#1. The Long and Short of How Far We've Come

Here we are...two daddies to be!

We have no idea what we are getting ourselves into!!

Over a year and a half ago, Chris and I began to consider something amazing...the idea of starting our own family.  We picked up a dog, Trig, along the way and found ourselves looking into international surrogacy. 

Our first 'baby'

First, we looked into having children in India, but due to changes in law we were forced to find another international option.  During our contacts with Indian surrogacy we met a person named Carrie, director of an international egg donor program called Eggspecting, Inc., who put us in contact with Kim, director of an international surrogacy program called Complete Surrogacy Solutions. 

http://www.eggspecting.com/

http://www.completesurrogacysolutions.com/

After talking with these two incredible women, we were hooked and began the surrogacy process with them in Bangkok, Thailand.  Both traveled to Bangkok with a group of egg donors in early November and that's where the exciting part begins!  After a couple of weeks of preparation, eggs were harvested from our egg donor and fertilized.  Five days later, on Thanksgiving, November 28, we received an email telling us our two strongest embryos were placed into our surrogate.  It's hard to believe it all started here:

Nine days later, on December, 7, Kim called us early in the morning to reveal that our surrogate tested positive for pregnancy!  We could not be more thrilled, except when we got the call two weeks later, on December, 21, finding out that not one, but TWO heartbeats were detected!!  Over the next few months we received regular updates and results from ultrasounds showing the progress of Fetus A and Fetus B.  We had hoped to find out genders around the end of February, but they weren't quite ready yet.  So, after another four week wait, on March 25, we found out, while vacationing in Portugal, that we were expecting a BOY and a GIRL!

1 boy and 1 girl

This changed so many things in our minds, but the excitement over having 'one of each' has only grown each day since we found out.  It was even more exciting to find out while on vacation and we enjoyed an evening of wine by a wood fire to celebrate.

At the next ultra sound in late April, we got a glimpse of how things were moving along with our surrogate and our 'two little cherries'.  Here she is at 24 weeks.  Our surrogacy facilitator, Kim, is on the left in this picture and our brave and amazing surrogate is on the right.  This is the only time we have received pictures of the surrogate.  There's no telling how big she is now at 34 weeks!

Two wonderful women

We also received a DVD of a 3D scan conducted at this appointment.  The babies were still pretty tiny so we didn't end up seeing much.  We did learn one (we can't tell who is who at this point) is more photogenic than the other!

Over the last couple of months we heave been preparing for having two kids enter our home at the end of the summer.  We have tried our best to spend a lot of time with our friends since we know that as much as we don't want or think this will happen, fatherhood will take a hit on our social life in the beginning.  We have also realized how damn lucky we are for having so many amazing people in our lives.  Whether it be family, friends, or co-workers, we have been surrounded by support and love that is immeasurable.  Both of our work offices threw us surprise baby showers.  

GBN Baby Shower

Our Chicago friends held a baby shower event (for the ages!) at a bar...still trying to remember some of the details!  

Still not sure what was in this bottle!

Better get used to it!

Our families also showered us with attention over an entire weekend, including a baby shower and reception in our honor.

Each of these events have been special to us and we know our little ones are entering the world surrounded by tons of love and support.  Please know you all mean more to us than we can possibly communicate in person or on a blog.

One of the interesting things we came to find out the past 8 months is how interested everyone is in knowing not only the gender of your children, but also the names!  I was initially surprised by how many requests we had for what we plan to name Fetus A and Fetus B.  So, I decided to put together a fun short video that we would show at our 'shower' events to reveal the names.  Here is the video!

Clare and Luke will both be staying in the same room when they come home to Chicago.  We decided to design the nursery with an 'elephant' theme.  The elephant is the national animal of Thailand and we have many parts of the room dedicated to helping Clare and Luke remember where they were born.

Clare will be against the 'purple wall',

and Luke will be against the 'blue wall'.  

We are hoping that Trig will watch over them in the upcoming years.  She already seems excited for their arrival!

So, here we go.  In one short week, Chris and I will board a plane for Asia with an unknown return date. We are leaving Chicago the evening of Tuesday, July 8, and will fly direct to Beijing, China.  We have our Chinese Yuan ready to spend!!

We plan to spend 3 nights in Beijing before heading to Bangkok, Thailand, to check out the part of town where our kids will be born.  Depending on how things are moving along with the babies we will either remain in Bangkok until the birth or head over to Cambodia for some last minute travel!

Though we don't know when we will be home, we know everything will work out.  This journey has involved a lot of 'blind faith' so we have no fear as we set out for the final leg of what has been an amazing ride.  Stay tuned!!