Here is a picture my mom took of me at the end of her visit. I was 11 weeks and 5 days. I'm not too fond of the photo for a few reasons:

1) It was a billion degrees in my house and I was all greasy and sweaty.

2) It was late at night and you probably can't tell, but I had a really tired look on my face.

3) I have been wearing sports bras lately to keep my swollen sore boobies contained (they feel so much better that way!), and this picture makes me look soooooooo flat-chested (despite the fact that my chest has grown).

4) I look like a man with his pants hiked up too high! :) And I promise, I don't wear my shirts that short - my mom made me pull it up for the picture.

Aside from all that, I think I look hot! Just kidding. No one ever likes photos of themselves....especially someone who's in that funky in-between stage of pregnancy where it mostly just looks like she's getting fat instead of having a cute round obviously pregnant belly.

My pooch looks bigger in the picture than what it feels like for real. I wasn't standing funny or sticking my gut out, though....but I swear it doesn't look that huge in real life. It's strange because I think the baby is not much larger than a lime at this point....although, my uterus is probably bigger than a large grapefruit. So, that big ol' pooch of mine is mostly bloatedness and fat! :) Ha ha!

Update on my sister's surrogacy experience:

My sis is about 7 weeks along in her pregnancy, I think. She is feeling really nauseous, has diarrhea and a bad head cold. Ick! She works full time as a Respiratory Therapist at a hospital and has 3 little ones. I don't know how she does it! She did call in sick yesterday and doesn't have to work again until Saturday night, so she's trying to rest a little. She usually works 3 12 hour shifts a week and it's starting to get to her. I'm not sure how she can keep up that pace while pregnant....and she's usually on her feet the whole 12 hours! I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but she's only carrying a singleton. My family (myself included) is very relieved about that. Everything is normal and healthy. She's had about a ba-jillion ultrasounds, which kind of concerns me. She knows that I'm choosing not to have ANY ultrasounds (if I can help it) and I think that she looks at me like I'm a paranoid weirdo. :) Not really. She just trusts the medical establishment and thinks that if there were any danger, doctors and nurses would know and warn patients. I won't get into what I think about that. She is very medically-minded, though, and I guess she doesn't see anything wrong with having an ultrasound every 2 weeks. Well, it's also not her baby and since the fertility clinic that's handling the surrogacy suggests that she go every 2 weeks for a sonogram until 12 weeks, that's what she's been doing. I think after that, they just do the regular 20 week u/s and not sure how many they'll order after that. Oh well, I'm sure I AM being a paranoid freak and everything will be fine. They still have her on progesterone shots until 16 weeks. My mom was talking to me about the whole thing when she was here visiting. She is supportive, but her main concern is that with work and feeling pregnant and ill, my sister's own children are going to get slighted. My mom assured me that if she sees my sister beginning to get cranky and impatient with her kids or neglecting them in any way because of the pregnancy, she will step in and have a talk with her. Even though I'm happy my sister is getting to do something she feels so strongly about, I'm glad that my mom will keep an eye on how her grandchildren are affected.

I'm wondering how everything will play out when it gets close to the time when we're both due. She is about 5 weeks behind me, and I'm assuming that she will need our mom to watch her kids while she travels to the town where the real parents live to give birth. The baby's parents really want her to come to them when it's time to give birth and she agreed to that, but it seems to me it would be more fair for my sister to be able to stay where she is and let the baby's parents come to her. Oh well, guess my sis has her reasons. Anyway, my mom told me that she would stay with me for as long as I thought I needed her help after my baby comes, even if it's as long as a month! I'm not sure how long I'll want her to stay when the time comes, but I admit that I get a little jealous to think that she may have to rush home to take care of my sister's kids sooner than I want her to leave. My sister has had my mom there to help her after all 3 of her births....and she has her at her disposal all year 'round. The selfish part of me thinks that my mom should stay with me regardless of when my sister has to travel because it's my turn to have her undivided attention. But then, the UNselfish part of me thinks it's no big deal and even if my mom has to leave before I want her to, I won't take it personally and let my feelings get hurt over it....it's just a matter of timing that may or may not work out. Besides, DH and I have been so blessed to be able to have children on our own. My sister is doing this for a couple that CAN'T have children on their own, and it would be pretty selfish of me to get my panties in a bunch over her needing my mom's help to give life to this couple's child. I'll do my best to make the UNselfish me win this one. :)

Labels: belly pics, family, pregnancy, pregnancy whining, surrogacy