Delhi Day 5

So it seems one of the hidden treasures associated with iPads is that you can't upload photos to your blogs!! FANTASTIC!! Grrrrrrrrrr x infinite. So for the next three weeks my blogs will continue their  Plain Jane appearances sorry! And I had every intention of changing that trend!! So for any of my surrogacy blogging friends who would like photos of my accommodation or whatever please email me at the jacaranda843@gmail.com address and I will see what I can do!

Today was most definitely an interesting day for me and actually too many new things happened that I will need to give you the abbreviated version - which isn't like me - but there you go!

1. Woke 5.30am (my new normal)!!
2. Read email from husband (xx) updating latest frustrations with visa clowns.
3. Wanted to cry, scream, throw something. Thought things couldn't get any worse.
4. Then the power went out!
5. Cracked it! Decided today was the day I was going for a BIG walk ... ALL ON MY OWN and no amount of Scaredy Pantitis was going to stop me!! LOOK OUT WORLD NOW I'M CRANKY!!!
6. Actually managed to pull it off too!! Found two more little parks and didn't get lost! Gold Medal Australia!!!!
7. Back 'home' still no power! Hmmmmmm. Usually back on within half an hour!! 
8. Phone call from Vipul. Power expected to be out for at least SIX HOURS!
9. Ie no wifi, no tv, no air conditioning, no lights, no hope of staying sane - big breath went in!
10. Vipul still talking! Sending his driver to collect me and take me to another residence WITH power for the WHOLE day.
11. Gold Medal Vipul!!
12. Long story short - mini electrical crisis allowed me to meet some fellow bloggers 'just around the corner' from me because the driver picked them up as well!! Yipppeeeee!!! 
13. Had a great time catching up in real life!
14. Temporary residence for the day was another Green Leaf property 6km from us near Apollo Hospital. Lovely looking place - more stylish - but tiny rooms so more perfect for this situation than for an extended stay with a baby situation!
15. Only ended up staying for a couple of hours then power back on so after pizza and 'soda' allowed ourselves to be returned :) 
16. Popped back round to spend time with my new friends - outings planned etc :)
17. Also contacted Poonam to introduce myself and see if she may be able to help us with our visa bollocks situation - as well as the baby paperwork. . .when we have a baby that it!
18. If she can I will love her forever!!
19. Also packed Baby Bag for the hospital tonight just in case . . . . 
20. And now it's 9pm - I wish I was able to watch the Aussie OPALS play their basketball match tonight but apparently Indian Pay TV have decided that table tennis and wrestling are more important! RATS!!

Nightie Night Blogland. Thank you for continuing to support me!

Jacaranda xx

Welcome to Kalkaji!!

So it is fair to say I have experienced some minor challenges already but on a whole it's ALL VERY GOOD!!! I have been in New Delhi for 60 HOURS now so enough time to start getting a grip on the situation and even branch out a bit!!! And its thanks mostly to 'my man' Das and 'my landlord' Vipul for making the transition into this 'amazing world' so smooth and achievable! Email and Internet accessibility CONTINUE to flip in and out whenever they please - which does test my patience some-what but the lovely air conditioning keeps me from flipping in and out so that's good!! In an attempt to improve my email access at least I am going to experiment with a new gmail account instead. So without further ado please contact me on jacaranda843@gmail.com if you are in the neighborhood or can offer tips, advice or reassuring words :) I ventured outside for the second time today (with Das leading the way) to start exploring my immediate surroundings. He took me to a near-by park and by the time we got back 20 minutes later I was sweating like a pig! There has been no further word from the clinic since I 'reported in' Friday morning so no news is good news as they have my new cell number now so will get in touch when/if I need to scramble! As much as I REALLY look forward to our baby joining 'us' I am equally as keen for our baby to hold on until the other half of 'us' arrives!! Not likely but a girl can dream! Ok and now I will attempt some photos from this mornings walk. Bare with me ... XX. OH rats!! Now I can't seem to do that either - jeez I wish I was living with an IT/iPad expert to help me out ATM! Not to worry - time on my hands so will tackle that challenge next! Have a lovely day everyone and enjoy the Olympics! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI!!! XX

I AM HERE!!

I have struck a few problems accessing SOME of the Internet - including my blog page (most disconcerting) - and up until 5 mins ago couldn't even Send an email (they came IN OK but wouldn't send) so I've been messing around with this iPad and fixed the email problem (YAY 4 ME!) so now holding breath to see if this works . . . . .

Jacaranda: that Blogger with all the Visa trouble!

Ha Ha - my new claim to fame!!

And now for the last post from my own house - I thought I'd mark the occassion with a marching band but they're a no show - so its just me and my visaless dearheart - busily making me spaghetti bolognese for tea - he's worried it will be the last beef I eat for 4 weeks! To be honest I'd be happy never eating beef again (ever) but in cattle country thats kinda ummm not allowed!

So this evenings rapid update is just to say - we've moved up one rank in the visa saga and are now (apparently) talking to Mohammed the 'Supervior' - Okaaaaay Mohammed where HAVE YOU BEEN??? So short story shorter - no visa yet - no idea when/if we'll ever see one - Mohammed supposedly 'onto it' -   me definitely OVER IT!

Packed bags for me 'n Poppett today and testing the true capacity of the zippers!

Oooops tea's ready!!

See you on the other side XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  

Keeping Positive

Monday 23rd July (might start adding the actual date to these blogs because I've noticed they're often wrong according to the automated ones!).

So - the sun is shining here today - and I am trying to stay focused on the good things rather than getting more knots in my stomach about the bad! Woke up at 4am this morning with eyes like saucers. So anyway enough of that - here's what my street looks like today ....

I believe our surrogate and baby have remained in good health and out of hospital since their little pre-term labour epidode(s) 12 days ago and so I am very grateful for that!!

There has been absolutely no joy from the Visa mob and if anything - only further heart ache. They have since requested copies of my husbands 'DNA Report' (!!!) which is very ambiguous and out of the blue - as with all of their requests!! No clues given earlier (again) that this 'report' would be needed. And for reasons too lengthy to go into my husbands DNA sample was only couriered off late last week so resulting REPORTS will be days/weeks away!!! ..... breathe .....

So - instead - we have scanned and sent over every OTHER document pertaining to the DNA testing procedure that we can lay our hands on (inluding a copy of the 'Form 2 Parentage Testing Procedure' from Sonic Genetics/DNA Labs signed off by our GP and witnessed by our JP!! - for crying out loud starting to feel like criminals!!)............. breathe ...............

We have been phoning and emailling several times a day now and seriously the level of frustrating-ness and vague-ness and sheer 'head banging-ness' we are going through is a best seller in itself! ....... breathe ...........

Unfortunately the advice to go for a Tourist Visa now instead of a Medical one has come 25 days too late because we are stuck and committed to this 'process' and at the end of the day - they've got our passport in their possession. And to cancel 'this process' and get the passport home alone would add at LEAST another 5 days to the delay. Then if we (or rather - my husband - who has been left behind in Australia) starts the application process for a Tourist Visa this time - I'm sure they will deny it anyway on the grounds of 'dodginess' and suspicion etc  ...... breathe ......

ANYWAY!!! Happy Days Happy Days Happy Days - Baby Good. Surrogate Good!! Sun is shining and I have my health!!!! Happy Happy Happy!!!

I am still set to fly out of Adelaide (solo) on Thursday morning (26th July) and will be landing shell-shocked, bug-eyed and more than a little bit scared - much much later that same day in New Delhi!!

A SHOUT-OUT NOW TO ALL IP's STIL IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD .... I need friends!!!!!!!  xx

Good luck to those of you experiencing the birth of your gorgeous little bundles at this time and I look forward to meeting and forgeing new friendships with you soon!!

I will be the one walking around with a distress flare strapped to my backpack!!

Today is NOT such a good day!

First things first - our lovely Surrogate is GOOD and our lovely baby is GOOD - and our lovely Baby is still inside our lovely Surrogate - so that is EXTREMELY GOOD - so not everything is BAD about today - by any stretch and so I am super duper grateful for that!!  ................. however .................... I just want to cry!!

It's all about my husbands [swear word] visa. We are at our whits end now and just want to crawl into a ball and hide under the bed. Why are they picking on US?? I lodged the Medical Visa application forms for him - online as instructed - on June 29th!! That's .... let me count .... 22 days ago. We were advised to wait until we were 32 weeks into our pregnancy to start organising these sorts of things ... we received our 32 weeks scan on June 26th. So my first tip now is - perhaps take that piece of advice and subtract a few weeks from it!!

My second piece of advice is to completely ignore the bit on the website that says "the preferred method" to submit your hardcopy application and supporting documents including your passport etc is to send it all via registered post to SYDNEY!

DO NOT DO THIS!!

Even if you live miles and miles from your capital city - as we do - I strongly suggest you completely distrupt your lives and make the long [swear word] journey to whereever they suggest you go as the 'second option' and WAIT IN A QUEUE for the indeterminate amount of time it takes to get the job done or at least speak to a HUMAN!!!!

Foolishly it seems we have done everything they have asked of us - jumped through a gazillion unprecedented hoops - and left feeling wretched for it! Yes I'm upset, and I'm getting more upset as I type this and I need to caaaaaaaalm down!! There is still no visa and nothing of comfort coming from the 'India Passport & Visa Services Centre - VFS Services  Australia' in Sydney to let us know there ever will be!!

So with no possible way for a visa to arrive here in time now (it takes 'Registered Post' 4 days to get from Sydney to our remote town in SA) - we need to cancel my husbands half of our ticket scheduled for next Thursday (July 26th) - and re-schedule for who-freakin'-knows-when!!

Sooooooo - I am going to New Delhi on my own and I have no idea if/when my husband can ever join me. Bit too 'Home and Away' dramatic? - I feel too sick in the stomach to care. I know I won't be the first to do this trip on my own - by any stretch - jeez by any stretch at ALL - and I know I will cope perfectly FINE - and at the end of the day our baby and our surrogate are FINE (and even discharged from the hospital now) so everything's REALLY FINE ...... but ..... okaaaay I am going to stop now and make myself a cup of something camomil-esque . . . .     

And someone needs to cyber-slap me!!     

Re-grouping ...

Yay - at 11.34pm last night we thankfully received word that despite being kept in hospital now for observation our surrogate is still carrying our baby and apparently ".... her uterus was relaxed..." Pheeewwww .... and breathe again.

Regarding the visa debarkle!! This is the email that firstly alerted me to the fact we may have a problem - this was their first email to me regarding my husbands visa application received and bare in mind we live 300km from ADELAIDE i.e. in SOUTH AUSTRALIA ....
 

This is in with regard to your visa application. You are to appear before the Consular Officer for interview with a copy of the agreement for surrogacy with {our surrogate}. You are also required to provide copy of the Australian legislation which permits you to enter into this kind of agreement.

So of course once I'd picked myself up off the floor I had to email back to politely explain a couple of things firstly -  we live in South Australia and would therefore find it rather difficult to attend an interview in Sydney (approx 1,500km away). Secondly that my husband could not attend any interviews anywhere just at the moment becasue he was stuck out on a rig in the absolute middle of freakin' nowhere and that he wouldn't be due back into Civilisation for another 7 days. I also explained that our applications had been sent to Sydney in the first place as it was the recommended option (i.e. recommended by them) on their web site.

So that was all 7 days ago now. In the meantime my tourist visa turned up 4 days ago (Tourist Visa). My husband has been without his passprt for 2 weeks. And for the benefit of anyone caught up in this little nightmare in the future here is a list of ALL documents requested and sent SO FAR by them:

• The Passport
• The completed MEDICAL visa application
• A letter from SCI (Dr Shivani) certifying who our surrogate was and that she was indeed 'our' surrogate and the expected date of birth of our baby and the approximate dates that SCI would request us to be in India.
• A letter from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship with our reference number and DNA Testing offer
• A letter from SCI (Dr Shivani) declaring my husband as the sole intended parent (i.e. and not the surrogate) of the child born via surrogacy and outlining the genetic connection to my husband.
• The fully signed copy of our agreement with our surrogate - yes all 7MB worth and 34 pages.
• Then it seemed that 'Page 32' was mising from said agreement and so 24 hours later that had to be retrieved and sent across ............  
• And NOW - this morning - a copy of a Marriage Certificate and...
• "an undertaking signed by you and your husband stating that you will take good care of the child born through surrogacy".

From where I'm sitting - it seems to be never ending and increasingly frustrating - the GOOD news of course is that our surrogate is more comfortable now and I didn't need to get on the next flight out of Adelaide! So my husband (who I got taken off the rig early) and I back home now re-grouping and breathing and murmering 'it'll be alright - it'll be alright'. Of course I am also busily arranging accommodation that may or may not be needed earlier than expected and the Green Leaf man is being very accommodating - phew and thank you so much!!

Jacaranda xx

Nightie Night

I'd love to up date you on progress but unless I make something up I can't. Fingers remain crossed that our surrogate is doing ok and that our baby continues to enjoy their little world of snuggness. No word yet from the visa people either - yay - so my husbands visa application has now been lodged for two weeks without a result  ......  its been 48 hours since our last 'mild contractions' email I'm guesing no news is good news? Breathe!  Ok so it's 11.30pm here now so I guess I just go to bed??? Nightie Night World. Nightie Night baby!! XX

Start boiling up some water someone!

Okaaaaay so it seems our lovely surrogate is having some mild contractions (!) and it seems she's been having them for two or three days now(!!!). Of course SCI have kept us informed since she was admitted to HOSPITAL (!) on Thursday night - our time. And we've been in a mini cyclone ever since. First things first - I had to get my husband off the damned rig he was on!! So the company he works for is brilliant in situations like this and they had him flown to Adelaide within 12hours of receiving my 'ummmm I think our surrogate might be in early labour' email. I have come down to Adelaide as well (yesterday) and now we are staying here until tomorrow afternoon so that we can physically walk in to 'our' travel agency and discuss our options at length with the lovely Amelia . . .'our' Travel Consultant. And of course there's a catch . . . It seems we have struck that ONE guy at the visa processing dept in Sydney that is hell BENT on making visa attainment nigh on impossible! Long story short - I have got my tourist visa - no problem - but to get my husbands Medical visa I've had to send SO MANY EXTRA documents (that I've had to request from SCI each time and wait for time delays etc etc ) that has basically meant that my husband does NOT have a visa and lord knows if he ever freakin' will..... Aaagggghhhhh!! Soooooooo we are currently planing our lives one hour at a time and hanging on to each email update. Our next one is due in the next couple of hours. There was so much I was going to blog about recently but if it hasn't been the visa hoo-ha it's been the two week battle Ive had with cold/gastro germs hoo-ha or my finishing up at work . . . For two years hoo-ha. And now of course now it's the old' your surrogate is having mild contractions hoo-ha ha HAAAAAAA!!!! . . . So like they do in the movies when someone goes in to labour someone needs to start boiling some water and someone needs to start ripping some sheets into rags!!!!! If our baby could at least delay his or her grand entrance by another 24hours then I believe we will be at 36 weeks! Stay tuned! XX Ps this is my first blog attempt from my new iPad so a thousand apologies for any technical hitches or blatantly bad spelling! :)