Saturday, March 28, 2009

Our First Anniversary . . . thinking Round Two?

I can't believe it but today is the one year anniversary of our embryo transfer! To remind you- here's the post from a year ago today!

What a difference a year makes . . .

Natasha and Anjali turned four months old today and are sleeping (sometimes soundly) in their own cribs instead of my womb.

I am also doing great. I had a busy day today and was pleasantly surprised when I arrived home to find a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from George and Sanj. The card said, "Remembering you a year ago." Are they awesome or what?

It's amazing to think about the journey I started a year ago. It was so wonderful, I can't imagine it going any better than it did. We met great IP's. We got pregnant the first try. It was twins. It was a healthy pregnancy with an easy birth. I didn't have any real sadness watching the girls go away with their parents.

The only interesting (weird) feelings were, "now what"? Surrogacy is amazing. You have a goal for a long time, it comes to fruition and then you're (for all intensive purposes) done. It reminded me of after my wedding to Rick. You plan every single detail for about a year and in one night, it's over. Of course the marriage is there and great but the "planning" part is over. Some brides get the wedding planning blues. The more Surrogacy blogs I read, it seems there is a bit of Surrogacy (planning) Blues too.

One of the first things I thought about after delivering the girls is how I could totally do that again. I almost felt sad I was 34 years old and couldn't help more than one more couple become a family. I realize that people who are not surrogates or who have not been blessed with families with a surrogate's help can't really relate to my thinking. Some people I work with and even some family members thought I, "got it out of my system" so why would I even think about doing it again. Well, they were not with me in that hospital room when George and Sanj's babies were born. They were not there when they arrived a happily married couple but left a family. No, I assure you, if you were not there or have not been through something similar, you can not relate.

To be honest, I was not surprised when Lynn, my Growing Generations Counselor, asked me in the weeks following the birth about if I'd do this again. We had discussed my feelings throughout the entire process, so of course this would come up. I remember thinking, of course! For me though, time is of the essence as insurance for surrogates goes up at the age of 36. Actually, even if time was "on my side" , I'd chose to do it sooner than later. So in later conversations with the Surrogate Coordinator, I told them that yes, I would do it one more time (before my beautiful uterus wilts) LOL! My only stipulation is that I wanted a few months of an empty uterus and did not want to be in my third trimester during Christmas this time around. She said she'd talk to me later. But I'll leave the rest of this for another post. For now, here's an updated picture of the FAMILY I helped create
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A visit on girlies 3 month Birthday!

Since our 3 month visit with Natasha and Anjali had to be cancelled because of uncooperative weather, I was really excited when George and Sanj mentioned trying to get together when Ruby and I were going to be nearby.

Ruby and I spent the weekend in Santa Clara for a Dance Expo/Competition she was attending. She was done competing earlier than most, so we were able to have dinner with everyone that night.

Luckily besides great food, The Elephant Bar was very "kid friendly"!
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And adult friendly
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Anjali definitely won the award for Easiest Baby at a Restaurant
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Natasha won the award for Cutest Baby being walked around a Restaurant
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If I'm handing out awards, I guess I should give out a few more . . .


The winner of most adorable 7 year old holding a baby goes to my own Ruby Rummelhart
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and the winner of the happiest 7 year old surrounded by her surro-family
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It actually went quite well . . . it was the twins first dinner out and unlike when I'm out with my own kids, I was able to eat :) It was musical babies, everyone taking turns holding or walking a baby.

Here's me getting to hold Anjali
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The night also reminded me how many shoes and socks I lost when my children were babies. Here's some cute little toes that arrived with both socks and cute little shoes
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