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7.09.2014

A Different Kind of Pregnancy Journey (Part 1)

Today I'm 12 1/2 weeks pregnant. It's not Trav's baby. And he's thrilled.
It's not my baby either. And I'm also thrilled.

Trav and I are helping a really wonderful couple become parents through surrogacy.

Let me start at the beginning (sorry, this will be long). A year after Gwen was born, after Trav and I had decided that we were content and fulfilled with one child, I brought up the idea that one day I would really like to be a surrogate. I wanted to help another couple become parents, and get to experience that joy, while having the chance to do pregnancy again, but without adding to our own family. Travis was supportive from the get-go. At that point though, it was still a much in the future thing.

Fast forward to last year, right around Gwen's birthday (Feb 2013), and I brought up the idea again, but as a soon thing. Travis was still supportive, and we starting talking about some more of the specifics. He blew me away by saying that his only caveat, was that he still wanted Gwen to be able to self-wean! :-)  Done!

Come mid-April and I finally knew in my heart that it was a NOW thing, and (with Trav's blessing) I filled out the form to get me started on my surrogacy journey. Only two days later I had my first phone conversation with the head of the surrogacy organization. We discussed some of my form answers, talked about procedures and next steps. Within a few days I had a couples profile in my email.

We were quickly matched. For the sake of their privacy, I will refer to the couple as the parents only, but whatever I call them, they are wonderful, sweet people, that we are so happy to help! The following week I got a copy of my prenatal records, a letter from my doctor certifying my physical readiness for pregnancy, and a pap. The parents and I started emailing.

By the end of May, the agency agreement was signed, by mid-June I had my IUD removed, we had our psych eval., and our initial consult with the RE.

I ended up getting my period that night, so I was back 3 days later for my 3-day ultrasound and blood work. Unfortunately due to just having my IUD out, my progesterone was a little high, so we had to wait a month.

In the meantime we got the rest of the paperwork squared away, and continued to email with the parents to get to know them better. After my next period, and good numbers on my blood work I went on the pill while we signed some legal papers, and then waited for the final pieces to fall into place, which happened in the first week of October. Happy Fall indeed!

I will take a moment to say, if this is something you are considering, I highly encourage it. Its not for everyone, and there are lots of things to consider, but it is so fulfilling. I will warn you though, that is is also frustrating at times, and something you need lots of patience for! Obviously every situation is different, but I found the first part of the process to be very fast, slow, fast, slow, fast, slow... super busy getting things done, just to hurry up and wait! Totally worth it in the end, but sometimes frustrating. Patience is key.

This is getting long, so...
Part 2 coming tomorrow: getting into the medical stuff!

3 comments:

  1. I think I read the first sentence right times while thinking, "Wait, what?!?!" What an amazing thing to do!!! Looking forward to reading all about it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Karianne! I'm really excited.

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  2. I always wanted to be a surrogate and my life just didn't get there. Now I think I'm too old. My last 2 pregnancies were hard on me. Sigh, good on you, though!!

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