Happy Birthday Ethan!

Yesterday was the birthday of my youngest surro - Ethan.   On October 17, 2003 he was born and was just as beautiful of a baby as you have ever seen.  His features were soft, his head was perfect, his lips were beautiful.... I wish I could take some of the credit, but his egg donor (#508) and his Daddy sure do make lovely babies!!  He was also my smallest baby to date at 8lbs 5ozs.

I was living in Oregon during my pregnancy with Ethan but flew to California when I was 38 weeks pregnant so I could deliver with the same OB as the first surrogate and so the family could all be there to welcome their new addition.   A couple days later my 'house spouse' and my 4 1/2 year old son flew down to Cali too.

Mark (house spouse) had endured an entire pregnancy during our 9 1/2 months of dating.   *I had warned him he did NOT want to start dating me since I had plans to get pregnant 3 weeks after we met - he chose not to listen.*   Gotta say that was a very fun way to start a relationship - "Hi, this is my girlfriend and her son and yes she is pregnant but not isn't mine and no it isn't hers either."  *smile*   He had a great attitude about the whole thing and his famous saying was 'how many guys get a trial run at their girlfriends being pregnant?'  So true.

So Mark flew in the night before I ended up delivering - we weren't sure if he would be there for labor/deliver or not, but it was worth a shot.   As it was - he had perfect timing!  I had an appointment for a check in the morning and was told I was leaking a bit of amniotic fluid so I was sent to L&D.  Woot-Woot!! Without going into the entire story (maybe some day....) Ethan was born within 4 hours (tied with one of my longest labor/deliveries) and he was welcomed by his Daddies & Grandmas & Mark quickly followed by others including his big brother.

Here is a picture of Mark holding Ethan not long after he was born - it is one of my favorite pictures and is actually in a frame on my wall.   Mark might not have been related to this baby in anyway, but he felt very proud to be a support to me and to be there when Ethan was born.

Yesterday I got a call from my surro family and Ethan said "Thank you for having me".   He was on his way to his laser tag birthday party with his buddies.  If only he understood how much he has done for me and how much he and the rest of his family have been a blessing in *my* life.   Thank YOU Ethan for letting me carry you!  It was such an honor.