The New Normal

Jenna and Sam celebrated five weeks on earth yesterday, and in some ways it feels like years and in other ways we find ourselves asking each other: 'wait, when did this happen?!?'

We are doing very well back home and slowly getting into a good routine. Our timing worked out so well with the holiday season, which means work is quiet and we can really spend a lot of time at home settling down.

Last week Andrew's parents were here for 3 days and they had a great time with us. This weekend we've had a few visitors, and other than that we're getting our house back in order and filling time between feeds with naps (for all of us!) and Eddie time.

J & S continue to do well. Both are now over 6 pounds, in fact Jenna is closing in on 7 pounds which is great. They eat relatively well, sleep well, and we remind ourselves every day how lucky we are that they're relatively easy and low maintenance. I'm sure their teenage years will more than make up for that!

Next week we have Andrew's brother Greg coming in town for a few days, and then Andrew's parents will come back on their way to Florida. And then right after that our Au Pair arrives which will really help establish our new family life.

Again, a huge thanks for all the calls, emails, gifts, food, and non stop love and support from all of you. What a fun time of our lives and we can't wait to see what the next few days/weeks/months/years bring.

We'll probably post blog updates every now and again on our family, but for now we wish you all Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year. 2012 was our best one yet... hope 2013 is just as good for all of us.

 

HOME!!!!

We are home, safe and sound, and absolutely loving every minute!

Door to door it was a 28 hour trip, and it certainly felt like it many times but we survived just fine. Sam and Jenna were superstars. Barely cried, ate well, slept well, and were just easy. Our biggest problem was not being able to get the bassinet seats on either flight so we had to hold them the entire trip, but there are worse things in life than holding a cute baby :) They were the hit of the plane with flight attendants and passengers who could not stop telling us how adorable they were.

The start of the trip was a mess - the airport in Mumbai was chaos, we had problems with our tickets, so it took us over 2 hours from arriving at the airport to the gate. Not a great beginning but thankfully after that it was smooth sailing. 10 hours to Amsterdam, a 3 hour layover, and then 9 hours home. We had my (Alan's) parents, sister, and brother in law waiting at the airport and coming around that corner and seeing them was such a sight! We came home, unpacked, and basically crashed for the night.

Now that we're home we're adjusting to our new life pretty well. We had a night nurse for the last three nights which has helped us get some sleep and get caught up. I'm up to about 8 loads of laundry so far and am pretty much done!

Jenna napping in her boppy

Sam enjoying the new swing

Big brother protecting Jenna

Yesterday (Monday) we had Sam's bris (circumcision). It went well, over in no time and he seems to have bounced back quite well. We had a very small crowd (about 10 people), nice and low key.

Alan's mom bringing Sam in

Alan's Dad holding Sam for the bris

Reciting a prayer for our son

The final blessing for the children

Andrew's parents arrived last night and are loving their time with their first grandchildren. They are here for three nights and will be back in a couple of weeks.

Today we're off to the pediatrician for their first US check up, and then slowly life will get back to normal I'm sure. I'm going back to work for a few hours a day until after New Years, and between now and when our Au Pair arrives (January 14th) we'll have a mix of us, family, and friends helping out.

Atlanta people, you're welcome to come by anytime from this weekend on. Just call ahead and we'll see you soon hopefully!

Until the next update soon...

WE'RE COMING HOME IN 2 DAYS!!!!

We are so, so happy... what a crazy week of getting everything organized but it all paid off and we are making it out of India in record timing!

We got notification on Tuesday that Andrew's paternity was confirmed (phew!), at which point we made a request to the US consulate for rushed passports for Jenna and Sam. This usually takes about a week but they did it in one day which was incredible. So this morning we went back there to pick them up, and then to the Indian foreign affairs office for the interview for an exit visa. This was not a given and required tons of patience, a million forms and documents, and 4 1/2 hours in a crowded waiting room. But worth every second when Jenna & Sam got their visas approved, so we're all set!

We moved up our return flights by exactly one week and land in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon. We will spend the next 24 hours packing and resting for what we're sure will be a long trip back. But as Andrew said, every minute in the air is a minute closer to home.

The plan for our first few days home is sleep, sleep, and more sleep. Plus plenty of time with family and friends (Atlanta people, give us a couple of days to come back down to earth and then you're welcome anytime).

We promise once things get settled back home we'll post another update and share new photos of our reunited family (can't forget about Eddie).

 

Sunday Update, and Proving Ourselves to Uncle Sam!

Happy Sunday from Mumbai.  Andrew here - it has been a while since I wrote a post!  We started the day on Skype so that Jenna and Sam could get better acquainted with their Uncle Greg.  We've come to the realization that we will (all) go out of our minds if we stay cloistered in our hotel room for the duration of our stay in India, so we've decided to do at least one "activity" each day.  After we all had some breakfast, the four of us ventured out to R City Mall to walk around for a couple of hours and for some lunch.  We also bought a few new gender-specific clothes for Jenna and Sam - their first of many for sure!  Even though it was just a short outing, we're happy that we did it, and now everyone is relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.

Many of you have asked us questions about our 'exit process' - specifically, what we need to do in order to establish US citizenship for Jenna and Sam and secure their passports so that we can come home.  As you saw in our post earlier this week, we spent a fair amount of time at the US Consulate on Wednesday/Thursday to get that process rolling - so here are some more specific details about what we did!  If you feel up to speed on all of this, feel free to stop reading now   :)

Wednesday - Consular Report of Birth Abroad Interview and Passport Application

Since Jenna and Sam were born outside of the US, we need to obtain a "Consular Report of Birth Abroad" (CRBA) for each of them.  These documents are equivalent to the birth certificates that are issued by the states.  In order to get CRBAs for Jenna and Sam, we needed to schedule an interview with an officer at the US Consulate - so we were up bright and early on Wednesday morning to make our way there.  The US Consulate in Mumbai handles these services for several different Indian states and only schedules two appointments per day, so we were going to make it to the appointments even if we had to walk there!

The US Consulate has its own separate compound in a huge business park, and is like Fort Knox.  There are US marines and Indian military stationed all around the perimeter, high fences, and guard towers!  US citizens have their own entrance apart from the general area, so we were able to get through security in just a few minutes.  In contrast, there was a line of at least 200 Indians waiting to get in for their US visa interviews, and that was just counting the people who were still waiting OUTSIDE the consulate gates - just another reason for us to be grateful to hold the blue passport books!

Once inside, we waited in a small room with five service windows (think DMV).  After about 30 minutes, I was called up to present all of our documentation to the consular officer and take an oath swearing that everything was legit.  Here is an abridged version of what we needed to provide:

• My passport
• Jenna and Sam's Indian birth certificates
• Signed surrogacy agreement (original plus copy)
• Letter from Tandon Hospital stating that we have no balance due to them
• Completed CRBA and passport applications for both kids
• Signed affidavit stating that we agree to provide for Jenna and Sam until they are 18 (we'll see how they behave)  !!
• Proof of residency in the US - this included my old passports, Duke transcript, W2s from the past 3 years, and my most recent annual Social Security statement

All of our paperwork was in order (phew).  The consular officer advised that in surrogacy cases, DNA testing is required (which we knew) - once the results are received, the Consulate will process the CRBAs and passports.  Once that's completed, the last step is to secure exit visas from the Indian government for Jenna and Sam...more on that later this week.  We'd pre-ordered the DNA test kits from LabCorp right when the kids were born, so they were already at the Consulate - luckily, we were able to secure a DNA testing appointment for the next day (Thursday) - of course you can't do the CRBA interview and DNA testing on the same day - that would be too easy!

Thursday - DNA Testing

The DNA testing process involves providing DNA samples at the Consulate, which are then sent back to the testing lab in the US for analysis (in our case, the lab is in Burlington, NC). It takes 2-3 days for the samples to get back to the US, and then 2 business days for the lab to process the results. The lab will then send a HARD COPY of the results back to the US Consulate (that's right, a hard copy), which will then start the process of requesting passports for the kids. Most of the time, passports are printed in the US and then shipped to the Consulate. 

I was picked up by a cab at 7:15am so that I could make my way to a local hospital relatively close to the Consulate.  The DNA testing itself happens at the Consulate, but the doctor/nurses who collect the samples are from this particular hospital - so before we could get the DNA test done, we needed to actually go to the hospital and pay 300 rupees/person (about $6 each) at the hospital's cash counter.  Not only does this seem like a hassle, but of course the cash counter is only open from 8:30am - 10:00am.   I made the payment, collected a notarized receipt, dropped off a copy at the hospital's pathology department (purpose unknown), and headed back to the hotel to pick up Alan and the kids so that we could make a repeat visit to the Consulate. 

 Our DNA appointment was at 11:45am - we were called into the collection room at around 12:30pm, once the doctor/nurse from the hospital had arrived.  Jenna, Sam, and I were crammed into a tiny room along with 5 other people - the doctor, the nurse, a consular witness, someone who was filling out all of the collection forms, and a fifth person whose role is still unknown to me at this point.  The nurse collected four samples from me by swabbing the inside of my cheek, and then did the same thing to Jenna and Sam.  I was understandably nervous about how our kiddies would react to having someone scrape their cheeks, but they both handled it like champs.  For some unknown reason, we needed to provide our fingerprints, so I somehow managed to get Jenna and Sam's tiny thumbprints on the paper.  Their thumbprints were absolutely minute!  Forty-five minutes later, the samples were packaged up and sealed, and we were out of there.  The samples have already made it to Memphis and will be delivered to the lab on Monday. 

At this point, we're still planning on being home on Saturday, December 22.  It is subject to change, depending on how quickly or slowly the DNA results come back and passports printed, but we're cautiously optimistic that barring any unforeseen delays, we can still stick to this schedule! 

That's quite enough for now.  My apologies if this post is too long and boring - just want to make sure that those of you with a thirst for details are fully satisfied!

Saturday update

Hi again,

Wanted to share an update on our last few days. We are actually getting into a pretty good routine with Jenna and Sam, both of whom are so easy and good natured. Apart from a few minutes a day of fussiness they eat well, sleep well, and are just adorable, so we truly can't complain.

Thursday we went back to the consulate for the DNA testing. In order to leave India, we need to prove that Andrew is the genetic father. That visit was endless and was such a testament to how crazy and intense this exit process is. Anyway, 2 hours later were on our way home.

Yesterday (Friday) was a great day because we didn't have much on the calendar. A nice relaxing day which included a few naps and some bonding time.

This morning after breakfast we headed back to the NICU for a follow up visit with the pediatrician. I must admit we've enjoyed the last 6 days of not having to go all the way over there, and it brought back some not so fun memories but thankfully we were in and out in an hour.

The doctor was very happy with both our angels. As expected, both have gained good amounts of weight, although neither of us was prepared for Jenna's new scale reading of 5 pounds 7 ounces! Up from last Monday's 4 pounds 12 ounces, she is obviously doing well :) Even Sam is right on target and now is just under 5 pounds. He has increased his feeding amounts these last few days and now eats as much as his sister, so he'll be catching up quickly. Anyway, the doctor did a quick check and declared them both 'healthy and happy'. Then came the dreaded vaccinations which for a few minutes were bad, after which they both went back into their car seats and promptly fell asleep! They are such troopers and I think that bodes well for us.

We're now back in the room and have nothing on the calendar for a few days at least. We'll maybe go for a walk to the nearby lake tomorrow depending on the weather (it has been well into the nineties these last few days but should go down soon). We've also discovered a very nice, upscale mall a few minutes drive from here so maybe Monday or Tuesday we'll head there for a few hours. Trying to escape the monotony of our hotel room every now and again.

Some adorable photos to get you in a good weekend mood:

Jenna and Sam, a pre-nap rest

Sam, Dec 8

Jenna, Dec 8

 

Consulate visit, new hotel, and sleep deprivation!

We are now in our new (preferred) hotel and what a difference that makes. A much bigger room, areas to walk outside (including a lake and a park), restaurants, stores... we are so excited. It was a major pain to move but well worth it.

Went to the US consulate this morning for step one in our return process, applying for passports for Jenna and Sam. The visit went well and now tomorrow Andrew and the kids have a DNA test (to prove paternity), and then we wait for those results.

Other than keeping busy with that, we have two relatively easy infants to still take care of! Both babies are adorable and all things considered they are pretty good. Sam is still adjusting being with us I think (and Jenna is getting used to having him back around!), and we're slowly but surely getting our act together. The last couple of nights have been rough but we're getting better every day.

Will post an update in a few days of our progress. Hope you're all having a good week.

Sam is home!

Two weeks after they were born, we now have both our beautiful babies with us at 'home'!

We had a long day at the clinic getting Sam ready for discharge, along with eye tests for both (which they passed with flying colors) and a weight check (both are doing great at 4 pounds 12 ounces already!). 4 hours later, the moment we'd been waiting for since we got to India was there... leaving the NICU and headed to the hotel. Now they're safe and sound in their pack and play, fast asleep. Here are a few photos to mark this great day:

Leaving the NICU

Together again!

Jenna

Sam

Next up is the beginning of the exit process. Wednesday we go to the US consulate, followed the next day by a DNA test, and then we wait for a short while while they process that. After that, a few more visits, some more paperwork (and bureaucracy), and a visa, and we will be headed back home. We're hoping to keep our original departure date of December 22nd... fingers crossed!

It's the weekend!

Enjoying a relaxing couple of naps...

Jenna, 11/30/12

Our afternoon ritual - Jenna and Alan, 11/30/12

 

Friday update

Can't believe this is the end of our first full week already. Last night was our 11th night away from home, so strange. We had a good night with Jenna - she eats so well that we were able to adjust her feeding schedule and we all got a 4-hour stretch in there at some point!

This morning I went to see Sam. He is doing well - oxygen is thankfully not an issue anymore. He had developed a very slight edema (swelling) in his chin about 2 days ago which they are treating with some antibiotics, but this morning the doctor said it is better than yesterday which is a good sign. We are still hoping (as in desperately, desperately) to have him home on Monday but they can't commit just yet. We will get another update later and go see him tomorrow.

If all goes well with his discharge, next week is a big week. On Wednesday we'll take both kids to the consulate and complete the paperwork there, and then on Thursday Andrew and J&S need to have DNA tests done. Those then get processed and after the results come back we can begin the exit process. Everything from start to finish can take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks, we're hoping for a quick turnaround.

Other than that, not much news. We are definitely getting used to new parenthood - the lack of sleep, the weird schedules (naps at 10am and up, wide awake at 3am), but we are loving every minute of it.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend. We'll post another update soon.

Day 10 (with some cool photos)

An update from day 10 of Jenna and Sam's lives...

Had a decent night at our hotel with Jenna, who fed every 3 hours and slept pretty well. In fact Andrew & I even slept at the same time for an hour or two while Jenna was sleeping which was nice.

This morning we headed over to the NICU/clinic at 9 for the hearing tests. Good news all around - Sam did well without any oxygen overnight and seems to be fine today too. We just need that to stay as is and he will be all clear from that hurdle. We are staying cautiously excited.

Next good news was that both aced their hearing tests. And then both are back to their birth weights which is also a good sign.

And then, as with most of our best moments around here, a nice surprise: there was a knock on our room while we were waiting for the doctor and in walks the nurse with Sam! She dropped him in my arms, said 'I'll be back in a few minutes', and walked out. So there we were, all four of us, together for the first time. We took a photo of J&S in my lap and when the nurse came back she took one of the four of us. Very cute.

Sam and Jenna, 10 days old

Our first family photo - 11/28/2012

Now we're back in our room and will rest for the remainder of the day.Hope everyone is having a good week. Love from all of us here.

Tuesday 11/27 update

Yesterday we got to take Jenna home from the NICU! What a great feeling:

(Don't worry, we know we hadn't buckled her in yet. We may be learning but we're not that bad!). The staff were so sweet and they all took photos and waved goodbye.

We spent the night at the other clinic (where she was born), to have some help from the nurses and get us used to everything. We actually had a pretty 'easy' night. She is an angel - literally didn't cry once, ate pretty well, and slept a lot. Every now and again (sleeping or not) she gives this cute smile which is adorable. I think it's a guarantee that even with 4 males in the house (can't forget Eddie), we know she'll rule the place soon enough!

We did feeds every 3 hours or so and took turns, but I'm pretty sure neither of us got more than about 2-3 hours sleep. Par for the course I would imagine on night one with a new baby :)

This morning we headed back to the NICU to see Sam on our way back to the hotel. The doctor told us he is still doing well, but needed just a bit more oxygen overnight. Nothing to be concerned about. Normal pulse ox rates are above 85, although they prefer 90 and above. His never went below 85 but was around 88 at times so they figured a little more oxygen might help. He will try remove it this evening and see how he does. According to the doctor if he does well without that we can still expect him to be discharged by Monday at the latest. We hate not having him with us but he needs to be 100% before he comes home. And the silver lining is it is giving us a chance to get used to our new way of life with just one before the other half of this fun duo arrives home.

We are now back in the comfort of our fancy hotel room, and I'll be honest, we are all thrilled! Jenna is fast asleep in her pack and play (after her first change and feed at home) and we are both enjoying the comfort of the room.

Tomorrow we have to take Jenna back to the NICU for them both to have a standard hearing test. Then for the next few days we'll keep her in the room with us and we'll alternate days of going to see Sam. It's too much to keep taking her out there every day.

Keep sending positive thoughts Sam's way so he can get out of there soon. Speaking of which, here are a couple of photos from a feeding of Sam's that I (Alan) did yesterday:

 

 



Love from all of us in Mumbai.

Day 7

A quick update from a pretty good and mostly quiet day.

It's Sunday here so life is much quieter. We had breakfast at the hotel, and then headed to the clinic.

Sam is doing great today - has been off the CPAP for about 36 hours and maintaining good oxygen levels which is a great sign. They hope by tomorrow they can remove the oxygen completely, which would be fantastic. We are not getting ahead of ourselves and will see what the day brings.

As for Jenna, she is progressing nicely as well. We tried to time our visit to be there for two feedings for Jenna but missed the first one by just a bit, so we waited about 2 hours for the next one. This time Andrew got to feed her - she finished her bottle in no time and burped before he even lifted her up on his chest! Then she just sat there and stared at him for a while... it was so cute.

As things stand now, we are on track for Jenna to be discharged tomorrow which would be excellent! If that's the case, then we'll leave the NICU and head to the clinic where they were born and stay the night with her there. That way we can get used to her and have some help with the first changings and continuous feedings. If that goes well, we will come back to our hotel on Tuesday with her with some help during the day for a few hours from a nurse.

As for the rest of today, we left the clinic and came back to the hotel to get the room all ready for J&S. After that, a quick dinner and now a little TV to relax. Hopefully our last night without kids in the room with us... quite a feeling!

If we go to stay at the clinic tomorrow night, no internet for us for a few days, so we'll send an update as soon as we can during the week.

Day 6, lots of good news!

Happy Saturday everyone, lots to take in here, but it's all (cautiously) good news, so enjoy!

We left for the clinic at about 11 this morning, and got there just before 12. We hadn't heard from the doctor again so we figured all was much the same. Straight to the NICU and the first thing we saw was our little boy without the ventilator! They removed it at 9am this morning and so far, according to the doctor, he is doing well without it. He is still on oxygen and will be for probably 24-48 hours. They will monitor him closely to make sure his oxygen rate stays high so we are cautiously optimistic. Seeing him without the machine was such a sight, you can only imagine our reaction :) So here goes, your first glimpse at Sam:

Samuel Jeremy, Day 6

Sam, Day 6

 Jenna was wide awake when we got there and as they lifted her up to show her to us, she opened her eyes! It was too cute. Here's a photo of her sleeping right before that:

 

Jenna Sophie, Day 6

We waited a while to meet with the doctor. He said he was happy with their progress. Jenna is still on track to be discharged on Monday with us to Dr. Tandon's clinic. As for Sam, as I said above, the doctor decided it was a good time to take him off the CPAP machine and see how he does. Please send lots of positive thoughts his way that he keeps doing well without it now.

And then, as if the visit couldn't get any better, they asked us to go watch them feed Jenna. We went into the room with her (our first time in the same room with her) as they explained and showed us how to feed, and halfway through, the nurse offered us tofeed her. I jumped at the chance - and got to hold our daughter for the first time and feed her. Her little eyes stared up at me and it was adorable!! She is absolutely precious - tiny, but precious. This was taken while the nurse was feeding her:

 

Jenna's first bottle feed

That's today's update - all in all, a great day! Hope you're all enjoying the start to the weekend.
 

Update from Day 4 & 5

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday - we had a very busy day as you'll see below, but we wanted to give you all the latest news on everything.

Most importantly, Jenna and Sam continue to get better every day. Jenna is doing really well. She has come off oxygen completely, started feeding yesterday (a mix of formula and through a nasal tube) and is tolerating that very well. The doctors are very happy with her and should she continue this way, they expect her to be released by Monday!

As for our little guy, Sam is on a good road to recovery. As you know he was placed on a ventilator on Tuesday afternoon. He was having breathing issues due to one of his lungs not being fully developed. The ventilator started at 100% oxygen being provided, and over the course of two days he was weaned down to 85, 65, etc, all the way to 30% which is the lowest level. He was then switched to CPAP via the ventilator which is pretty much him breathing on his own with just a little support. As soon as they feel he is able to do without that they will remove the ventilator. As anxious as we are for that to happen, we realize it needs to be at the right time. We are hopeful that will be within the next 24 hours. Once that happens, they monitor him closely for 48 hours to ensure his breathing remains stable, and then if that continues he will be following Jenna's route (oxygen for a day or two, then feeding, then home).

We have been to see them every day. That takes a few hours as the clinic is 30-40 minutes away, and we spend some time with their doctor too. He is excellent - in addition to time with him then, we speak at least twice a day via cell phone. As they are still in the NICU, we can't hold them or touch them yet which is very difficult for us, but deep down I am sure they know we're near. And the long awaited first photo of our princess is below:

As Sam is still on the breathing machine we can't get a good photo but he looks very much like her!

In other news, I (Alan) got a pretty bad 24 hour stomach bug yesterday. I have no idea what I ate (have been so good with bottled water and pretty much just bread), but it was a rough day for me! I feel much better today though.

We also moved to a new hotel, the Sahara Star (www.saharastar.com). This one is great, and will be home for the next two weeks until our original arrival date and we move to Meluha as planned.

And finally, Eddie is doing great. Niki sends us updates daily and I think he has a new best friend in her! Here's a photo of him that we thought you'd like:

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be grateful for. Sending lots of love from Mumbai to all of you. More updates to come soon.

We're here! The long awaited update...

Hi from Mumbai. Hard to believe we were here just 8 months ago - in some ways it feels like ages, and at times it feels like we never left! We have a lot to tell, so here goes:

First an update on our twins: Jenna and Sam were born 5 weeks early, so we knew we ran the risk of a few issues. Both came out fine early Monday morning at healthy weights, but were put in the NICU as a precaution. Over the course of Monday it became evident that they both needed some breathing support, Sam more so than Jenna, so they began doing that for them.

When we were in transit yesterday in Amsterdam, the NICU doctor emailed saying Sam was having some more breathing issues. He said they were going to run some more tests but it was likely they'd need to put him on a ventilator to help him breathe for a while, which they landed up doing yesterday. You're all probably having the same reaction we had when we heard but the good news is he is doing much better today. Apparently his right lung hadn't fully developed so his breathing was a bit labored. The ventilator helps expand the lung and get air moving, which is exactly what it appears to be doing. From last night to today he is doing better and they went from providing 100% oxygen to 85%, and now down to 65%. While we were at the hospital today they got the latest test results and all five indicators had gone in the right direction since last night, so that is a very good sign. They will keep checking and wean him off the machine until he can breathe on his own at which point they will take it out and go from there. Not ideal, but again, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Jenna is doing well - as the Ob/Gyn told us, girls are fighters! She is on just a small amount of oxygen but that should stop later tonight, at which point she'll start feeding (they are both on IV fluids now) and hopefully she'll be good to go.

Speaking of which, we have no idea on length of stay in the NICU. It's pretty much a given that Jenna will come home first, maybe within 3-7 days, and Sam's discharge will depend on his breathing but please G-d not much more than that.

The toughest part is that, because of them being in the NICU and the extra precautions they take here, we couldn't go inside. We have come to terms with that and got to see them from outside the window. They look adorable - good color, a nice head of hair, and deep down I'm sure they know we're here now so they better behave :) So unfortunately no photos for now. Once we can start with photos we'll make up for the delay, we promise!

The doctors have been great and keep us constantly updated. We will get to see the babies every day from the observation area so our trips to the NICU will be short but good enough for now.

On the plus side, we swung by the other clinic to see Dr. Tandon (our Ob/Gyn), and got to meet Zarina! She is absolutely beautiful in person and smiled from beginning to end. Through the doctor we told her how thankful we are to her and she said she was happy to do it for us. We gave her a few gifts, said our goodbyes, and she is being discharged home tomorrow.

Our trip over here was uneventful. About 27 hours door to door, but all things considered not too bad. We were very happy to get here late last night though. We are slowly getting used to life in Mumbai again. Doesn't take long - the sights and sounds are very unique! Because the original hotel was sold out we're staying in one place for two nights, leaving tomorrow for a new hotel, and potentially moving again once our original room comes open. All part of the fun.

And with that said, we both seem to be taking this all in our stride. Not much we can do besides say lots of prayers and be grateful we are here, safe and sound. One day at a time. Thanks again for all the sweet messages and thoughts.

On our way!

A very quick post as we begin our journey to meet Jenna and Sam...

First and most important, an update on the kids. Both are doing well and are in the NICU for observation. We have spoken to the agency, the Ob/Gyn, and the new pediatrician, who all say that J&S are great considering they are 5 weeks early. They will take great care of them I'm sure and we'll know much more once we get there but the care providers seem happy.

What a crazy last 20 hours we've had. Reality sunk in a bit more with each hour as we called family and friends to tell them the good news, re-booked flights and hotels, and began the insane packing process. By noon this morning we were headed out the door with 3 huge suitcases, two smaller ones, two car seats, two snap and go strollers, and a twin pack and play.

Saying goodbye to Eddie wasn't fun but we know he'll be in good hands with Niki who is staying with him.

We are in flight right now from Atlanta to Detroit (1hr 30 mins), then we have a 1 hr layover, then Detroit to Amsterdam (7hrs), a 2 hr layover, and then Amsterdam to Mumbai (9hrs). So this time tomorrow we'll be in the same city as our little ones.

We'll do our best to send an update on Wednesday with photos and plenty of details so stay tuned. Thanks for all the well wishes, you've made our wait to see them much more tolerable and we promise to reward you with plenty of updates from India!

Welcome to the world, Jenna & Sam!!

A&A are the very proud parents of a baby girl and a baby boy :):)

Jenna Sophie was born at 4:15am Monday November 19th in Mumbai, followed just five minutes later by Samuel Jeremy. Both babies are doing well, weighing around 4.4 pounds each. They are in the NICU for observation but the doctor said they are great and breathing on their own. Zarina is great also.

Apparently she started having strong contractions in the middle of the night, so once the doctor arrived they decided to do a c-section quickly. So there we were, about 10 minutes into the American Music Awards, when my phone rang. Talk about something happening when you're least expecting it!

We are beyond thrilled but of course very anxious to get there. We have booked to fly out tomorrow afternoon, and will be in Mumbai by late Tuesday. We promise to send photos and updates as soon as we can.

At this point we think we'll need to be there for about 4-5 weeks, but anything can change so stay tuned.

Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. Keep them coming until we can hold Jenna and Sam in our arms and give them hugs and kisses from you all.

Love,
A, A, J, and S

Great news from Mumbai - and we matched with an au pair!

We've had a quiet week on the baby front, which is exactly what we wanted to happen!  We have been receiving regular updates from the clinic, where Zarina is resting comfortably and is not having any more contractions.  We woke up this morning to receive a new ultrasound report and images - both babies look to be doing absolutely fine, and have been gaining weight (on Monday, baby A was 4.4lbs and baby B was almost exactly 5lbs!).  Best of all, we also received a photo taken earlier this week during the Diwali festival- our agency contact is on the left, Zarina in the middle, and Dr. Tandon on the right:

We are very happy that Zarina is still smiling, since she is now carrying around 9+ lbs of Dubovsky/Perlstein babies.  Last weekend's 'excitement' certainly caught us a bit off-guard, but I think that both of us are now much more mentally prepared for the fact that it could happen any day now!  Obviously we are hoping that the babies decide to delay their grand entrance for another 3 weeks or so - but in the event that they come sooner than that, I think that we're as as ready as we can be.

In other (equally exciting) news - we've matched with an au pair!  Her name is Michele - she is 23 years old and from Costa Rica, and we couldn't be more excited to have her join our family in January.  We did a number of Skype interviews with some potential au pairs, and we had an instant connection with Michele - her warmth and kindness came across clear as day.  There were at least a couple of other families who were also interested in Michele, so the fact that she picked us (plus our TWO soon-to-be additions and Eddie!) says a lot about her dedication and commitment.  When she wrote us an email letting us know that she'd picked us, she wrote that "now it will be the three of us raising the twins" - which is just another sign that we made the right choice.

Michele will be traveling to New York (actually Stamford) on January 9 for several days of training led by the agency.  She'll fly down here to Atlanta on January 13, and we can't wait for her to arrive!

We will post any more baby updates as we receive them - in the meantime, thank you for all of your positive wishes and thoughts, and please keep them coming!

34 Weeks - and a "Practice Run"

Well, we've now had a chance to put our last-minute planning skills to the test!  I dropped Alan off at the airport at 8:15 on Saturday morning (he was going to DC for a work conference), ran a couple of errands, and got home right around lunchtime.  At 1pm, Alan called me to say that he'd gotten a call from our agency contact saying that Zarina had started having mild contractions and had been admitted to the hospital.  She was started on anti-contraction meds and was being monitored closely.  Since it was after 11pm Mumbai time at that point, the doctor was going to re-evaluate her in the morning - and if the contractions were getting stronger, she'd probably need to move forward with the delivery on Sunday. 

As you can imagine, this call made us just a WEE bit stressed out - all made worse by the fact that a) we would need to wait all Saturday afternoon and early evening before we could know if the babies were going to be born the next day, and b) Alan was already in DC, so the logistics of preparing to leave for India within 24 hours were going to be that much more challenging.  We decided that Alan shouldn't come home from DC until we were fairly confident that the delivery was actually going to happen.

I filled my afternoon doing a few of the last-minute chores on our "To Do Before India" list - installing the car seat bases in one of our cars, doing all of the laundry, and running to Target to pick up some more travel-size toiletries for the plane.  This took all of two hours, so I also spent an unacceptable amount of time doing Google searches for "contractions 33.5 weeks twins" (bad idea, by the way).  By 9pm our time (7:30am Sunday morning in Mumbai), we called the doctor on her cell phone to get an update - she let us know that the contractions had stopped overnight, but had apparently come back a little bit that morning.  She was on her way to the hospital, and would call us once she'd seen Zarina.

At 10:30pm (9am Mumbai), we got the news we'd been hoping for - the contractions were under control, they were not getting worse, and there was no need for an immediate delivery!  We checked in with the doctor again the next morning, and she said that the contractions had gone away completely, which was even better news.   It has now been over 48 hours with no contractions - Zarina is still being monitored at the hospital, and will probably stay there until the delivery - but unless something changes, the doctor said that at this point we can still plan on our original delivery date of 12/7-12/8.

We are feeling VERY relieved and extremely lucky.  The babies are doing fine - 34 weeks today - and we hope that they choose to stick around in their current digs for another 3.5 weeks or so  :)  We are still expecting another ultrasound to be done at the end of the week, so will definitely send along another update once that happens.  In the meantime, please continue sending all of your good thoughts in the direction of India - we really appreciate it!

Ready and waiting

Hi everyone, Alan here.

Way back in April when we found out we were expecting we set a goal to be all ready by 32 weeks, just in case we needed to head off to India early. Well, here we are, a few days shy of that, and pretty much ready! The nursery is done, we've had our 3 (amazing) showers, we've got all our supplies for the trip and in general, so now we wait patiently...

We got a great update from Mumbai this morning. Zarina went in for a check up and everything is perfect - babies weights (3.3lbs and 3.5lbs) and heartbeats are normal, and Zarina is doing really well too. Here is the latest photo... she is still smiling which is a good sign!



Other than that, we've spent the last couple of weekends at Target, Costco, and Buy Buy Baby getting everything we need. We had a fantastic shower thrown by our families two weeks ago, and one from my work friends last weekend - a few photos from each below.



As always we're so touched by everyone's love and support. It's made this even more fun, so thank you all as always for everything.

More updates to come as we get closer to the big day.

29 Weeks!

Hi everyone, Alan here...

We realized we've been a bit too quiet on here for the last few weeks, so just a quick update to say things are moving along really well. Today we are officially 29 weeks, and with a scheduled delivery at 37 weeks, not much longer now!

Zarina is doing well, the latest update from Dr. Tandon was a good one: more good weight gain, lots of movements from the babies, and Zarina seems very comfortable.

All is going well in babies-prep world. The nursery at home is pretty much done:

The wall hanging was made by Andrew's grandmother for his nursery and goes really well with our safari theme. The furniture fits nicely, and once Baby A&B come home we can make it a bit more gender specific and not as unisex (unless A & B are different genders :).

We have also been making some progress with our search for an Au Pair and should have a decision by this weekend. The process works well - our agency (www.aupairinamerica.com) does all the vetting, background checks, and interviews to get everything you need to know about possible Au Pairs. Then we go online and search through different criteria (age, experience, etc) and narrow it down. Once you have a few you think could work you do Skype interviews and then make your final decision. We know two people in Atlanta who have worked with this agency and are very happy, so we're confident this is the right thing for us.

And we have dates for our trip now - leaving Atlanta December 4th and returning December 29th. This all assumes the delivery takes place around December 6th or 7th (as planned), that A&B are healthy and happy (lots of prayers for that, please!), and that our paperwork gets taken care of quickly. We may be able to leave earlier or may have to stay longer but we are hoping this timing will work. We also booked our hotel for 25 nights, our home away from home:  http://www.meluhafernhotel.com/. While we liked our first hotel we were looking for a more friendly location (able to walk around, grocery stores, restaurants, etc), and this fits the bill perfectly.

Other than that we have two showers to look forward to (our families are hosting one this weekend, and my work friends are hosting one next weekend), and we can't wait. Always fun to celebrate.

Once we have more updates and photos we'll be sure to post them.  

Well hello there, 3rd trimester!

Absolutely unreal to think that today we are officially into our third trimester! We've come a long way since our trip to India in March, and thankfully all is moving along just perfectly.

Zarina went for a visit to Dr. Tandon yesterday and passed with flying colors: both babies are now around 2 lbs. each (a great weight), Zarina's blood pressure is good, babies heart beats are excellent, and Zarina said she is doing really well (and feeling the babies kick a lot!). Here are some updated 27-week photos of Zarina - enjoy!

 

As for us, life in our new home continues to go well. We're feeling very settled and have mostly everything ready for the December arrivals. Between now and then we have two more showers, a few work trips, a quick beach getaway this coming weekend, and, no doubt, lots and lots of shopping for diapers, wipes, and other supplies!

 

Thanks for following us on our journey - each day is better than the one before and we love getting to experience it with all of you. 



All moved in

Hard to believe tomorrow is one week since we moved - my guess is this coming weekend will be a lot more relaxing than the last one! The move itself went well, at least as well as can be expected. We spent the entire weekend (thankfully a long one due to Labor Day) getting settled, and now we can honestly say it feels like home. All the boxes are unpacked and gone, paintings are up, and Eddie's toys are strewn about everywhere. It's like we've been here forever! Here are some photos as promised:

On the babies front, all is moving along very nicely. We're well into week 25 and the update from India this week was a good one. Zarina is doing well and is comfortable. The next big ultrasound is scheduled for about 3 weeks from now, so we'll have to wait for the next set of photos until then. In the meantime we've got Andrew's work friends throwing us our first shower next weekend, nursery prep, an initial visit from the Au Pair agency (www.aupairinamerica.com), and an open house at a pediatrician's office to keep us nice and busy. Throw in the Jewish Holidays and a much needed weekend out of town for just the two of us, and September will come and go pretty quickly!

Getting Ready for the Move

Our moving day is fast approaching - this coming Saturday, A&A (&E) will be leaving the Mayfair behind and heading 7 miles up the road to Brookhaven.  We're definitely going to miss this place, and have loved our time in Midtown...VERY happy that we had the chance to live down here.  We went over to the new house this evening and brought Eddie with us so that he could be introduced to his new digs.  As you can see below, we're making good progress with the packing effort - yes, that is Eddie's 'couch' (courtesy of his CT grandparents) in front of the window:

Now, the real reason why you are reading this posting - an update on the babies!  We are 23 weeks along today - we received an email from Dr. Tandon this morning to let us know that Zarina (surrogate) is doing great, her blood pressure is perfect, the babies have strong heartbeats, and continue to grow nicely.  We also received another great photo of Zarina looking lovely as always (see below) - since we can't be there in person to watch her grow, we love receiving these photos:

We will be sure to write a post-move posting sometime over the holiday weekend - wish us luck!

Over halfway there...

(Guest blogger again! Alan's turn today)

As we write this, we are 20 1/2 weeks along, and each little one is the size of a banana (according to our 'What to Expect' apps). We have gone from grapes, to olives, to mangoes, and now bananas... considering I hate fruits and vegetables, I've made an exception this time!

All is well around the world in Mumbai. We got treated to a photo of Zarina, who is looking and feeling great:

As for us, we've been very busy getting ourselves ready. We spent hours (definitely plural)  registering today for most of what we need. For those of you who've had the pleasure you can empathize - about 10 minutes in we realized how long the day was going to be, but thankfully we had Lynne and Matt (my sister and brother-in-law) with us for the first part to help with some big decisions. Together with our Baby Bargains book, advice from many of you, and common sense, we think we did pretty well.

For those of you who've been asking, we're registered at Buy Buy Baby: www.buybuybaby.com. In store you can use the 20% off coupons from Bed, Bath & Beyond as long as they haven't expired. It's a great place - but we were happy to leave there this afternoon!

The rest of the month will be extremely busy. Next weekend we're off to San Francisco to see my brother, sister-in-law, and our nephews for just a few days. The weekend after that, we take occupancy of our new place, and then the big move is right after that. No shortage of things to do around here.

Thanks as always for the good thoughts and for all your support. Stay tuned for more updates!

Latest update (with pictures!)

We got another great update yesterday from Mumbai:

Both babies are doing really well according to all the reports - organs, limbs, etc all look great, and they have good cardiac activity and general growth. Naturally this big test (done around 20 weeks) is a worry for expectant parents so we're thrilled with the news.

Below are two shots of our little ones - both sucking their thumbs, seemingly peaceful and comfortable!

Many of you have asked about gender. Unfortunately, Indian law prevents us finding that out during the pregnancy. As much as we would have wanted to know, we are fully aware that we have many surprises in store for us so this will just make two more :)

The surrogate will continue to be monitored by Dr. Tandon every few weeks, but for now we can breathe a sigh of relief with this great news.