Flashback 1- Inspire Joy // Emily Smith

Earlier this week I introduced you to Emily Smith. Emily is the owner of Doulas of Capitol Hill, and Doulas of PG County, and she recently has begun the process to become a gestational surrogate. 

In her last post, which can be read here, we came in the middle of her journey where Emily had just found out that her first transfer was unsuccessful (I feel weird using that word, as it seems so negative. I'll try to brainstorm a more positive language that can be used. Suggestions welcome) 

Throughout the rest of the month Emily will share her flashbacks from the very beginning of her journey and we will get to know the process of becoming a surrogate a little bit better. 

As always please try to remember that these are very personal stories and comments and support are always welcome but lets keep them positive. 

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Originally written on July 26, 2018

You guys, I have big, huge news:

I'm going to get pregnant and have another baby!  But that's not the important part.  The most important news is this baby won't be my own child; I'm planning to be a gestational surrogate!

So, what exactly does that mean?  It means I found an amazing family who really, truly deserves to have and hold a baby, but they cannot do this without help.  So, essentially this is the most intense babysitting job ever. For 9 months.

Ok, it's more complicated than that, as you can imagine.  But here are the basics:

First, I met this fantastic couple, who for now I'll call H. and J.  H is the "Intended Mother" (IM) and J is the "Intended Father"  (IF).  You'll see me use these terms throughout the blog so it's good to know them now.  So, I met this couple back in May in a Facebook group for matching Intended Parents with Surrogates.  This is called an independent match.  We are not using a surrogacy agency.

We Skyped and messaged frequently and found we had some fun personal connections in common.  Also necessary was that we agreed on the really important things relating to surrogacy like how many babies to have, compensation, and insurance.  I made that sound simple but really, this process was intensive and took weeks for the dust to settle.  All the while we continued to get to know each other personally, too.

In mid-June H and J came to our house to meet our family. And again, we had a really enjoyable time together, and shared some new personal connections.  Let me tell you, this absolutely felt like dating at this point.  What do we wear?  Is our house clean enough?  Will our kids behave or will we need to locked them in a cage? They did and we didn't ;-)   But after H and J left our house, it was clear we were ready to take things to the next level and have a baby!

I should stop now and explain that the future little one will be 100% H and J's baby, both genetically and legally. Their bun, my oven.  We'll be doing what is called a Single Embryo Transfer and I will have the honor of helping grow this little one to be a healthy and strong baby born 9 months later to be delivered into the arms of H and J.

I've heard people ask other gestational surrogates "won't you have a hard time giving that baby up?"  And the answer is NOPE! Not for a minute.  The whole point IS to give the baby to it's parents!  It's a little like my role as a doula.  I get to help parents welcome their baby to the world and then I get to go home and get a full night sleep.  Ahh, sleeeeeep. Different from my role as a doula, I'll have go through morning sickness and pushing a baby out, rather than coaching through it.

Speaking of being a doula, one past doula client of mine gave me a t-shirt that said "Doulas help people out."  I think I might have a maternity shirt made with the same, but replacing the word doula with "Surrogates."

Anyway, there is so much to share and other parts that I'm sure people will have questions about.  But for now this is where we are:

Timeline

​July 9-
I passed my uterus interview!  This was a vaginal ultrasound held at the fertility clinic to peek at my uterus and make sure it all looked healthy.  They also ran blood work and I brought along my records from my past 3 pregnancies. The Reproductive Endocrinologist said I had a "perfect uterus!" This was the first time I've ever received this compliment. lol. Check out the I Heart Guts (tm) pic I made to celebrate.

July 26-
​Contract back from the lawyer!  Now we just have a (hopefully) small amount of ping pong between H and J's lawyer and my lawyer to make sure everything is mutually agreed upon. 
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Then what?  Well, we expect as soon as we finish all the contract stuff that I'll start medicine to prepare my uterus for the embryo transfer.  And in a perfect world the Transfer will happen in early to mid- September!

But for now (and basically this whole process) we just take things one step at a time.  I told the IM that I often tell my kids "patience is waiting with a good attitude." Which is often easier said than done because I know they are SOOOOO ready to be holding their baby like, now.  And I don't blame them.  I would be too if I were in their shoes!

In the next blog post I'll talk about my WHY of surrogacy (and what about my own husband and kids and how they fit into this story.)  Maybe down the road, I'll be able to share more about H and J and their inspiring WHY, too.  But that will only happen if/when they give permission (which may be never, and I'll respect their right to make that call).  So, for now you'll all be able to read about the surrogacy journey from this side of the story.  And hopefully, it will INSPIRE JOY in your life, too!
~love,
Em

 Colorado Springs 2013 - pregnant with my youngest son