Week 28 - The Start of Our Third Trimester

No news is good news and truer words were never spoken. Especially when it comes to how we, as soon to be parents worry about so many things.

Our surrogate and her family, are they well and in good health?

The Drs at Surrogacy India, are they well and in good health?

The political situation in India. Are there tensions about to boil over?

Is Noddy growing well and is everything 'normal'?

And the list goes on and on and on and on. Many of you reading this will agree and be nodding your heads when reading the above. This week we are 28 weeks into or pregnancy and this means we really are on the home stretch. Blessings have been abundant for us during the past six months and then some. We have been so fortunate to have a great support network of parents and parents to be, all in the same boat travelling the same river as us. Dr Sudhir and Yash from SI have been our rock when it has come to the medical side of things and always there to listen and help us.

We are going to start the nursery this weekend. Sunday has been put aside so that we can strip the walls of the wallpaper there and then we will undercoat and prime the wall ready for painting. We will then still have the timber moulding to install and paint and then we can set to decorating and preparing for when Noddy joins us.

On a quick side note, so as not to give this person too much precious air time. A BIG POO POO to blogger ibnzayd. You are the hideous, disgusting and filthy person not us. How dare you judge us when you do not know what is involved between our surrogate and us.

WEEK 28

Fetal size: crown-rump 25cm (10 inches), total length 37cm (15.75 inches). Fetal weight 1.1kg (2.4 pounds).

This week the amount of tissue in your babys brain increases, and the surface of your babys brain starts to change from being smooth, to forming grooves, ridges and indentations. Your baby continues to fill out, becoming plumper and rounder in appearance.

Time to Switch to Decaf

This one was so weird that I just had to share it with you. It has been a while since I have dreamt of Noddy or what life will be like once he/she joins us but last night was different. A dream unlike the others I have had and here's the weird part.

I (Johnny) was in our lounge room and people were arriving for our baby shower. In this dream Noddy was already with us and as people were arriving I decided that it was time for a bath. I went into the bathroom and filled the baby bath and then proceeded to place Noddy in. Noddy was VERY tiny, about the size of my mobile phone and this was totally normal. After placing little Noddy in the bath I left the room, proceeded back to the party and sat down!

What on earth was going on in my mind. I sat in the loungeroom sipping champagne and chatting with our friends when I realsised I had left Noddy in the bath. I ran back to check on things and he/she was under the water. Now, this is where the dream gets really weird. I picked Noddy up and checked for breathing which was OK. I covered him/her in a towel and then noticed that Noddy was in fact.....a kitten. Hmmm.

I went to the lounge room and people were cooing and complimenting us on our 'baby' and then somebody said to me; I thought you were having a real baby?

I replied that I thought we were too but a kitten is OK.

Definitely time to switch to decaf!

Whats In a Name?

We are one week away from the 'official' start to the final trimester in our pregnancy. Wow, the time has really flown. On reflection to this point, I laugh at the thought of all the little things that worried me and kept me online day in and day out. And, there were plenty of little things!

This weekend we caught up with the Aussie couple we met in Mumbai when we were there in July. We have made fantastic life long friends and it was so good to see them both again and share some laughs, great food and their wonderful company. I have attached a photo of the Noddy learning blocks that we received from them, amongst many other wonderful pressies they gave us!
When it came to choosing a name for Noddy, both Darren and Johnny wanted a classic name. Nothing too tricky or with weird spelling. You know the kind of name I mean right? What's benefit to your child is spelling their name other than the norm;

Matthew/Matthieu?
Paige/Paije?


Maybe it's just us and we are the weirdos? We always had our boys name chosen from the get go but when it came to selecting a girls name we were undecided. Of course everyone and their dog wants to give you their opinion on your chosen name and then offer suggestions as to what they would do. Then there's name association. You know what I mean here too; one partner really likes the name Ralph lets say, but Ralph was a crazy man who stole your underwear from the clothes line when you were in high school so, Ralph's a no go when it comes to naming your unborn child...and the list of 'no go' names goes on and on and on. On that note, I give unto thee our chosen names for Noddy, be she a boy or girl:

Noah Robert

Arabella Rose

What do you think? Of course if you don't like them, chances are they are not being changed but we would love to know what you think.



WEEK 27 UPDATE


Fetal size 24cm (9.6 inches). Fetal weight 1kg (just over 2 pounds). The head to toe length of your baby can now be approximated (until now, the measurements have been approximations of the crown-rump measurements). This week the crown-toe measurement is approximately 34cm (15.3 inches). At about this time the retina develops. The retina is located at the back of the eye and receives light and light images and information, and transmits it to the brain where it is interpreted. The lungs continue to develop, and this week the special moistening agent surfactant production begins. Surfactant stops the walls of the lungs sticking together when we exhale. Along with the production of surfactant, the network of blood vessels servicing the lungs increases.

Why We Chose Surrogacy India

For an openly gay couple living in Australia, the options when it comes to starting a family are very limited. For all the freedom we enjoy as tax paying Australian citizens, we are far from equal on many fronts when it comes to the civil liberties enjoyed by our heterosexual counterparts. That is all I will say on that topic for now. This post is about our wonderful clinic Surrogacy India, Dr Sudhir and Dr Yash and not the Australian government and their outdated laws!


First a quick recap:

When Darren and I eventually met on the same page of our family's story, we seriously started looking at what available options there were for us to become parents. One of our closest and dearest friends, whose son we are god parents to offered to be our surrogate and the research phase began. After a few months we decided that this was not a road we wanted to venture down. Beside being fraught with hair raising twists and turns, our friendship was not something we wanted to jeopardise. We then contacted Growing Generations in LA but MY LORDY THE COST!!!

Thailand was considered as an option, as well as two clinics in India. This is the quick introduction to our story and as you know, we chose Surrogacy India. After receiving personal feedback from two Australian couples who had already been through a cycle with Surrogacy India our first email was sent to Dr Sudhir - possible@surrogacyindia.com
From the very beginning, Dr Sudhir was open, honest and forthright in his replies to our questions, of which there were many. We often repeated ourselves just to make sure we understood exactly what we were getting into and we left no stone unturned. Literally! We both had no hesitation in proceeding with SI and proceeded to have our medical tests done and application forms completed to send to Mumbai.

Dr Sudhir and the entire SI team make you feel so at ease and comfortable with the process from start to finish (so far for us that is) from enrollment, selecting your egg donor, surrogate and even arranging your hotels, transfers and sightseeing via their recommended travel agent Amit Kulkarni, mumbai@exploreindya.net if you wish. On arrival at our hotel in Mumbai we were met by a beautiful arrangement of flowers and a welcome card from the doctors.

Our meeting at Lilavati Hospital was great. Both Dr Sudhir and Dr Yash were warm and welcoming and so are the staff at SI's clinic in Bhandup West. While everyone who undertakes starting their family with the help of an overseas clinic would agree it is not a bump free journey, far from it is some cases. This is the case regardless of your clinic of choice and the country one travels to. Some people have a smoother journey than others and we can not explain why.
It is a journey that opens ones eyes on many levels. Meeting our surrogate and her husband, meeting the wonderful people who have made our dream a reality and the welcoming people in India who have made such an impression on us. I could not have imagined at the time we started this blog, shortly after reading a book detailing the story of many gay dads and their families that we, your average (OK not average but hey) normal (again what is normal) couple would be months away from the most wonderful, amazing, awe inspiring time in our shared life. If you would like to chat with us regarding our experience or to start the ball rolling yourselves, we are more than happy to do so. Our email address is johnnyanddarren@gmail.com.

We can not express in words our gratitude to Dr Yash, Dr Sudhir, Dr Pai, Dr Soni and everyone else who has made this possible for us. It is without hesitation that we recommend Surrogacy India and encourage you to contact them if you too are considering starting your family via surrogacy in India.

http://www.surrogacyindia.com/

possible@surrogacyindia.com

To end, our latest photo from SI showing our beautiful surrogate's pregnant belly at 26 weeks!

Noddy...We have a pram!

This week brings closure on our pram debate. After many long hours sourcing the best pram for Noddy, the decision has been made for us. Both of us have spent hours at Babies Galore, Baby Kingdom, Babys R Us, Myer, David Jones...the list goes on and on to no avail. What we learnt from this process is that no single pram offered everything we were looking for. One was easy to collapse but did not have a rear facing bassinet or vice versa. This, coupled with the fact that there are very few pram systems under $1000 felt like we were searching for the holy grail of prams. Oh my! Johnny did buy a second hand emmalunjga classic pram on e-bay. It did not matter than the pram was ten years old as it was fabulous looking and was the traditional carriage he was after. Shortly after picking up said pram and it taking up the entire boot space in the station wagon and I mean there was very little room left, he did his wrist lifting into the car.

For days after it was aching beyond belief. Reality kicked in and it was bye-bye to the emmaljunga and we were back at square one; no pram. Our earlier joke of using a wheelbarrow was looking more and more like reality for us.

Luckily for us our pram saviour came in the form of Ninna. Darren's mum who goes by the name Ninna or Nin to her grandchildren. Nin had decided long ago that her baby shower gift to us was going to be a pram and it so it was...along with a mosquito net and stand for our cot, several beautiful nighties and legging sets, onsies, kinitted jackets, booties, bonnets along with shawls, blankets and baby face washers.

Our invitations for our baby shower have been posted this week and we are planning a lovely afternoon in our front garden with friends and family enjoying each other's company and a scrumptious selection of canapes with equally yummy beverages to boot.

WEEK 26

Fetal length 23cm (9.2 inches). Fetal weight nearly 910grams (2 pounds). Your baby's body has started to grow faster than its head. This new sense of proportion makes your baby look more like a newborn. Arms and legs are stronger and bones are hardening. Eyebrows and eyelashes are present and hair on the head is growing longer. Your baby is becoming longer and although still red and skinny its body is rounding out as fat deposits start to develop under the skin. Genitals are now completely differentiated. The lungs are growing, nostrils are open and muscles start to work to give your baby breathing practise prior to birth. Your baby has also developed patterns of sleeping and waking.

Weeks 24 & 25 Updates

We can almost see the finish line...almost. This week our surrogate will be 25 weeks pregnant and we soon will be counting down from DOUBLE DIGITS!

I remember earlier in the year when we were counting down from 99 days to our arrival into Mumbai for the first time and how excited we were and how fast the time passed by. We still have no movement on the nursery front. We have however purchased one box of newborn nappies and some cans of newborn formula. We will get started on the nursery by the end of January or the start of February.

There has been very little news from India over the past couple of weeks (no news in good news). Drs Sudhir and Yash have sent us two new photos at the start of this week with our surrogate's beautiful 25 week baby belly! Little Noddy is still growing strong and again we repeat how blessed we are that our pregnancy has been smooth and to be under the watchful eyes of such fantastic professionals at Surrogacy India. We are and always will be singing their praises and recommending them to anyone who listens! This week we also emailed Amit Kulkarni from Explore India; (mumbai@exploreindya.net), the travel agent recommended by SI to confirm our hotel when we return to India. We have decided on the VITS as their staff are well equipped to the needs of new parents and there are so many IPs who have been before us and some that will be there at the same time as us so, we look forward to meeting them! Amit's rates are very competitive and even better than what I was able to confirm as a travel agent. Also, Amit knows the people on the ground in India so can include many extras that we would otherwise miss out on or have to pay for.

WEEK 24

Fetal size 21cm (8.4 inches). Fetal weight 530grams (1.2 pounds). This week your baby continues to gain weight. Development is occurring in the brain, growth and increase in size of the kidneys, lungs and gastrointestinal tract (gut).

WEEK 25

Fetal size 22cm (8.8 inches). Fetal weight 680grams (1.5 pounds). Your baby continues to develop and mature. Its brain begins to form connections between the nerve cells and fibre ends. This process continues for a few weeks, while a basis is created for the relay of the sensory messages that signal consciousness in adults.