Great Medicine in a Foreign Land

Being a nurse, my expectations are probably higher then most when dealing with the medical community, but as with everything, from the beginning of our journey we went into it with an open mind. We were pleasantly surprised and even a little amazed at the professionalism and competence of all the medical teams while in Mumbai. For starters being the good Canadian I am (on a side note I go for my U.S citizenship on May 6th) I have very deep veins and I am a very hard stick, so most always I am stuck for a blood draw numerous times in one sitting. While in Mumbai, I had my blood drawn on 3 separate occasions by 3 different individuals each time they hit my veins immediately. Second, I have had numerous abdominal and transvaginal ultrasounds since the entire process began each time I end up laying on the table for long periods of time while they try to find my 2 of everything, sometimes resulting in incomplete or inaccurate results. With each ultrasound in India, the Docs had no trouble finding everything x2 quickly and accurately. Needless to say we were both very impressed and relieved. After much discussion with the Docs we discovered that in Mumbai with a population of close to 20 million the sheer number of patients the medical community sees in one day greatly out numbers that in North America, so they really get a lot of experience (For example in India there is 1 birth every second). Coincidentally our Doc, Dr. Yashodhara and Dr. Soni once delivered 100 babies in 1 day. We had the grand tour at Hiranandani Hospital from Dr. Soni, OBGYN who will follow our surrogate Asha after confirmation of pregnancy and keep us updated with monthly reports and sonograms. We even got to peek in the window of the NICU where twins born a little early awaited their American parents to arrive. What a welcome and beautiful sight. Keep in mind, the buildings and facilities may not be flashy and brand new, but the care is superior and ultimately in the end isn't that what counts?

Sorry, I am figuring this out as I go...

Just a note to say that I edited/updated and added some posts please check out the changes:

April 3, 2008 (why I hesitated)
April 12, 2008 (photos of Sindhudurg)
Doctor meet Doctor's slide show
STATS (side bar) *note: a work in progress
WHAT A LONG JOURNEY WE HAVE HAD... (side bar) *I think I covered it all*

Thanks for your patience while I figure this BLOG stuff out.

Again, thanks for visiting and please leave a comment we love to know you are interested and/or thinking of us.

Back Home Sweet Home

We made it back home safe and sound. I really don't care to see another plane again, at least for 9 months anyway. What a long trip! Our flight was late leaving Mumbai what an experience that was, I have never been frisked so much in my life! We made it into JFK and it was a complete mess; our bags took forever to arrive and then we had to put them through customs again. We had to run through the airport at mach speed and almost missed our flight but, we made it JUST in time. We arrived in Phoenix on time, but all of our baggage didn't. The remainder of our bags arrived later this evening around 10pm and were delivered to the house. We called our family to let them know that we made it back and also received a call from Dr. Sudhir who was 'just checking in.' We are now patiently waiting and nail biting in our 2 week wait and trying to get back in the swing of things here at home. It was wonderful to see our baby Frankie and do some much needed snuggling. Glad to be home, but missing our new second home, Mumbai.

Our AMAZING trip is coming to an end...for now!

Well, we leave tomorrow night, Sunday April 20th at 1220 am India time and arrive back in Arizona, Sunday April 20th at 1120 am (MST). We are very sad to leave as we have become really attached to our Docs and Henry (Mel's Dad) but we are excited and really looking forward to seeing our 4 legged baby, Frankie. It has definitely been both an emotional and cultural eye opening experience for the both of us. We truly cannot say a negative thing about our entire experience. Today we spent the afternoon visiting Henry's home and had lunch with the whole family and a few friends. Christine (their servant of 25 yrs) prepared an amazing spread of Indian food. I asked her if she wanted to come home with us. Henry and Lorna (Mel's Mom) presented me with a gorgeous gold bracelet as a memento of our visit. I was overwhelmingly touched with their sentiment and will hold this dear gift close to my heart. Melanie is a lucky girl to be surrounded by such a lovely family (as we do). Tonight we see our Docs again for a night out before preparing for our final day in Mumbai tomorrow.

We cannot begin to think of the words to describe how extremely blessed and special we both feel. The love and support we have received by everyone here in India and all of our friends and family back home praying for us and sending continuous emails and comments, is so very touching.

Don't worry we will continue to write after we arrive home until we receive the good news (positive thoughts!) We plan on including some pointers, tips and useful information for others who may want to embark on their own journey of surrogacy in India. We want to help others see that there is a ray of hope for them as well and that SurrogacyIndia and it's amazing doctors will be able to help. Just know that while struggling with infertility you are not alone.

The SEED(S) have been planted!

What a whirlwind of emotions! Today was the embryo transfer. We arrived at Lilavati Hospital and had a bit of a wait. Our surrogate arrived and we had some time to chat. They prepared her in the IVF suite before calling me in. Dr. Yashodhara, Dr. Pai and Dr. Palshetkar were all there for the procedure. Dr. Pai did laser assisted hatching before drawing up the embryos and Dr. Palshetkar did the actual transfer. I stood at Asha's (our surrogate) shoulder and watched on the ultrasound screen. I placed my hand on her shoulder to comfort her and when the procedure concluded I leaned over and placed my cheek next to hers and gave her a kiss and whispered 'Shukria' (thank you in Hindi) into her ear. Gerry and I are both overwhelmed with gratitude for this very special woman. She had to lay for a while before her caretaker Dr. Meenakshi took her back to the surrogate home where she will stay for the 15 days until we receive confirmation of pregnancy. She will be joined by 2 other surrogates next week after their transfers. Once a positive pregnancy test is confirmed she will then transfer to her own place with her family. Dr. Meenakshi will check on her frequently over the next couple of weeks and ensure she gets lots of rest while the maid attends to all of her needs. Directly after the procedure both Dr. Pai and Dr. Palshetkar walked out into the hall where Gerry was waiting patiently. He said, 'Boy that was quick!' Both Dr.'s replied very adamantly, 'Well, we are the BEST!' We met with Dr. Pai and he discussed everything with us: 5 embryos were transferred. 2 were grade 1 quality with 8 cell division, 1 was a grade 2 quality with 6 cell division and the remaining 2 were 2-3 grade quality with 6 cell division. Dr. Pai said he normally only transfers 3 embryo's into surrogates but decided on transferring all 5 embryos. He truly believes that the success rate is based on technique and said that all his surrogates last month had a positive pregnancy. Now we wait and pray for success.

Thinking happy and positive thoughts...Dr. Yashodhara's orders!!!!