Ten Days of Tommy

Ten days ago, on June 12th Tommy was born.  And T4, became a reality.

If you have been following Tommy’s story you know it has been chock FULL of the highest highs and lowest lows. And his birth followed suit. After his valiant unicorn tried to bring him into the world for 42 hours he made it very clear a c section was the only way he was making his debut.

During that 42 hours all of V6 and we were together. My husband keeping Brandi’s boys distracted with his Nintendo Switch. The girls and I going through Tommy’s diaper bag picking out the perfect first outfit for him to wear. Bryan being the ever devoted husband to Brandi through all of it. And Brandi, fighting with all her might to get him here. Her strength was amazing to witness. Truly.

When the time for the c section came, both Bryan, my husband and I were in the OR.  We were there for the moment the OR literally gasped and froze. Tommy was HUGE (10 lbs 4 oz). His head? Way too big to fit through a pelvis. The 42 hours all made perfect sense. Brandi’s body knew he wouldn’t fit, thus the no progression.

We were quickly ushered out of the OR. We had no idea what was happening for the next couple hours. But we knew something must be going on. Brandi should have been out by now. And we desperately wanted her to meet Tommy.

You see once Tommy was out of Brandi – we no longer had rights to know about her health. Which I guess makes sense legally. But I don’t think the nurses realized just how close we are and they figured that out pretty fast. We quickly learned of the placenta acreta. And we we’re shocked. Oh what Brandi went through. 😩😲😰  We were constantly in each other’s rooms in the time that followed. Tommy getting Unicorn time and Brandi Tommy Time.

And in that time without a doubt Tommy and Brandi knew each other and definitely recognized one another.  Tommy listening to her voice and Brandi feeling the HUGE feet that had been kicking in a certain part of ribs. Her kids were some of the first people to give him bottles, change diapers, and burp him…

And it was beautiful. Like tears in my eyes beautiful. Our son was so loved. By so many people.

What a gift. And we couln’t thank Brandi and V6 enough for all they did for him (and us).

Leaving the hospital was hard. I think for all of us. What a journey we had just been on and for nearly a year and half! But what made it bearable was knowing this was see ya later (we saw them a week later for the first time) not good bye. The first chapter of many.

Tommy came home to a big sister, who to put it lightly was over the moon. SHE IS OBSESSED with her little brother. She has been waiting half her life for him to get here.  She wakes up every morning asking for Tommy. She has learned how to give him a bottle, a paci, and go get diapers. She is genuinely a super helper.

Tommy, himself, is the CHILLEST baby ever. Just one laid back little dude! Does he cry? Yeah a little if you could call it that? Its more like a grunt..like hey feed me! The boy is 99 percentile across all measurements. He went right into size one diapers and is in 3 month clothes. He downs bottles like a guy at a frat party guzzling down a beer (don’t judge that comparison but it makes me laugh just how much he guzzles down his milk! – gulp, gulp, gulp.) He eats DOUBLE that of an average newborn. TANK. Thomas the Tank is right! Check out his report card!

His days  are spent sleeping, eating, burping, pooping, smiling, and even doing tummy time! He loves hanging with mom on the deck, laying on dad video gaming, dozing in his newborn lounger.

At night he wakes up every 2 hours for more milk 😉 As the doc said, its hard for him to maintain that figure (and triple chin) of his with out eating that much 😉 (Brandi is working her butt off pumping milk for him and we do milk runs down to Owatonna every few days.) On the latest one we were even able to capture a very special chalkboard picture…

Every time we look at him we cant believe he is real. That he is actually here. He is showered in kisses on the regular, sniffed because he smells so dang good, and held as much as humanly possible.

One of the first posts I ever wrote for the blog I wrote the following…

Follow our journey in real time – before a pregnancy announcement. Ride the highs with us. Hunker down with us for the lows. I can’t promise a happy ending. It will be real. It will be raw. It will be real life. But I can promise you it will be a story of love. Of perseverance. Of a village of people trying to bring Baby Daudelin #2 in the world. And IF that baby does come into the world – you got to be here for the whole thing. ❤

And with tears streaming down my face and a baby on my chest, I get to say…

You got to be here for the whole thing. ❤

(Thank you from the bottom of my heart for following this journey. This blog saved me. Well Brandi saved me, but this blog saved me as well. Surrogacy is not for the faint of heart. It was SO therapeutic to write and to have so many people care.)