Hope In India

8 Months old!!

2011-06-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Really can't believe that Ela is now 8 months old!!
Ela is now sitting up strong and still a very happy baby.
We just love her to bits, she is the absolute light of our life.

Almost 5 months old

2011-03-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

Chillin' in the garden

Ela is nearly 5 months old. We cannot descibe the joy & happiness that our little angel brings into our lives.

Feed time

WOW!! How time has flown!!

2011-01-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

Ela is now eleven weeks old!!!!!! Ela's first Christmas has been and gone, and we now start another fun filled year with our gorgeous daughter. We so look forward to watching her grow and develop in 2011.

We are blessed to have a daughter who is almost constantly smiling, why she is so happy I don't know, but god it is just amazing to see. I am sure she was born with a smile on her face !!!!!!! :)

Ela has just started to sleep through the night in the last two days, 11pm to 6am, which is just amazing.

Ela has been the perfect baby so far, contented and barely ever cries, just does the odd little mumer to let us know when she is hungary :)

Ela loves to play, and has started making lots of funny noises and squeels of joy, it is sooooo funny to listen to :)

HAPPY 2011 EVERYONE!! MAY THERE BE LOVE, PEACE, JOY AND HAPPINESS

IN THE YEAR AHEAD!!!!!

10 days old!!

2010-10-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

Can't believe Ela is now 10 days old!!

We have been back to the doctors for a check up and all is GREAT, back up to birth weight of 2.3kg's, umbilicle cord has come off and is healing well. Slight jaundice has settled.

Ela loves her baths!! And just seems to get on with just about everything, nothing phases her at all.

A HUGE celebration dinner was put on by the SI Doctors last night. Many couples with babies and IP's were there to celebrate there success of reaching a mile stone of 50 BABIES!!! It was a great night, and a chance to show off our beautiful girl!! She was the perfect angel and slept through the entire night :)

All our paper are now with immigration, so we now wait........
We hope to have Ela's citizenship by Monday, all being well.
Looking forward to getting back to OZ and celebrating some more, with our close family and friends!

PERFECT ELA!!!!!!!!!!!

Life as a Mum!!

2010-10-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

Well so far so good.

We are out of hospital and doing GREAT.
Ela is feeding well, is sleepin like a trooper.....hope this carries on lol.
She is weeing and pooing, burping and oh yeah...breathing....so what more can i ask for. She is now feeding 40mls every 2.5hrs, so I am very happy.

I am so happy...words can not explain, she is just so cute....can I say PERFECT?? Because to me she is perfect and more.

We do her DNA test tonight.....still waiting for her birth certificate to put all our papers into immigration.....but we hear that once all our papers are in, it takes about twelve days to process before we get to come home.

Hotel is lovely, nice food and great service. Staff are very friendly....so we are lapping up the quality Ela time :)

I AM SO HAPPY, DOUG IS BESOTTED, WHAT MORE CAN I SAY!!!!! .

Welcome to the world - Ela Hope

2010-10-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

We have a beautiful baby girl born at 2.50pm Mumbia time. She is perfectly healthy weighing 2.3kg's
She is with us now, in our room, cuddling up with Dad. She is now only 4 hours old!!

We are both so happy!!! Words can not explain!!!

We can not thank the SI team and our lovely surrogate enough for this wonderful new life.

We love you Ela!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Safe and sound in Mumbai

2010-10-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

We are now trying to get over our flight and the difference in time zones.

Looking forward to meeting up with the SI Doctors today and seeing our surrogate again. I am very nervous and excited at the same time. Think I might be a little emotional.....

We are very happy with our hotel the Court Yard Marriot, we spent our first day in the hotel resting.

Time now to venture into the big smoke of Mumbia!!
Feels good to be back :)

Up, up and away

2010-10-12T03:38:00.000-07:00

The time has arrived. We leave for Mumbai on Thursday arvo!

Everything is packed, all neccesary forms completed (blah blah blah).

Spudla (as he/she has become known as) will be born by C-Section on Monday 18th October.
Much love to our surrogate - our thoughts are with her (we will see you soon).

We will soon be awash with endless smelly nappies and a endless cycle of feed bottles and being vomited on - CAN"T WAIT - WOO HOO.

Not long now!

2010-10-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Our surrogate is now out of hospital and is being monitored at the clinic. Amniotic fluid levels are now back to normal. Reports say both surrogate and baby are both doing well!!

We have flights booked for the 14th October, and C-section booked for the 18th!!
That will take us to 36 weeks. Hold on little one :) Mummy and Daddy will be there soon!!

Baby room is pretty much ready. All the baby clothes washed!!
DNA test kit is on it's way for Doug to complete his sample before we head off.
Neither Doug and I are sleeping......I think this is excellent preparation for the sleepless nights ahead :)

Holey Moley..... I have a constant knot in my stomach......we have been waiting for this for so long.......just a little longer!!!

Our surrogate has been admitted to hospital

2010-09-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

We received an email from the Doctors from SI on Saturday night.
Email stated that the amniotic flid is low and blood flow to the baby is restricted to due high pressure. They have now admitted our surrogate into hospital for close observation.

Our surrogate is now under the care of Dr Soni who is minitoring things very closely on a daily basis.

We have been sent into a flap with this news as you can imagine!!!

Doctors are hoping that baby will hang on until 36wks, but feel there is a high chance that the baby may need to be delivered sooner.

Planned C-section for around the 18th of October if all goes to well, but I have a strong sense that we will be meeting our little one sooner rather than later.

Time to get super organised and get the baby case packed!!

We had flights booked for November 6th, time to rearrange everything; good job we hadn't booked accomodation.

Amit is calling us tonight, our plan was to stay in apartment accomodation at the Marriot Lake Side. We will now just have to hold off on booking anything. Like Dr Yash said, if the baby comes sooner than 36weeks, it will stay in the hospital for some time, so staying in a hotel or at the hospital would be OK.....I think a hotel would be preferable from all accounts of the hospital accomodation. Hey But at the end of the day, just being there is what is important, not how fancy the accomodation is :)

I am remaining positive and calm. This situation is completely out of my control and I will just need to go with the flow and roll with the punches.

I will keep you all posted......sending positive vibes to our lovely surrogate. I will send her some flowers tomorrow, not much fun for her being cooped up in hospital.

It's been a while!

2010-08-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

What can I say.....time is moving along VERY quickly now. Both Doug and I have been so busy with his business. Things are starting to settle a little now, BIG SIGH OF RELIEF I CAN TELL YOU.

I have now spoken to my lovely manager at the hospital regarding our up and coming birth, and she was VERY understanding. She has allowed me to drop my hours to help hubby with the business and I am now coping alot better.

We are now 28 weeks!!!! We had a small scare the other day with our surrogate being admitted to the SI clinic with low amtiotic fluid. The good doctors were onto it quick smart and they rehydrated her with extra IV fluids and......all is well.They did say it was nothing to worry about, but you just can't help but worry. I feel much better now to hear everything is back to normal.

We have now been offered a nice cot and change table from friends of friends that is in perfect nick. Need to go and pick it up this weekend if the weather stays nice enough to put it on the back of the ute. Need to start getting organised for the little ones arrival me thinks......IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have booked flights to India for Nov 6th, both my Mum and Dad are coming too, to help, and be a part of this very speacial time.

Here's hoping the next ten weeks or so are SMOOTH sailing.

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS Amani, Bob and Jo and Timmy - you have been my inspiration from the very start of this journey. I am just SOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy for you all.

19 Weeks......HALF WAY!!!!!

2010-06-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we have finally made it to the half way mark.
Really couldn't help myself today and went out shopping and bought some baby stuff in the sales. Not alot, just a few little baby grows and things :)

I have only got two more weeks at work before a four week break, to help Hubby through "Silly Season". Tax season is about to hit hard, and he will need all the support he can get. We are both definitely psyching ourselves up for the onslaught......TAX, TAX and more TAX!!

Unfortunatley, we have both had a few very hard weeks, with some very sad events taking place in our close circle of friends. It has really hit us both hard, and we feel very gracious to have something to be looking forward to...our little baby. In some ways he/she has helped us through the last few weeks.

ON A BIG POSITIVE: We had excellent reports from SI last week.....all measurements of babs at correct lengths. All looking good :)

14 Weeks!!

2010-05-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

We have now reached week forteen of our pregnancy with our SM.
This week we had a full range of scans sent to us of the baby. AMAZING :)

It feels so strange looking at these pictures.
Feeling so removed from the whole process, and so far away makes it feel unreal. Can these pictures really be of OUR baby!!!

Although we are still pregnant, I find it hard to allow myself to accept that we are.
We have both wanted this for so long....I don't think I will accept that this is real until the baby is in my arms....even then, it will feel like a dream.

I am really struggling with the idea of telling people about the pregnancy. When is the right time?? Women undergoing a normal pregnancy would have announced it by now...they would be showing a bump and would have to let people in on their excitement.

When is the right time to announce our pregnancy to our boss and announce it to work colleagues??

I feel like I am carrying the BIGGEST secret around. I actually feel that our pregnancy will become more real when everyone knows about it!!

I know I must be sounding like a complete basket case at the moment!! But really I am travelling along OK.

We are so very happy with how lucky we have been so far, we are feeling very blessed to have come this far. I have precious moments when I feel completely overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of becoming a MUM!!

We are still pregnant for now........

2010-04-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

Our last report form the SI team shows that we are still pregnant.
We had good cardiac activity, and our "blob" was only 5.3mm, teeney weeney!
We wait in anticipation for our next update, which is an absolute killer...

I think our next update will be at around the 10wk mark, which really isn't far off, but, each week feels like an eternity at the moment.

If we hit the 12wk mark I will be able to relax a little.

I didn't realise how hard this was going to be.....even though things still appear to be positive.....I feel like I am on tender hooks. Think I need to destress a little. I have a certain level of tension in my life at the moment which I just can't explain. I am normally very calm and relaxed....
On the outside everyone thinks I am cool calm and collected....but on the inside I feel like I could just explode, why am i feeling like this? I think it may have to do with a lack of control, who knows?

I know I should be happy and over the moon, but just can't let myself at the moment. We all read that anything can happen at any time, and being so far away, just doesn't make it any easier. I am hoping things will get easier after the twelve week mark. If not I think I will go CRAZY!!!!!

Sorry for such a delay in posting this.....but our life has been a little upside down lately.

Will post our next update soon....

So Far So Good.....

2010-03-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we spoke with the good Dr's .....and so far so good. We have a POSITIVE result!!!!!
Beta level of high 100's, 174 I think they said.
I still don't believe it......all feels very unreal.
They emailed us telling us congratulations, so I suppose at this stage we are pregnant......just really feels very strange.
We are both VERY happy, and really have no words to describe how we feel.
Just need to keep hanging on for more positive news....my mind is doing backflips!!!

My heart goes out to Mandy, my dear surro friend......it really doesn't feel nice posting our positive news, when you have just been kicked in the guts.....our love and thoughts go out to you hun, they really do.....it is so hard to stay positive, but hang on in there.

Back in OZ......2WW

2010-03-05T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well...our time in Mumbai with the SI team was VERY positive.
We ended up retrieving 10 good eggs from our beautiful donor, nine of which fertilised.
4 Grade A's, 4 Grade B's and then a dodgy one.
So we now have x3 embies hanging on for dear life (I hope) in our lovely surrogate.

Our last week in India post transfer was VERY busy.
We took a trip up to North India to see theTaj Mahal, Jaipur, Delhi etc and had a fabulous time.
It was good to keep busy.
We had a driver for 7 days that was just brilliant, who went out of his way to make us comfortable.

We had a VERY bummpy landing on Monday coming back to Adelaide. I was terrified......we almost landed and then had to suddenly abort the landing due to strong winds. Second attempt worked a treat, but, was very scary. Wouldn't like to do that again.

We are now back in the land of OZ, and we're both glad to be home, even though our time in India was amazing.

This weekend we hope to be receiving a call from the SI team to let us know our results. We are both feeling VERY positive, good karma all around. But what will be will be, we can't do or change anything now, it is all in the laps of the gods.

We have got frozen embies, so we have a back up if necessary. And we have both said that we would not hesitate to do it all over again. We are in this for the long hall.

Hope to be posting positive news soon x

Had to post these pics. Our early morning visit to the Taj :)

Back in Mumbai to do the Business

2010-02-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

We've arrived back from Goa - which was fantastic by the way - will return there one day soon.

We have spoken to Dr Yash today and EPU is now scheduled for Thurs 18th Feb. Egg transfer will be Sat 20th. Fingers crossed for success.

We are staying at Gordon House Suites, which is pure luxury, very close to airport and we have access to Waterstones Country Club which is next door - which means hobbknobbing with the who's who of Mumbai - lol.

Although it was our 2nd time in Mumbai, still can't get used to the beggars banging on the car windows at every traffic light! Don't mind giving them food or drink, but money is a no no.

Relaxing for the week, and then off to North India next week until we head home. Will try to avoid the staff directing us to so called bargain shops as we now know they are on a commission (however shopping is good and memories are memories).

Can't fault SI so far, or our travel guru, Amit who has arranged everything admirably.

Having a Blast in Goa

2010-02-11T00:31:00.000-08:00

Well, so much has happened since our last post.

We had a great time in Mumbai. Meeting our surrogate was a very special moment. She came to the SI clinic with her husband and Son, (who was only seven years old and very cute). The whole family looked very happy and healthy. The Husband spoke a little English which was great, but even then, it was very hard to know what to say. I was pretty dumb founded by the whole situation......not really knowing what to say or ask. Our surrogate C made very little eye contact, but when she did, it was lovely. She had a beautiful smile, which i had not seen on her profile picture. We did give the family some small gifts, but C did not want to open them there, she appeared embarrased. The whole meeting took around half an hour or so. Silly me forgot to take our camera (can you believe it!!). So lovely Gopa from SI took some photos for us, and will hopefully eventually email them to us.
We had alot of time speaking to Gopa at the clinic which was great. She told us lots of useful information about her role in caring for the surrogates while they are pregnant. She had a very positive and calming nature and made me feel at ease immediatley. We were able to look around where the surrogates stayed for there 2ww. The surrogates were very welcoming and I recognised many faces from looking at profiles previously. I sat on one of the beds with two of the surrogates and some how had a small conversation with them, with help from Gopa. It was a very reassuring experience.
Before leaving for Goa, Doug did his deed at the Hospital, (seman sample for freezing), without any hiccups.
During our time at the hospital we met a lovely American couple who are also using the SI team.They were going through there ET process and all appeared to go very well. We were able to all meet up for a meal later in the evening which was very nice, also meeting up with Amit our travel guy. Amit has truley been great during our whole stay thus far.
While meeting with the Docs at the hospital, we were told that our dates had changed for EPU as our donor had commenced her period. I was exstatic!!! Everything was going to plan, it just meant that we would shorten our time in Goa...no big deal. So we now head back to Mumbia on the 15th for EPU & ET two days later, staying for five days (all going to plan).
We have then arranged to head up to northern India to take in some more sights.....why not!!May as well make the most of our time over here.
So Amit has sorted us out some great deals....we can't thank him enough for his knowledge of india and arranging everything for us.

We are having a lovely relaxing time in Goa......just what the Doctor ordered after the rush of Mumbai. You can not fail to relax over here....sunshine every day, great food, nice beaches, and loads of tourists.
It is almost like little Britain over here!! Alot on English where we are staying in Candolim.
We hired some scooters and had a GREAT time looking around...a bit scary BUT loads of FUN.
Also went to some massive markets at Anjuna yesterday and got some really cheap stuff.
Everything has been amazingly cheap...makes for a GREAT holiday.
So five more days in paradise, and then we head back to Mumbai. Really hoping that this amazing trip is going to be topped off with some amazing results with SI. Everything has been very positive so far. Lets hope it continues..........

We are finally here!! In Mumbai!!

2010-02-03T02:54:00.000-08:00

Can't believe we are sitting in our hotel in Mumbai.

We had a great flight over, arriving at the airport at 2am in the morning.
We then faced a sea of Indians, with signs waiting to collect passengers.....we both became very panic stricken when we couldn't find our names on any of the many signs being held up. Finally asked someone looking official, that we were looking for the Ramee Guestline Hotel and he kindly pointed us to our driver....(phew what a relief!).....we then ventured to some dimly lit car park where we were then greeted by someone over friendly, greeting us and welcoming us to india, who shook our hands and helped us with our luggage etc, then promptly asked "porter money!!". At this point in time we didn't have any rupee money, and stated so....he replied with "any money!!"....Doug then frantically started to look for some Australian change we had floating in our bag which he was having great difficulty finding....it was all becoming very suspicious, when the driver promptly told Doug to get in the car and sit down, "SIT, SIT!!" he said. It then became obvious that this guy was just after money, and the driver just wanted to remove us from the whole situation....we drove off with the driver saying, "where are the police", "he wants drinking money"......we then drove to our hotel passing through every red light, dodging stray dogs and any car in our path along the way.
After arriving at our hotel the staff were very friendly.....but again still had no rupee money to tip....couldn't tip the driver, who hung around us at the reception with a friendly smile for quite a while, and then couldn't tip the porter who helped with our bags to our room,.....who also hovered in our room for around a minute or so waiting for a tip......felt awful not being able to tip.....SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE RUPEES BEFORE COMING TO INDIA IN FUTURE!
We then hit the sack about 4am, and slept soundly in a very comfortable bed until around 9am. Made it down to breakfast before it closed, enjoying yummy freshly cooked eggs (Doug being curry mad, had to have spicy cajun potatoes which he infoms me were nicely chillified).
At breaky had a call from Dr Sudir, asking if we would like to meet up, so were picked up by Vikas, one of the clinics drivers at 11.30. Arrived at the hospital, after a very hectic ride (can't work out if Mumbains are the worst drivers or the best drivers in the world), and finally met Dr Sudhir and Dr Yash. Had a good chat about procedures etc, had a couple of blood tests and then went for lunch with them. Very nice meal with two very nice people. Vikas then picked us up and took us back to the hotel. On the way back, we saw our first cow, which, oblivious to the busy traffic, was lying in the middle of the road.
Will be going to SI offices tomorrow to meet with surrogate in the afternoon.hope to go for a wander around Juhu beach in the morning, will be investigating the Juhu restuarants this evening.
All good so far, SI very good, hotel very good, Indian people warm & friendly.

2010 Here we come!!

2010-01-02T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has had a great Christmas, ours was lovey, catching up with family and friends.

New Years was great also, went to a great fancy dress party, I dressed as Xena The Warrior!! Actually feel that this dress up was quite appropriate for me this year.......as I feel I am going to need great strength, courage and fight for what we are about to take on.

Things continue to move forward.....we have recently spoken to Armit the travel expert connected to the SI team, he is letting us know about accomodation options, and will help us also arrange a get away in Goa after our time in Mumbai with the SI Team. He was very helpfull, we are awaiting his email with all the details, hope to get it soon.

We have both now completed our base line blood tests and Hubby has done his seman test, just need the results to come back fine and dandy. Hubby was told he had "super sperm" when we were doing all our IVF cycles, so lets hope it is still in good form......if not.......we will be up the creek without a paddle.....and I suppose we will just end up having a trip of a life time to india without surrogacy treatment. I really do believe that this will not be the case though. Hubby is contacting the Doctors tomorrow for his results, so keep your fingers crossed for us......one of us being infertile, is enough, thanks very much!!

Need to find out about vaccinations and malaria tablets ASAP. I think I will email the SI doctors to find out if Doug especially needs to have any vaccinations, as we don't want to harm his sperm in any way. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute.

Most people who know me, know how layed back I can be......but I think I may need to step into action....quick smart now....get some lists happening and all that stuff!!

Went into Adelaide between Christmas and New year to organise our Indian Visas. Just waiting for them to come in the post now, normally takes about five days apparently.

Decided to organise a bit of a get together with close family and friends Janurary 29th just before we head off to India. We have been very open with all our friends and family about our surrogacy journey and everyone is battling along with us offering great support.

I, at times, have been hesitant to tell some people, not knowing how thay will react. Whereas Hubby has told just about every man and his dog.....he is very excited and positive about the whole process, and doesn't give two hoots about what other people think!!

I have had a very scary dream just recently where we arrive at the SI clinic to find that they are completely unaware of who we are.......it is a horrible feeling.....after all these months of organising things over the internet, you just hope that when you do arrive in India you will get greeted with open arms and expectation....but like I say in my dream they look at us as if we are from a different plant and have no idea who we are!! It is horrible what tricks our mind can play on us!!

Any way better get moving. Best of luck in 2010 to everyone on this surrogacy journey, no matter what stage you may be at.....we are all in it together!!

February is getting close and closer

2009-12-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

Since I last blogged we have been very busy.
We have now chosen our surrogate, which has been confirmed.
We have also chosen our egg donor, and are waiting confirmation on whether she is available in Feb.
I will email the docs today to see if we have a definite on that on that one.

With chosing the surrogate we definitely looked at height, and weight and also age. My husband was a very big baby and thought it best to attempt to chose a surrogate with a little more height than the others, and one that had a healthy BMI. Still was very hard to chose, I think we had it narrowed down to three at one point, we eventually chose a first and second preference, and twice we had a reply from the docs to say that both our first preferences had been taken....we eventually went with our second preference, which we had chosen on both accounts....I think she was meant to be!

Donor choice I found very hard, as this is to be the potential genetic mother of our child. We eventually got our choice down to two lovely ladies..... and really had to bite the bullet when giving our final decision. Our donor, if available in Feb, has been a proven sauccessful egg donor, with positive pregnancies, so that was a big swayer for us.

It has all felt very bazar. Sitting in your lounge room looking at faces, and profiles of theses women very far away. I really do have to pinch myself that we are actually doing this on many occasions.

Still have many things to organise, and February seems to be looming closer snd closer.

I have got a seven day break over Christmas so hope to get lots done then!!

Moving forward....

2009-11-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

We have finally sent off all documents and enrollment fee to SI. Really hope to be looking at our ED and Surrogate profiles very soon...... hubby phoned me from work yesterday to tell me he had finally been able to transfer the money to India, he showed REAL excitement for the first time....I think he knows this is for real now....up and till now it has all been talk...we will now be getting into a BIT OF ACTION AND MOVING FORWARD......yeaaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!

What an ordeal I am finding this all to be....I feel like I have spent hours reading, researching , thinking, discussing, worrying, AND IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THIS LONG JOURNEY.

Sometimes I feel really strong , and feel that nothing will break my determination to have a family...other times I have to ask myself, why me, and become very self absorbed feeling sorry for myself.
Thank goodness most of the time I am able to carry on enjoying life for what I have already got...which is a GREAT deal...loving family, loving husband, healthy life, great friends, comfortable life style, great job, BUT there is always that one niggling thing at the back of my mind, that often comes to the forfront....a child to love and care for.....I have so much love to give, I sometimes think I could just burst.

But I can't be any happier and more thankful, than having this opportunity to travel to india and the chance to create a family.

I am feeling very positve about our trip to India, we have both always wanted to travel to india. When we both first met over ten years ago, we both talked about one day going there, and was hoping to travel last year for hubby's 40th Birthday but didn't quite make it, this is before we even new about surrogacy in India.....so this all seems like it was meant to be.....feeling like India will bring much new life our way, in both heart, soul and being.

On the home front.....Weather is VERY hot here today and is continuing to remain hot for the rest of the week...I think Summer is in the way. We will be in the midst of Summer when we depart for India....can't wait to meet the Doctors who are helping us through this journey....it will all become very real when we set foot off of the plane.

Our Molly dog has just got back from the vets....she is feeling very sorry for herself....with who knows how many stitches all over her body. She has had many growths removed and has also been desexed to hopefully prevent any more growths occuring. She has bounced back well for her age, from a three hour anaesthetic, but definitely needs some TLC for a while. She is currently sleeping very soundly in her basket in the nice cool of the airconditioning....thank god for cooling!! Heat wave hear we come!!

HIgh demand for Indian egg donors

2009-10-16T03:30:00.000-07:00

Need to get my act together !! I have had an email from SI, stating that they have high demad for egg donors and advise us that we need to "freeze"" an egg donor soon.
We are still waiting for our passport which will take another 10 days approximately, which is part of the necessary paper work before you can commence looking at donors.
I am getting nervous that we will miss out on "freezing"" a suitable donor.

I suppose we all want the perfect donor......lets hope there is one left for us!! A lovely Indian lady that produces lots of good quality eggs. If only my eggs were up to scratch!!

Sometimes I really have to pinch myself that we are actually doing this.....I believe it will all become very real when we do start to look at donors....BIG decisions ahead.

Information Overload ??

2009-10-07T03:21:00.000-07:00

I have been reading so many great blogs and I now feel that I am getting more nervous the more I read.

I know this may sound silly, but you start to question your decisions.

I suppose sometimes you do have to go with your gut feeling on things, I may live to regret this comment who knows.......but the deeper I look into things the more frightened I become.

I think I need to stop worrying and just concentrate at the job at hand...i.e sorting out our passports. Both our photos were duds...Doug's was too dark and I was smiling with my teeth showing. So I am having to get our photos redone and re-signed.....DAMN!!

Once we have our passports, time to send off our enrollment forms, enrollment fee, copy of passports, copy of marriage certificate, and a photo of us both to SI.

Need also to get all blood tests and semen analysis completed in November.

Have sent an email to SI to find out the number of egg donars and surrogates we will have to choose form around our time in India in February, I await to hear their response.

I have also asked about embryo transfer, amount of...and on what day.... they transfer. Also asked about freezing costs of sperm and embryos. Just wanting to know a few bits of info before we jump head on in with our enrollment...like I say...nervous now after reading so many great blogs....really you can never have too much information...and I think the closer we get the more nervous I become.

Let's hope this nervous feelin turns back to excitement soon !!

Booked flights !!

2009-09-25T01:59:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I last blogged...and I am still trying to work this blog thing out. I am not very computer wise...so bare with me guys. I don't have too many fancy pictures or stuff like that.

Well some good news!! We have booked our flights to India!! February 2nd - February 24th.
We have notified SI and have been told that these dates should be fine.
Currently in process of sorting out our passports.

Unfortunately still having lots of problems in the womens department. Will possibly need a hysterectomy very soon ( well need one now really, but am putting off the inevitable). My Doctor has adjusted my medications, and I hope this helps until we have been on our journey to India. If I do need to go ahead and have surgery it will be high risk and will also be a long recovery time, so I really can't afford to be having any surgery any time soon.

One step at a time....

2009-08-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

Well we have now received a few emails from Surrogacy India and have also received our enrollment forms.
I am now starting to get excited about the whole process.
Once our enrollment forms are processed I believe we may be able to start looking at egg donars.

We will be looking at Indian egg donars which will be very exciting also.

I have great hope and positivity that Doug and I will eventually have our own family.
This has to be our best hope in a vey long journey so far, our own IVF attempts were fruitless and heartbreaking.

I have recently had contact with our old reproductive unit who are happy to release information to SI regarding the treatment we received with them.
Really it is just pure proof that I am infertile.

It is a horrific realisation, and it does take a while to come to that realisation, but when you do, you almost empower yourself to fight on and have hope that there are other ways and options to eventually having a family.

I do distinctly remember years ago when a close friend was going through IVF that I could not understand why anyone would put themselves through the pain and anguish of it all. I really believed that if I couldn't have kids, than I would just accept it, end of story, and really, what was all the fuss about.

I would have to say that I now look back and really can't believe how unthoughtful I was back when my friend was trying with IVF. I thought she was obsessed about having a baby.

Guess what.... only when you are told that you can't have a baby do you become overwhelmed with the feeling of utter disbelief, failure and extreme sadness. I have spent many days feeling sorry for myself, knowing that I will never have a mini me, a girls ultimate dream to look into her child's eyes and see a little part of herself.

But I now know that I was not put on this planet just for that reason, I now realise that my life will be better and stronger for having a family that will be our special family through love and perseverance.

Many times I have looked into my Husbands eyes and felt a failure.
But I know that he loves me for who I am, and is very, very excited at the opportunity of having an Indian born child with his own genetic connection.

How special that child will be. We desperately look forward to this exciting journey we are embarking on... I am sure there will be lots of bumps along the way... but with true hope and love we will get thee in the end.

I really do love life and believe that I am very fortunate to be able to travel on this journey of surrogacy to fulfill our dream of having our own family.

I look forward to my next communication with SI.
Enrollment forms almost fully completed!!

2009-07-18T03:38:00.000-07:00

We have pretty much decided to go with the Surrogacy India clinic in Mumbai, after visiting many websites and blog sites.

Very difficult decision to make when you have never seen or visited the place.

My gut feeling is saying SI i s the clinic for us.

I now need to get Australian medical records together to send to the clinic.

We are hoping to book flights to India for January 2010.
There is a current sale which ends at the end of July for flights with (I think it is) Malasian Airlines, $1300. The clinic have said that January will be fine.

Spoke to an Indian friend today who I used to work with. She was very happy for me, and has wished me well with our journey. She will be back in India, May next year, and has invited us to visit her if we are in India later in the year.

Better get my act together and get all my medical records organised!!!

Wandering how soon we will get to choose a surrogate, and donar for our trip in January ??

2009-06-13T02:11:00.000-07:00

All I have to say at this present time is that I am very scared and very excited at the same time.
My Husband and I have decided that we would like to attempt surrogacy.
We are currently tying to decide which clinic to attend in India.
We have emailed several clinics with no response.
Unfortunately I am infertile, so unable to use my own eggs.
Hoping that there is a clinic that will provide donar eggs or practice natural/traditional surrogacy.
Would love to speak to anyone who is in a similar situation or has any info to offer.