How quickly a week passes

I cant believe it has been a week since I last blogged! Getting the babies into a routine and getting to know them, Christmas parties, haggling for good prices for baby clothes at Sarojini market, meeting our surrogate mothers, getting the paperwork rolling have all filled up our busy days! I did have a bit of a melt down on the night of Christmas Eve. After having a party with Ryan and Ruben Zara and Aiden, Gachy and Fernando and Francisco we did not finish up until 1am in the morning. The babies were very unsettled so I had zero sleep that night after having had maybe averaged 4 hours previous 3 nights. When the power went out at 4am in the morning and the heat went off 2 of the babies started howling and I could see nothing. I screamed out to Andrew who was soundly sleeping through all of this just like his son Jack who didnt wake up at all....my brilliant husband came down and lit the gas stove so we could get heat and light...it was all over in 30 minutes but I cried like my two daughters were crying telling them how sorry I was.....this was all because of sleep deprivation in the main. I have also been very emotional during the Christmas season because my dream has come true .

Anyways, we have decided that with 3 babies we will have a nurse every second night and have Lalit on an ongoing basis - she is really good!

Lunch at Moet's Restaurant on Christmas Day with the compliments of Dr Shivani and Dr Vishal was really lovely. A big thank you to them. Meeting other new parents was really good. A big shout out to Maree and Pat - I am so glad we met again having met up at a conference in Melbourne earlier this year. I am so looking forward to staying in touch with you.

Everything is looking good for us to fly home on 13 January, Thanks again to Maree for helping Andrew out at the High Commission. For Aussie IP's coming for baby pick up in the next 6 months. The contact at the Commission is Jennie Mitchell (she goes back to Australia though in 6 months time). Also the Commission will accept cash you dont need a bank cheque at all....you also cannot apply for babies passports simultaneously - you must wait for citizenship certificate to be decided and then you can lodge the passport application. We are paying a priority processing fee of about $103 for each passport application and we need to explain reason for urgency but everything is great. We should have babies passports 9 or 10 Jan and then we can go to FRRO 11 or 12 Jan before we fly out on 13/1/13........

Here are some more pics since 21 Dec when I last blogged...wishing everyone a Happy New Year for 2013.

 Sleeping Sophie girl

Lilly soundly sleeping

Christmas Day at Moets Restaurant Defense Colony compliments of Dr Shivani and Dr Vishal Gachy and myself wearing traditional dress

 Christmas Eve in our apartment with my friend and new Mum Gachy

 In celebration mode but still feeding babies from left to right me, Gachy with Sophie, Andrew with Jack and Ryan (India Calling) with Zara

 Our babies Christmas menagarie

 Daddy feeding Sophie and cuddling Jack (or burping him)

 Andrew and our dear friend Fernando (Gachy's husband and Francisco's Daddy)

 Jack at 1.5 weeks old

 Ryan, myself and Gachy at Sanjorini Market - best place for baby clothes - haggle for prices

Sophie the reindeer waving 

 Lilly girl my gorgeous kissable girl

Best job in the whole world

I am loving parenthood! I love everything about it even the sacrifice of sleep. I love being with our babies and cuddling them, smelling their newness, changing their at times very interesting looking nappies, swaddling them so they are snug as a bug. The thing I love the most is in the wee hours of the morning when they are fed, burped and changed, I love the wonderment in their eyes and over their face as I sing to them. Special special moments I thought would never come and I will treasure forever.

And my husband....is it possible to love you more? Yes it is. Not just for this fabulous gift of a family but everytime I watch you with them, your face beaming with pride as you tend patiently to their needs.....makes me very emotional.

Wishing everyone a Merry Merry Christmas.

Here are some more photos!!

 First day home with our babies - photo taken by new mum and new friend Gachy

 My beautiful sleeping Sophie girl - she is feeding happily in my arms at the moment

 Lovely Lilly girl...kissable cheeks

Master Jack has a smile that makes you melt                                Our favourite NICU Nurse Gina

Our babies are leaving the hospital Tuesday !

That's right Dr Gupta and Sisters Dina and Gina were so happy to tell us that our babies could come home with us Tuesday morning. They are all feeding well - I think Lilly is feeding very well and is the little guts of the three!

Our babies had their hearing tests today and all good. A blood test in the morning to see levels of jaundice (if any) etc and we should be bringing them back to their Indian home around lunchtime.

Rahul is helping us to bring them home. Tomorrow we will get their passport photos done as they have all started to open their eyes.

Many thanks to Rachna and Meena for helping us today with the birth certificate process. We now put the pedal to the metal in getting all of our other paperwork and processes done. Whilst we knew we would be having an Indian Christmas we are hopeful we might be able to get home and leave India around 13 January 2013. We shall see how we go.

Got to thank Dr Shivani personally today and gave her a big hug - how is thank you ever enough though?? Our surrogate mothers are still in hospital recovery post c section and we wish them a speedy recovery.

Here are some more pics. Needless to say we fall deeper in love with our children everytime we see them.

 Our little monkey and first born - Sophie Zelie Bowes Hay

 Me feeding Jack our son - my very first time feeding him

 Lilly sleeping after feeding very well and having a good burp (and a whoopsie)

A Daddy and his son Jack

Blessed with Bubs!!! 2 girls and a boy

Still crying, still overjoyed that our 3 little ones have arrived safely into the world on Sunday 16 December 2012

Dr Shivani and SCI angels and of course Dr Gupta and Eden Hospital how will we ever be able to thank you?? I love you India

Sophie Zelie Bowes Hay was born first at 12.45pm weighing approximately 2.52 kgs

Her sister Lilly Shirley Bowes Hay came along at 1.55pm weighing a whopping 3.2 kgs (pretty good for a twin)

Then their baby brother Jack Bowes Andrew Hay entered the world at 1.56pm weighing 2.9 kgs.

First pics

I will blog more when I can string more words together!!!

 Here is the oldest of them all Sophie Hay with her Mummy (that;s me my face says it all I am sure)

 Daddy and Lilly both having a bit of a cry and a cuddle

Jack in front with sister Sophie.

Meeting more great friends on this journey

On Friday night we also met another lovely lovely couple who are at the end of their SCI journey. Fernando and Gachy from Argentina. When we met them they knew instantly who we were from reading our Bless us with Bubs blog.

Last night we went out to celebrate the birth of their beautiful son Francisco Augustine. Here is a pic of our celebrations.

For those of you in Delhi who want to try some really yummy food at decent prices that wont break the bank go to Beluga in GK2 M Block Market (yes there is an M Block in GK 1 and GK2). They have a great terrace bar that has heaters for the cooler nights and they have a restaurant. So far we have tried their vegetable tempura (yummy melt in the mouth), tenderloin (buffalo) lasagne, duck confit salad, thai chicken, tom yum soup, tiramisu and cherry roulade.

Really worth going to.

Today we hope to find out when our babies will be scheduled for c-section.

Hopefully there will be news soon. And if anyone is looking for a great 3 bedroom apartment for baby pick up I have to recommend where we are staying. It is about $3500 USD per month but has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, washing machine within fully equipped kitchen, 2 sunny bathrooms and in a quiet area of GK2. I will eventually post some pictures on here for you to see. It is huge and we have our own sitting room and dining area and the master bedroom is huge too!.

Christmas Decorations in our Delhi Apartment

Whilst these pics dont really do justice to our apartment in New Delhi and the decorations go nowhere near to how over the top we decorate at home it is nice to have some Christmas warmth.

We met a lovely US couple today just starting their journey with SCI .  To respect their privacy, I will only use their initials  R and J - we had tea with them at the Coffee Bean at M Block in GK1 and are going to catch up with them again tomorrow night.

Hope everyone is well.

 Our small little tree

Christmas stairwell

 Starry starry lights

Christmas Pooh Bear Onesies leftover from my baby shower

Greetings from Delhi

We are in Delhi and after checking into our intial accommodation we are now settling into better accommodation as the first was not what we paid for etc.

Our 3 bedroom apartment in Greater Kailash 2 is close to another  M Block market but this one has mainly hardware and bathroom stores. However there are some great coffee shops, restaurants and some yummy bakeries!!! Red Moon Bakery delicious.

Have set up the babies room and now turning my mind to putting up some christmas decorations.

Just want everything prepared for our babies arrival which could be any day now - who knows but I do know that many twins seem to come before the 37 week mark so we will just sit tight and wait and see.

Planning to pop into SCI over the next day or so just to say hello.

Beautiful Bellies

I will never be able to thank our beautiful surrogate mothers L and K for taking such good care of our babies. Cant wait to cuddle and kiss you our little ones. Stay safe until then.

Here are a couple of beautiful belly shots

L carrying our twins - they are both very close to 2 kilos each - poor L is carrying close to 9 pounds of baby and continuing to grow!!

K carrying our single little one and close to 2 kilos ....

See you soon little ones - cant wait to have our first Christmas with you!!!! xxxx Mummy and Daddy

And to Dr Shivani and the staff of SCI - you guys are amazing and words will never ever be able to express our gratitude....thank you xxxxx

Early Christmas Celebrations

It is such a busy time at the moment with many engagements over the upcoming weekends. So with our   dear friends we decided given our hectic diaries that this weekend would be the best to catch up for an early Christmas celebration......we wont be in Australia for Christmas and we knew we wanted to have a few laughs and champagnes together. So we had a christmasy BBQ at our place.

Our dear friends spoiled us....and our babies.....take a look at the pics below. Our babies are going to look gorgeous come Christmas Day! These gifts brought tears to our eyes. Polar bear shoes, reindeer shoes and our babies will all have perfectly matched outfits.

So so cute!! We are so lucky to have such great friends.

TIPS FOR AUSSIE/VICTORIAN IP'S - MEDICAL SURROGACY VISA

Hi Everyone,

After alot of anxiety with trying to get hubby's visa we have sorted it out. I got my visa within 3 days but hubby's well we had to keep nagging the processing area. In reality the processing arm of the Consul were out of their depth. My very smart husband  sat in the queue at the processing centre and then asked to see the manager. As it was clear to him that they were floundering with what to do, he asked for an appointment with the Consul, of which he got within a matter of a day.

The wonderful Meg and Margarida also assisted us with ideas to try and expedite this along and also with some assistance from Sam Everingham (Surrogacy Australia) we are now on track.

Hubby arrived early for his appointment and they took him up straight away and he met directly with the Vice Consul. The processing arm clearly had not provided any of the information we had supplied. What they needed was:
1)copies of our marriage certificate (they seem to want to know that we had been together for 2 years or more)
2) copy of our surrogacy contract
3) Letter for Dr Shivani
4) Birth certificates etc

Hubby had taken extra copies into the appointment with him....he also gave the Consul a copy of a National Police Check Andrew had recently had done for another non related purpose. They were impressed by that actually as it went to his good character they said.

Anyway, the Vice Consul explained that his visa would be successfully processed as they had sufficient information.  By the time hubby got home from the city, he had emails from the processing centre saying his application had been successful accepted and he should receive it within 4-5 days. Yay!!!!!!

So any IP's planning on doing the surrogacy visa dont even bother with the processing centre ....The Consul recommended people in similar circumstances to come straight to them for an appointment.

So our anxiety levels have now dissipated over that issue and we are now eagerly awaiting the birth of our 3 babies....Delhi here we come in 4 weeks time!  Yay!!!!!!!

Lists....are they a sign of nesting??

I have lists everywhere....at home....in my handbag, in my head and now I am getting so anal I have A3 style butcher's paper up around my work office walls with all the planning and work I need to get through for the remaining 4 weeks...

I have never really been like this but I am finding the lists strangely calming as I progress through what we need to get done and I can tick items off. Today, we had our 3 baby car seats professionally fitted in the Landcruiser. It wasn't an easy job for the professional but pleased to say they are now done.... Hubby and I became teary driving back home peering into the back to see the three car seats there....we never thought the day would come when this would happen.

There is this great place nearby to us that sell second hand baby and kids gear at a drastically reduced price and they know us very well in there. We were there getting the car seat fitted when I found something very important for the baby nursery....you see we have Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and I think somebody is buying us a Piglet....but who was missing from this crew that has an Australian heritage??? That's right it is Roo!!! Hard to come by but we got it....I also got great baby netting for the cots....the lady knows us so well now she gave us a bag of sample nappies, bepanthen etc etc....very very handy and so thoughtful.

Our bags are all packed apart from toiletries and underwear (baby's gear all packed). I think we will be managing to take about 300 nappies with us which will only last about 10 days with 3 babies so will be ordering further nappies online when we get there. I have my visa just waiting for hubby to get his...we applied under medical/surrogacy for his and had some difficulty but they have now gone away to process it (we hope) and havent asked for further information. Hubby will go into Melbourne CBD office if he hasnt heard anything mid week and jump on their wheel to get it done..........we leave in 5 weeks time tomorrow ....yes I know so far ahead of schedule I am ridiculous but I cant help myself.....I have been waiting all my life for this to happen and I think I really believe it  now........God please look after our babies and our wonderful surro mums in the interim.....

What a beautiful Baby Shower

My lovely, lovely family organised a baby shower this afternoon for me. Amazing handmade decorations of paper onesies with pooh bear on them pinned across the fireplace.....a big colourful sign saying "Congrats on Becoming a Mum"....yummy food , wonderful company with good friends, some fun little games and some amazingly generous gifts. I am so emotional tonight......

I told my sister this the other night and also shared this with everyone today. My sister L is an amazing Mum and reminds me of our mother.....I told my sister how I aspire to be a great Mum like her....how I thank God I have my sisters around to help me to learn from them given that our Mum has now passed on.....my big little sister "N" is so caring and generous and I cant wait to see her hugging our babies......I feel so blessed with my family and friends......I feel blessed we are having 3 bubs.......my blog subject is soon to be a long awaited reality....I feel it so close within our reach.....please God let it really happen......

Everything is okay.....phew!!

Hi Everyone

We got news last night that our surro mummy is doing fine and has been discharged from hospital back to home. That is a relief. I would really like to thank my surro family for your kinds words, support and thoughts.

Our flights are booked on Singapore Airlines and we will arrive Monday 26 November 2012...we seem to have got the last of the cheaper flights as the prices go up from 1 December 2012. We have a flexible fare on our way back as we wont know the status of any applications until approx 7 Jan 2013 when the Australian High Commission returns from their holiday break and of course whilst we are confident that the twins will arrive pre Christmas our single bub could go two weeks either way.....

We have been fortunate enough to get some great house sitters who will look after the puppy dogs, cat and of course the house. This is savings us $$$$ in kennel fees. The beauty of it all is our house sitters are flexible and are planning to stay in Melbourne until end of February so we can extend their stay if we need to.....I love it when a plan comes together.

Surro Mummy in hospital

We received an email last night ...our surro mummy "K" has been hospitalised but everything sounds like a precaution.......our poor  SM has had loose motions and to ensure she is okay they have hospitalised her and placed her on an IV antiobiotic drip. We will find out more tomorrow as today is a public holiday in India (Ghandi Day I think)

Now I know loose motions could be a symptom of preterm labour but hey it could just be simply that -  loose motions/diarrhea......so we are telling ourselves not to worry about it........easier said than done...we are worrying about this............we are so thankful that "K" is being well looked after by Dr Shivani and the team. We hope she makes a speedy recovery.

The secret is out there......

This week I told my team about our 3 babies and yesterday at a management meeting I revealed to the group our long awaited dream that was becoming a reality. The reactions have been so amazingly warming to my heart and soul. Some managers were crying in happiness, I got so many hugs and the interest in how our babies have been conceived was evident by them asking lots of questions........an opportunity for me to educate more about surrogacy and debunk some myths about exploitation.

The bittersweet side of this lovely story is I have decided to resign from my job as I do not believe it to be realistic that I can return there within a 2 year period, so I have done the right thing so they can advertise my job and get someone in permanently. After 20 odd years of being a career woman it is something I know I will need to adjust to.

My team were amazing - crying with me - it's been a privelege to work with them - they want to hold me a baby shower.......I am going to miss them........ life is so amazing and I have all these beautiful people around me ........I also announced openly on my Facebook page this week that we are having 3 babies and a big thank you to India and good karma......we are so blessed.......I hope we continue to be blessed with the safe arrival of all our three seedlings......cant wait to be their mum.............

As the time draws closer I find myself missing my own Mum and Dad more and more each day....now is the time when I want to ask Mum so many things and learn from her own experience of a Mum who had 5 daughters.......at my Mum's funeral my uncle described our Mum as the traditional "Woman's Weekly" Mum - baking, sewing and always putting her kids first...when we got home from school on a wet or cold day Mum would have warm towels waiting for us and of course a yummy treat she had baked.........I know I wont ever be a carbon copy of my Mum but I aspire to be something close......With my Dad he was always wise and he cut to the chase with his advice....he taught me to say it "how it was" and to make confident decisions...he was always an optimist and he passed that onto me and made me fairly resilient........Thanks Mum and Dad and love you heaps xxxxxxxxx

Here's a pic of my Mum and also a pic of my Dad holding 2 of my sisters when they were bubs

Gifts from good friends

Andrew and I have known T & N for many many years....over 2 decades in fact. We were so delighted and over the moon with their generous gift for our babies.

T & N bought these some years ago (I think at Disneyland) and they have now passed them onto our babies......I just adore Eyeore!

Thanks guys - love you very much....our babies are going to love you too!

The boss now knows..............

Well I told my boss our news this week and that I would be finishing up towards end of November. He was surprised but very supportive. He was amazed at our situation and that we are having 3 babies...Wow I am actually saying that now "we are having three babies".

Our accommodation is confirmed and half paid for as I have extended our stay through to mid January as realistically bub number 3 as a singleton is not due until 20 December. So by the time we get the paperwork done for all of them (especially given public holiday closures of various offices) mid January is more likely.

As we have a 3 bedroom apartment in Greater Kailash 2 (I booked this through airbnb which was amazing) I will put on some Christmas pomp and ceremony on 25th Dec and have invited Ryan and Ruben (India Calling) and their soon to be born twins for a celebratory lunch.....will have to get some alcohol duty free on the way over there as it is absolutely imperative to have a nice drop of champagne for the day.

It will be so nice to have a different Christmas this year, sharing it with our babies and also with Ryan and Ruben.....cant wait!!!

My nieces and my sister are holding a Baby Shower for us on 7th October. That is so lovely and cant wait to play some silly games and spend time with friends.

My album for our babies that I have been compiling since we returned from India, continues to progress as it includes extracts from my blog, photos of India, our surrogates and egg donor as well as their scans and updates. One day when the babies are older I will be so tickled pink to be able to show them their story of how their lives began.

On a final note, I struggled to think of what I would put on the babies' nursery door. Here is a pic of what I ended up doing. I had fun with glitter paint!

Hope everyone is well. I am crossing fingers for a smooth 2-3 months until bubs are born.

24 weeks or just about

Here we are well over half way through pregnancy. Our twins will be at 24 weeks come Tuesday 4 September and our little single one will be at 22 weeks. I am so thankful to our surro mummies L and K and of course Dr Shivani and SCI for taking good care of our babies.

Andrew and I have started the paperwork process with hubby spending some time at the Melbourne CBD Indian visa office. He is going to apply for a medical visa so we are giving ourselves plenty of time to get this organised. Our accommodation in New Delhi is confirmed and half paid for. We have got ourselves a lovely 3 bedroom apartment in Great Kailash 2 and we got a great deal. Luckily we are able to extend our stay in Delhi into the New Year without creating too much of a financial headache as the place we are staying is extremely reasonable.

The nursery is progressing well and we have one cot assembled already. The Pooh mobile is also attached to the cot. I cant wait to properly dress the cot as I have some really cute cot sheets. All of our babies will have their own Winnie the Pooh theme for their cot. I keep going into the nursery and turning on the cot mobile and every time I do I tear up ..... if we came this close and something happened to our little ones I know we would be so devastated......it's still really hard to believe it is going to happen. I know all of us here in surro land have had these feelings.

Thought I would share some more nursery photos . Here is first cot assembled. We havent bought brand new and the cots are all different. We have cleaned them and polished them up with wood polish and of course bought new mattresses.

I got this great bassinette off Ebay as it was barely used. Have just laundered it at dry cleaner and really happy with it. So cute in a beige colour with bumble bees. The bassinette has some other great functions such as heartbeat sounds, a nightlight and calming water sounds as well.

 And finally on the wardrobe door we have affixed this felt cut out of Winnie the Pooh....thank goodness for sticky velcro dots...they worked a treat!

Tomorrow is Father's day here in Australia. I wish everyone a Happy Day. I have a little something for my hubby and Daddy in waiting.

3D of Number 3!!!

It was so delightful to receive a 3D Scan of our No.3 Seedling this week. This bubs is measuring at a little over 19 weeks now and seems to be tracking about 2 weeks behind our twins. Not sure how that works given implantation in both our surro mummies happened at similar time.

Regardless, we asked the fabulous team at SCI and Dr S for an update regarding our dates and it does seem  in all likelihood that we wont make it back to Australia in time for Christmas.....I wont let that stop the festivities though as I have already thought of some ways to have a very Happy Christmas whilst we will be in Delhi.....

Hope everyone is well.....3D Scan of Seedling No 3. below - what a cute little nose!!!