Day 1

I think anyone that's been to a big city feels a bit overwhelmed by its size and all of the people. Mumbai is no different. While driving around it appears that every possible square inch of road is occupied with some type of vehicle (taxis, motorcycles, and auto rikshaws). Lane lines are basically worthless or nonexistent as a two lane road easily becomes a four lane road. Crossing the street is like playing Frogger on crack. There is no such thing in as a break in traffic or crosswalks for pedestrians.

For our first day in Mumbai, our surrogacy agency arranged a driver to get us to our appointments. Our first stop was with Dr Meenakshi at the Yashoda Infertility and Healthcare Services Clinic. This is no small scale operation. Dr Meenakshi has delivered nearly 200 babies via surrogate in the last seven years! This month alone she has more than ten babies due. Here's the line-up of the a few surrogate mothers (I think?). The surrogate mothers are given the option to live above the clinic. They receive proper nutrition and have regular appointments with the doctor.

After our meeting with Dr. Meenakshi, we were directed to the Sunrise Clinic (on the other side of the city) to get a sonogram and meet with the gynecologist. Anna's initial sonogram showed that she had nine eggs in each ovary. That's a good sign! We were then instructed on how to do the Gonal hormone injections. Apparently the hormones are designed to mature the eggs for harvest. Of course, it will be my privilege to give Anna hormone injections for at least the next 5 days.

Also, in case anyone is wondering if we'll be having a boy or a girl, it lawfully has to remain unknown.  Here's a shot of the sign in the clinic.