Delhi news...

Little Amy..doing well with the tube+bottle.

Feeding Lara

Snug as a bug in a rug!!

So relaxed at 'home'.

Nice view from our room, always something to see.

Things continue to go well here. Lara has settled in with us at the hotel. We are lucky enough to have nurses to help out at the moment, as going off to visit Amy daily takes until afternoon for one of us each day.

Lara enjoys her bottles, and is most awake after she is put down for her nap! She settles just looking around at all the new sights from her carry-bag bed :)

Amy is doing well and gaining weight each day, we hope to have her with us around Monday which will be wonderful.

Wishing all of our nearest and dearest a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2012!

Bigger & Stronger...

Lara...strike a pose!

Lara...zzzz

Lara..whistle while you wait..

Amy...stretchy,stretchy

Amy...Hi guys!

Our sweet little girls have been doing so well over the last few days!

They have been putting on weight and getting stronger everyday. Lara has now started taking the bottle and her feed tube is out. Amy likes to pull her tube out (?!) but she still needs it for now, and thankfully popping a new one back in didnt cause her a drama.

The doctors remain happy with all progress, and we may be lucky enough to have Lara discharged to us in the next week or so. One of us will go and spend time with Amy each day till she can come back too. The way she is going, she wont be too far behind hopefully.

Otherwise we continue to enjoy our time here. A surprising amount of Christmas decor and cheer abounds. We even bought a tiny tree to decorate and celebrate this extra special Christmas we are having this year. Sending our very best wishes for the festive season to all our blog readers- family, friends and surro buddies. Fingers and toes are crossed that each special journey at whichever stage results in a wonderful 2012 full of celebration and cheer! B & SJ xx

Hotel pics & Cuteness pics

We are enjoying our stay in Delhi. The weather is lovely (a little chilly early morning-with nice sunny days) and we have our day to day routines in place already. Feeling less like tourists as we get to know whats, what around here.

Our tiny princesses are doing so well putting on weight. They will look at taking out the feeding tubes soon, but they have been great to keep the girls on track. The doctors and nurses are most happy with their progress. Looking forward till tomorrow when we see them again!

DNA Test Required...really?

Lara

Amy

Daddy B

Affectionally known as the "crab choppers" those toes can grab onto and pick up anything!!

Im not so sure our little ladies will be thrilled with their possibly less than dainty toes, but even the most sensible shoes can be painted pink with sequins applied :)

Amy and Lara continue to do well. They are on maximum feeds and we just monitor their weight gain each day. The girls seem to take in turn who is most awake each visit- its going to be interesting if this is the general theme of their sleep patterns! They are very calm babies and even the doctors and nurses have commented. B hardly ever cried as a baby, so thats a great trait to pass on.

We are slowly starting some of the initial exit paperwork, but we are not in a big rush and will wait and see how things go in the next couple of weeks.

Fur baby Mali is having a wonderful time being cared for in far north Australia. Shes even getting the chance to socialise with a young baby and an active toddler, so we are hoping she will settle right in on our return. She was so good will all the new furniture and baby bits throughout the house. Many people have said she will be just great with the babies as she has a sweet nature although somewhat hyperactive at times.

Will continue to post our little updates of our big adventure!

Two Tiny Princesses..

Amy

Lara

Amy

Lara

Our little girls Amy and Lara are doing well.

The doctors are happy with their daily progress. Feeds are increasing as is their weight gain. Its great to know their admission is for weight gain, growth and monitoring rather than any other health issues. We wake early to visit them every day. They are gorgeous and oh so sweet and their little personalities are already becoming apparent. Did I mention they are so, so cute :)

We are enjoying our visit to Delhi. For us, staying at the Svelte Apartments has been an excellent decision. Although more pricey than some other options, if your budget can stretch I would highly recommend it. Being attached to the large mall with shops and restaurants for any taste is so convienient, as is having help and support available 24/7.

For now we will have a nice relaxing afternoon and look forward till tomorrow to see our two tiny princesses once again..

Photos !!

Here are the first photos of our little girls Amy & Lara...

We have spoken to the Specialist Doctor each night, and our little ladies are stable and doing well. We are madly organising things and packing to leave and will be in Delhi on Friday night.

We are so excited!!

SURPRISE !!!

WOW!!!!

Our two little girls were born early this morning ( late afternoon Delhi time ).

Welcome to the world Lara Eileen & Amy Sarah.

Our wonderful surrogate mother is doing well and resting after a natural birth which came swiftly as a surprise to all of us. We are eternally thankful and grateful to her for helping us become the family we have wished to be for so long.

We are still in shock and are vaguely wandering around planning our departure for as soon as possible. Our little girls are in the high dependency hospital, but are doing well with good vital signs, breathing on their own, with not even an oxygen tent required, and have tried their first feed. We look forward to see how they tolerate that, and axiously wait to see how they go with the upcoming body weight loss which occurs after birth. They were born at 1.2kg & 1.5kg which is tiny, but within the normal limits for preemie babies, being born a day off 31 weeks of age. We expect our little ladies to be in the hospital for 2-3 weeks.

WE ARE FINALLY PARENTS!!!

The Big Reveal...

The telling of our exciting news went well. The looks of surprise were priceless, as were the words of joy, support and congratulations. Turns out no one had any suspicions, after the few times Nicole Kidman & her surrogacy story was mentioned, I did wonder...

One work friend has been hoping for some baby news from me for years-never one to push the issue, she was thrilled with the unexpected announcement.

The big reveal continues daily, as I have work collegues who visit our surgery on weekly or monthly rotations, so eventually I will get around to sharing our news and revealing my departure to all. Although I will miss my workmates, I cant wait to begin this new adventure-WE ARE SO READY FOR THIS!

Butterflies...

We are starting to get very excited now! ( We are finally allowing ourselves to get very excited now! )

Things are going along well, our surrogate mother is doing such a wonderful job of taking it easy, and keeping our babies safe and sound. We are feeling "on standby" but hope to not have any calls for a while yet. We head into Wk31 next week, so time is moving along as our little ones continue to grow strong before making their long anticipated arrival.

We are about halfway in putting the nursery together. Hopefully by the end of this weekend I can share a picture or two. I really should have done a before and after snap. Not of the room before, as it was perfectly ok as an office/exercise room, but last weekend looked like a hardware store had collided with a baby store, within a charity store with stuff everywhere, total chaos - but I guess this little Virgo had better get used to that kind of thing :)

This week I intend to do the 'big reveal' at work...Im so nervous just thinking about it. I imagine this will be quite a big 'need to share/gossip about' event....eeeek! I do feel bad for taking so long to share our news, but after the hard times we've been through, I couldnt bring myself to let so many people know, when things were still early days this time around, and we have been so petrified the entire time. Im sure they will understand and can soon share in our excitement and butterflies over the next few weeks. SO, so excited ( oh, and a little nervous - TWINS!)

Beautiful Baby Belly!

We were so happy to get some photos of our lovely surrogate mother. She remains in the hospital under observation, and on bedrest, so no jumping up for photos or off to Dr Jollys for scans at this stage. Its great our clinic can still make us feel involved by sending us pictures. Our doctor wrote "The babies say HI!" - how cute :)

In the know :)

Well my research has certainly paid off! I now feel competely confident after following the above instructions :) We otherwise had a lovely yet busy weekend socialising with friends in gorgeous spring weather. This afternoon I went through and sorted out all the tiny baby clothes into one box as outfits covering from prem till about 2yrs have somehow found their way to our place thanks to an ebay facination mixed with a shop-o-holic tendency!

Updates followed that our surrogate mother remains in hospital under observation and bedrest. All remains stable and there is no immediate concern at this time. My mantra is "please get through November" that would have the babies in a much safer point in time. We are booked for Delhi at the end of December though and we obviously hope for the babies to stay put till then.

Its an exciting time in blogland at present, with so many precious babes due any day now. We look forward to celebrating from afar.

Research much..?!

Things remain stable at present and we hope & pray all stays that way for the next while.

Coming up will be Wk27 so we are slowly heading towards a somewhat safer area for the twins, but we dont want any surprises anytime soon.

Our lovely SM is still in the hospital under observation. Although Im sure its terribly boring for her there, we are confident our clinic and doctors have everyones best interests in mind and we are most happy with their decisions regarding the care of our surrogate mother and babies.

Last weekend we had a lovely overnight trip to celebrate our 5 yr wedding anniversary. A nice drive out of town in the new car, a wonderful getaway. Otherwise domestic duties reign. Sorting, rearranging, tidying- the nesting continues!

Ive been enjoying doing a little reading/research (as always!). Although we are still too afraid to begin the nursery, reading about our hopeful future has been good. I realise these books are a guide only, and most parents say you figure it out along the way, but I have found some nifty hints and tips Im sure to use. I cant wait to start rummaging through those storage containers for all the baby goodies Ive slowly been collecting over the last 2 years! Saying that I hope to wait a while longer...

Always in our hearts...

Today is the anniversary of us losing our precious twins. We think of them often. They changed us forever even though we never got to meet. Since that heartbreak, a little distance has always remained in regard to our surrogacy journey. Knowing such joy can turn to such pain keeps us somewhat controlled in our emotions, thoughts and behaviour. I still havent even told my work collegues yet. It was only for the fact no one there knew, that I could carry on and go back to work at that time. Id love to be more excited and enthusiastic at this stage, but not just yet...

Some news on our latest scan has our surrogate mother in the hospital for observation. She is doing just fine, as are the babies. Thankfully our team are extremely cautious and we hope beyond hope that things remain stable and well and only observation is required. We need to get through six more weeks at the very least, but hopefully more like nine or ten. Wishes and prayers are heading to Delhi as always...

Lets Get Physical!

All is going along well. (Woo Hoo!)

Each weekend we have been concentrating on domestic duties, knowing that (hopefully) there will be no time for such things come January. We have been such busy bees :)

Tomorrow we are picking up our new car, not brand new, but new for us! Its a large Honda sedan which shall cover our needs regarding back seat room for car seats and a huge boot space for a double pram. Its still a little fancy with leather seats and a sunroof, Im not quite ready for a soccer-mum-boring (ie: too practical) car just yet. Maybe for the next time round.

The last few weeks Ive been 'getting physical' (minus the leotards and headbands!) Im going to need some muscles caring for two babies. Its been quite some time since I went to the gym, but the exercise bike and some free weights at home are actually doing something.

This Monday we will be heading into Wk24. Hopefully we will be getting a scan towards the end of next week. We cant wait to see how our little ones are progressing.

Is this a hint...?

How random is this advert at my train station :) of all the things! We have actually booked and paid for our (flexible) air tickets this week. Its a big and scary step but each day that passes with no bad news is a day closer to meeting our precious twins.

We have reservations in at Svelte, but thankfully have a few months to save for that one, as a three week stay is hardly pocket change. Hope to also look at a couple of cars this weekend. All this planning, organising and budgeting can get overwhelming at times, but being a little Virgo, Id really have it no other way :)

Birthday Celebrations!

Life has been busy- Spring brings a happy time to celebrate my birthday with friends and family. It was nice to see I share my special day with Paul from Vishwas..I hope you also had a wonderful day! B spoilt me with a lovely dinner and a gift of a 3 hour pamper package. Looking forward to that one :)

Work has been crazy, the extra hours I have taken on this year will help us financially, but doesnt leave a lot of spare time. Leave home:darkness-get home:darkness. Trying to organise to get a few things done around the house before Dec is proving to be more than a little challenging. What is the deal with tradesman who just never turn up after booking in dates & times? With no communication ever made again? Grrr.....!

This weekend Im looking forward to testing out my birthday gift from my parents. A digital SLR camera. Im sure it will be a big improvement from my iphone pics :) Hoping we will be capturing some amazing images especially in Dec-Jan! In the meantime I think Mali will be my principle model...work it puppy!

The scans showed everything is fine with our little twins. They are measuring perfectly so its all going along well. Checking my email has not really decreased, yet we are feeling quietly confident as things remain uneventful and calm. We are happy to hear our surrogate mother is doing well and taking such wonderful care of our babies. She is always in our thoughts.

All in a name...

We have enjoyed trying to pick out some names over the last couple of weeks. One of the most special parts of our research was finding the meaning of our surrogate~mothers' name...SUCCESS!! Heres hoping her namesake will be indicative of the outcome :)


We have a few favourites, and a couple of 'no-ways!'. I have been referring to the twins by Bs least favourites just as a stir. Luckily we are quite agreeable on the real ones!


Our scans are due this week, so really looking forward to those. I thought they were to be last week, but patience is a virtue, and we are well practiced in waiting. While everything remains fine and stable, its so much easier. No news really is good news.

Hmmm..ideas & decisions.

This week we have re-visited baby names. Most baby related material was swiftly packaged into storage boxes and put downstairs into the back of the garage after the awful sadness we suffered last October. New baby things have started arriving again-(Thank You eBay!)-and remain upstairs in the (hopefully) nursery-to-be or office/exercise room as it is at present.

We are fairly decided on the names if we have two boys, have some ideas if its a boy and a girl, but nothing set for if two girls as yet. Yesterday I rummaged through those downstairs boxes -as you can see I have plenty of reading material to help out! So in the next week or so Im sure we'll be full of options.

We are looking forward to our next scan due shortly. We are quite thankful in a way to have these long breaks between scans as its indicative of no serious problems or complications occurring. We cant wait to see some pictures of our little ones- its been ages!

Otherwise, its almost the weekend, and time to relax and catch up with friends and family while we head towards Week 19. This weekend will be Fathers Day, and we all hope as many times before that B will be able to celebrate next year as a father himself. Fingers & toes (& everything) crossed it all works out this time.

Just looking...

Each week we are becoming more brave... We have started to research and even look at some car yards. We presently have a lovely european car, previously and for now being DINKs (double income - no kids) we are happy to be looking at becoming SINKs (single income-numerous kids). Thus, a 2-door car is not going to cut it! Financially, neither is a european model, or even a brand new car, so after a fair amount of research we have narrowed it down to finding a gently used japanese model which will hopefully cover our needs.


Its still kind of weird explaining to the dealership salespeople that we are looking to buy in the next couple of months or so, and that we will need a car suitable for newborn twins, as I stand there in high heels & skinny jeans! Oh well..we havent found the need to go into any details as yet, but Im just waiting for someone to ask sooner or later!


Things are going along well and we will be entering Week 17 on Monday. Our surrogate mother is doing well and we are constantly sending her our thoughts and care. We are so happy for Kerrie & Mark. That amazing ripple of joy from all over the world upon the birth of each precious baby is one of the most uplifting parts of overseas surrogacy and our supportive community. Best wishes to all...

On Track.. :)

We were very happy this week to get a (surprise) follow-up scan showing 'no bleed seen'. What a huge relief. This means that at this stage all is back to being stable and well!

We remain cautiously optimistic and hopeful things remain this way for the next number of weeks (18+). We will be entering week 15 this week.

Vaguely thinking about starting to research travel arrangements, although its still early days, with the due date around Xmas-New Year we probably need to get onto it. Have pretty much decided on the accomodation, just need to be brave enough to book it! Curious to know at how many weeks most twins have been born?

Having a very quiet weekend. Im sure I saw my neighbours giggle with both of us still in PJs and dressing gowns playing ball with Mali around 2pm today! The days of weekend sleep-ins will come to a swift close and we cant wait! PS: Oh Yes-Saying that Now... ;)

What to say, and how to say it...

The last few weeks I have been trying work out how to phrase things regarding the babies. Every time I talk about them, or a future with them, its like I have to include little lines such as 'if it happens' -'if it works out this time'-'hopefully if..' It is kind of tiring, but after such major disapointments, I find it so hard to chat in a fully positive tone. Hopefully one day soon...

We had our next set of scans which contained a little scare (read:OMG somethings wrong=total & complete meltdown) But after calming down and reassessment of the situation-a small internal bleed-we are staying positive that its fairly common and does not mean we will have to re-live our nightmare all over again. Our SM is not in the hospital which does indicate the situation is not of a serious nature. Everything is crossed for things to stay stable. Best Wishes to all...

First online photos...

Introducing Twin 1 & Twin 2! Things are going along to plan and we are both happy and relieved to have got the next set of scans and reports last night showing all is well. Each set of tests are so eagerly awaited. Some of the marker tests have been carried out showing no signs of any obvious problems with our little ones. The next scans should be in about two weeks. Many thanks to our surrogate mother, our doctor and the team all helping to make our dreams come true.