The Beginning

So here I am, embracing something else in my crazy, awesome, strange life. First I embraced after birth, then I started embracing essential oils (and continue to do so), and now I'm embracing surrogacy.

The beginning:

I began considering surrogacy after my son was born in early 2009. I loved being pregnant, I loved giving birth, and I couldn't wait to do it again. I had the same thoughts after my daughter was born in 2011, except we were pretty sure we were finished having children. So we waited a little bit and made the decision during the summer of 2012 that we were definitely finished. I applied with a reputable gestational surrogacy agency in September of 2012. I had my initial phone screening, which lasted almost 3 hours, and all was good. When the agency realized I was breastfeeding, the process came to a halt, and they assured me we'd pick right back up after my daughter had weaned.

That brings us to June of 2013. I emailed the agency to let them know that we had finished breastfeeding and things moved very quickly. My husband had his screening, I passed a personality test to make sure I'm mentally competent, and we were matched with a fabulous couple from Europe. We were considered officially "matched" in mid-July. We worked with a lawyer to finalize the contract, and I had my medical screening in early August in Los Angeles. One month later, I am medically cleared!

Now we are waiting to hear that the donor is medically cleared, and then we'll receive a "cycle schedule." I am hopeful that I'll be pregnant by Thanksgiving!

A few things about this blog:

I plan to write about things pertaining to the pregnancy, the surrogacy process, the birth, and postpartum. I do not have plans to share details about the couple, even though they are awesome! I will probably be able to share once they are back home with their baby (or babies - but most likely baby), but surrogacy is not legal in their country and I do not want to take a chance on anything happening.

I plan to share how I am feeling physically and emotionally. While I'm generally a positive, happy person, I know that the surrogacy process is a complicated one. I hope that perhaps I can help clear up some misconceptions about surrogacy, and maybe even inspire some other women to go on a surrogacy journey.

I plan to share about how I take care of myself using natural medicine.

I will not share the agency name that I've chosen in this public forum, but if you'd like to know, send me a message on Facebook or leave a comment.

What would you like to know about? Comment and let me know!