Surrogate Anniversary

Today is August 6, 2011. There is nothing special about this date for me and Bryndon, but we decided to make today our surrogate anniversary since most likely next Friday the 12th (our real anniversary), I will be in the hospital recovering after a C-section. Here's the quick version of the story:

We realized that our baby was in the breech position (head up) a while back, and hoped that she would turn on her own in the following weeks. That didn't happen. So then we scheduled what is called a "version" at the hospital, where my doctor tried to manually turn her with his hands on my belly. That was an extremely painful experience, and was unfortunately unsuccessful. It seems that our little girl is kind of stuck down low (her bum is) in my pelvis, so that made it impossible to force her to turn. After the doctor pronounced this and I had a good bawl session, we started planning for a Cesarean section.

We even decided to try the method of acupuncture to get her to move and turn the correct way, which might possibly still work, but we've also scheduled the C-section for this coming Wednesday, August 10th. My cute sisters-in-law have both had C-sections and have gotten me pumped up with all the positive aspects of having a planned C-section as opposed to going through a long a painful labor and delivery. There are pros and cons to both, and the C-section wasn't our first choice, but we are also grateful that we live in a time and place where that is a very safe method of delivering a child. I'm open to however we can get this girl here safe and sound. It won't be the end of the world, thankfully! :) 

So that was my long explanation about why we celebrated our anniversary tonight. I wanted to share some pictures as well. First, I love the fact that for much of my pregnancy, 2 sisters-in-law on my family's side have been pregnant (Elisabeth and Kari) and 2 other sisters-in-law from Bryndon's side (Jessica and Beth) have been as well! Here's a fun prego picture of the 3 of us on Bryndon's side with our bellies... 

Now here's one of me tonight at 39 weeks
(possibly my last prego pic!):

And here's a taste of our evening... We went to The Roof restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and it was AMAZING!!! The last time I ate there was 5 years ago (almost exactly) with Bryndon when we went on our last date together before I left on my mission. I forgot how amazing the food and desserts are! Yes, it is very expensive, but definitely worth it for every 5 years (or less) and on very special occasions!

After eating all the food we could possibly handle at The Roof, we went to Red Butte Gardens at the University of Utah and saw the beautiful flowers, herbs, trees and views of the valley from there. And yes, the photo below will show that Bryndon actually asked them if they had a wheelchair he could take me around in, and we actually did that! I was so embarrassed that I was letting him push me around in that when I was perfectly capable of walking (albeit extremely slowly). But it ended up being a really good idea because we got to zoom around the entire Garden without Bryndon having to wait for me all the time. It has gotten hard to even walk very much because I start having contractions whenever I over-do it.  And the other thing was that while we were at The Roof, I started having some painful contractions while just sitting there, so we definitely didn't want me to force myself into labor, especially with this breech baby. Anyway, I swallowed my pride and after a little while actually enjoyed myself, directing my driver around the beautiful Garden.

Here is a cool one of some cacti:

Bryndon was cute and got excited about feeding the ducks at this little pond.

Everything was so vibrant with greens and other bright colors.
I guess I should show a picture of some flowers:

And last of all, we must have our crazy face pictures.
This was one of the less ugly ones, if you can believe it. :)

Happy Surrogate Anniversary, Babe!!! 

I love Bryndon SOOOO much. He is the best.
And I can't wait to see him as a daddy within a week!!! 

AAAAAAAHHHH!!!