Hello, 2nd Trimester!

Hey everyone!

Can't believe its been so long since my last blog entry.  I guess no news is good news, right?  Well, yes, that's been the case!  Today I am 15 weeks pregnant with Baby Kaufman!  He/She is doing well and growing perfectly.  I had an ultrasound at 13 weeks and the baby was measuring right on schedule and heartbeat was 176.  Here are a few photos from that ultrasound.  The tech said that the baby has LONG legs.  No surprise with Kellie and Chris as parents! :)

There is nothing more exciting to me than walking out of the ultrasound and texting Kellie and Chris!  My appointments always are first thing in the morning and since Kellie lives on the West coast, she is 2 hours behind me in her timezone.  So, it always is such a long wait for her to wakeup and see photos of her precious babe!  We also heard the heartbeat at 12 weeks and my doctor was so awesome to let me record it on my phone to send to the parents.  Melted my heart to hear how Kellie cried listening to it!!

I've been feeling great.  Honestly, can't complain about much.  I had slight nausea for a few weeks around 8-10 weeks but nothing since then.  I have noticed I get out of breath more often but the doctor said thats completely normal because of the blood doubling for baby.  Sometimes I feel like I ran a mile when I go up the stairs!  haha.  But over the last week, I have noticed that seems to be a little better too.  I have SO much energy!  I was pretty tired for a few weeks in the 1st trimester but that has been gone for a while too.
I just got back last night from a girls trip to Cancun.  It was such a blast!  Kellie came too and we had so much fun together and she loved being able to see the small bump that I've got going on :)  Here are some photos from the trip. And, of course, we had to take an awkward family photo one just for fun but ended up just laughing through it.

We have created such a strong friendship through of all this and I couldn't have wished this to be any smoother of a process.  I often think about the days in November that all of this gets to come full circle and I can not wait.  I am so anxious to be able to hand this baby over to his/her parents and see the looks on their faces knowing that this baby was SO wished for, SO cared for, SO wanted and created with so much love.  Kellie and I were talking while in Mexico about the amount of support we've gotten through all of this. It's been so incredible for both of us.  We are both leaders with It Works and so we often hear how much our It Works story has inspired other people.  But, lately, we hear how much our surrogacy journey has inspired them.  And, we just love that.  It's so amazing being able to help give back and show the world how to love out loud, all the while inspiring others, just by sharing our lives.

I know I got so behind on this blog that I never posted my bump photos!  Here is the 14 week (from last week) and the 12 week (from a few weeks ago).  We should have a 16 week bump photo next week... and hopefully a gender announcement!!!  Eeeeeek!!  What do YOU think? Boy or girl!?

Thanks again everyone!  Love to you all!  I won't wait so long in between posts next time... I promise!  And.. I think its time for another guest entry from Kellie (and/or Chris!), wouldn't you say so, too?  ;)