Week 19 Update & Latest Ultrasound Results

Can you believe that we are now days from reaching the half way point of our pregnancy! One of the major mental milestones to be passed one would say.

We are so blessed to have by our side, our family, friends and a great community of online supporters following our journey. We sincerely thank you all for your kindness and kind words.

Our surrogate is doing very well from our last conversation with Dr Sudhir and we are very excited for the next day she will be back at SI's clinic so we can SKYPE with her again. I (Johnny) am still amazed that this is really happening to us. I am still scared to give myself over completely to the idea that I am going to be a parent in less than 6 months time. Our wonderful surrogate is being so well taken care of and is in the best of health, this pregnancy has thus fare been uneventful; which is just what we want.

I posted a while back that just because we want to be daddies does not mean it will happen. I won't be completely satisfied (and relieved) until Noddy is in our arms. I am so very fearful of this wonderful gift being snatched from Darren and I before we even realise it.

I am sure these emotions are normal though, right?

Our most recent ultrasound results from India are very impressive with all kinds of information for the medico lamen to ponder - yay for Dr Google.

A quick overview reads: A single live fetus is seen in unstable lie. Liqor volume is adequate. Placenta is situated at the fundus and extends along the anterior wall. It shows grade I maturity. No praevia is seen. Cervical Os and canal are closed. Cervix measures 3.3cm. Normal fetal cardiac activity and fetal biophysical profile is seen. No obvious anatomical anomalies are seen.

All in all a good report card wouldn't you agree? Our revised due date is now the 19th April 2010.

WEEK 19

Fetal size 13-15cm (5.2-6 inches). Fetal weight 200g (7 ounces). This week your baby continues to develop and grow.

Remembering Mumbai, 26 November 2008

On the 26th November 2008, we all woke to the news of horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Our time spent in India in July of this year gave us the opportunity to meet some people that this day a year ago tomorrow had a direct impact on. Staff at our hotel who were fortunate enough to avoid the gun fire at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal Hotels. We can not begin to imagine the fear they have experienced. We now also have a personal and life long connection to Mother India. This is where Noddy was conceived. Through the generosity of two wonderful Indian woman and Dr Sudhir and Yash from Surrogacy India. We remember 26-11-08 because of them. The world we live in in vastly more aware of global conflict that that of our grandparents and great grand parents. The changed world we now live in seems to be desperately clinging onto peace; at least, this is my opinion. The nightly news without fail always seems to have a terrible story on war, famine and terrorism. The world and the people living here are crying out for help.

Innocent people, caught in the middle of political, religious and territorial motivated hate crimes. This is after all what is happening; crimes against your fellow man are not only terribly hateful but hurtful. The hate has a flow on affect sometimes lasting generations.

I loathe conflict and war. Whenever I hear of the terrible things happening in our world today I'm saddened. I do not understand what it is like to be hungry. I do not understand what it is like not to have fresh, clean drinking water available to me. I do not understand what it is like to have lost family members to war and I do not understand what it is like to have my family home taken from me due to no wrong doing on my part. I am in many way a naive person and perhaps selfish? We live in the Western, developed world a very decadent life. I cringe now when I think of the thousands of dollars spent on trivial, fleeting things; food, possessions long gone and the list could go on.

I love to travel the world, meet new people and experience daily life in a country vastly different from my own. But, as a tourist travelling for leisure one wears rose coloured glasses to a certain degree. This was evident during our time in India. Darren and I were fortunate enough due to my line of work to stay in an amazing 5* hotel with all the bells and whistles one could ask for. As we have said in earlier posts though, there was extreme poverty no more than a stones throw from our hotel lobby!

After my GOOGLE search, I learned the following facts:

~ At least 80% of humanity live on less than $10 a day

~ According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die every day due to poverty. 25,000!

~ Nearly 1 billion people entered the 21st century unable to read or sign their own name

~ Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child

into school by the year 2000.

Both Darren and I know how blessed we are.

We live in a free country ~ free to be ourselves

~ free to practice our religion without fear of attack

~ free from hunger and thirst

~ free from war

~ free from homelessness and poverty

This is the changing world we are going to bring our child into. I hope and pray that our children can make a difference.

Week 18 Update & Baby Belly

WEEK 18

This week your baby measures approximately 12.5-14cm (5-5.6 inches) in length and weighs about 150 grams (5.25 ounces). Your baby is looking more and more human as time goes by. Your baby can now make facial expressions, including frowning and squinting. Eyes are still closed, but are sensitive to light outside the abdomen. Eyelashes and eyebrows have started to grow.

Limbs become longer and start to gain proportion and begin to move as the connections between the nerves and muscles are established. The nerves are now being coated in myelin (a fatty later), enabling them to pass messages to and from the brain. Your baby's hands can now form fists and if they meet, will clasp together. The lungs are developing , but until birth the placenta will provide your baby's oxygen.

LIFE Magazine Cover: April 30 1965

LIFE magazine's cover from 30 April 1965 showing an 18 week old fetus in utero, taken by Swedish photographer Linnart Nilsson, using an endoscopic camera with electronic flash.

How amazing to know that this is how our Noddy is looking like around this week. A real person, a human being with all his/her limbs and now able to respond to light and dark from the outside world!


This week we enter our 18th week gestation, or thereabouts. Each week we receive an email update from an online baby forum here in Australia with information on how Noddy should be developing and growing and it is great to have this information available to us. These weekly emails combined with updates from Dr Sudhir and Dr Yash and chatting with our surrogate on SKYPE help to make us feel closer to our pregnancy.

At this stage, from our latest ultrasound films from SI, Noddy is due to join us some time from the 15th to the 27th April 2010. Gosh, not long now until our dream of parenthood becomes reality!

There are so many couples undertaking this life changing journey of starting a family via surrogacy in India, the USA, Thailand and other countries it is easy to forget that for some, the process of becoming parents is very long and exhausting. Not everyone has a positive pregnancy. We are both so very blessed to have had success on our first attempt and count our blessings every single day. We receive continued support from couples world wide, some who have tried in vain time and time again with no success to become parents.

We are equally happy to hear that these people are not giving in to negative results and continue going back for their third, fourth and fifth attempt. As others have already said before us, the one guarantee that surrogacy offers us is options and hope. Hope that this time will be 'our time'.

The surrogacy community is small. Nastiness, lies and malice toward others is not called for and when you behave this way it shows nothing other than ones immaturity and inability to care for your fellow man. Darren and I both believe that we need to be there and support each other with kind words, prayers and messages of hope.

Is this not what we would want for our children? I know I would.

Baby Booty & Week 17 Update

Not that kind of booty! Our baby booty; gifts that we have received so far for Noddy are stacking up next to the book shelf in our study which is to become Noddy's room. We have received some lovely gifts from family and friends so far; mainly clothes, some soft toys and lots and lots of books! We can't wait to start reading with Noddy. Below is our BEFORE photo of our study as it currently is and once we have made changes turning into our nursery we'll post those too.

We are now only three weeks away from the half way point - 20 weeks! My the time really has flown. We contacted our local hospital this week and obtained the 'blue book' which all new parents in the state of NSW receive on the birth of their child to record vaccinations and development...

The blue book or personal health record

When you have a baby, you will be given a Blue Book. This will be your baby's personal health record for their entire life. The blue book contains information about development, health checks and services from birth to school age. The Blue Book contains a guide when to bring your child to routine health checks to check your child's development in on track. This includes screening of all babies for hearing problems, called the NSW Statewide Infant Screening - Hearing Programs or (SWISH).

There are also other checks for movement, vision and language development. When your child turns four, the health check will also include the Statewide Eyesight Preschooler Screening (STEPS), to check you child's vision so any issue can be dealt with before starting school.

WEEK 17

This week your baby is about 11-12 cm (4.4-4.8 inches) in length and weighs approximately 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Fat begins to form on the fetus and aids in heat production and metabolism. The fetus can also now hear noises from the outside world.

Outing Ourselves & Week 16 Update

This week we officially outed ourselves as expecting parents! This was more an event for Johnny as he had been keeping the news of our pregnancy quiet, waiting until we were into our second trimester before telling many people.

Our mothers both know already, as does Johnny's step father and our siblings. Most of our friends know but not everyone in our family know our exciting news. This week was Darren's Aunt's 60th birthday and Uncle's 70th so what better time to fill the extended family in our our news! Especially since we had a captive audience and everyone was together celebrating birthdays which does not happen very often. We also officially told Johnny's dad, step mother and children who were visiting Sydney from the NSW North Coast for a few days.




Johnny also told the rest of his work colleagues who did not know already. We had a great morning tea at work and Lisa (Johnny's manager) made the yummiest pink and blue cupcakes. Everyone at work has been great and really supportive as are most people that we come into contact with.

WEEK 16

This week your baby is approximately 11-12cm (4.3-4.6 inches) long and weighs about 80 grams (2.8 ounces). All embryos start off looking much the same, as far as outward appearances are concerned, but this week sexual differentiation is more definite. Your baby's legs are now longer than its arms, and they are moving around.