Thursday, October 17, 2013

One Month Later

It's been a month since Baby M arrived and I'm feeling great! Physically, my energy levels are back to normal and I've managed to lose all the extra weight from the pregnancy. Dealing with the emotional turmoil the first few weeks was kind of challenging.

During the pregnancy, I didn't have any problem with not getting too attached to the baby. Babies, before they're born are more of a "concept" (to me) and less of a reality. Once he arrived and I got to see the joy literally written on the faces of his parents, it was impossible to maintain that distance. It wasn't long before they felt like family. I've had so many people (whose support I am unbelievably grateful for) tell me how wonderful it was for me to become a surrogate and help create a family. After going through the whole process, I can tell you that even knowing how much this meant to my surro-family, I feel like the winner. It has been so rewarding to see and feel all that happiness and know that I was a huge part in creating it!

So now life returns to normal. Doing all the things I was doing before - but without a baby bump. This includes therapy appointments, preschool, housework and tackling some of the bigger home improvement/maintenance things that were put on hold for a while. As much as the end of pregnancy is challenging, I totally miss it already.

One thing that is different for me is that I am still able to help others right now. I decided long ago that I would pump breast milk and donate it to others through either a local network or a milk bank. So far, it's going wonderfully and I've been able to help several local families. At the one month mark, I'm just shy of a total of 1000 ounces ~ that's the equivalent of almost 8 gallons! (or over 29 liters for all you metric-loving folks out there) Amazing!! I'm hoping to keep it going for another 2 months at least. Perhaps more....

I hope that one day, I'll be able to do this all again. In the meantime, I have wonderful new friends on the other side of the Atlantic and the satisfaction in knowing that I really changed a life ~ several lives ~ for the better. That's the best!








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