Recovery Week 2

This past week has been really great. I sent a boundary email to my sub and I was worried he wouldn't handle it well but he did! I just said I would only be checking my email once a day and not responding to text messages and if he had immediate questions to see the teachers across the hall. It's been heavenly. I think when I go back it will be chaotic for a bit figuring out what he did and didn't do but who cares, that will be my later problem. I had my kids this past week which I always love. Piper and Ryan have pretty bad colds and missed most of school last week. I'm sad they are sick and it will be hard for them to catch up next week, but it was kind of fun to be able to have extra time with them. 

On Monday the kids didn't have school so we met Roy and Ori at Pojos and we were there for a long time. Roy and Ran are having a harder time this time being stuck in Idaho because it's January, brrr, and they have a 2 year old that they are trying to entertain so we are trying to help out there a bit. Gabby and I tried to babysit for them on Friday night but she wouldn't let them leave. To be fair, she's 2 and only speaks Hebrew. We just ended up hanging out for a few hours and I got baby Shahar snuggles and Gabby played with Ori so they still got a little bit of a break. On Saturday night they came over and had dinner at Gabe and Christy's house. They offered up their pool that they keep very warm in the winter but I think Roy and Ran are too freaked out to put their 2 year old in an outdoor pool when it's so cold outside. Gabby played a ton with Ori though so I'm sure they appreciated getting out and getting a break of sorts. Plus Christy is the best cook! 

Everything else is a blur. I won't have my kids this week and I won't be working so I might lose my mind. I'm trying really hard to just enjoy my time off and really rest and relax. As soon as I go back to work it will be full steam ahead.  Recovery is going great, I definitely don't look or feel like I had a baby less than 2 weeks ago, which is awesome! 

Breakfast at Elmer's and snuggles.

We tried a new swanky restaurant. A few friends bailed but sometimes a smaller group is better for conversation anyway.

Gabby won the chicken jackpot.

Roy and Ori.

This is the only game I like to play at Pojos. It's based on the old TV show Deal or No Deal. At the end my case either had 1 or 200 tickets. The bank offered me 100 tickets and I said no deal and my case had 200 tickets. Wahoo! It was epic! What are the odds that the last two cases would be 1 or 200?

200 tickets! Heck yes!

Piper also got a ton of tickets. 

 

She's here!

Buckle up, it's going to be a long one. As I posted last Sunday I was DONE with the pregnancy and was really hoping I would go into labor last weekend. I was pretty depressed and worn out and not really sure about going to work for my last week of pregnancy. LUCKILY just as we were getting ready to run an errand and go to the last pregnancy dinner with my kids I went upstairs to talk to Corbin and my water broke! Yay! I'm SO glad it happened at home and over the weekend. It was absolutely perfect. My kids were going to their dad's house for the week that night anyway! I had already decided my sister Kelsey was going to be my hospital person so I called her and she started driving to Boise. All the gold stars to Kelsey for making arrangements to be my delivery buddy. She made freezer meals for me and for her family while she was gone. She had to arrange babysitting for her kids while she was gone and her babysitter was just kind of on call and ready to take Kelsey's kids for whenever I went into labor and she had to drive 3+ hours to get here. What a champ! My brother Hart drove me to the hospital and stayed with my until Kelsey came. 

When I got to the hospital they had to test and confirm that my water had in fact broken. They were making me doubt myself and I was about to feel really stupid if Kelsey was driving over and I had already contacted my school if my water had not broken. After the test they confirmed my water had broken (duh!) and I was moved to a delivery room. From there it was basically just a long waiting game. I don't really go into labor without pitocin so they got that going and they gave me my epidural pretty early on. Sweet! Why not? The baby daddies checked in a few times throughout the evening and my friend Krista and sister in law Christy came. Around midnight the nurse called it that nothing was really going to happen and everyone went home and went to bed except for Kelsey who slept on the not so great bench. I had a long uncomfortable night of no sleep. I just had to try to lay in one position for an hour or two at a time and I listened to audiobooks and tried to breathe and be patient. The nurse checked me at 5:30 am and there was basically no progress. I had gone from being dilated to 1.5 to 3, but even then she said I wasn't really dilated to a 3 that we with her kind of stretching me out. I was like great we are going to be here all day. Around 7:00 am I was ready to just be awake and we turned on the lights and Kelsey helped me so I could brush my teeth. Around 7:30 the nurse had me sit straight up and then things really started moving. I could feel my contractions quite a bit and the nurse was like I'm just going to check you and I was dilated to a 9! I couldn't believe it. I had to hurry and contact the baby daddies and Krista and Christy and tell them to hurry it was almost time to push. My doctor is SO great and he was on call at the hospital all night for me so he came in and he was really patient and waited for everyone to get to the hospital. As soon as people got there I started to push and she came in about 4 pushes over 10 minutes. It was so fast and slick. There wasn't any tearing and it was easy peasy, bless you epidural. She was born at 8:18 am on Jan 13th. She was 7 pounds 6 oz, 18 inches long. I labored for about 15 hours. I was really surprised she was as big as she was with being 2 weeks early. I was really proud, she was so healthy. I grew her and I did a dang good job!

I didn't want to hang out at the hospital long and they let me leave around 4:00 pm that day which was awesome. Kelsey drove me home and stayed with me until Wednesday morning. My mom and sister Trisha were supposed to come Wednesday and I told them not to come. I really didn't need any help and I didn't want 24/7 company so they stayed home. Over this past week I have had a lot of people bring me meals and come visit me and hang out with me. It's been really great. My kids come back tonight and I'm so excited. My recovery has been really good. The biggest hurdle and thing I was the most worried about with becoming a surrogate was my milk coming in. I have a lot of trauma with breastfeeding and it is not my cup of tea. Originally I told the dads that I would pump for them but I changed my mind and said no. I just wanted to dry up as quickly as possible. I had two really painful days when my milk came in but Kelsey did her research for me and we did all of the things to keep pain and milk at bay as much as possible. Today is day one with no meds and I feel okay. My emotions were super normal except for yesterday and today, it's been easy for me to start to cry but overall I feel good and fine. 

As far as the Israeli's they are super awesome and I love them and I love Shahar, I grew her! We went to breakfast together Friday morning and I just love holding her. She definitely knows me and snuggles in. Christy loves newborns more than anyone I know so she and Brigitte came with me last night and she brought dinner and we hung out for several hours. My friend Krista had planned a hatchelorette dinner for me tonight before I had the baby but surprise she came early (yay) so we are still have a celebratory dinner tonight with the Israeli's and my friends will meet them so that should be fun. Krista is an amazing photographer and she will take newborn pics and family pics this Tuesday so I'm very excited to see those pictures. I'm trying to find a flattering outfit to wear and boy oh boy that's hard. Why is the after baby bump not cute like the baby bump? Ha. I went shopping yesterday to try to find something and I would try something on and look at myself and just laugh. Haha, better than crying. I'll figure out something. 

Lastly, my sub! Oofta. He's not good. I knew he wouldn't be but I tried to find a sub and no one would take the job so I put it out for anyone to grab and this sub did. Anyway, he has texted me like 4 times a day asking the stupidest questions. I was thinking about going back early so I wouldn't have to deal with him but I've decided I really need to take this time and give myself a break. My plan is to stop responding to texts (I'll block him if I have to) and only correspond sparingly over email. FIGURE IT OUT MAN! I couldn't have left more direct or simple instructions and I literally already loaded every assignment in google classroom for him. I am done helping him. So wish me luck with that.

Okay, last last thing. I'm so happy this journey is done. It was long. It's been an incredible experience and I have no regrets but it was not an easy thing to do. I'm excited to have my body back and my life back. My kids have been really great and patient and I'm sure they are ready for a more fully functioning mom.  I'm really grateful I was healthy enough to do this because it gives me so much peace to have extra money in my bank account. Just last week my furnace wasn't working correctly and boom $300 later it's fixed. I cannot afford my mortgage and 4 kids on my salary comfortably. I love having extra so I feel like we can actually live and enjoy life. I'm really proud of myself for how hard I have worked and for being able to take care of my kids. Okay, this was really long and if you read this far...cheers!  

 

Kesley, Christy, and Krista.

Ran, Roy, and Ori.

Shahar!

I love holding her so much. 

I love this picture!

Corbin is in McCall this weekend for a Beal boys gathering. Ryan was invited but he went last year and hated it.They go ice fishing and it's freezing and boring and Ryan was traumatized. I would be too! HAHA!

Cute Corbs.

It's the Final Countdown

To say I'm ready to have this baby is a bit of an understatement. Oofta! I'm done. I'm happy I made it through my work week okay-ish. Monday was a teacher workday which was really amazing but I still didn't get everything done that I needed to. Tuesday was a new semester with new classes and new students and I did not feel well and I felt stressed so I took Wednesday off. It was the best decision ever. I was able to hyper focus and finish lesson planning for my maternity leave which I didn't quite get done over the break. After that I felt much less stressed because I'm now prepared to be gone in the classroom whenever the baby decides to come. I'm really wanting her to come early but so far no luck. My doctor stripped my membranes at my doctor's appointment on Wednesday and I had the "bloody show" on Friday at work so I thought I would have the baby this weekend. No such luck. I've done a lot of labor inducing exercises but I'm also trying to be moderate as to not exhaust myself unnecessarily.  I'm depressed that I'm still pregnant so to celebrate we are going out to dinner tonight as a family to eat our last meal together while I'm still pregnant. The next time my kids see me I won't be pregnant. It really is so close! Worst case scenario I have 9 more days. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.   

On Wednesday night the Israeli family came and had pizza with us and met my kids. We also went to their house on Saturday and had brunch. The kids started new semesters with some new classes but haven't had much to say about that. Piper really really hates school and I wish it wasn't so hard for her. Well that's about all, I've got labor on the brain. Wish me luck.

Piper made a paper chain countdown to baby.

I bought Ori a few presents, she was getting ready to open.

Ran's mom (Ran not pictured) crocheted some bags and a shawl for us. She is thoughtful and talented!

Ryan is the little chef. He likes learning how to cook new things. He wanted to make his first batch of cookies, to quote my mom, "they were blue ribbon cookies." 

 

Last Week of Break

Just like that, break is over! This break went pretty fast. The second week was better than I thought it would be. It helped that Corbin was here. He was gone a lot but just having a little company was nice! I had to dog sit all week and that got old fast. I've had to go over and check on them 3-4 times a day and set an alarm to get up and go let them out. It's not been my favorite but it hasn't been that big of a deal either. New Year's was pretty uneventful. I went to a movie on New Year's Eve with my aunt and cousin and then went with them to my other cousin's house and played a game with them for a few minutes after the movie. I went to bed before midnight.  

I had a doctor's appointment last week with an ultrasound since I'm old they wanted to check in on things. My amniotic fluid is great and baby looks to be about 6 pounds so things are looking great. The parents arrived in Boise on a snowy New Year's Day. It was the first and only snow we've gotten this year. It was very pretty. I decided to keep up a January emotional support tree and I'm so glad I did. I would have been bummed to not have any twinkle lights on the one day it snowed.  

I met the Israeli baby family yesterday. We met at a coffee shop, it felt a little like an awkward first date but it was great. They are really great. They will come over for some pizza this week so the kids can meet them. 

I have been working like crazy the last few days. I tend to procrastinate and cram and it's go time! I need 5 weeks of lessons figured out so that I'm covered for whenever the baby decides to come. I have 2 of my 3 classes pretty well figured out. Tomorrow teachers return to work for a work day so I hope to finish it all up tonight and tomorrow. Wish me luck!

January décor with lights.

A skiff of snow! We got a bit more than that, it only lasted 2 days.

My January happy lights.

Ori (2), Roy (to the left of me), Ran (to the right of me).