Week 30: Shower Time!

Last Saturday, August 17th, five of our female friends put together a memorable shower filled with great food, fun games, music even dancing at the end. The party was at our apartment, so we couldn't invite too many people. But we managed to squeeze about 30 guests including 5 toddlers (two sets of twins)! My mom and sister were the only family in attendance. It was such a delight to see all, and we are very thankful to everyone for the gifts they showered us with. 

Baby shower gifts

At the end our wonderful hosts turned the shower into a disco event!

Construction is completed. Babies room painted light purple. Nursery setup is in progress

Shower party favors given to all the guests depicting our monkeys! :)

Our favorite gift of the shower arrived from New Delhi 3 hours before the party in the form of an email from SCI for week 29 scan!  Happy to report our surrogate and babies are doing well. The little ones have been putting on weight (in fact doubling since last scan). According to the scan, twin2 has now surpassed twin1, weight wise:

• Twin1: 3.1 pounds (1420 grams)
• Twin2: 3.3 pounds (1513 grams)
Twin1 is currently in breech position and twin2 is in cephalic position.
Hoping the next few weeks will go smoothly and the babies don't trouble Ms S too much.

While we are happy with our pregnancy and grateful for everything that SCI has done for us, we wish smooth journeys for other IPs currently pregnant as well as those who are trying. And still hopeful India will reconsider its surrogacy laws to include singles and gay people in a near future. Having a child should be everyone's right not a privilege for a few.

Welcome Third Trimester

No update from SCI but we are starting week 28, which is generally known as the end of second trimester, and we are very thankful for it. Although I feel for twin pregnancies the third trimester should be earlier! Time is definitely flying by as past few weeks have been quite hectic with multiple small and large projects happening in parallel. August madness is in full swing!

First off, congratulations to my good friend, Fred, for the arrival of his twin boys. On Sunday I had a pleasant and surprising Facetime session with him and got to see the little Chase and Camden. They are simply adorable babies!! We have been in touch for months and so happy to see him becoming father.  I always looked up to Fred for his advice as he was 9 weeks ahead of us. Now feeling the pressure that we are getting closer!

Here are some updates since my last posting:

• I shared the news with my boss and coworkers. The support has been wonderful. I'm working on planning my backup while I'm away on paternity leave (hopefully for 12 weeks).
• Fixing the apartment took longer than expected but finishing this week.
• Purging the house to make room for the babies stuff. This is painful!
• Last week I had to resign from my condo board membership as I won't have time anymore. Working on transitioning my responsibilities to my replacement.
• Researched pediatricians in our neighborhood and most likely going with TriBeCa Pediatrics which is in walking distance to us. We are attending their orientation / introduction session next month.
• Have signed up for CPR and Safety course - August 22.
• Have signed up for Essential Baby Care course - September 5.
• Introduced ourselves to the US embassy in Delhi and received a link with step by step info for the exit process.
• Started the DNA testing process by reaching to Chromosomal Lab in Arizona. Melissa Valmonte has been very helpful. Thanks to all who recommended her.
• Have started research on buying a car and hopefully will start test driving soon.
• Setup baby registries at Amazon and BuyBuyBaby.
• Our baby shower is set for August 17, and our wonderful friends have been very hard at work. We are grateful for their effort.
• Have created the list of baby items to buy but wanted to wait until after shower. The bigger items like stroller and car seats and the cribs will require more research and comparison shopping.
• Have started looking into setting up a will with a lawyer.
• Making travel arrangements seem too early at this point. But we are aiming to be in Delhi by week 37 which is October 13. That's when the babies are considered full-term. But I know we have to be flexible. So we will think about that in September.  For airline tickets, we'll look for direct flights from NY to Delhi either with United Airlines or Air India.

If we should be aware of anything else at this stage, please provide your feedback or email us directly. We appreciate everyone's support, and I hope my checklist can help the IPs behind us in their journey. Please reach out if you have any question.

Recently when people hear our news they usually give us such advice: "get plenty of sleep; take some vacation; go to nice restaurants now!!" My response to them: "I have rested, vacationed and dined for too long!" LOL Cannot be more than ready for this new chapter of our lives. Maybe I will sing a different tune next year at this time? :)

Our next scan is due in less than 2 weeks.  Happy August everyone.