Celebration Photos & Week 15 Update

We just LOVE Sykpe! This week we were fortunate enough to catch our surrogate in SI's office again after some appointments and had the chance to see her beautiful face again! She is looking so well and had the most amazing glow in her face, she truly did!

Gopa also sent us some great photos of our surrogate opening her diwali gifts and she looked so happy. Dr Sudhir said that she was very grateful and happy with what we had sent her. We are so glad and are looking forward to sending a hamper full of Aussie goodies for Christmas time. We saw so many friendly faces at the SI office it made us both so melancholy to return to India now. Our surrogate was asking us when we were coming back to see her and we would love to be there now but financial and work constraints mean it's not likely I'm afraid...If anyone out there has some Qantas frequent flyer points they want to donate to us please feel free to do so!

We are coming into our 15th week of pregnancy which means only another five weeks until we hit the half way mark!!!!! Oh my, this is fact approaching and we have still so much to do. We are going to start our nursery preparations in the new year and we'll post photos of the before and after shots for your enjoyment.

We have a green check wallpaper in our study (that is to become Noddy's room) that needs to be removed, walls repainted, panelling installed, furniture painted and the list goes on. Luckily we have some handy family members who have agreed to help us as we are not that handy. Sure, we can put colours together and select some wonderful co-ordinating fabrics but, handy we aint!

Below is the 14 and a half'ish week baby belly care of wonderful Gopa at SI!

WEEK 15

This week your baby is around 93-104mm (3.4-4.1 inches) in length and weighs approximately 50 grams (1.75 ounces).

The fetus continues to grow rapidly and is starting to look more and more like a baby. The external ears and eyes are well developed and lanugo (a fine, downy hair) covers the body. As the neck further extends and the chin becomes prominent, the head becomes well defined. Your baby may now start to suck it's thumb.

Government Requirements & Week 14 Update

This week has seen us emailing the Australian Embassy in New Delhi back and forth and back and forth. The paper trail has us daunted again!

Under Australian law, any child born overseas to Australian parents is required to undergo DNA testing to prove their paternal/maternal link to obtain citizenship.

For us, this means we undergo mandatory DNA testing prior to travelling to India in April and then, once Noddy is born he/she must do the same.

Basically once Noddy is born, our time will be spent as follows:

Obtain birth certificate in Mumbai ~ Around 7 days to have this done

Noddy has his/her DNA test (preferably with the Consul General in Mumbai). The Embassy in New Delhi is considering each case of children born via surrogacy & hopefully Noddy will not have to come to Delhi too.

Once birth certificate is obtained, one of us will have to travel to the Australian Embassy in New Delhi to apply for citizenship by descent & then an Australian passport.

We then (hope) to return to Mumbai and await the courier for Noddy's passport and then off to the FRRO office for an exit visa....Argh!

There's nothing to stress about, right?

WEEK 14

This week your baby is about 80-89mm in length and weighs approximately 25 grams
(0.9 ounces). The head is now about one third of your baby's whole length and the neck continues to get longer, meaning that the chin no longer rests on the chest.

The placenta has fully developed and its rich network of blood vessels is functioning as your baby's life support system. The placenta also manufactures some of the pregnancy hormones. The umbilical cord is also completely mature and is made up of three entwined blood vessels (covered by a fatty layer). The large vein of the umbilical cord carries nourishment and oxygen rich blood to the fetus, while the two smaller arteries are responsible for carrying waste products and carbon dioxide from the fetus to the placenta, which then processes waste. The placenta also passes antibodies that help fight infections from the mother to the fetus. Your baby's circulation continues to develop and he/she can now swallow amniotic fluid, which is excreted as urine. Your baby starts to establish a sucking reflex, and exercises the muscles that will help him/her swallow and breath after birth.

The profile of your baby is now more human, and features such as chin, forehead and nose are are more clearly defined. Fingers and toes are becoming fully formed and the external genitals differentiate. By the end of this week your baby is fully formed. From here, he/she needs to mature.

We Welcome Our Second Trimester...Namaste

It really is true. The time does fly by. Months and months of waiting, emailing, blogging, travelling, emailing and then some more waiting and..voila the first trimester has been and gone.

Welcome Noddy to your second trimester, week 13! Not a single day goes by when your Daddies do not think of the wonder, joy and miracle that is life and the day when we will hold you and know you are our child.

The latest results from our surrogate's 12 week ultrasound and blood tests are excellent;

Noddy's heart rate ~ 178bpm
Gestational Age ~ 11 weeks & four days at 07-10-09
Estimated due date ~ 24-04-2010
No anomolies detected

We are so thankful to everyone who has made this dream a reality. Dr Sudhir and Dr Yash of Surrogacy India, Dr Pai who performed our egg transfer, Dr Soni who is regularly checking on Noddy's progress, our egg donor (a wonderful, selfless woman) and our surrogate who we constantly think of and pray for her good health.

Of course we also have the support of both our extended families, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest member to our family. We also have our faith and the love of God in our lives without whom none of this would be in the realm of possibility. We thank him every day for the gifts bestowed on us and will never forget the wonder of his creation. The dream of becoming parents is that one step closer and we are not letting go!

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WEEK 13

This week your baby is approximately 65-78mm (2.6-3.1 inches) long and weighs about 14-20 grams (0.5-0.7 ounces)

This week your baby starts to gro rapidly, and his/her body is now growing fater than the head. Maturation of the tissuesnd organs continues. The heart is beating at about twice the rate of a normal adult heart and can be detected using an ultrasonic device or Doppler.

Our New Family Friendly Vehicle

Darren has just started his new job and no longer has a company car, so we have been looking for a replacement vehicle for the past couple of months. One that is family friendly and will accommodate our growing need for space so we can picnic on Sundays and enjoy long weekends together as a family! We can either take a standard vehicle from their fleet and salary sacrifice (as the costs still come out of his package) or hire purchase a new vehicle ourselves that we will eventually own. We chose the latter option.

Our car wish list is;

Safety. There is no skimping here people - 5* safety rating only
Practical, there has to be space for a pram and overnight bags
Parking sensors (for Johnny)
Sunroof (if possible)
Cream Leather (for Darren)
Sat Nav (Forget the UBD)
Euro Wagon (would be nice)

We already own a cute Mazda 3 sedan; Yuki and she is great. Very fuel efficient and a zippy little love that has us travelling care free as an Andrews Sister from A to B and then some. For some reason we feel the need to name our cars and we have had a few during our time together;

Erica - Darren's first car, a SAAB 900 sedan
Veronica - Our first car together, a VOLVO 850 sedan
Ethan - Our second car together, a VOLVO S60 sedan
Yuki - Our current car together, a MAZDA 3 sedan

Darren is and has always been a car fanatic and since meeting him, Johnny is now the same...well almost. Unlike some men who like cars, racing, engines etc we are more selective in our interest and only enjoy some cars. They are mainly European and way out of our price range or something dreamy and totally impractical. There's no harm in dreaming right?

Every year we look forward to the Sydney International Motor Show and always have our standard manufactures we visit; Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, Saab, Audi and then the dreamers Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin. It has been three years though since we've been to a motor show given the recent 'GFC'. Two Australian cities hold a motor show each year, Melbourne and Sydney but the Sydney show has been given the boot my manufactures given the high costs of attending and it is now going to be held bi-annually in each city. Next year will Sydney's turn and we are so excited. We'll also be attending as a threesome, the first time with Noddy!

It is amazing the price difference between Australia, the US and some European countries when it comes to cars. For example;

Mercedes' G class SUV in the USA has a starting price of $59,950 and Audi's Q5 SUV a starting price of $37,350. Converted into AUD that's around $70,000 & $43,600 respectively. The same cars in Australia start from $114,000 & $66,700 given the 33% luxury car tax care of the Australian government!

After many weeks of web browsing, brochure reading and test driving we can now happily announce the newest vehicular member of our family:

"Orlando" the Ocean Racer Volvo XC70 Station Wagon

Diwali Festival & Week 12 Update

We have just finished chatting with our surrogate on sykpe. AMAZING!
She looks so well and is really happy in herself she said. We both only wish we were closer to her so we could visit her now. It is the first time we have seen her since we left India & believe it is such a great way of staying connected to Noddy's pregnancy. She will next be in the clinic in around 10-15 days time and we'll chat again on skype then. We also got to chat with Ravi and Gopa at SI and it was great to see their friendly faces again. The Hindu Festival of Diwali is fast approaching and we are preparing to send our surrogate a hamper of gifts for her and her kids. We both were a little unsure as to what Diwali was other than being known as "The Festival of Lights". We found the below on http://www.diwalifestival.org/

Diwali is one of the biggest festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. The festival is celebrated for five continuous days, where the third days is celebrated as the main Diwali festival or 'Festival of lights'. Different colorful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival. On this auspicious day, people light up diyas and candles all around their house. They perform Laxmi Puja in the evening and seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth. The festival od Diwali is never complete without exchange of gifts. People present diwali gifts to all near and dear ones.

Week 12

Your baby is approximately 60mm (2.5 inches) in length and weighs between 9 and 14 grams (0.3-0.5 ounces).

From this week onwards your baby is recognisable as a human being and is now called a fetus as opposed to an embryo. Now, or close to this time, you should be able to hear your baby's heartbeat with a Doppler (a special listening device). The fingers and toes develop, and nails and teeth are beginning to form. The skeletal system, which began developing earlier, now has centres of bone formation (ossification) in most bones. The external genital organs are growing. The amount of amniotic fluid is increasing. The nervous system has continued to develop, and the digestive system is now capable of making the contractions that process food.

12 week baby belly

Our day, week and month has been made today with photos from Dr Sudhir & Yash of our wonderful surrogate and a 'baby belly'!

Our surrogate is looking really well and has put on weight in her face from when we met her. We are both so elated at receiving these wonderful photos and want to share them with you.

Double Marker Test

Well the results are in. Last night before bed and after checking the email for the 250th time that day, there were our double marker results...

1:949 chance of trisomy 21
1:5172 chance of trisomy 18

We couldn't be happier and our results done on the 24th September show Noddy's gestational age at 9 weeks and four days which means on the Monday the 12th October, the same day that Darren starts his new job we will officially begin our second trimester. We have joined an online parent website & forum, http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/ and we are receiving weekly updates on how Noddy should be progressing and this is it for week 11:

Week 11

Your baby is approximately 44-60mm (1.75-2.4 inches) long and weighs about 8 grams
(0.3 ounces). Rapid growth occurs during this time period. The head is still large, and takes up almost half of the entire length of the body. The eyes are formed, although the eyelids remain closed while they continue to develop. The rest of the face is also formed. Your baby's body has straightened out, and bones and ribs appear. Although your baby can now respond to touch, you won't yet be able to feel it move. Nutrients pass from your body into the placenta and umbilical cord to feed your baby and support his/her rapid growth.

Johnny is in the process of preparing a hamper full of treats and body products to send our wonderful surrogate since we won't be able to visit mid pregnancy although we would love to. We are both saving our holidays for when Noddy arrives so we can have the most amount of time together as a family. With Darren starting a new job soon we are hoping that he will be permitted to have more than just two weeks annual leave in April 2010 (fingers crossed).

Other highlights this week include buying a cot. We have been trying to find something that will suit our French Provencial decorated home and we wanted it to be just right. We ended up finding a beautiful white sleigh cot that converts to a toddler bed too and we saved $650 off the retail price so how can one not be happy!

We will convert our study into Noddy's nursery and our front guest room will become our new study. It is more than twice the size of our current study and means will will still be able to have guets stay over as we're going to buy an ottoman sofa bed to pop in there too. On the list of other things to do before Noddy joins us;




Build cupboards in our upstairs loft which will become our permanent bedroom
Install new floorboards downstairs as the carpet is looking tiiired
Repaint skirting boards downstairs prior to floorboards being installed
Paint Noddy's bedroom

We have six months in which to do the above and other things too tedious to mention here. Thankfully we're coming into our Summer months and daylight saving starts this Sunday and runs for a full six months so we're gonna be OK.