Stereotypical First Post

First and foremost, welcome. This should prove to be an interesting journey for all of us. I meant to start this blog a week or so ago, but alas, life with a toddler proves more interesting than anything.

My surrogacy journey begins about two years ago. I made the conscious decision in early spring of 2009 to become a surrogate or egg donor. I looked into agencies and started filling out applications. Being under 21 and not having had a child of my own, I wasn't taken seriously and I got discouraged. Egg donation wasn't really an option for me and I started realizing that the further I got into the application process. I'm tall and height-weight proportional but I'm not Ivy League educated, breast cancer runs on my mom's side of the family and high cholesterol on my dad's. It just seemed that egg donation was more of a popularity contest and I didn't have the genes to make me popular. Surrogacy seemed like my best bet and gestational surrogacy (commonly called gestational carrier since your eggs are not used) was my plan. 

Fast forward to January 2011. My son is six months old and I begin thinking about surrogacy again. At the time he was 100% breastfed so I knew no RE would even speak with me until he was weaned. With his GERD, weaning wasn't an option and I'd always said I would breastfeed as long as he wanted. I started talking things over with my husband more and more, seeing if surrogacy would be a good option for our family, making sure we were content with just our son.

Skip forward another six months. With my son's first birthday almost here, I've started trying to find a match. Armed with as much information as I could find about gestational surrogacy, the things to look for in IPs (intended parents-the person/people whose child you'll be carrying), the IVF process, different fees and legal stances, etc, I began one of the most life-changing journeys I will ever experience.

This blog is my account of the experience. My thoughts, fears, the day-to-day emotions that you have being a surrogate. From start to finish, long before the pregnancy to long after, this is what it's like to be a mother and to give the gift of life to another family.