Something New

Well this is an entirely new experience all around. Never have I ever in my life started a blog. Fun fact as well, never have I ever been able to say that I am pursuing the potential for me to become a surrogate.
Yep, you read that right.
Someone else's bun will be in my oven.
An unconventional oven of sorts. 😉
I wanted to start this blog to sort of document my experience in this process. I have now told my immediate family, my close friends and (in a couple days) my workplace.
Oofdah.
So for those who know me, I am pretty intentionally quiet about my personal life. Sure, I'm like any millennial who enjoys posting the occasional photo/ditty on Facebook about people/things that are near and dear to my heart. However, I also like the privilege of not having the fine details of my life on show for all to see. It goes without saying, then, that writing this blog is a pretty significant step outside of my comfort zone as far as sharing my personal info.
Now that you know how profound this is for me...let's move on to this whole extreme babysitting process.
For many years, I've thought it would be pretty awesome to become a surrogate for someone else. During those years, however, I was convinced I wouldn't be a candidate for such a thing. I'm a divorced mother, I've had an ovarian cyst, I definitely enjoyed my early 20s, I have experienced a miscarriage and I had terbutaline (a shot to stop contractions)  when I was 35 weeks and 6 days along (a technicality) with Armin for what I have now been told were “unproductive contractions”. Despite my desire to help those in need of someone to carry a child, I'd dismissed my history as something that would not qualify me to become the ideal surrogate candidate.
And I went on about my life.
Then, a coworker began looking into surrogacy. I followed what she was going through with her surrogacy and seeing her posting/talking to her about the progression of her journey in this process got me more and more curious. So I decided to take the leap.
I figured "what the heck?". If this is truly something I want to do for an individual or couple, there's no better time than the present to look into it and the worst that this agency can say is "We're sorry, but you're just not cut out for this". Though I wouldn't have liked that response, at least then I would KNOW that I'm not cut out for this...if I'm truly not cut out for this.
So I have officially decided to go through International Assisted Reproductive Center (IARC for short) to help me through this journey. I chose them because they were local, the reviews I had read on them were profoundly positive and I just had a good "feeling" about them when dissecting their website.
About a month later, I have gone through an initial call to explain what is ALL involved in this process (down to talking about how I would explain this to Armin, how I would handle potentially being on bedrest, if I am ok with the parent(s) making certain decisions during the pregnancy). And there was no pressure through all of it. I set the limits on what I was comfortable and not comfortable with and the coordinator (Nicole) was 100% supportive through all of it. Then, I moved on to the actual application. This included typical questions about my medical history, social history, etc. I had a lot of questions throughout this process but thankfully, Nicole was able to guide me through the process easily 😊
Then on to the nitty gritty details of verifying if my insurance company would cover a surrogate pregnancy, the psych evaluation and gathering various other information to piece my "profile" together.
Which all leads me to where I am now!
I got the official email last week saying I've been approved through the surrogacy screening process and I am moving forward to the matching stage!!
I am BEYOND excited!
Like christmas in (then) August excited.
Like finding out the person ahead of you in Starbucks just paid for 5 years of coffee for you (does anyone even know what that feels like? I can only imagine...).
Like winning the dang lottery 😊😊
I cannot wait to meet whoever I am able to help out with through this process. I want to tell them I'm here for them. That I will do what it takes to give them the family they want. That I will protect this potential pregnancy with all that I have. And that I feel for them.
I want to be able to walk through this with them and come out knowing I did this for a wonderful and meaningful reason.
And I want to be able to bring some laughter and sarcasm to them through this as well :)
So, here it is. This first post and one of the first few milestones in this crazy, fantastic experience!
Cheers to an Unconventional Oven!