Montgomery Alabama Newborn Photographer - My Surrogacy Journey
I have been contemplating writing about my journey as a surrogate but I always get so many questions about it so I thought I would just write a blog. I began my surrogacy journey in the summer of 2019. I am always been one to try and help people any way I could and I knew I was called to help someone start their family. I had been wanting to be a surrogate for about 5 years but I had lived in New York when I lived there surrogacy was illegal so I couldn't do it. Once I moved to Alabama I knew I needed to get the ball rolling with a journey so I applied to a couple of agencies and finally found one I loved.
Once you are with an agency they have to gather all your medical records to make sure you are able to have a healthy pregnancy. Once they confirm you are a good candidate you start what's called the matching process. I tell people the matching process is a lot like online dating. Your coordinator sends you intended parents (IP) profiles and if you like them you say yes and they will send it off to the IP to see if they like you. I had wanted to work with this one couple but they didn't want to work with me due to some laws in Alabama where the mother would have to essentially adopt the baby from me. So we kept going through profiles and I was at the point where I needed to take a break from looking at profiles. My coordinator sent my profile over to an IP and he loved me and wanted to work with me. She sent me his profile and I agreed it would be a great match. We have so much in common and it just seemed like it would be a natural fit. After you agree to each other's profiles you meet each other in person or on zoom. We did a zoom match meeting because my IP lives overseas. We instantly connected and agreed to move forward. We officially matched in November of 2019
Most agencies do things a little different but once matched I had to get a psychological evaluation done and then I had to meet with my IP's reproductive endocrinologist (RE) in Dallas. I passed my psych eval and then went on to Texas to get my physical done to get fully approved to be a surrogate. I actually had an issue with my uterus due to the form of birth control I used to have to wait and have a couple of cycles to flush everything out. In February of 2020, I was officially approved to be a surrogate.
Once approved to be a surrogate the next stages are legal contracts to make everything legally bound. This stage was fairly easy for us because we knew what we wanted and we had been matched for a while and talked on a daily basis. We got finished with contracts and were looking forward to our transfer date but then Covid happened and shut everything down. We waited and waited until our RE clinic opened back up. Finally, in May 2020 we got word we would get our calendar for a Transfer date in July 2020.
In July 2020 I went to Texas to get my IVF embryo transfer and to get pregnant with my IP's baby. We had a successful first-time transfer and found out a couple of weeks later that I was indeed pregnant and due in April 2021. MY IP and I were so happy that this took first me. I had to continue to give myself shots up until 12 weeks of pregnancy to make sure the pregnancy stayed viable. I had a pretty uncomplicated pregnancy except for being diagnosed with gestational diabetes but that was pretty manageable with diet and medication.
In March of 2021, I went into labor the day after my IP's birthday. I thought it was pretty special but it was extra special because I gave birth to him on my brother's birthday. Typically after the baby is born they will go with the IP and your journey is complete. My journey was a little different than most surrogates. When I was around 30 weeks pregnant we got the news that my IP would not be allowed in the United States without his son's birth certificate. My IP asked me if I would be willing to take care of his son until we were able to get the birth certificate to him. My lawyer worked hard on getting my IP in the states and what would normally take about 4 to 6 weeks to get the proper seals his country wants we got them within a week. At this point, I had the baby for 3 weeks. My IP got into the country when the baby was 5 weeks ago. I am so glad he didn't miss too much time with him. I get asked if I would do another journey and the answer would be yes if I medically could. I am no longer able to carry as a surrogate due to gestational diabetes.
There is no better feeling in the world than helping another person grow their family. I will forever be connected to this family and am so happy I got to help them in more than one way from carrying the baby to watching him in his first moments of life.
Mary Greener Portraiture. offers fine art photography sessions and is a full-service boutique photography business. Please be sure to consider us for your family, newborn, and children's photography needs throughout Autauga and Elmore counties including Autaugaville, Deatsville, Helena, Hoover, Hope Hull, Marbury, Millbrook, Montgomery, Mountain Brook, Pelham, Pike Road, Vestavia Hills & Wetumpka
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