Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Mmmmmmm.....

I love love chocolate!!! I love M&M's and the funny things is that we have lots of M's for this surrogacy journey. Both IP's begin with a M, the egg donor begins with a M, the second surro begins with a M....and my last name begins with a M....mmmmmmmmmmmm.

M&M's ... Mommy & Me, monsters & monkeys, music & ...ok I better stop - but I think that these days M is my favorite letter!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Telling family and friends...

When I began to seriously consider surrogacy, I broched the topic with a few good friends and ofcourse with my hubby. I had lengthy discussion with a them and by answering their questions, it really helped me work through my own feelings about doing this.

Early on I also spoke with my sis-in-law who has been through IVF about the process and her thoughts - L your feedback was very valuable and I appreciate your support and excitement!

I especially appreciate some very dear friends from Denmark, who although not entirely agree with my endevor, they still have lots of support for me. Thank you ...to you both!

I was a bit nervous about telling my mom and sister. It is always hard to anticipate other peoples reactions.. but it was positive. I think they were very surprised but also very interested.

My MIL does not really agree with my choice, but then again, I am not seeking her approval. I wanted to let her know about my upcoming jorney as the kids will likely make comments about it when talking to her and I did not want her to be caught off guard.

I know that not all people will understand why I want to do this, and there will some who do not agree with my choice. That is fine with me....kind of like....I do not like peanut butter and I am sure that is fine with them too..... Life is all about choices - one of mine is to help a wonderful couple achive their baby dreams.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Beginning of a journey.... getting to know M&M

I have been spending a fair amount of time communicating with M&M. I found a great string of questions on a surro-website and I answered all the questions and send it along to M&M - they replied back and our answers were really compatable. I think we will be a great match.

We have talked about dropping the agency and moving forward with an individual match. I feel that I have done enough research to be ok with this. So we will see what happens....

M&M came to visit us at home in the end of June. It was a beautiful day and they brought newly picked strawberries for us all to enjoy. I had made home made pizza and a salad - lunch turned out great and the strawberries were a delicious treat to finish up with. We had a great conversation between Rio, myself and M&M and we got to learn more about each other and our expectations for the journey.

After lunch we went for a walk at Fort Stevens. It was a nice day outside and the kids always love running around at the park. It felt good to be out walking and it provided good opportunity to have small conversations with M and M individually as well as together. I really enjoyed spending time with them both and I am really excited about the prospect of working with them. It was nice to show them our home and give them an idea of our life and for them to meet Rio and the kiddies.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Beginning of a journey ... meeting M&M

Today I met my potential IP's for the first time....and I sent them to the wrong place to meet me how smart is that - that gives a good first impression! We were to meet at Doogers in Seaside, but when I sent the link for directions it was for the location in Cannon Beach...oops! Anyway with the help of my contact at the agency, we got it straigthened out and M&M came to Seaside to meet with me.

I was a delightful lunch. It was great to meet them and we had a very interesting conversation. I really think M&M could be the couple to work with. We view many of the topics that I find extremely important in the same way and I like their approach to surrogacy. They obviously had a lot of questions and so did I - I got a lot out of the meeting and hope that I provided many of the answers they were looking for.

We had a long lunch and afterwards I joined up with Rio and the kids for a walk on the beach. Funny thing is that we saw M&M at the turn about with some friends - I introduced Rio and the kids very briefly but did not want to intrude on their time with friends. Hopefully we will have another chance soon to get them all acquinted.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Beginning of a journey ... I got a call...

Over the last few months I have talked to my contact at the agency several times just to check in...I am being patient as I believe that the right IP's (intended parents) will come along when the time is right.

In April I get a call to let me know that a pair of IP's have selected my profile and would like to set up a conference call. This is very exciting!!! I am nervous over the next few days and do not know exactly what to expect. I want to make sure that the IP's get a good feeling for who I am and me for them. I think that it is really important to have a good match and to know that we all have similar feelings on issues that I find important.

We did our first conference call on a Saturday in April .. M&M are the initials of my IP's...how appropriate as I love love LOVE chocolate!!! The call went well I thought ... and the following Monday I heard back from the agency that M&M was also pleased about the call and that they would like to meet with me......yippee...how exciting!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Beginning of a journey ... signing up with an agency

In September/October 2007 I started researching surrogate motherhood and surrogate agencies online. I ultimately decided to go with an agency in California and went through all the initial interviews and completed the application and online profile.

My contact gal at the agency was really helpful when I was completing my profile and answering my million questions....well maybe not an entire million but alot!!!

My profile was put online in January of 2008 after lots of tweeking. It is a bit scary putting that much information about yourself in one place for others to look at and judge. Off course you want everyone to like you...but that will never happen! I just wanted to make sure that the profile really did reflect me and who I am. Hopefully I succeeded in providing a well-rounded picture of myself.

Now ... I hurry up and wait ... and pray that the right couple will come along.