Hello Everyone,

Howdy from Houston!!! Well we had our level 2 ultrasound yesterday and it was AMAZING. First our wonderful surrogate mom let us feel our baby's kicks for the first time as she lay on the table. It was a very exciting moment for us and one that we milked for all it was worth LOL. We stood there and felt around until the perinatalogist came in. He did the regular ultrasound first. Our baby is fine and has all his parts in the right place thank goodness. He measured at 24 weeks exactly and 1 1/2 pounds. Then he said "Lets meet your son!" and he turned on the 3-D!!! We were so surprised cause we didn't even know they had a 3-D and low and behold, there was our son staring back at us...or rather 1/2 of him, the other half was covered by his hands which made him look rather like a lizard but he finally moved them and he was SOOOO CUTE!!! We're having the best time with this pregnancy and all because of our wonderful surrogate mom who has made this the best experience we could ever have hoped for.

Fondly,

Lenore,
This is wonderful!! Not much longer and you will have your baby in your arms.. Its coming up fast. How fascinating to see your baby in the womb like that. I know your on cloud nine!!
hugs, Nona

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since my last update, about two months and in that time I went to Sydney, Australia for the International Lactation Consultants Association annual conference, went on a family vacation to Disney, and we just all got back from Houston where we had the most incredible visit. So it's been a busy summer!

My son Adam celebrated his fourth birthday on Sept 17. It's so hard to believe it's been 4 years already!! The very next day my husband and I and our wonderful surrogate mom went to court to have our gestational agreement validated. This means that we have a court order indicating that my husband and I are the legal parents. This was a first in Texas where the law regarding surrogacy recently changed. What made our case so unique is that we were already in process with a pregnancy when the law changed. We have an incredible attorney Greg Stern who facilitated all of this for us. He's located in Houston, Texas. The man is a genius. He's also the nicest guy. I highly recommend him for any surrogacy arrangements in Texas. The judge was such a nice man and he had such nice things to say to our wonderful surrogate mom. He told her she was doing something really special and wished us all good luck.

I can't say enough about our wonderful surrogate mom. She's been so generous, thoughtful and kind throughout this entire process. My heart is full. We spent some quality time with her and her family this trip and had the best time together.

The next day we all went for an OB visit and our fabulous OB Dr. Maccato, gave us a quick peek at our son. He's already 34 weeks!! This is a first for us since Adam never made it past 32. Kinda fun seeing him all cozy in there. And head down thank goodness. Adam's favorite thing was jumping on the placenta!! He never did get himself "head down".

As for my progress with the protocol, it's been nothing less than INCREDIBLE!!! As you may recall, my first day pumping the first time I did the protocol 4 years ago, I only made 1/8 tsp. Well this time I made 1 full tsp on the first day and by the end of the first week was pumping 2 oz per day. Today is day 13 and I pumped 3 oz!! Now you have to keep in mind that it's been nearly impossible for me to pump 8 times because I've been travelling. I've got the new Medela Pump In Style Traveller with the regular adapter, battery pack, and car lighter adapter and believe me when I tell you, I've been pumping EVERYWHERE. But still, because we've been running around Houston looking for a place to stay for the birth, and going to court and OB visits, I've only managed to pump about 5 times per day. I'm hoping to increase that this week. My goal is to try to double my milk supply each week. I also didn't manage to start the herbs yet cause I forgot them at home...dopey me.

I gained about 30 pounds total on the protocol. As long as I didn't stick a carb in my mouth I was fine but as soon as I ate a piece of bread...boom my weight shot up. Well as soon as I stopped the Ortho 1/35 I went right back on Atkins and already lost 4 pounds!!.

I'll try to keep everyone posted weekly now that we're coming down to the wire. My goal is 32 oz like last time and hopefully I'll get there again but right now I'm shooting for 4 oz per day so that I know my baby will get all the immune benefits.

This has been such a fabulous experience. My husband and I are much calmer the second time around and everything is falling into place nicely thank goodness.

Thank you to everyone who has offered support and encouragment along this amazing journey. It was a rough ride until the pregnancy but it's been smooth sailing once the "bun was in the oven."

Fondly,

Hi Lenore,
I am so happy that the baby is doing well and that so much of the legal work is behind you, it must be a relief. I wish I was making 3 ounces a day! That is fabulous and only on day 13. I brought my 5 ounces of frozen milk (took me 3 months to get it) and gave it to Ana with pride! I have Mary and Dawn giving me milk this time to take down also,,and I have another ounce in my freezer of mine to give her. I thinkg after our visit the end of October I will stop pumping. She is not going to be home until April, and there is no way I can pump until then. I also want to get the weight off and get more energy etc..before our new arrival is home. Its been over one year between the protocol and pumping..I am happy that I got to give her my own breastmilk and know that I may have helped her immune system a little bit. It is very polluted in Guatemala and she was sick when I was there last time, already been on a 10 day course of antibiotics at 8 weeks old..depressing!
Only a few weeks to go Lenore ,,,I know everything is going to go great. After your second son are you going to think about adopting a little girl? It seems to be so much easier in Canada than the US. Well, we all wish you the best and keep on pumping....take care, Cathy

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that although it may seem like I dropped off the face of the earth, I'm actually alive and well and happily breastfeeding my 3 1/2 month old son.

Ethan is continuing to thrive. He's over 15 pounds at this point. Luckily our wonderful surrogate mom pumped for 3 months and so we do have a freezer full of milk to help us out. In fact she pumped for two babies because a friend of hers was having supply issues. She pumped 50 ounces per day and split it between us. She really is an angel.

I'm continuing to do well with the protocol. Ethan gets most of his breastmilk from me.

Still on the domperidone and herbs. My weight has stabalized for now and I expect to lose quite a bit once I wean.

I do have some rather remarkable news to share. I just found out that I was accepted into the Ph.D program at Union Institute and University!!! I plan to start the program in September when Ethan is about 10 months old.

To all of you who are on the protocol, keep the faith...it really does work.

Fondly,

Lenore,

Many thanks for your website and work in induced lactation. My baby is due any day with our angel/gestational surrogate. We went with gestational surrogacy because I have Marfan syndrome and chose not to get pregnant to prevent my aorta from possibly tearing in birth like my Mother's did. I feel very fortunate to have been working on inducing lactation with Kathleen Huggins, RN, MS, IBCLC, author of The Nursing Mother?s Companion. Unfortunately, I only started the protocol on January 2, 2004 ... I'm on the Advanced Protocol now, though I did two weeks of the Regular Protocol so as to give my system a graduated introduction to the impending change. I have a two week supply of frozen breastmilk that another angel/dear friend pumped for me. Our gestational surrogate will pump her collustrum, though does not enjoy pumping and is not planning to, as far as I know. I am leary of using milk banks and thus have not sought any out. My concerns are how the hospital our gestational surrogate is giving birth at will treat me, whether I should risk taking my precious supply of breastmilk from my friend (in case the hospital won't allow me to use it in the supplementer), and how long my milk last once it comes in, since I'll have only been on the protocol for 8-weeks. I welcome your input, or anyone else's. I apologize for not registering, but only found your site today (duh!) Here is my email: harakaki@concentric.net

Your work along with Kathleen's experience and guiidance has given me the gift of giving my son the best start in life possible. It also is allowing me the gift of that special bond for both he and I. Since I wasn't able to experience pregnancy, being able to breastfeed is a huge gift.

Thank you so much for your wonderful work.
Aloha,
Christina Arakaki

Hi Christina,

CONGRATULATIONS on your impending arrival!!! And thank you for your kind remarks about our website. We're very proud of it.

You're best bet is to contact the hospital social worker, and the hospital lactation consultant and explain that you intend to breastfeed.

You probably don't have to bring your friend's breastmilk with you to the hospital since babies don't take very much milk in the first 24-48 hours and you may not have a place to store it.

Are you in the same town? If not, then you'll need to bring the milk packaged on dry ice with you on the drive or on the plane. Most airlines will accept specialized boxes that are used to package things stored with dry ice. The key is to place the milk in the box, then cover with newspaper, then add no more than 4 pounds of dry ice according to airline regulations...then more newspaper. Milk on the bottom, dry ice on the top in order to freeze...that's because as the ice melts the gas floats to the bottom and surrounds the milk and freezes it. Be sure to stuff the box with newspaper to minimize the spaces. Dry ice melts straight into a gas. You don't want to completely seal the box so that some of the dry ice gas can escape. Seal the center seams but leave the side seams unsealed.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING DRY ICE....WEAR GLOVES...DRY ICE IS SO COLD IT CAN BURN SKIN.....

Once you arrive you'll need a place to put the milk....don't put dry ice in the freezer..it's so much colder it will shut the freezer down.

If you want more detailed instructions on how to store and ship breastmilk...email me at lenore@asklenore.info

If you get your surrogate a Pump in Style, she may be more inclined to pump for you. Also, don't forget to offer her some incentive like a day at the Spa, a savings bond...something like that.

And please say hi to Kathleen for me....

Hope this helps...
fondly,

Hi Lenore,

Thanks for your reply. Tomorrow I will call the Social Work Department at the hospital. Our surrogate is about a five hour drive away from us ... we will be driving. Do you think regular blue ice and lots of it would do for packing the breastmilk? Then we could store it in a regular freezer once we are in the area? Currently, it is in a subzero freezer. Also, do you think our surrogate would get any milk other than collostrum if she pumped at the hospital? She was asking about that tonight, so I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have an Ameda hospital grade double breast pump from the Breastfeeding Clinic at General Hospital in San Luis Obispo, and that pump is what I was planning to bring to the hospital for both our surrogate and I to use with our own attachments. If our surrogate agreed to pump for a while, whether I rented a hospital grade pump or bought a Pump in Style for our surrogate, do you think pumping would alleviate her discomfort of engorgement ... sort of like a more gradual weaning period rather than pumping collostrum and then being painfully engorged for a week? She experienced painful engorgement in her first surrogacy pregnancy and would like to know how to reduce that pain.

Anyhow, I am very encouraged to hear a story like yours, and kudos to you for breastfeeding your children. I hope after only two months of the protocol that I wll have some milk for my son. Do you have any preference of the SNS verses the Lactaid? I bought an SNS, but I've been reading so many good things about the Lactaid, I am wondering if I should get one of those as well. If so, would you suggest buying it from Lactaid directly? What quantity would you recommend?

I'll pass on your hello to Kathleen when I talk to her next.

Many Thanks, and Happy Breastfeeding,
Christina