Been Awhile.....And Very Busy!!!

Hi All!

Greetings from our very busy (and not good at blogging family)!

I wanted to post updates and pictures of our beautiful babies!  I really intended to do this once a week or so, instead of once every 4 or 5 months.  The babies are doing beautifully and developing so rapidly.  If it weren't for the pictures from the nicu, etc..., it would be hard to believe that they were ever under 1500 grams.  It is equally hard to remember a time that they were not a part of our family!

Here is a recent picture of Benjamin.

Benjamin is our little charmer!  He just loves to socialize and everone loves him!  His favorite place is in Mom's or Dad's arms.  Benjamin is fascinated by his two big brothers and watches them intently.  It is pretty clear that he is anxious to be mobile and chase after them.  He has the most amazing smile. 

 Whitney loves to explore and is delighted the minute she is put in her car seat.  She is always ready for an adventure!  She is also very much a girly-girl.  She has a very pretty and feminine voice and gestures.  Whitney is truly the baby of the family, as Ben is her elder by 2 whole minutes! 

Alas, Benjamin is calling!  But, I will try to return and post more pictures (if I can get them to upload - I will post the Easter portrait of all 4 children together) soon!  I will also catch up on all of your wonderful blogs that helped so much during what seemed at the time like a long wait for the babies.  Now, it seems like just yesterday that Ben and Whitney were born.  Time has flown by in a flash!

Greetings from the NICU (with pictures)!!!

Hello Everybody,

As you can imagine, it has been a crazy and hectic few days, trying to get to Delhi and the babies as quickly as possible!  The twins are at the Newborn Baby Centre in Delhi and are doing well.

This is Benjamin Dulany Brown.  He is doing well and is the more active and vocal big brother (note: he was born two whole minutes before his little sister).  Ben is now 1610 grams and is no longer taking any food by feeding tube.  He is feeding on demand orally.  He is doing amazingly well and getting the best care from Dr. Gupta and his attentive staff.

This is Whitney Anne Brown.  She is our little sleeping beauty.  I know the "experts" say that newborn babies cannot smile, but you may decide for yourselves.  I, personally believe that she can.  She is also gaining weight, but not quite as rapidly as her big brother.  She is currently 1565 grams.  However, like Ben, she is now taking all of her formula orally.

I know that there a several other new parents here also.  Please message me or email me at info@dawnaustinlaw.com if you would like to try to get together.

I will post more pictures again very soon!

They're Here!!!!!!!

What an exciting night!!!  The twins were born early this morning!  We are unbelievably excited to announce the arrival of our little boy and his younger sister (by two minutes that is)!

The little ones decided that they simply could not wait until January to make their first appearances.  So, we will post again very shortly (I promise - yes, I know, I am not the most prolific blogger, but I understand that this is the sort of exciting news that we all anxiously await) with more details and pictures (yes, lots and lots of pictures).

In the meantime, we are going to get a couple of hours of sleep (if that is possible since we are so excited).  Then, we need to quickly modify our travel plans and head for Delhi.

Annette & Mark and B & SJ, we look forward to seeing all of you in Delhi in a few weeks.  As the babies are so early (i.e. 32 weeks), we anticipate a long stay!

Have a great night (or morning)...we will post an update soon!!!

Still Here...After Being MIA for Sooo Long!!!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry we have been missing in action for sooo long!  I intended to keep everyone updated, but it was so hard emotionally when surromom #1 was having problems that I had to take a break and just bury myself in my work.  Then, once I managed to distract myself that way, I wasn't able to come back and pick up where I left off.  I have occasionally taken a few quick peeks to see how our "friends" out there in surrogacyland are doing.  It has clearly been an exciting time...lots of new babies, etc...

So, when we last posted things were looking bleak for surromom #1!  She did in fact miscarry.  We were very sad about the loss of the twins she was carrying.  In the brief time that she was carrying them, we had already become "attached" (maybe not the best way to express it, but we were very excited about them and, of course, disappointed when we knew that they were gone).

At that point, I had to find distractions because I was obsessively worried about surromom #2.  In fact, during the last few months, she has had several hospital admissions.  During those admissions, I want to mention that Dr. Shivani's staff was fabulous and kept us fully informed about everything.  But it was scary nonetheless!   

I have been counting down the weeks to the point of viability (just in case) and, now, to 37 weeks.

Today, we have reached 30 weeks!  YAY!  So, we are finally starting to breathe.  Even if the babies were born tomorrow (knock on wood - we don't want that to happen), they would probably be fine. They are actually due on January 2, 2012 (i.e. 37 weeks), but we hear many twins decide to make their entrance even earlier than that.

Now, it is time to make plans for our trip to Delhi!  Is anyone planning to spend Christmas in Delhi?

Possible Setback! :(

     Before I write a brief update, I just want to post a quick "Thank You" to all of you who have posted comments.  It is such a delight to read them.  I will start posting comments more (note:  I send lots of mental comments as I read your blogs, but I rarely actually post them.  I will actively start posting them now.).

     Now for the update...I awoke to an email from SCI stating that surromom #1, Miss D, was admitted to the hospital last night for heavy bleeding.  We are first and foremost very concerned about her wellbeing.  She generously signed on to help us in such a major way and our greatest hope was that it would ultimately be a good experience for all concerned.

     Of course, we are also very concerned and saddened because the reason for her hospital admission does not bode well for the pregnancy.  We are struggling not to jump to conclusions, but naturally our assumption is that she has miscarried.  Another ultrasound will be done in about five days.

     We are hoping that "No news is good news!" with respect to Miss J!

    

When It Rains..It Pours!!!

     So...I am a little speechless at the moment (in a wonderful way)!   I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Ray predicted that it was very important to go with two surrogates, because if we didn't there was a significant chance that it might not work, but added that of course, if we went with two, we would be expecting four babies!  Well....both Miss J and Miss D are expecting twins!!!

     We are trying to contain our excitement (and apprehension), because this is only week five.  It will be another week before there is a check for hearbeats...and then, seven more weeks before we clear the scary first trimester.  I am not sure if that applies to twins or if it is longer.

     I am going to go off on a tangent for a moment now and share with all of you that like most of you we had our issues expanding our family.  I may at some point write a "prequel" blog post to our story, but not right now.  It is much nicer to focus on this part of the journey.  But, that said I want to add an extra set of "Thanks" to Meg for saying that, after all else had failed, this really could work!  To us, Dr. Shivani is our miracle worker!

     It has been a really exciting week!  After the hcg results came in, we went window-shopping for the nursery (note:  my husband usually finds a convenient reason to escape the shopping, but not this time.  He enjoyed Babies R Us as much as I did).  The only problem is planning for a gender neutral nursery.  Most of the nicer sets are either girlie or decidedly boyish.  Any suggestions?

     As anyone who is reading this knows by know, I am very new to the blogging and haven't reached the point of being able to write the wonderfully informative and captivating blogs that many of the other families on this path post.  Those are the very blogs that reassured me as I was deciding on this path and the same blogs that helped me to maintain a modicum of sanity during the two week wait recently (it seemed more like two thousand years).  So, I want to say "Thank You" again to all of you in blogland who have shared your journey/ are sharing your journey with us through your blogs!!!

Fixed It!!!

     The last post "Help!" was because I did something wrong and entirely screwed up the blog page (it listed the names of some of the blogs that we follow in large print over the blog).  Anyway...after about a long, frustrating hour we actually fixed it (still not really sure how).

     So, I deleted the "Help" post.  But as it is still listed out there in cyberspace, I thought I would post an explanation.

     Thank you for any and all of you who came to the site to help! :)