The Wave

A few waves this blog...firstly the work wave!  Wave of work that is...our industry (building) is ridiculous this time of year.  The older I get the more I dislike it (stronger words used in closed circles!) Its like the world is ending at Christmas and everything has to be finished before we break for the holidays.

We do get a lot of new jobs though that have to be rushed, so it all helps towards the twins nursery roll out!

Oh not forgetting we also got married in the last month :)  We had a fantastic day, just small with family, and very casual.  We had a great time.  Our twins even got a mention, so every one is eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Thanks so much for all the wishes and beautiful wedding cards guys!  Everyone has been really sweet

The resort wouldn't let us bring our furbabies so we had them put on the wedding cake!

Reading some blogs this morning of new arrivals has brought tears to my eyes, so Im hoping I can hold myself together when it finally happens for us.  Gosh it has felt the time has dragged on and on.  People saying the time is going so quickly....NO ITS NOT!  I guess we have waited 6 years, another couple of months (but with a positive outcome this time!!) should be bearable.

Plus it will give me time to finish off the last minute items for nursery and babies arrival and dont forget the three week stint overseas to collect them.

Im still struggling with the idea that we will finally have/be a family.  Its hard to believe that it's
almost our turn.  I guess the first few sleepless nights will sort that out for us.  Reading another great blog, they mention as their new baby grows every day, the pain they went through to have her diminishes just that little bit more.  Well said! Looking forward to that!

Our neighbors baby is a gentle reminder of what is in store for us. He has just started crying as I write... I hear him early in the morning and around 5 in the afternoon, he really puts it on!!  It will be a competition soon!  These are the neighbors when we first moved in, had a party or three every weekend, regular mid week sessions, lots of drinking, smoking, etc etc and had not one scrap of trouble it seems falling pregnant.  I saw her out the front of her house on our last failed IVF attempt,

very pregnant, and burst into tears!  My poor hubby...:)

Well, now the good stuff... the last wave, but not the least - THE BABY WAVE

xxxxpicture of baby scanxxxx

Merry Christmas to allxo

Quick update...

To let all know that we have received our 22 week scans last weekend...we are currently taking bets, but in my onion the baby measuring 24 weeks is the girl and the baby measuring 23 weeks is the boy! SM and babies all doing well.

Their mum and dad got married the weekend before scans due...photos on the way!

Love and best wishes to all

Surprise scan..

I wasn't even fretting about it, but our 3D scan come through over the weekend. It was great not worrying about it before the event occurred!

We have been really busy organising our wedding though, so that has probably taken the edge of the whole baby thing lately.

M and I got engaged YEARS ago, we thought we would get the family thing rocking along then get hitched. However, the family thing did not cooperate with us at all!! So the wedding got pushed back and pushed back again so that yet another IVF cycle could be paid for.


Well good bye IVF (I dont miss you at all!) and hello babies...here they are, asleep (i hope a sign of times to come ;)

They are both on the small side according to Dr Google but I am trying not to start hyperventalating about that just yet. See how we go with the scans, due in another month.

Hang in there babies, we are waiting for you!

I have to admit that I haven't been keeping up with all your blogs. I have a confession...I read a few bad news ones and it started freaking me out.

Im really sorry for the bad news guys (and my lack of support), I hope that good times are just ahead for you. Please know that some of us are not the most eloquent and dont think that our words can help with such horrible pain.

Take care everyone

16 week scan pics

Fwd: USG Report of Poonam Rakesh, a photo by Gcfami on Flickr.

If my computer skills do not let me down...

Good grief...

This waiting for scans is brutal! Hubby insists he has had a view of how I would have been had I actually been able to get pregnant...,with my extreme mood swings as we await news of our little ones.

I only notice buying anything to do with babies one day followed the very next day with extreme regret, why did I buy that, what if something horrible happens....followed the day after those negative feelings with,... just enjoy it, be positive nothing will go wrong...god give me strength, it has definitely been stretched (understatement) over the last couple of years.

At 16 weeks we have cots, drawers, some linen and baby clothes coming out of our ears! But it's sooooo cute! Imagine us buying baby clothes for our own babies...

Anyway without further delay, scans are all ok. Our lovely surrogate is doing a fantastic job!!!

Pictures attached and ...3d ones next scan in a month yay!,!

Oops had trouble posting the scans results...

Twin experience...

Hi all, we are on our first month wait for scan update, so I have been entertaining myself in baby stores. That is, up until the point that I get a headache and my eyes start glazing over in front of the sales assistant...my brain, swirling with the number of decisions to be made about which product for what use and when to use,...then double it!

I have also started having fun with my answers to their questions of when I am due :)

But now is the time to call in the experts in blogland....HELP!

What did all you experienced parents use for transporting your little ones around whilst in Delhi, I need all the details! From sleeping arrangements, to Delhi taxis,through to the plane ride home...any information would be of assistance at the stage I am at!
gcfamily@live.com.au

Thanks guys and congratulations to all in the latest flurry of births and bfp's

Finally...

We made it to 12 weeks! Gosh that was as painful as the 2 week wait til the pregnancy tests!

The last 2 weeks have contained really high days (with baby clothes purchases!) followed the very next day with a panic attack, thinking we will have to return all the purchases...

The week ended with a panicked call to Meg asking for "reassurance"! But then the following morning the beautiful pictures came through with a report that I didnt understand a word of..'the liquor is adequate.." A great big glass of scotch and soda was what immediately came to mind...lucky Dr Google doesnt enjoy the 'liquor' as much as me!

Check out our lovelies..

As we waited anxiously for news of our pregnancy I read in the Sydney Morning herald over the weekend, of a couple that went through SCI.

As they sat there holding their beautiful little girl who would not have been born without the help of surrogacy in India, they complained of hidden costs (did they not read the pages and pages of information setting out all costs?)

I thought to myself, have they not been through IVF in Australia, where in my experience, every time I walked into the IVF office, I was charged some other 'incidental' that was news to me. Where the only option they give is to do cycle after cycle after cycle and keep taking your money when they have no idea why these procedures are not working in completing your family.

I hope that this negative publicity does not effect future Indo-Australasian babies or what I have to go through to get my babies home.

And No – this isn’t how I wanted it to be either, but unfortunately this is my lot. I am not going to take out the frustration of my situation on others, who had nothing to do with my predicament.

I am not under the impression that pregnancy is going to run according to plan,yes there will be costs and 'events' I didnt budget (or prepare myself) for...I know that would have been the case even if I was able to become pregnant myself!

In my opinion, in India or Australia, this situation we are in is HORRIBLE but it does not excuse you from doing your due diligence...then praying and hoping.

Good luck in your own journeys

10 weeks and all's well...

Phew...a little...for another 2 weeks. This is really nerve racking. When does anyone that had to go through this to have a family ever start to relax and enjoy?

"Baby can now make small un-coordinated movements. Fingers toes and joints are now fully developed and your baby even has fingernails and hair! The nervous system is starting to develop along with the large muscles and the digestive system"

Rolled over..

... to check the time, (5.20 Sunday morning, just practicing!) and there's an email there from the lovely Neha...god should I open it..it's early, that is the email is early..it was due Tuesday morning to my calculations... Maybe not.  ANYWAY

Two heartbeats still there, 144 and 150bpm.  I, of course have googled and 150 is "normal" LOVE NORMAL..and everything is "fine" nothing to worry about Neha tells me in the email (they don't know ME!)  They are now called a fetus which means little one....eyes, nose have started to form and the chin...embryonic tail has gone ...

We have taken another breath and will now continue to hold that waiting for the next 2 week scan.

Good luck and thoughts going out to all in the various stages of this bizarre and amazing process

Wait for it....

Heartbeats!! Yes we have heart beats, plural i.e. in our surro mum 1; 110 & 114 bpm (at 5 weeks 5 days) How are those bpms blogland?  Is that fairly average?.. As I go down the very long list in my head of what can go wrong...No No No Positive positve positve thoughts, but not too positive,...you guys all know the drum.

On the very next email we received the news that SM 2 was a negative so hopefully all will go extremely well and very boring with our first SM for the next 7 months 3 weeks :).

And of course here is the picture us IP's have all been dying to post (and keep posting)..

I can relate to all those who have blogged before me when they say...I love them already...Talk to you all again in 2 weeks with more good news!

Thank you

Fwd:, a photo by Gcfami on Flickr.

IVF was such a lonely journey...who would have thought that we would have so much support and love through surrogacy in India! Thanks for all your words of encouragement guys

Back to back 2WW..really?

An update...we had arranged for two surrogates in our last transfer, however a last minute issue with one surrogate meant only one transfer....so at this point we started our 2WW with one surrogate..but the lovely Dr. swung into gear and quickly arranged another surrogate for us, and while we were on our 2WW we had another surrogate being prepped for a transfer. This second transfer successfully occurred yesterday.

So how did we go with surrogate no. 1? Well, we have a beta of 129.49. I have been going through all of your old posts trying to find someone that has a baby on the way that had a beta of that value but to no avail! Seems a bit low..

This has turned into a step by step recipe for success and at this stage the only emotion that has entered the equation is hope...

Step 1 - choose donor...check

Step 2 - wait for prep and pick up, get egg pick up results...check

Step 3 - choose surrogates ...check

This is boring for all you IPs as I know, you know these steps (unfortunately) SO WELL!

Jumping to....Step 6 - pregnancy test positive?...check

Now the wait for step 7 the scan and of course following that the remaining 8 steps to a successful birth!

However I am still only on step 6 for surrogate no. 2

Congratulations to all those on steps 6 to 14! It's very reassurring for us ips on 1 to 5, to see someone half way or almost to the top of that mountain (gosh the metaphors this morning!)

Have a great week all

I'm back...

I have to admit I have been avoiding you all after our last negative result. I didn't want to think about it anymore, and didn't want to bring anyone else down... But we have been continuing behind the scenes, laying low and not getting our hopes up.. We had our egg retrieval during the week, which was a couple of days early due to hyper stimulation. My minds goes off thinking...ooooo that often means a positive!... STOP IT shut up stop thinking like that. This is me talking to myself..just take the information being passed to you and do not think yes it's good no its bad..just SHUT UP.. We did retrieve 24 eggs which is sounding more positive...STOP! We had organized two surrogates however last minutes complications meant a transfer to only one surrogate.. The lovely Dr. is going to let us know of our options...however another two week wait has begun LOVE IT So maybe this time...? STOP STOP STOP IT!

I'm old and techno challenged...

Bare with me, I'm old and still learning how to add photos to my blog whilst on my iPad! The photo of my fur kids in last post was supposed to have attached text, anyway maybe next time I'll get it together! "There's no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy (dogs) licking your face!" Heres my fur kids, always attentive.

photo.JPG

photo.JPG, a photo by Gcfami on Flickr.

Scraping it together...cycle 2

That's definitely the difference in this cycle compared to cycle one...cycle one was exciting and new. This could be the answer we thought, this could be the answer to us ending our current life of endless ivf cycles, endlessly waiting to complete our family...endlessly endlessly waiting waiting.... With the failure of cycle one, came that feeling... Here we go again. We are still on that endless infertility cycle. (I know I'm talking to the right crowd about this). This cycle, cycle 2, we are scraping it all together. The money, and our courage. Can we really go through the disappointment again? Well, I couldn't stand it, I had to start organizing another cycle. M has serious concerns, and is still not ready to go on, but I can't wait. We have been doing this for too long now to give up... So, brace yourself, and hang on cause here we go again.. Money transferred today, mid June our lovely donor starts on those emotion bending drugs (good luck I know how you are feeling!) for an end of June egg pick up. Strap yourselves in, cause we have/are. Wish us luck

Negative scan...

There you go, I didn't know they existed but now I know...negative scan. No sac was visible for surro 1 and pregnancy didn't get that far for surro 2 No frozen. Dragged poor m to India ...

Thud!!....

That was me coming down to earth. We got the email early this morning telling us that our second surrogate mums' hormone levels had dropped away to nothing, meaning she had a chemical pregnancy. All of the problems that most normal people wouldn't have a clue about started coming back to me from our ivf treatments. I.e. the problems with DH sperm. What if this pregnancy does not continue either, what if they are not healthy, we don't have any frozen embryos so oh god we have to start again, maybe it will never work, aaarrrggghh! I've started with the prays again (he knows me quite well)...please please please be ok. We have scans on the 29th so will hold my breath til then.

Regular mums to be don't get any of this...!

We got the good news early on Wednesday morning, so Wednesday night we had a little mini celebration....as attached! Now I know a lot of you may be saying..don't get too excited yet, cause you have a long road ahead of you, and we do know that...it's just on our journey to have a family, we have never even been on the road before! In fact after 12 ivf's and a few with the added drama of egg donors, we have never even had a positive blood test before! So that in itself for us is worth a celebration.

We are trying to bring it down to earth now, but it's really hard. I asked M when I was 'allowed' to start buying baby things today when I got home from doing the groceries this morning. When I was there, trawling down the shopping isles, I even allowed myself to go down the baby isle, the isle in the past few years I have refused to walk down. Look at all these things I will have to buy in the very near future!!! Bit pathetic eh?..anyway He replied, we have a long way to go (blah blah he is the more practiccal of the two of us) then said pull out the 'baby stash', with a big grin on his face...as you can see we are having trouble gaining control of ourselves...so I pulled down the shopping bag from the top of the cupboard, the few little bits and pieces of baby clothes etc that I have bought over the years, when I thought 'it has to be this time...' Oh gosh, we are saying looking at each other...are we really going to have a little human that's going to be so small as to fit into these gorgeous little things! We love him/her already...

Reading all the blogs over the last couple of months, I cannot believe how long some of you have kept it from everyone. I am absolutely bursting! Anyway,stop it! Get control, I am going to wear myself out if I keep this excitement level up for the next 8 months!

Aside from this, we are also waiting anxiously to hear how our second suurogate is going.  She had a low positive reading, so second blood test was, we hoped, scheduled for Thursday or Friday, but opening my email account 3am Thursday morning and 3 am Friday morning to no avail... we would have to wait until after the weekend to see if we had a second pregnancy.

For the family following, here is the schedule for the next 8 months;

FIRST TRIMESTER

Positive pregnancy result – 4 weeks

Once your surrogate mother tests positive for pregnancy she is moved to our surrogate housing. At this stage the gestational age of your pregnancy is four weeks, dated from the first day of the surrogate’s “presumed” last menstrual period. 

5 weeks

Scan to determine number of gestational sacs.

6 weeks

Scan to detect fetal pole (your growing embryo) and heartbeat.

8 weeks

Routine scan

10 weeks

Routine scan

12 weeks

Blood test – complete blood count (CBC) and urine test. Nuchal translucency scans (measurement of the fluid behind the baby’s neck). Sonologist looks for a nasal bone and measures Biparietal Diameter (BPD), across the top of the head at its widest point. Sonologist looks for gross congenital anomalies (GCA)

TRIMESTER TWO

Second trimester starts week 13. Please note in second and third trimesters scans are not always done on exactly the date you turn a particular week. If you wish to know you scan date please contact your client manager.

16 weeks

routine scan and triple marker test, complete blood count and urine analysis – triple test not done for twin pregnanciesas results are not accurate. Triple test results take up to two weeks to be sent to our clinic.

20-22 weeks

Level II scan, blood and urine tests. Baby is measured from crown to rump, around the middle and around the head. The four chambers of the heart will be viewed, as well as the kidneys, bladder, stomach, brain, spine, and sex organs (gender will not be revealed). A survey of the organs, including umbilical cord, ensures that they are developing normally.  Sonographer looks at amniotic fluid levels, location of the placenta, and fetal heart rate. Level 2 scan results can take up to a week to be returned to the office.

We do a 3D scan at this stage.

24-26 weeks

routine scan and blood count and urine analysis. Injection: tetanus toxoid first dose

TRIMESTER THREE

Third trimester starts week 28.

2-30 weeks

routine scan. Fasting and post prandial blood sugar tests, CBC, urine analysis. Injection: tetanus toxoid second dose

32-34 weeks

routine scan, blood test (CBC) urine analysis

36-38 weeks

Colour Doppler study, to check heart and flow in major blood vessels blood test CBC, urine analysis

38-40 weeks

delivery of baby

Anyways, I hope to have more news for you soon.  In the meantime here is a photo that pretty much sums up how we are feeling at the moment.  The dark cloud that we have had hanging over our heads is clearing, and it feels like the dawn of a new time for us (bit dramatic?).. :)

Ssssshhhhhh!...

I'm awake at 345am and I'm wondering if there is a good or bad email waiting for me...(or any at all for that matter) ..well doesn't matter I'm not going to look until the morning as I won't get back to sleep whether it's positive or negative so ...don't look... M and I both have a bad case of the flu, so we should really be getting as much sleep as possible to try and kick it.... Bugger, I'm going to check as now I'm lying awake anyway wondering if if the email is there or not.... And the winner is....US! Ms India 1 has hcg of 160 Ms India 2 has hcg of 36 so will be getting another test tomorrow.... Is it too early to start worrying about the school fees? No, I'm not sure how I'm feeling yet, I know we have a long journey ahead of us, thanks to all you fantastic contributors in blog land..so I'm containing myself... Maybe getting a little bit excited now....:)))) Thanks for your thoughts everyone, they really worked!!

Today's the day....

We have our pregnancy tests today...I'm so nervous, scared,...bracing myself.. I opened my hotmail this morning to see that there were already two emails waiting for me in my inbox. Oh my god I'm thinking, they haven't done them early have they..? I'm not ready to hear the news yet, I haven't braced myself for the dreaded, umpteenth negative... No, thankfully neither were from SCI,I'm glad! Isn't that bizarre, not wanting to know after the lengths we've been through.. I reminded Marc this morning that today was the day, and he responded that he didn't want to know either. We think not knowing is better than the heart breaking news that it's still just the two of us. But as our wise client manager meg said to me, preparing for a negative doesn't make it any easier, so just expect a positive! Well, here's hoping.....please please please pray pray pray

2 week wait..what 2 week wait?

This '2 week wait' I seem to be handling so much better than all the IVF waits.  You see, if I dont open my emails on the early morning of the 23rd of May, the date I keep checking on my calendar, then I won't find out if we have not been successful so then there will be no emotional agony!  Simple...

In the meantime while I am kidding myself over here, what about a story of our first hour ever in Delhi on our trip to try and become a family...

Arrived in Delhi about 2.15 in the morning and was expecting a driver to pick us up with our names on the boards etc, I even confirmed it the day before!!  But welcome to India,...no one to meet us, so I called the number they gave me (after I had to work out how to call his mobile number from my australian mobile phone...)  no answer....ok we will just get a cab on our own

Big line of official looking cabs right in front of us, so how hard can this be,,, spoke to a man yes yes yes madam no problem no problem we can get you there no problem, this way please  (another two guys appeared from no where and grabbed our bags much to M's fretting), we followed them past the official looking nice clean cabs, but they keep going,... to the next line of not so clean but still new cabs and still official looking, ..but still,...they all keep walking past this line,... til get to a line of beat up &*%$$ boxes...ok lets go with it,..its 3am in the morning,..i dont care how we get to the hotel just get us there..,"how much we ask?", no one answers but our bags are in the car and our driver is going for it..so lets go! caution to the wind...

Two guys in the car with us take off, then a decent way away from the airport they tell us how much this trip at 3am is going to cost us...which equates to about $100 AUD  (the driver I had booked was going to cost $10 AUD) BUT ANYWAY its late we have been flying for 17hours just, ok, lets go.

One guy gets out, the other takes off at rapid knots, M looks over at me, what the?? the car is so badly stalling and the driver says mmm ...its a long way to your hotel..I reply only half an hour...o-oh little tingling feeling coming over me...here we go!

We are 'driving' for about 10 mins, when the car stalls for good and the guys pulls down this dirty really quiet deserted lane way.  FREAKING OUT NOW, i thought they had set us up to mug us, M was thinking that they were just going to leave us in the middle of nowhere...Anyway heart is really pumping M and I looking at each other, M saying to driver... go, car ok car ok lets go with this, driver keeps saying no, no I will get you another cab (from FREAKING WHERE?? iM THINKING) He grabs a tuk tuk which is basically a motor bike with a carriage on the back, I say to our old driver you pay him (as we had already paid the other guy) there is small argument, then he pays the tuk tuk driver about 25 ruppees (or $1AUD) to take us the remainder of the way (dont forget we just paid his partner in crime $100 AUD,)

Our new driver is not sure where our hotel is, he passes the sheraton and pulls over tells us to get out, no we are not staying here keep going fella! I wouldnt budge out of the back seat, M is trying to get the sheraton staff to tell our driver where our hotel is, some hindi is spoken then we are on the road again looking for our hotel.  I see a sign that tells me we are in the district that we are looking for, and finally the hilton appears, thank god, i knew we were close because our hotel was next door to the hilton.

We find our hotel, my heart has settled a little, M and I looked at each other...We both say along the lines of.. "hope the rest of the trip isnt like that!  We wont make it!  But it was r rated"
 
Anyway we made it through our Delhi experience and we are waiting on word on two surrogates with 4 embryos in each, and no frozen....

Still cannot imagine us with kids

Meet & Greet - Samoza!

As an introduction to us, here are photos of our fur kids.  They are also the inspiration for the blog title. ..The black one is called Sammy (11yo) and the brown one (naughty one, he is 2 yo) is called Oz...Samoza..?? They love the water, and I have no doubt they are going to be severly put out if any human kids do come along!

We have been on the IVF trail for the last 4 years, with I think 12 cycles, a couple of cycles with an egg donor, then we discovered Surrogacy through India.  When I first spoke about this option with my hubby M, there was a blank stare back at me and complete silence!  He has gotten used to the idea (I think) since January, (probably thinking bloody woman!), and we were on our to Delhi for our first cycle in May 2012.