Hi! My name is Geri and Carol asked me to write a little something about my surrogacy story with a current update. I practically wrote a novel and sent it to her. The following will be an edited version of my story as you don’t have weeks to read my story. Ha! Carol knows that my surrogacy journey was incredible and still to this date I have a close relationship with the parents of Liam and Carrick whom I delivered on October 26, 2006. So, here’s my story:
After having two beautiful children, Rebecca & Nathan, my husband, Darrell, and I knew that our family was complete. As happy as I was, I did feel sad that I wouldn’t have any more pregnancies. Just the feeling of having a life grow inside of you is so amazing…..Then one day, I read about surrogacy in a local magazine. I had heard of it before but it didn’t enter my mind then as I was busy building my own family. But now, it seemed like the perfect answer for me, to experience pregnancy again but not have the responsibility of having another child.
Darrell and I discussed it and decided it would be wonderful to help a Couple achieve their dream of parenthood. In our discussion, we realized we couldn’t imagine our lives without our kids and my pregnancies were super easy and my recovery was really quick. So I made some calls. I chose Building Families, of course, and had a wonderful experience. My daughter, Rebecca, was 5 at the time so she understood the process pretty well. My son, Nathan, was only 1 so there wasn’t much explanation that he needed.
Our lives were busy with two kids, but so was theirs as they had a 6 year old to manage. But throughout the twin pregnancy, the Intended Mom attended every appointment. We also got our families together as often as we could. I felt like it was a blessing to share so much with the Mom & Dad-to-be. They were so interested in getting to know their son and daughter even before they were born. I remember feeling anxious when they first told us that the pregnancy was twins. Then I immediately calmed down when I reminded myself they were not mine! The delivery date arrived and it was beyond awesome. My husband and both of the parents were able to be in the delivery room. They were born so healthy that they left the hospital before me! It was one of the proudest days of my life.
I feel fortunate that we have maintained our friendship and still have contact after all of these years. I had heard stories about how the relationship dies after some time, so I was happy to know ours hadn’t. But the more I thought about it, this relationship was no different than others I have. If it is nourished, it will continue to flourish. And it has!
I am often asked if it feels weird to see the Couple with the babies that I carried for them. Honestly, it doesn’t. I don’t have maternal feelings for the kids. I love them as I do their parents. When we’re together, it is no longer about me having carried their children. They do know who I am, but it is not a huge deal. And that’s how I want it. They are turning 4 years old in October and I can still honestly say becoming a Surrogate Mother was the best decision we ever made. We completed someone’s family. How awesome is that?