battling sinus issues. Headaches, pain, pressure. Going to an ear nose and throat specialist this week. No fun, but hopefully I'll get some answers soon and get all of this resolved.

I am trying to finish out the school year with the kids. I will keep them somewhat inovled over the summer with some kind of schooling. It's been a great homeschooling year. We are planning a family vacation for Fall and I can't wait. We are going to California- Disneyland, etc. We are ALL finding ways to earn/save money to go. It will be a good experience.

I'll try not to keep you waiting as long for my next post....

XOXOXOXOXOXO,

Mormon Surrogate

There's always a reason

My life wouldn't be my life without little situations that have meaning. Sometimes I think of a situation and think, wow what a waste of time that was. Other times I find out there was a reason for that situation. Sometimes I find out years later, sometimes right away.

We're all connected, there's guidance from above, and I'm all kinds of emotional just thinking about it.

Yesterday, for a second I had a moment that I thought was a waste of my time.

I will share my story from an e-mail I just sent my dad....

First off, we've been looking to upgrade our vehicles. The cars are getting older with more and more miles on them, so we've been looking around. I've been wanting an F150 ever since we got one as a rental awhile back. So yesterday I was at Ken Garff Ford in American Fork.





It ended up being an interesting situation. I didn't really see anything in our price range or more like in our price range that we wanted, but this lady was determined for me to come in and see if they could do anything for us. Well they couldn't. Unless I wanted to accept $500 for the Explorer and van. (each) And if I wanted a Fusion. Actually I don't even know if that was 100% in our price range.





While this guy was running around checking on things, this lady sat and chatted with me and Jeremy. She was asking him if he was going to be in the Navy like his dad. He told her that he used to want to be in the Army, but now he's thinking it would be fun to work with Grandpa Don at the Book Bindery. After a few minutes, she said she used to work at a Bindery for 20 years. She asked the name of the Bindery (Utah Book Binding Company) and said it sounded familiar. (it is now Family Heritage Publishers) Well she had worked at Hiller Book Binding Company which sounded familiar to me. I guess her uncle started that company. I told her that my grandpa might have worked with her uncle. I told her she should ask him if he knew Glenn Hancock. She said, he had died but her aunt would know.





So this morning I looked in the book about Grandma and Grandpa, and sure enough it was Hiller Bookbinding Company. How crazy is that? Well it got me thinking that we need to go and visit Grandma and Grandpa soon. Would you want to go with us on Sunday? We have a gift for Kathie for her birthday, so either way we'd like to get together if you're not busy.





I'm taking the kids to the downtown library today, so e-mail or call and let me know.


Love,


Jill


Life is too short, we don't see my grandparents often enough. Maybe once every 2 years. This lady came into my life at this point and time for a reason. I'm not sure what it is beyond the fact that I need to visit my grandparents!  I'm so grateful that my grandparents made a book about their lives. It helps me to know and understand who I am. Just flipping through the pages and seeing my grandparents and great grandparents has made me cry for the last 20 minutes. I can't explain it, but I'm overcome with emotions.

Fall and family

I like Fall. I like the cooler weather. Not looking forward to the freezing cold that is around the corner. Kind of exciting that it started snowing today... but not ready for that! I don't really mind snowy/rainy days as long as I'm not out and about in it... which I'm usually not.

But the point of all my rambling? I can't believe next week is November already. I can't believe this Sunday will be November 1st. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. What is better than great food and family? I'm still in the "younger" generation group, so Thanksgiving isn't stressful for me, because I am just in charge of bringing a side dish and/or dessert. So it is rather enjoyable for me. Thanksgiving is spent 80% of the time with John's family. That's just how it's worked out. They are usually our only invite. I'm not complaining... it's good food and good people. My mom usually joins us. My mom and John's mom are friends. (they became friends after we got married) It's kind of weird, but soooo cool!

I'm a dork, that's not our only invite... we are also included in my Stepmom, Kathie's thanksgiving plans. Also good food and people!! Why did I forget to mention that? Hmmm.... getting old? We have been doing the 2 Thanksgiving dinners for a few years now. John's family Thanksgiving is usually around 2:oo PM at a church. We usually catch up with my Kathie's family around 6:30 or so. So grateful to be included and treated like part of the family. Great, great people!!!

Christmas we are all over the place... with John's parents, my Mom and my Dad and Stepmom. We have to split it all up. But I am blessed to have such a big, loving family. That includes everyone- extended family, inlaws, etc. Not a bad bunch!

What about you? Who do you spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with? Do you travel? Stay around town?