Thank you SCI & Merry Christmas to all!

Is this real?  I still feel I need to pinch myself every once in a while to make sure this isn't a dream!  How are we so lucky?  It feels weird to say "we" and "lucky" in the same sentence because for years & years that wasn't us.  Now we have 2 beautiful daughters and the process just seemed so simple.....OK the waiting was hard and we held our breath a lot along the way.....But, it is real, they are here!  I am thankful we stumbled across SCI & thankful we decided to give it a shot....what did we have to lose....absolutely nothing.....but look what we gained!!!

Thank you SCI for the best gift in the world!

 Merry Christmas to all!

 

BBQ's & Summer fun!

Oh the summer is hot!  We are enjoying the nice weather and venturing out for walks or going grocery shopping - early in the morning or later in the afternoon.  Yesterday we met Daddy near his office for lunch!

The girls are doing great.....they are such morning babies.  When they wake up & feed they are full of smiles.......wow, what a fantastic way to start the day!  Nothing makes me happier than talking to my little girls and seeing them respond with the biggest smile :)

Although, our pediatrician in Canada had suggested switching both girls off lactose formula for 3 weeks to try & settle some of the issues they were having.......well, the 3 weeks are up and we have put them back on Nan Pro 1......with not so pretty results.  Poor girls have really sore tummies and horrible poops......I am trying to give them a week to settle on this formula and if not - back to the doctor we go!!

 

Back in Chile 2 weeks now.......and a car accident!

We are home safe & sound.....daddy is very happy all his girls are home!  They have settled very nicely.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while....trying to get the girls into a routine.......and then 2 weeks after we arrive home myself, my mother & my 2 baby girls were driving to a baby store near home and were in a car accident.  A guy hit the gravel on the side of the road and lost control of his car, hitting us head-on!  Very scary to go through with your babies in the car.  The girls are fine...Thank God!  My biggest fear through it all was them.......I didn't care about wrecking my husband's work vehicle, the cuts & burns on me (just from the seatbelt & airbag), nor trying to deal with police, emergency response attendants in a foreign country in a language I can't speak very well.......it was just about my girls.  My husband was called at work with the dreaded call (not from me as he had my cellphone) and raced in fear to us.  After a long day of dealing with police, sitting in emerg and filing accident reports.......we were all cleared to go home and happily put our girls to bed!

Thank God for good baby car seats......which are not used here by most people.  I can't even imagine not using them and it makes me very sad seeing people drive around here holding their infants or letting their 2 year old children STAND on the back seat while they are driving.....Maybe they think they aren't going far so it doesn't matter.......well I hope they never experience what I did.......as that was the scariest day of my life!

Anyways, enough about our horrible day and on to life as a family again!!  We are having a blast, every day I wake up so excited to see their little faces.  Daddy dreads leaving to go to work and races home after work to see them.....as our evenings go by so quickly!  By the time Daddy is home from work and holds them for a little bit.....we sometimes try to eat dinner (usually in shifts) and then it's bath, bottle, bed........well for some!!!  Our little Rylan takes a while to get to sleep but when she does, she usually only wakes up once during the night for a feeding......Makenna still really enjoys a few snacks during the night!!

On to the photos!!

Some afternoon fun!

 Happy Halloween!! 

Let's have a nap instead of going out........OK my dear, stay home it is!!!!

 I'm tired too!!

Our early morning walk, still in our PJ's!!! 

We have to walk early before it gets too hot outside!

Their hats are too big......they look like hard hats on them!!

But they look so cute in them:)

 

 

 

Well......that has been the good and the not-so-good going on in our lives!!

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Canada!!

Day 51:
We received a phone call saying the girls passports were ready......over a week early!! Great news.......so the day was full of running around getting ready to leave!

Day 52:
2:25am (technically day 53) we are on our way home!  The girls did very well on both plane rides, but weren't so happy arriving in Canada.  20 hours of travelling had kicked in for all of us!  Here is a picture of Nona with her grand daughters on our way to our layover in Germany. Although it looks like they sleep all the time, that is the only time I had a minute to take photos of them!! 

When we landed in Canada we decided to stop at a hotel and sleep for a couple hours before our long car ride!  Our family was very happy to meet them!

 

Delhi Day 38:

The girls are almost 1 month old! We got our DNA results today and went straight to the Canadian High Commission to apply for their passports!  Yes......Progress!!!!

Thank God Nona is here helping......we actually had a date night!  We went out for dinner at a new restaurant in the mall "b-bar"......very nice!!  Our plan was to go to the ice bar for a drink after dinner.....we missed the girls too much and were exhausted so we headed home and stopped at the ice bar on a Monday afternoon instead. The ice bar has 30 tonnes of ice that has been imported from Canada to make the carvings......Well, you would think "Canadians" could handle the -10 degree bar temperature........we lasted 15 minutes!!!!

 

 

 The girls enjoying an evening by the pool!

 

Delhi - Day 29:

Makenna & Rylan are 20 days old today!  They are staying more & more awake. We haven't ventured too far with the girls but we did get a few sites in.  We want to get a lot of pictures and memories of where the girls were born.

We are still awaiting the DNA test results to move on to applying for their passports.  So we are enjoying our time together as Sandy will have to fly home to go back to work.

Enjoying some sister time!

 Nona & her grand daughters.

 Rylan watched Daddy have a swim.

 

Delhi: Day 26

Our girls are 17 days old and doing well!  Sandy is back & my mom is here and the girls are keeping us very busy & very happy!  We had a bit of a scare with the girls not eating well but all is good now and wow are they eating!!!

We did our DNA testing 2 days ago & are now in waiting mode.  Seems the Canadian Governement is changing things a bit and we are the 1st couple caught in the transition but everyone at the Canadian High Commission has been very nice to us but it looks like we will be here a little bit longer than originally thought.

Makenna & Rylan

Will post more often now that we are all here and getting in the swing of things!!

The twins have arrived!!!

2 GIRLS!!!!!

 

 

Twin I 
Makenna Faith
Weight 2.58 kg (5.69 pounds)
Born 7:05am August 28th

Twin II
Rylan Erin
Weight 2.7 kg (5.95 pounds)
Born 7:06am August 28th

Both are doing very well!!

Week 36:

Babies are hanging on strong!!  We have been busy meeting Poonam and visiting the Canadian High Commission before my hubby had to fly back to work for a few weeks.....so I am solo for a while. 
Any day now!!!!  So now we wait until they are ready to greet us...the only problem is every time the telephone rings my heart is pounding in my throat!! ;)

We are in India!!

Wow, what a trip!  We are very happy to be here.  Today is all about relaxing.....we slept all morning/afternoon......well, Sandy did....I finished unpacking and arranging all the babies bottles, diapers, clothes, blankets & everything else we brought for them :)  The service here is great, the hotel we are staying in is attached to 2 malls, with every store and restaurant you can think of!  Sandy spotted the Hard Rock Cafe giant sign when we pulled up to the hotel....so he is happy!!!

We also received the latest update today.  Babies are doing great & our SM is still a complete trooper!

Twin I:
Cephalic presentation (ready to rock & roll)
Weight: 2464 grams (5.4 pounds)

Twin II:
Cephalic presentation (ready to rock & roll)
Weight: 2602 grams (5.7 pounds)


Well our little ones - we are here and ready to meet you!!!!  We are so excited!!

Week 35:

We are on our way to India!!!!

We are sitting in the airport lounge in Santiago.......what a week!!!  I decided to travel with my hubby to Argentina on a work trip the beginning of the week...it was a beautiful drive over the Andes Mountains - we thought it was a 5 and a half hour drive........NO........9 and a half hours plus a 1 hour time change!!  But that was OK, we got to see a lot.  Well, when we were coming home......the road was closed due to bad weather!!  YIKES......not good!  So the vehicle had to stay in Argentina and we flew home as we did not want to miss our flight to India!!

We also didn't get our week 35 update scan today so we are worried....praying everything is OK with our little ones. 

Then to top it off we almost missed this flight......our taxi never showed up after numerous phone calls.....so we had to drive our BRAND new vehicle to the airport to sit....NOT HAPPY......BUT we are here and we ARE getting on that flight.....So time to relax & have a drink!

Week 34:

Really???  Are we actually getting this close??  We are so excited!  Tickets booked, hotel booked, airport pickup ready.........WE ARE LEAVING IN A WEEK!!!  It doesn't seem real.  Babies are hanging tight, which we couldn't be happier about.  Our SM is doing amazing - no problems at all.......how did we get so lucky?  After all the troubles of trying for years & years.....we just expected problems.  Although we had 1 scare along the way - everything has gone so well....we are just not used to this.  We never wanted to talk about it out of fear or jinxing it!  Every day we are so thankful.

So we have decided to fly at 35 weeks to hopefully be there for the babies arrival!  Although Sandy may have to fly back to work for a week or 2 in the middle of our stay.....he really wants to be there for their birth!  Which means I will be alone in India - but I will not complain as I have been reading many blogs of other couples facing the same issue - just caused by different circumstances!

I need everything planned out......ahead of time......but this process has really flipped everything around, backwards, inside & out and sideways for me........as I have to go with the flow as you cannot plan on the exact date the babies will be born and you cannot plan on exact dates to fly home as the paperwork & DNA testing will take between 3-4 weeks...but could take longer.  So the motto for the week, "Just go with the flow!"  The single most important thing for us is to have 2 healthy babies!!

Happy 34 weeks babies.......we are on our way soon!!

Week 32:

On the baby front ~ no news is good news!  Babies are doing well.  I have been working on booking hotels, confirming flights!  Dr. Shivani and her team have been great - I wanted to make sure my travel dates sounded OK with her....I swear she works 24 hours a day!!  You email her in the evening and she responds right away!

Wow, what a crazy few weeks!!  Enjoying my time with my sister, we have been painting, shopping, eating and more eating!!
I had a baby shower last weekend....it was lovely and I was very surprised of the generousity of all our new friends here in Chile!!

 The Diaper Cake!

The cute cupcakes! 

The kiddies were in to them before they were out of the boxes!!

 The fun games!

Gift opening!!

To top the last 2 weeks off - I received word that I passed my designation!!  Yeah!!!  Years of hard work have FINALLY paid off!!  The sad news for the past 2 weeks is the passing of my very best dog Chilo - he was with us for over 16 years and his time was up!  I took this very hard as he was "my" dog....always by my side, always happy to see me!

I have been granted my 1 year leave off work!  The good news - even in a foreign country I will qualify for maternity pay for 6 months.........The bad news - although granted the leave, no guarantee I will have a job to go back to.......I will take my chances - I want this time off to spend with our babies - so the risk is worth it! 

World-wind few weeks......also celebrated my birthday - and all I wanted was a day to relax, have an afternoon nap and eat toast and cereal for dinner!!! 

Well...off to help my sister to pack up....she is getting ready to head back to Canada!  I'm very grateful she came to visit and help me out!! But I will miss her a lot. :(

Week 31:
We received a great update from SCI - the babies and surro are doing very well.  Our biggest surprise was how much weight the little ones put on!  We couldn't be any happier ;)

Twin I  - 3.8 pounds (1,737 grams)
Twin II - 4.2 pounds (1,905 grams)

My sister arrived on Tuesday & we haven't stopped yet!  Just finished painting the nursery - it is coming together nicely!!  Since we are doing so well with knocking items off the "to-do" list ~ I think we will fit in some tourist sightseeing this weekend!!

Week 29:
We received beautiful photos of our SM, Mrs. J!  She is doing great and we are so thrilled!

That is one big & beautiful belly :)

We have been closely following everyone's blogs and we are so happy to hear of all the babies being born, new pregnancies and are heartbroken for the couples that have received sad news.  We are also keeping our fingers crossed for all the couples cycling right now!!!

We are starting to get very anxious!!  We decided to go ahead and book tickets (even knowing we will likely change them) and applied for our visas.  Aahhhh.....the visa debate.  We applied for tourist visas, but have heard a lot of couples applying for medical visas.  We questioned the Indian Embassy about the correct visa and were told we were not physically having medical procedures and therefore should not apply for the medical visa.........I really hope this is OK......So stressful!!

Next week is my last week of work.....Yahoo.....the following week my sister arrives to help paint, buy & setup........although she sprained her ankle yesterday so I think it will be a low key couple weeks just catching up!! :)  It really has been hard being so far away and not getting to see our families often.

Bring on the next updates.......stay put little babies and we can't wait to meet you!!

Week 28:
We are so happy that our SM & our babies are doing so well!  Our SM has been an absolute trooper and we are very thankful.  Now we are starting to get really excited.  We have told our friends & coworkers and everyone is really happy for us.
These last 2 weeks have been busy & stressful.  I flew to Canada for a week to finish my post-grad designation......all done - just waiting on marks now!  It has been a rough 3 years but thankfully it is done and just in time for our babies!
I am planning on being off work in 2 weeks. With everything going on (including us recently moving to a foreign country) I really need some time to prepare.  My sister is flying over in 2 weeks and we will paint the nursery and go baby shopping!  It will be nice to spend 3 weeks with her and preparing for our little ones......I can't wait :)
On to the good stuff!!  Our last update came just before 27 weeks ~ babies are growing, both weighing in roughly 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds).  Twin II is in breech presentation & Twin I is in cephalic presentation.  9 weeks to go!!

Week 26:  Last trip to Canada........finishing my post-grad designation!!!
We are expecting our next update for the twins by the end of next week.  It has been a very stressful few weeks with our furniture arriving, finishing up my post-grad designation and babysitting our friends puppy for 3 weeks!!  And to top it of I am off to Canada tomorrow for 1 week!  It will be great to see family and I have my FINAL for my designation..........it is coming to an end!!  I will also take 3 days to stop in at our head office and break the news to our colleagues there and discuss my 1 year leave of absence and start the discussions about medical coverage for the babies.
I have made my first baby purchases........and once I started, it was hard to stop!!  I bought a twin stroller, 2 car seats, preemie clothes and crib bedding!  The reason I "jumped" on it is we are having trouble finding baby stuff here in Chile - and as this will be my last trip to Canada before going to India I wanted to buy as much as I can!  I will bring a load with me and my sister is coming to visit us in a few weeks and she will bring the rest.  On that note, I am trilled to have my sister come and stay with us for 3 weeks!  We are planning to paint & setup the babies room and just spend time together and I have always been really close to my sisters and being on the other side of the world has made it very.

I will sign off with a photo of our puppy and our friends puppy we are babysitting......Note that this was the ONLY minute they stopped playing so I had to rush and grab my phone to take a photo, so it is a little blurry.

Week 23:

We were so excited to receive our updates today!! Babies are doing good, which makes us so happy!  We have started sharing our news with more family members and everyone is really happy ( a little shocked at first but once it settles in the responses have been great!)  We are thinking about breaking the news to work next week (we both work at the same office).  I wanted to wait until week 27 but we don't think it is fair to give only a few weeks notice that I want a 1 year leave of absence. (We are working in Chile so no "Mat Leave" available for expatriates).  I am planning on being off mid-July so I can start preparing for the twins........and setup our new house.  Everything is starting to fall into place.  Our furniture arrives next week and after 1 week in customs will be delivered.  Next week we are finally getting tv, phone & internet setup (we have been in the house 2 months with nothing).  And I am in the last month of my post-grad program. 

On to the good stuff........we receive 2 great 3D photos of the babies faces!

Twin 1: 596gms (1.3 pounds)
Twin 2: 600gms (1.3 pounds)

Can you see the hand infront of the eye waving "hello"?  :)

Waiting, waiting & more waiting!!

No new photos or updates - but we should have one by the end of next week.  We are so excited to hear about the little ones!!  We celebrate with a bottle of champagne or wine every update we receive - now doesn't that sound weird to hear!!!
We are settling into our new house in Chile although still awaiting our furniture to be shipped via sea container from Canada - that should arrive in 2 1/2 weeks - another LONG wait (can you tell I am the impatient one in the relationship).  It wouldn't bother me so much if we could at least eat supper sitting down!!!  Just kidding - we did buy a couple chairs - but literally not much more than that!!  My sister is planning a trip to visit us and help us unpack & setup.  Thank God!!!  Although we are enjoying living & working in Chile ~ we are very much missing our family & friends.  And then my mom is planning a trip down.  Thank God!  Very much needed as moving to a foreign country, working full-time (while husband travels a lot with his job) finishing a post-grad designation (travelling back & forth to Canada to complete) and learning a new language ~ ALL while anxiously awaiting our little ones ~ is starting to catch up with us.  Oh, and throw a new puppy in there!!  She is a cutie!  (picture below)  --- Well, I guess it all boils down to REALLY trying to keep busy until these babies come...........did I mention I was the impatient one!!

And the stress is starting to kick in about buying twin strollers, beds & bedding and all the other things here in Chile.......what we have seen is very expensive and not a large selection.  I am not ready to start buying these things yet ~ but my thoughts are starting to surround buying some of it in Canada and bringing it back with us.  In saying that, I have only 1 more trip back to Canada before the big trip to India - so plan, plan, plan!  We are new to living here though and I am sure there are plenty of baby stores here.........considering they do have babies here too!!!!

Come on next weeks' updates!! 

Week 19:
We had a fantastic trip to Canada and my family was very excited to hear our fantastic news!  We have asked them to not share the news with anyone just yet as we would like to make it to 27 weeks first.

We received our 20 week scan early (at 18wk 4 days) with some 4D photos!  The babies are doing great.........and the best news - the "Small choroid plexus cyst reported earlier is no longer seen."  Yahoo!!

Twin I
Approx. gestational age is 19 weeks 1 day
BPD - 43mm, HC - 162mm, AC - 137mm, FL - 29mm
EFW: 274gms

Twin II
Approx. gestational age is 19 weeks 5 days
BPD - 46mm, HC - 162mm, AC - 149mm, FL - 31mm
EFW: 316gms

Both show normal vetricular system, fetal spine, limbs, cord insertion, 3 vessel cord, UB, stomach bubble!!  Grow Babies Grow!!!!

So.......on to the freaky 4D photos!! I love them but Sandy prefers the regular ultrasound photos!!

Week 16:
Well, we waited until we hit week 16 to start our blog as we have been through a lot of heartache and we are still not in the clear yet!  I would like to thank all you bloggers out there as we have been following all of your blogs - to see how everyone's journey is going, to see all the beautiful babies born and to see who is at the same point as we are!  We have not told our families yet so being a part of everyones blogs has helped us know that we are not alone is this process.  We are planning a trip back to Canada next week and will be surprising my family with our news!  My mother will be so excited ~ we did not want to tell them the news as my mother is dying to be a grandmother and we didn't want her to suffer through our heartache again.

In saying that, we might postpone telling them as our 16 week scan has us worried.

This is the scan that tightened our throats as a "small choroid plexus cyst seen" on Twin II and we are awaiting a detailed USG scan to be done.  Dr. Shivani says usually this is of no significance but they will follow up.  So we are awaiting this report and are hoping to hear that everything is fine.

Twin I - approx gestational age is 17 weeks 2 days
Twin II - approx gestational age is 17 weeks 1 day

The fetal head shows normal ventricular system.  The fetal spine, limbs, cord insertion, 3 vessel cord, UB, stomach bubble show no obvious abnormality.  Grow babies grow!!!

Fingers crossed all is good!

Week 10:
Report shows "The uterus is bulky" and HR - 160; 158 Bpm and CRL measures 33mm, which corresponds to 10 weeks 2 days.

Week 12:
TWIN I - gestational age = 13 weeks 2 days; BPD-21mm; HC 77mm; Nuchal lucency-1.3mm; nasal bone is seen.
TWIN II - gestational age = 13 weeks 2 days; BPD-19mm; HC 79mm; CRL 59mm; Nuchal lucency-1.1mm; Nasal bone is seen.

Week 8:
Our little beanies are growing!!  Every email from SCI is opened without breathing until we read "Dr. Shivani has reviewed the reports & found everything fine with her pregnancy."
Phewwffff..........OK, now wait for the next scan!!!
Twin I - HR - 154 Bpm, CRL = 22mm corresponds to 9 weeks 0 day
Twin II - HR 162 Bpm, CRL = 19mm corresponds to 8 weeks 3 day.

Week 6:
The all important week 6 heartbeat scan!!

Congratulations...!!!

We are happy to inform you that two Heartbeats have been seen during her scan.

HR -122; 128 Bpm!!!!

Week 5:
2 pregnancy sac's were seen!!!! 

To start our exciting story at the beginning:
We are a Canadian couple currently living in Chile on work assignments.  We decided to try SCI in India as we had no luck through IVF in Canada.  So we researched different clinics and emailed back & forth with Margarida (who was a huge help!) and decided to go ahead and ship our frozen embryos through Core Cryolab, a great cryo shipping company in Toronto, Canada.  Embies made it to SCI's clinic safe & sound and we decided to use all 5 frozen embies in 2 surrogates.  Dr. Shivani was fantastic with helping us pick our surrogates.......  And the outcome.......... 1 surrogate pregnant!!

cOnGrAtULaTiOnS...!!!

We would like to inform you that J's Beta HCG value is 375.19 which is very good.