Reunited

On the way to the Hospital today we got a call from Dr Meenakshi's Lawyer, Pratik. He was contacting us to assist with the citizenship process. It turns out that I should have trusted my instincts. Lost in translation is a real phenomenon. I should have had my DNA test done in Australia before the twins were born. Also if the girls were born to plan and delivered at Hiranadani Hospital they would have had their DNA done there. Because they were born at a smaller hospital and then transferred to the NICU at Surya Children's hospital a panel Dr appointed by the High Commission has to do the test. There was also a problem with our contract and some documents missing. Pratik has shown us what we need to collect and he will finish the paperwork certification tomorrow. Things would be a great deal easier if the Mumbai Embassy could process these applications. Hopefully the Federal Government will recognise the increasing number of Australians using surrogacy in Mumbai and improve the service. Even with the current trend in criminalising commercial surrogacy amongst the states I think people will find a way to come.

Note to anyone going down this path, follow the guidelines on this page Children born through Surrogacy Arrangements applying for Australian Citizenship by Descent. It pretty much list exactly what is required from the Immigration Department.

After this afternoons session with Pratik I feel a whole lot better. We just about have everything we need for the twins citizenship applications. So I can fly to Delhi on Thursday with a complete application pack for each of the girls. The Dr Rele who needs to do the DNA test for the girls in Mumbai also called today and has kindly offered to come to the hospital and do the girls test there so that the process can get moving. A little persistence and patience has paid off. I am good at the persistence, not so much the patience.

We only got to spend a short time with Willow and Taylor today because we had to shoot off and collect documents ready for when Pratik came in the afternoon. When we walked into the unit we were both excited to see that they had put the girls back together. They were reunited at last. Meaning that they are happy that Willow was no longer contagious or a risk to Taylor. They looked so peaceful cuddled up next to each other. They were so settled we did not want to disturb them.

On the way back from the hospital today some really young children were begging amongst the traffic. It is so hard to say no to their requests for money, but everyone advises not to. Mainly because they don't usually get to keep it, as someone is waiting to collect it from them. We had lollies and chocolates in our bags today and it was joyous to see the smile on their faces as we handed them over and watched them devour them with the same obvious joy. Out taxi driver got a little annoyed though because they literally swarmed the car. It was worth it. Tomorrow we are going to by some more chocolates.

The Internet connection at the hotel has been especially bad today and so we have not been able to communicate as much as we have been. Emails have taken about 2 to 3  minutes each to download and upload, if at all. Facebook and Skype have been hit and miss. SMS messages were also a little hit and miss. Pratik also wanted to connect the the little printer we bought at a market and it would not pair with his laptop. He had to keep swapping back and forth between his laptop and mine. So it seems technology was not meant to be today. This post may or may not upload tonight. Normally this would frustrate me (and Vince may say that it has) but at the moment I couldn't care less. Today I seen our two angels back together and I was able to express my concerns and have them validated. Seems that I am a little more Cameron from Modern Family than I care to admit. I have had a lady from Qantas tell me to "calm down love" and today I had a lawyer tell me to "Cool. Cool Jeremy. Sorry Chill. Chill Jeremy". So I have. Vince made me a hot chocolate and now I am going to go to bed and sleep a little easier.

Night all.

J.

PS: Seen as though Taylor has had her passport photo posted, I thought I had best post Willow's. It is on it's side because that is the only way it would upload. There definitely is a Gremlin in the unit tonight.