Last time I wrote, I was calmly waiting for my little girl to arrive… Now I am on the edge of my seat, waiting with baited breath and can’t will her arrival fast enough. In addition to the natural urge to want to meet my darling daughter, both the pregnancy and life in general have exploded with all sorts of unexpected curve balls.

While Kerri-ann has had, generally, a very good pregnancy, towards the end, a number of complications have arisen, seeing her end up having unscheduled OB appointments, being admitted to the day clinic at the hospital for testing and even being taken to emergency when she was on holiday in Sydney during the long weekend. Each time an issue arose, I felt sick; numb; panic; unable to function. As an intended parent, there was nothing that I could really do to help either Kerri-ann or my baby.

In addition to feeling terribly scared at each turn – for the both of them, I couldn’t help feel guilty that Kerri-ann was experiencing negative side effects due to the surrogacy. I felt like it was my fault. It was my baby that was making her unwell and potentially putting her at risk. My sister gave some great perspective: It isn’t my fault, it isn’t the baby’s fault. It is just all part of pregnancy. And she is right – what a wise sister I have! Luckily, Kerri-ann and I are so close that I was able to voice my feelings to her and she echoed my sister’s sentiments and assured me that although the last month or two have been physically difficult, she has no regrets regarding the surrogacy and is looking forward to the birth and seeing Ash and I as parents.

At this stage, while baby is fine, there are some concerns regarding Kerri-ann’s blood pressure and general health so she will be monitored every few days in the day clinic until birth. Bubs has also had another growth spurt so we are back to monitoring her size. Each time she goes in we are in constant SMS contact so I know every blood pressure reading, blood test result, every foetal reading etc in real time – it is pretty amazing. We really both are ready to get my girlie out of the womb and into my arms now!

In other news, it seems motherhood isn’t the only thing that will be taking up my time in the coming weeks. I have started receiving some fantastic interest in my book and will be travelling to Melbourne to promote it at a niche surrogacy conference when bubs is 6 weeks old (her first trip!). So it’s all go, go, go! And even more excitingly, or rather more crazily, we have decided to move house! We will be putting our current home on the market within the next four weeks and then it will be all open houses and what-not in the hope of a quick sale; followed by a house hunt, purchase and move. I do feel like I am off my rocker taking all of this when I will have a beautiful new baby to focus on, but we have a few key factors pushing us to move forward immediately and we are confident we can manage it. I’m a strong woman and nothing worth doing is easy, or so they say. Haha!

So it looks like, there will be a baby, some PR and a move on the horizon. But honestly…. Everything else can just fade into the background because all I really care about is meeting my gorgeous girl and staring at her endlessly! I won’t write again until after she is born and we are settled, however I will send a pic through and let you know that we are all well. Wish me luck for the birth MamaBakers! It’s going to be the best experience of my life!

 

Be well, Natalia. x
P.S:   I have joined the Tempe MamaBake group and am in awe of the wonderful women who have brought the idea of MamaBake to life for me. My first session gave me a glimpse of my life as a mum at various stages in the future and made me smile from ear to ear. The type of women who MamaBake are kind, generous, fearless and absolutely the type of mums I aspire to become. For me the fantastic cooking for my freezer was a big fat bonus. I am loving the impossible pie/quiche from the website and my hubby is just wolfing down absolutely every dish. I plan not to cook for a week after bub arrives – all thanks to MamaBake!

Read Kerri-ann’s (the surrogate mother) story here and the other parts to Natalia’s Diary of Surrogacy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.

More about Natalia

My children’s book, ‘Your Tummy Time – a surrogacy story’ is now available for sale on Natalia’s Facebook page. The cost is $17.99 per copy including delivery within Australia. It is not available via iOs, but enquiries can be made via the contact tab on the page for alternate purchase methods

This is a book for families that are having children via surrogacy. Natalia and her partner believe that it is important for children to understand the truth about their history.

The book is a story book that parents can read to children so that the idea that they were born via surrogacy is part of the fabric of their life. Natalia consulted with an expert psychologist to get the messaging right.

Natalia is currently seeking supporters and sponsors for the production costs. There is a sponsorship proposal that interested parties can look at – personal or commercial -(please email:info@acrosstheverge.com ).