Merry Christmas!!!!

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We wish everyone a very happy, healthy and safe Christmas and we hope all your Christmas wishes come true...

Home again!!!! Well 2 weeks ago.....

Well we made it home on the 2nd December and it was amazing to get back here.. Harry was perect on the flight and had a couple of little cries but really nothing to speak of, the air stewardesses on the flight were great and definitely had lots of questions and enjoyed admiring our little man. It almost felt like Harry's Second birth when we got home and it was so nice to finally be back in our own environment... The first couple of days were difficult as we had already established a routine in India that really only involved our little boy and just relaxing, no food preparation and no housework... But we are well and truly into the swing of everyday life now.

We had no real issues with Harry's paperwork and all went well, we found that the biggest wait was for his birth certificate and once we submitted everything on the Tuesday to the Australian High Commission we were at the FRRO the following Tuesday and flying out on Wednesday.

We are now just enjoying being at home and in awe at how blessed we are to be fathers, we truly are grateful to India, our surrogate mum, ROTUNDA and Hiranandani Hospital for everything that they have allowed us to have and the care that was taken in looking after our baby boy!!!

For now we are just looking forward to Christmas, Wills mum arriving from England in January to see our little man and watching the change each day brings...

Take care have a wonderful christmas and we will keep you posted....

WHAM
xoxox

Enjoying being new dads

Just a quick post to say that we are loving being new dads and to show some pics of our little man.

We have been taking it easy the past week and just getting to know Harry, he is a very good little boy and really does not complain unless he is hungry or requires changing. He had a follow up appointment yesterday at the Hospital and his weight has increased to 3.57 kg from his discharge weight of 3.42 kg so all going well really.

We have received our birth certificate and DNA results and all information has been forwarded to the High Commission in Delhi, we are now awaiting a decision regarding citizenship, we have flights booked for Sunday but with each passing hour it is starting to look like these will have to be changed.

We are staying at the Lakeside Chalet and this is really a very comfortable place to be would highly recommend this accommodation if you are chasing somewhere with a kitchen, laundry facilities and a really good breakfast. You also have access to the facilities at the very close by Renaissance.

Hopefully all going to plan we will fly out on Wednesday the 01st December.... fingers crossed... In the meantime we will continue to stare at our little miracle..

Hi from Harry!!!!

A quick hello from Harry!!! We have our fingers crossed that our little man will be discharged from hospital today and that we will be able to go to our next accommodation! We are going to be moving to the Lakeside Chalet Apartments and can not wait to have a separate lounge and bedroom so that we can do shifts with little Harry if we need too.

He is perfect and feeding well, just a little bit of jaundice that he had photo therapy all last night for and things look like they are settling...

We will keep you posted..

WHAM

Welcome Baby WHAM!!!

Harry David Taylor-Bishop was born today on the 15/11/2010 at 1247 hours, weighing 3.53 kg. He is the most perfect little person we have ever laid our eyes on and already he controls us!!!

He shares his birthday with two little special ladies we had the pleasure to meet briefly, congrats Afro dads!!!

We will continue to keep you posted but for now we enjoy our little boy!!!

William, Harry & Michael

Still Waiting!!

Our surrogate went to see Dr Soni yesterday and she wants to give her another week to see if she goes into labour before she intervenes. So the waiting goes on!
From all the blogs and research we have looked at we have never seen a surrogate in India go this long, today we are 38weeks and 3days and if our surrogate does not go into labour before she is seen again by Dr Soni in a weeks time she will be 39weeks 2 days! Can anyone tell us how long their surrogates went and if this is unusual or have Michael and I just seen to much of the inside of this hotel room?
We will keep you pasted!

Waiting For WAM!

Today we are 38 weeks pregnant, our surrogate is doing such a good job of looking after baby WAM he/she is in no hurry to come out.
If our surrogate does not go into labour before Wednesday she will be reassessed and likely to have a c-section on Thursday.
In the mean time Michael and I are patiently waiting for the phone to ring. We can’t go to far away from our hotel, as we don’t want to miss the birth when the phone eventually rings. So most of the time we are spending in the room. We are staying at the Rodas hotel which is only a stones throw away from the hospital.
Our luggage has finely arrived so that is a great relief.
We will keep you posted.

WAITING

We are patiently waiting for baby WAM but also for all our luggage which QANTAS kindly left for us in Brisbane.
We are well if not just a little annoyed with our airline.... Fingers crossed that our luggage turns up before baby WAM, Will is very upset and worried about his passed three months packing efforts and all the little goodies in WAM's suitcase! Most importantly SM and WAM are ok!

India is going Obama crazy and the city is practically in lock down due to his visit so going to a few tourist destinations is definitely not going on in the next few days! On the other hand Dewali is an amazing festival and the locals definitely get into the spirit of things and there is a real energy surrounding the area.

We are stating at the Rodas which is ok great location to the hospital and to supermarkets, malls an restaurants however will not be our location of choice post WAM.....

We promise to keep you posted but are limiting the usage of our laptop and iPad until our luggage arrives as of course all our chargers are nicely packed in our luggage (that is in Hong Kong, we came via Singapore!!!!).. We had the pleasure to meet Ula & Saul last night and they are a great couple and was fantastic to meet them in person...

Watch this space

On A Jet Plane!

Just a quick post to keep you all updated. We are just about to leave home for the airport to jet off to India. Baby WAM and our surrogate are doing well, we now think baby WAM will wait for us to arrive in Mumbai before he/she makes an appearance!

We are so excited and can’t wait to meet our little one!

Thank you all for your well wishes, they mean so much!

Contractions!!!!

We have just been on the phone to our clinic (Rotunda) and our surrogate is having some contractions! Our doctor said not to change our plans but she does not think it will be very long until the birth of our baby!

We have booked our flights and arrive in Mumbai on Friday, we are hoping that our baby can hold on till then to make his or her arrival.

We are sooooooo excited, we just cant wait to meet our little one, only just over 36 hours till we leave!

We will keep you updated.

6 Days till Take off!!!

We can not believe how quickly things are now starting to move, we take off for Mumbai next Thursday on another chapter of this life changing journey and we can not wait!!!!! I (Michael) finished work yesterday and this still has not really sunk in, more importantly I was also granted parental leave equivalent to that of Maternity/adoption leave and have been assured the state department I work for will add surrogacy leave into their policies by July of next year (not before time)...

Everything is now in order bubs bag has been packed and ready to go for sometime, we are yet to book our flights but think today will be the day as we received a scan report yesterday and all is on track. Still have a few little loose ends to tie up and get organised, today we are getting the baby seat fitted in the car another job to tick off.

Both our mums are starting to get very excited as are all our family and friends.... We will keep you posted..

Special congratulations to Ula & Saul we can not wait to meet you guys, we hope all is going well with your little ones.

THIRD TRIMESTER SCAN

A single, live intrauterine pregnancy with longitudinal lie and cephalic presentation with spine on the left is noted.

Foetal cardiac activity and limb movements are observed. FHR: 129 B/M.

The placenta is localized on the posterior uterine wall, extending up to the fundus.

There is no evidence of placenta previa. It shows grade 2 maturity.

Mild polyhydramnios is noted. AFI is 20.6 cm.

Various foetal parameters are as follows: BIOPHYSICAL PROFILE SCORE:

BPD:	8.8 cm.	35.5 Weeks.	FOETAL BREATHING	2
HC:	32.5 cm.	36.1 Weeks.	FOETAL TONE	2
AC:	33.9 cm.	37.6 Weeks.	GROSS BODY MOVEMENTS	2
FL:	6.9 cm.	35.5 Weeks.	LIQUOUR	2
FL/AC:	21 % -- NO IUGR.	EBW: 3097 gm. +/- 30.9 gm.	TOTAL SCORE	8/8

No obvious foetal anomalies are detected.

(Third trimester scan is not ideal for diagnosing foetal anomalies.)

Following epiphyses are visualized: femoral, tibial (Approx. gest. age --- > 35 <>

There is no evidence of a nuchal cord. Umbilical artery S/D ratio is normal.

IMPRESSION: A SINGLE, LIVE FOETUS WITH CEPHALIC PRESENTATION.

BY ET, THE GA IS 36 W. 3 D. EDD: 22.11.10.

BY FIRST USG (3.4.10), THE GA IS 36 W. 2 D. EDD: 23.11.10.

BY LAST (29.9.10) USG THE GA IS 37 W. 2 D.

BY PRESENT USG, THE GA IS 36 W. 3 D. EBW: 3097 GM. (60^th CENTILE)

(CENTILE IS CALCULATED ACCORDING TO THE ET.)

BIOPHYSICAL PROFILE IS 8/8.

MILD POLYHYDRAMNIOS IS NOTED. NO FOETAL CAUSE IS DETECTED.

WAM's Baby Shower

We celebrated baby WAM’s baby shower on Saturday and it was wonderful to have our nearest and dearest (in Australia) here to celebrate with us. It is days like this that we wish Australia and England were not half a world away and we could celebrate with Wills family and our friends in England.

We had a great day and baby WAM was very spoilt, it reminded us how special and supportive our family and friends are and how lucky we are to have them.

The baby shower has always been an event in our calendar that seemed some way away. So it makes things quite surreal that we have surpassed this milestone and really hits home that we are definitely having a baby!!! It came and went in a flash!!!

We would like to thank everybody for all there beautiful gifts, we love them all so much. We would also like to thank our very special friends Jason Mark & Charlotte for organizing all of the wonderful baby shower games, they were great fun!

We are in love!

Isn't this the most adorable face you have ever seen? As you can see we received the 3D images of our little baby WAM today and we are in love. Only a few more weeks and we will have our little one in our arms. We are the luckiest Boys in the world!

Baby Bump

How impressive is our surrogates baby belly? She looks so well and her face is glowing. What a wonderful woman she is, we are forever grateful for what she is doing for us.

We also received a clinical update with the photo and all is going well.

We cant believe that on monday we are 33 weeks pregnant.

Not long now and we will be in India, Just 4 weeks!

32 week scan

We just got our 32 week 3D scan report and everything is right on track. Rotunda will courier a CD of the scan, so we have to wait a few more days for the 3D images we did get some 2D images with the emailed report but we could not make anything out! Our baby shower is next weekend so we will be able to show everyone the 3D images of our baby WAM. To say we are excited at the moment is an understatement, we just cant wait to meet our baby!
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THIRD TRIMESTER SCAN

A single, live intrauterine pregnancy with longitudinal lie and cephalic presentation is noted.
Foetal cardiac activity and limb movements are observed. FHR: 146 B/M.


The placenta is localized on the posterior uterine wall, extending up to the fundus.
There is no evidence of placenta previa. It shows grade 2 maturity.


Liquour quantity is on the higher side of normal. AFI is 19.8 cm.


The lower uterine segment is normal. There is no evidence of incompetent os. The cervical length is 4.8 cm.


Various foetal parameters are as follows: BIOPHYSICAL PROFILE SCORE:
BPD: 8.4 cm. 33.6 Weeks. FOETAL BREATHING 2
HC: 30.3 cm. 33.5 Weeks. FOETAL TONE 2
AC: 28.0 cm. 32.1 Weeks. GROSS BODY MOVEMENTS 2
FL: 6.3 cm. 33.0 Weeks. LIQUOUR 2
FL/AC: 23 % -- NO IUGR. EBW: 2041 gm. +/- 204 gm. TOTAL SCORE 8/8

No obvious foetal anomalies are detected.
(Third trimester scan is not ideal for diagnosing foetal anomalies.)


Following epiphyses are visualized: femoral (Approx. gest. age --- > 32 < 35 weeks).


There is no evidence of a nuchal cord. Umbilical artery S/D ratio is normal.




IMPRESSION: A SINGLE, LIVE FOETUS WITH CEPHALIC PRESENTATION.
BY ET, THE GA IS 32 W. 2 D. EDD: 22.11.10.
BY FIRST USG (3.4.10), THE GA IS 32 W. 1 D. EDD: 23.11.10.
BY PRESENT USG, THE GA IS 33 W. 1 D. EBW: 2041 GM. (59th CENTILE)
BIOPHYSICAL PROFILE IS 8/8.

Almost 31 Weeks

We cannot believe that tomorrow will mark the start of our 31^st week. By all accounts everything is progressing well and our SM will be due a 3D scan very soon, which we can not wait to receive.

The nursery is completed and we have started to pack bubs bag for overseas, this is extremely difficult. Pre-baby WAM, Will and I have never been the lightest of travellers and packing for bub is proving to be very difficult… If anyone has any tips of what we should take (essentials or things you wish you had packed) please help and likewise things we should not bother taking. I think this will be the first time we travel with a shared suitcase…. Baby WAM has already claimed a suitcase of his/hers……

Will is extremely busy at the moment and working seven days so he is really quite tired. I am still attempting to get leave from my employer and this is in the hands of my professions union and the anti-discrimination commission, not really the most relaxing time and not really the stress that we need at the moment. Hopefully however this will set a much-needed precedence in my statewide organisation and pave the way for other males and couples pursuing parental leave and surrogacy leave.

We have our Indian VISA sorted but have not bothered with booking flights as yet we are still watching prices however (what did other Aussies do book one way or return flights?), will more than likely book after our 3D scan and see what this says, we are aiming to leave on the 1^st November (all going to plan). We have ordered an Indian SIM card also and that will arrive this week so we will have an Indian phone number ready for when we depart . Still have not booked accommodation but will more than likely wing this when we know for certain when we are going, definitely know where we would like to stay.

The Faith to Vishwas boys arrival really hit home this week how close we really are with the birth of their beautiful little girl Vivian Grace highlighting to us things can happen at any time.

We will keep you posted after our next scan!!!

Looking Good!

The long awaited scan report has arrived and everything is on track! The fluid levels have gone down and is now on the high side of NORMAL, our Doctor has said that everything is fine and there is nothing for us to worry about. (We will try!!)

REAL TIME USG OF THE GRAVID UTERUS REVEALS:

A single, live intrauterine pregnancy with longitudinal lie and breech presentation is noted.

Foetal cardiac activity and limb movements are observed. FHR: 124 B / M.

The placenta is localized on the posterior uterine wall, extending up to the fundus.

There is no evidence of placenta previa. It shows grade 2 maturity.

Liquour quantity is on the higher side of normal. AFI is 18.0 cm.

The lower uterine segment is normal. There is no evidence of incompetent os.

The cervical length is 4.2 cm.

Various foetal parameters are as follows:

BPD	7.2 Cm.	29.1 Weeks.
HC	26.4 Cm.	28.5 Weeks.
AC	24.0 Cm.	28.2 Weeks.
FL	5.5 Cm.	29.2 Weeks.
FL/ AC	23 % -- NO IUGR	EBW: 1278 gm. +/- 187 gm.

Following foetal organs are well visualized and do not show any obvious malformation.

* Spine * Brain *4C Heart *Kidneys * Stomach * Bladder * 3 Vessel cord * Eyes * Nose * Upper limbs

* Lower limbs.

It should be noted that because of foetal movements, position and quantity of liquour, all the foetal organs may not be visualized optimally in one scan.

IMPRESSION: A SINGLE, LIVE FOETUS WITH BREECH PRESENTATION.

BY LMP, THE GA IS 28 W. 0 D. EDD: 22.11.10.

BY FIRST USG (3.4.10), THE GA IS 27 W. 6 D. EDD: 23.11.10.

BY PRESENT USG, THE GA IS 28 W. 6 D.

MILD POLYHYDRAMNIOS IS NOTED. NO FOETAL CAUSE IS DETECTED.

28 Weeks

We are now 28 weeks and hopefully all is going well. We are currently waiting for another scan to see how our SM and baby WAM are progressing. We are concerned to see if the polyhydramnios has settled and our fingers remained crossed that all is ok and progressing well.

Has been a difficult period at the moment and the past two weeks feel like they have been the hardest in a while. Seems like we are constantly asking questions but they are never all being answered. We know that everything important is being taken care of by our clinic and have faith that they are doing everything required to keep SM and baby WAM safe. Just wish that we had more of an instant feedback system to allay our concerns.

I am starting to feel like we are going to have a baby but do still find it difficult to believe and have troubles giving in completely to the experience. Will has completely surrendered to it all and sometimes I feel like I am raining on his parade. I have however started to read my first baby book and this excites me but also presents a huge learning curve!

I am currently trying to get parity with my leave rights at work so that we can access parental leave which is a bit stressful and feels like another hurdle however I am committed to obtaining equal rights and hopefully all goes well.

Our nursery is currently bursting at the seams we can't help ourselves and every time we are at the shops we leave with something else.

We have set a date for our baby shower and will be sending out the invites very soon.... We are slowly getting things done around the house before we go, but sometimes feels like one job crossed off two jobs then go on...

Hopefully we will have our scan results shortly and will be able to see how things are going.

WAM

No gestational diabetes.

Just a short post to say we have got the report back from our surrogates blood sugar levels test and there is no gestational diabetes.

She has been to see Dr Soni, she wants to see our surrogate again in a week to make sure all is going ok.

I have asked Dr Ramesh if we should be worried about the extra amniotic fluid and she has said “NO”. (Easier said then done)

We will get another scan in a week to read the amniotic fluid levels again.

Fingers crossed!

The Nursery

We have been working hard the last few weeks changing one of our spare rooms into the new nursery, I love this room it looks out onto our garden and has a great feel to it.

The cot and change table we got second hand on ebay, we have done them up and now they look like new. Michael’s mum made the curtains which we think look fantastic. We have had a cabinetmaker come and build a new built in wardrobe and have had air-conditioning installed.

The net over the cot is great, it will keep out any mossies and also our cat Milly!

The décal on the wall came in about 150 separate stickers, we had a great time putting it together on the wall.

We LOVE shopping for the baby, every time the big stores have a sale we are there trying to get a bargain.

We are stocking up on formula, nappies and wipes so we are ready for our new arrival.

We can’t wait!

Mild Polyhydramnios!!

We got our 24 week scan today and baby WAM is doing great however our surrogate has got mild polyhydramnios with an AFI of 21.9cm, this means there is an elevated amount of amniotic fluid around the baby. This can be caused by many things, one of them being gestational diabetes, our surrogate is having a blood test tomorrow to rule this out.

Our doctor does not seem to worried about this and has said it is a mild case and some times the fluid goes up for no reason, also the scan report has found no foetal cause for this problem.

Has anyone experienced or know anything about this?

Scan report

REAL TIME USG OF THE GRAVID UTERUS REVEALS:

A single, live intrauterine pregnancy with longitudinal lie and cephalic presentation is noted.

Foetal cardiac activity and limb movements are observed. FHR: 168 B / M.

The placenta is localized on the posterior uterine wall, extending up to the fundus.

There is no evidence of placenta previa. It shows grade 2 maturity.

Mild polyhydramnios is noted. AFI is 21.9 cm.

The lower uterine segment is normal. There is no evidence of incompetent os.

The cervical length is 5.4 cm.

Various foetal parameters are as follows:

BPD	5.7 Cm.	23.3 Weeks.
HC	18.7 Cm.	24.3 Weeks.
AC	20.3 Cm.	25.0 Weeks.
FL	4.5 Cm.	25.1 Weeks.
FL/ AC	22 % -- NO IUGR	EBW: 747 gm. +/- 109 gm.

Following foetal organs are well visualized and do not show any obvious malformation.

* Spine * Brain *4C Heart *Kidneys * Stomach * Bladder * 3 Vessel cord * Eyes * Nose * Upper limbs

* Lower limbs.

It should be noted that because of foetal movements, position and quantity of liquour, all the foetal organs may not be visualized optimally in one scan.

IMPRESSION: A SINGLE, LIVE FOETUS WITH CEPHALIC PRESENTATION.

BY ET, THE GA IS 24 W. 1 D. EDD: 22.11.10.

BY FIRST USG (3.4.10), THE GA IS 24 W. 0 D. EDD: 23.11.10.

BY PRESENT USG, THE GA IS 24 W. 3 D.

MILD POLYHYDRAMNIOS IS NOTED. NO FOETAL CAUSE IS DETECTED.

21 Week Update & Scan

We have just got our 21 week scan and all is looking great!

Just look at that little face, to say we are happy is an understatement!

REAL TIME USG OF THE GRAVID UTERUS REVEALS:

A single, live intrauterine pregnancy with longitudinal lie and breech presentation is noted.

Foetal cardiac activity and limb movements are observed. FHR: 140 B / M.

The placenta is localized on the posterior uterine wall, extending up to the fundus.

There is no evidence of placenta previa. It shows grade 2 maturity.

Liquour is adequate.

The lower uterine segment is normal. There is no evidence of incompetent os.

The cervical length is 5.8 cm.

Various foetal parameters are as follows:

BPD	4.8 Cm.	20.5 Weeks.
HC	18.7 Cm.	21.1 Weeks.
AC	16.8 Cm.	21.6 Weeks.
FL	3.6 Cm.	21.5 Weeks.
FL/ AC	22 % -- NO IUGR	EBW: 442 gm. +/- 65 gm.

Following foetal organs are well visualized and do not show any obvious malformation.

* Spine * Brain *4C Heart *Kidneys * Stomach * Bladder * 3 Vessel cord * Eyes * Nose * Upper limbs

* Lower limbs.

Baby WAM DVD!

We hope you enjoy this DVD of our baby WAM as much as we do.

place your bets... Girl or Boy?

Almost 21 Weeks

We received the DVD of our 18 week scan last week and to say we LOVE it is an understatement! We can’t stop watching it, to see our baby moving around in there is so exciting! Every body that comes to the house I make watch the whole 10 minutes while I stand next to the TV and point things out!!! (That’s the leg, that’s the foot, look at the heartbeat) Poor people!

We are going to dinner tomorrow night to see some great friends, we met through our blog, they have the most beautiful little girl who was born through surrogacy in India, it is so nice to have there support and to have them so close is great. Guess what? We will be taking the DVD with us to show them!!!!!!!!!

Second Trimester Anomaly Scan

We got our second trimester anomaly scan today and all is normal, Rotunda send us a CD of this scan which is being couriered to us, (thank you Dr Ramesh) we cant wait to get it!! Everything appears to be right on track so our fingers remained crossed tightly.

We are so happy that our baby WAM is doing so well. I don’t feel so bad about buying so many things for the nursery and also a set of wheels for WAM, I (Will) just cant stop myself, but I must say Michael has now made a few baby purchases of his own! Now he cant stop me!!!!!! Yeah!!!!

We are currently in the process of getting some more storage space and upgrading our current built in wardrobes, the house is currently in a state of everything everywhere. It will be well worth it in the end. However at the moment it is terrible not having any cupboards!!!!

Our thoughts are with everyone out there in blog land with pending births and also George in his very difficult situation, we can not even imagine how things are for him at the moment. You are all in our thoughts.

WAM