PT.2 - H.O.P.E – Hold On Pain Ends - Interview with Kreena Dhiman

This episode is part 2 of a double episode with Kreena Dhiman. If you haven’t listened to part 1 yet, go back to the previous episode of the podcast.   An incredible story full of strength, inspiration and told by Kreena in such a positive and empowering way.     KEY TAKEAWAYS     When Kreena was in intensive care in Canada she received a message from a potential surrogate. This made Kreena feel so much positivity and gave her hope for the future. This surrogate had such an appreciation for the intended mother of the child, she was never someone who wanted to be showered with praise and gratitude. Kreena found this so refreshing. It’s important to remember that for a woman to come to the decision to have another person carry their baby, they will have already had to overcome so many things and endured a lot of trauma. After embryo transfers, Kreena had one embryo that was very strong and this was transplanted into the surrogate, the rest of the embryos were supposed to be frozen after the transfer but devastatingly this was not carried out and Kreena lost all of her pre-cancer embryos. Amazingly, the transfer took and they were pregnant! They couldn’t believe they were lucky enough for this to happen. Often in Kreena’s culture and community surrogacy is hidden. Kreena and her husband never understood why people wouldn’t want to share this incredible thing so have always been very open with their children, family and everyone else. After the birth of their first child, Kreena and her husband decided they wanted to grow their family further. They didn’t have any embryos so they thought they would just need to find a surrogate of colour, so that they looked like her and her husband as she wanted her family to look ‘uniform’. She considered ‘known’ egg donation so that she would know more about the donor as she felt more disconnected than with Amara. Kreena found an incredible donor whose Bio she connected with straight away. When they met, they were supposed to just chat for ten minutes but talked for hours and even met up again the next day. Sadly, their first surrogate could no longer carry their second child for them, this made Kreena question so many things, including a lot of her beliefs. Luckily Kreena found another surrogate who was perfect for her family, it all happened quite quickly but it was incredible and they soon found out they were having triplets!     BEST MOMENTS   “The minute I made it through that I knew I wasn’t going to die”   “I wanna carry a baby for someone but I don’t want another baby and I can’t fulfil my dream of being a surrogate without someone like you who can’t carry their child”   “Right now, we have to just pray that you’re pregnant”   “Motherhood doesn’t come from the pregnancy or genetics, motherhood comes from the love in my heart”     VALUABLE RESOURCES www.petalscharity.org www.tommys.org www.arc-uk.org www.sands.org.uk       ABOUT THE GUEST Kreena Dhiman @kreenadhiman  https://coppafeel.org https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk         ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Cresswell Devoted mother of two (and a big hairy dog), UK trained midwife, doula and personal trainer, specialising in pre and postnatal fitness. Zoe was born in the UK and before moving to Dubai in 2013 and worked as a midwife in central London, both in a birth centre and a very busy NHS hospital. Although late to the scene, Zoe is an aspiring athlete having won numerous triathlons and representing Great Britain where she placed within the top 10 on the world stage. With her husband James, the couple will soon be launching their cloth nappy company, Bop & Bee, where they hope to inspire families to swap a few disposable nappies a day for the more planet friendly option of cloth. Zoe’s goal is to share her knowledge and experience, tell real life stories, manage expectations and open up those often difficult conversations. Zoe’s own motherhood journey has been full of twists and turns as she put everything on hold and went through numerous miscarriages and rounds of IVF.   CONTACT DETAILS Instagram : @zoecresswell_me Facebook: Zoe Cresswell LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-cresswell