Finally in Canada!
It’s been way too long since we’ve posted an update here. Because of all the tension, sningling and other drama, I simply couldn’t find the space in my head to write. Meanwhile, we are at week 36 in our journey to parenthood and we finally arrived in Canada last Thursday! A blessing in disguise, we are 14 days in quarantine (Shitty COVID) so time enough to post a big update!
Waiting
The previous update was about the 20 week milestone. From then on it is a lot of waiting and hoping that the baby grows well and stays in the belly long enough, without causing too many discomfort for the surrogate. Fortunately, he is a good boy since the third trimester and he causes relatively few discomforts if we have to believe Melissa (but hey, she is a Superwoman). He mainly causes a lot of heartburn (he gets lots of hair), which especially for the nights causes quite a bit of discomfort.
3D ultrasound
At week 31 we had another 3D ultrasound. What a big difference from the previous 3d ultrasound! From an alien to a real baby. So special to see that he has become a real baby.
During this ultrasound, we did have the suspicion that he might be a bit big. The obstetrician also suspected that he is quite big. That’s why on October 19th, he had a growth ultrasound to see if he might have to be born sooner. Fortunately, he is not particularly big and he is only two weeks ahead. So hopefully he’ll just stays in there until we’re out of quarantine!
To Canada!
Of course, we don’t have to explain to anyone that it’s a crazy time. Due to the Coronavirus, Canada’s borders are closed for non-essential travel. In order to enter Canada, you must have a necessary cause and a special exemption granted by the Canadian Immigration Service. Fortunately, they have made an exception for intended parents, so they can be at there for the birth of their child.
Our lawyer has had to apply for this travel exemption. It feeled like forever to get our exemption. With the numbers of infections rising all over the world after nummer (and especially in the Netherlands), we were afraid that we would not get the permission in time. It is not going to happen that we couldn’t attend the birth of our son and then we wouldn’t be able to pick him up? Our lawyer promised us that we would get the permission on time and that there was no single case, where the parents did not get the permission in time. And she was right!
Last Thursday we finally arrived in Canada. We are currently in quarantine (day 3 of 14 days). Luckily we have a very nice Airbnb less than 10 minutes from Melissa’s house, with the hospital right in the middle. Just a few days until we are finally allowed to meet Melissa and her family in person!
Because we’re in quarantine, we can’t go out for groceries. Melissa got our first groceries and put them in the house, so we could survive the first few days. The other days we have the groceries delivered. She didn’t just left us groceries, she left a lot more!….. How incredibly sweet!!!!
Now we hope that the remaining quarantine period does not feel to long and Wolf will stay in Melissa’s belly. On Monday, Melissa has another appointment with the obstetrician for a check-up. It is all so exciting!
