We are up in NJ visiting my parents for Easter break. I have this week off from school, so we decided to drive up this past weekend and stay for a week. We haven't been up to see my family and friends since Decemeber, although it has felt longer than that. Stevie enjoyed his 10 hour car ride by watching Nemo, Cars, Backyardigans, and Dora in the car. What a great Christmas gift that was! I was able to pass the time by reading and Stephen listened to a book on tape as we alternated driving. Buddy slept in the back. All in all, it was a good ride up.
Stevie was very happy and excited to see his "Gamma" and "Umpa". He has been having a great time playing with my little cousins and his Uncle James. My parents bought him a basketball net that is adjustable as he grows. Well, his daddy and uncle are getting more use out of it than anyone right now. They have been playing "horse" in the living room for two days now.
For Easter, we had a fantastic dinner with Gerard, Kelly, Adam, and Mary. It was nice to spend some time with them. Then more family came by for dessert. There were so many good desserts and so little room left in my belly. One of the things we look forward to most when we visit is the food. There are certain spots that we have to hit to get our fix. We always get a bagel with egg, taylor ham, and cheese, the 101 Pub sunset wings, IGA deli rolls, pizza, and my mom's meatballs of course. We are also celebrating St. Patty's Day again on Thursday so we can have corned beef and cabbage. Yum!!
We have been super busy and that is why I haven't posted in a while. Stephen built a fence with our friend, Mark. They did such a wonderful job and it is relaxing to let Buddy out and not worry about him venturing into the wild. Also, Stevie is locked in the backyard now! We can move his club house into the grass and free up the space on the patio.
We have decided to postpone our trip to India until November. There are a few reasons, but the most important is that we did decide to go with a different clinic and doctors. They have been wonderful so far and we only expect great things to happen with them. We do need to save a little bit more and the timing is just better. We will not need to be in India for three weeks, but only 10-12 days. That is much more reasonable amount of time away from our little man. So, we are still very excited to set out on this journey for our next child and are will to wait until the time is right. Thanks for all your questions and concerns about our trip.
The most frequently asked question is how does it work? It is pretty simple, I guess. I will start hormone injections that are used for women doing an IVF cycle. I will start the medicine here in the US and be monitored by my ob/gyn. We will travel to India two weeks after I start the injections. We will meet with our Drs. in India and they will take over my care. They will adjust my medicines according to how well my body is producing eggs. After a certain amount of days, they will retreive my eggs and match them with Stephen's sperm. From that point on, we are done medically speaking. They let my eggs develop and transfer after 3 and 5 days. There are different statistics for success rates for day 3 and 5 implantation. Finally, we enter what is known as the "2WW" in infertility land... the 2 week wait. After two weeks, we hear if our surrogate is pregnant or not. I hope this paints a good picture. If she does become pregnant, then we do not return until the baby is born, unless we want to go to visit in the meantime. So, please keep us in your prayers. There are many things that need to fall into place.
To see all of Stevie's pics, please copy below: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=a73c0cdd8f4612bdf12f12eb75ef82b5&sid=8AatWjly0buWNt
