Waiting is so hard

I'm dying to see our little one on the 8th, I can't wait to see the baby's little heartbeat. I really want to find out if we are expecting more than one this time. I'm so excited to show the ultrasound pictures to Hannah, she knows that we put our baby in Steph's tummy but she's already getting a little impatient...she wants the baby to come home now and she only wants the baby to be a girl. We've talked a lot about how the baby needs a long time to grow and get strong before he/she can live outside of Steph's tummy. We've also talked a lot about how we can't choose if the baby will be a boy or a girl and she will love the baby no matter what. She says she will love the baby but she only wants a boy if it comes with a girl. It will be so nice when we know the sex of this baby so we can help Hannah adjust.

I just noticed that the floating baby in one of my tickers has a heartbeat now...that is so cool!

2nd Beta-HCG Test

Steph had her second beta pregnancy test this morning and our number doubled perfectly...todays number was 221. We are so excited and definitely expecting another baby!!!! I think I'm still in shock and a little numb...it's just so hard to believe that Darin and I are going to parents of 3 kids. We struggled so hard to have one and now we are going to have 3, life is amazing!
Our first ultrasound will be on October 8th, we can't wait to see our baby!!!

Beta-HCG The Pregnancy Hormone

We officially got a positive pregnancy test today!!! Steph's HCG level was a 95, which is very strong with this early in the pregnancy. We are so excited and relieved...I think we can safely eliminate the triplet worries!!! Steph has to go get a second Beta-HCG test done on Saturday to make sure the number doubles...it should double every two days. So Saturdays number should be around 200. I'm keeping my guess the same...I think we are adding one baby girl to our family!

Our 3 embryos

Here's a first look at our embryos. These photos were taken just minutes before our transfer...Aren't they beautiful?!!!

BETA (otherwise known as a pregnancy test)

Steph goes in on Thursday, September 18 for our official pregnancy test (blood draw). The number has to be above 2 for it to be a positive test. Before Steph and I left CA we bought a few home pregnancy tests to take a few days before our official test. Steph has gotten several positive tests already so we know our beta number will be good.

Here are a few pictures of our positive home tests!

Transferring our Frozen Babes

Steph and I made our way to CA on September 7th for our transfer (technical term for putting our babies in her uterus). Our transfer was on September 8th at 11:30 pacific standard time...1:30p.m. central time. Steph had an unbelievably good uterine lining (19) so we all had a great feeling from the beginning! Our little embryos made it through the thaw, we only had to thaw 3 embryos to transfer 3 so we still have 2 waiting in the freezer. In order to survive the thawing process the embryos have to retain at least 50 percent of their original cells. Our embryos started with 7, 8 and 9 cells and retained 7, 5 and 6 of their original cells. They looked beautiful!!! We transferred our 3 little darlings to Steph and the wait was on.

Here are a few pictures of Steph and I during our trip!
This is Steph just minutes before our little babes were transferred into her care for the next 9 months!
The day after transfer we headed to Carmel for a relaxing walk on the beach. We also did the 17 mile drive...it is spectacular!

The beginning

Darin and I decided that we wanted to have another baby. We have 5 embryos left waiting for us in the deep freeze in CA and we just felt like our family wasn't complete without giving them a chance to join us. So we set out on our 3rd surrogacy journey looking for the perfect woman to help bring our baby into this world. It took a while to find her, but it was worth the wait...she's perfect for us! Her name is Stephanie and she lives in Iowa about 4 hours from us. She's been a surrogate before and delivered boy/girl twins for another Wisconsin family in 2007. She's very easy going and loves being pregnant...and she's really good at being pregnant too...she carried the twins until 38 weeks. She has 4 kids of her own, 3 boys and a girl. Elliott is 14, Isaiah is 12, Tannis is 9 and Soleil is 6. We are so excited to have Steph and her family join us in making another miracle for our family.