Not as Fun

So I decided I was having way too much fun with the purchasing portion of this trimester and that as a result, I should temper my giddiness with some not-so-fun stuff.

Like getting our rickshaws in a row for Operation Exit India. 

As most have done, I emailed Nancy Hamilton (hamiltonnl@state.gov) at the US Embassy for a status update.

According to her, its most important that we are familiar with the citizenship transmission requirements. Because we've used an egg donor,  it's all on Duane to prove his current citizenship as well as five years physical presence in the U.S. This can be done through passports, bank statements, educational documents and social security statements. Also, when filling out the passport, CRBA and Social Security applications, we've been instructed to include information that pertains to Duane only and to leave the other spaces blank.

In other words, I believe Nancy was trying to make it clear that at this point in the process I will be assuming the role of Executive Director of Baby Entertainment and Spousal Moral Support only.

As a consolation prize, however, my name will go on the birth certificate.

Now the news I was really less than thrilled to hear is that DNA testing is expected in all cases. I'm not sure if this is just Nancy's boilerplate email response, given the fact that the most recent batch of SCI US IPs have not had to undergo the testing, or whether the Embassy is back to requiring it in all cases, as it seems they used to in the past.

Because we are having twins, we would need to order 3 kits-- one for each baby and one for Duane. (Yes, I'm totally fine with sitting this one out too. Really.) And the way it works is we order the kits from the U.S., kits are sent to India so that those eligible (i.e. not me) can swab while in Delhi, kits are sent back to the U.S. for testing, results are sent back to Delhi, and finally, the Embassy confirms that we have a match! Which means our options are as follows:


1. Order kits ahead of time so that kits are waiting for us at the Embassy when we arrive. This option saves time, however, if we don't need to test, we lose out on the money we spent ordering the kits.

2. Chance it and wait until we get to Delhi. If we don't have to test, we win. No money spent and no extended stay in Delhi. If we do have to test, however, we lose big time. Not only do we still have to spend the money ordering the kits, but Operation Exit India gets extended by a significant number of days.

So I'm thinking we're going to go with Option No. 1... (However, recent U.S. IP input is very welcome).

For those behind us in the process, below are some additional links forwarded to us by Nancy.


CRBA and Passport Instructions

Surrogacy Information

DNA Kit Ordering Instructions

Phewwww.

And now, I am officially returning to the fun stuff. Marc Jacobs diaper bag, anyone?