Meet the Parents

Due to technical difficulties with blogger, I have been asked to share this blog post from the intended parents. Hopefully this is just the first of many to come. Enjoy!

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We have been keeping a low profile as really Morgan is the star here....but now that "we" are officially pregnant, we can't control our excitement as IPs any longer. So how did we get here... five years ago we took a career break and travelled the world for a year and half. We had time to reflect and time to plan for our future away from the pressures of work and the daily grind. On a garden square in New York we got engaged and on a beach in Koh Samui we decided to explore growing our family. 

Fast forward through the rest of our travels, setting up a new business, buying a new home and researching surrogate options, we eventually met up with Circle and started the process that brought us to the news of being officially pregnant yesterday.

Once we had filled in the interminable paperwork and sought to understand how the journey would proceed, we got to the great bits...matching with our wonderful egg donor and our amazing surrogate. The matching was intuitive and we felt an immediate connection between ourselves and the two wonderful women who have helped us get this far. Words can't really explain how lucky we feel to have meet and been accepted by them. It was a nervous wait to see if they were willing to help us and it still is difficult to express how generous they have been to make it possible to arrive at this point.

Seeing the ultrasound yesterday and hearing the heartbeat was astounding. It brought tears to our mother's eyes and the still photo has been safely lodged in our wallets. There's a long journey still to go...Morgan has morning sickness, raging hormones, tiredness and more pills to take...we have to wait till our lives get turned upside down. I know we have the best of that deal but despite being an ocean away we are with her all the way.

Michael and Jason

We Have a Transfer Date!

August 2!

I sent Jason and Michael this message:

 I finished the note telling them they needed to call their mothers at their earliest convenience.
Jason replied back very quickly with:

 I literally have trouble containing a huge smile every time Jason uses, "OMG." I love that reaction; it makes him seem so candid and boyish. I love it.
And here is Michael's reaction:

I laughed out loud in my cubicle at work. "Restrained Brits," such an image to upkeep... :D


It is barely more than a month away and it seems so far away!  I was excited, but their excitement sent me over the top and should carry me through the rest of the week, at least.

Spreading the News

My mother made a notable milestone.

She was at an off-site training for her job and was asked to for an introduction and some information about herself. She decided to tell them about my surrogacy adventure! I have to thank the people in the training with her; they were very supportive, said very nice things and gave her such a positive reaction.

This is a big step for my mom. Since I told her about becoming a surrogate, she hasn't told anyone; not siblings, not co-workers, not anyone. Of course, this group consisted of strangers that she would never see again, but being able to say it out loud with a warm response will make it easier to tell other people she actually knows. I'm very proud that she was willing to share such a personal journey. Surrogacy will probably be most difficult for her, the worrier. It can't be easy having your child do something potentially dangerous. I almost lost it when Dempsey rode his fire truck scooter down four feet of stairs and that was over in 2 seconds - this journey is at least a year.

I have told all of my close friends, have posted my blog on Facebook (omitting all family members until my mother feels comfortable talking to them about it), told everyone at work and generally just about any relevant person I come into contact with. Justin, on the other hand, has said he doesn't plan on telling anyone "until there is something to tell," i.e. a baby in the belly.

In one week, I will be at my medical screening in CT. Until then, I will be patiently waiting for the excitement.

Breaking the news

This past weekend I made a trip.

I noticed, after about 45 minutes of driving, that I had been nervously bouncing my foot the whole way.

I was on my way to tell my parents about my family's decision to be a surrogate. I played out the worst-case scenarios. Even the worst-case scenarios weren't that bad, but they did account for a bit more yelling.

I am happy to report, no yelling. 

My mother took it harder than I hoped, but honestly, it was expected. I think it is just hard for her to wrap her head around right now. She is a very loving person and I think she worries about the emotional aspect of this adventure. Rightly so; it would be nutty to treat this like a business venture, with no emotional ties. She's warming up to it. I love her.

Let it be known: My father
looks nothing like this. 

My father was pretty predictable, as well. After my mom pulled out the chair at the dinner table and announce, "Here, spill it." and then walked away, my father naturally looked over his glasses at me with this, "What did you do..." kind of look (see picture at right). I kind of blurted out, "I'm just going to keep it simple: I've decided I'm going to be a surrogate." His head turns slightly, as if to process. Then drilled me on a few topics, including my motives, my husband's thoughts and then told me that I was an adult that didn't need his permission. "You're young, you had a healthy pregnancy and fairly easy childbirth. You'll make somebody very happy." What a great guy, right? Little did he know, the ace in my pocket if he opposed was, "Dad, you've had surrogate livestock." Luckily, I didn't have to use it. It would have been a moot point, comparing livestock to his child.

Next stop: interview with the social worker.