One important thing to mention is my sister is a surrogate also. I will mention her and her IM (intended mother) often because I talk to them a lot about what is going on.
For those of you that followed my previous journey, thank you for continuing to follow me. I don't want to go into too much detail about that journey and why it ended, I would just like to say there were various reasons. My former IPs have some new things to consider and think about and I decided ending it would allow them to take time to do so. We are all still friends and I hope to continue that friendship. I wish nothing but the best for them and their future!
Everything in the last week has happened so very quickly! The whole situation is much like dating, so at first I felt guilty for moving on so quickly. Moving on quickly is what was best for my family and I. First of all, I still really want to help another couple bring a baby into this world. There are so many IPs out there waiting to find their match and begin their journey. My other issue is that fact that I would be paying my health insurance that I use for surrogacy out of pocket. I would have to pay that until being matched again and I could only afford to do that for so long.
I got extremely luckily!!! I mentioned my situation to a surro friend of mine and she posted on her wall about it. Within hours she got a response from her friend/coordinator that she had a match she would like me to consider. We will call her CE (coordinator extraordinaire) for the purpose of this blog, she will be a big part in this story and this journey. My friend sent me the bio for the couple and I fell in love instantly. They are two IFs (intended fathers) living 4.5 hours away. They live near my family, so it works out well. They also use the same clinic my sister and her IPs (intended parents) are using. I will call the guys G and K. Everything about their bio sounded so perfect and they seem like such positive and upbeat people. I immediately ran to my husband, M, to show him the bio. He thought it sounded perfect too! We were both excited two work with two IFs this time because we wanted a totally different experience, we thought that would be best in this situation. I spoke to CE within a few hours. The phone call went amazing and I'm so happy she will be a part of the entire journey. She said I would have to like her to work with them, that is definitely not a problem! We decided to skype the next morning so we could meet the IFs and all get to see each other.
The next morning I was super nervous getting ready to skype. I took a picture of myself and sent it to my sister and her IM to make sure I looked okay and the background looked okay. Then 10 minutes before the Skype call was to take place my wireless stopped working. M and I were frantically trying to get it fixed!!! We ended up having to sit on the floor of the office to get the internet working. Got everything all set up and started the Skype session, just to learn they could all see us and we couldn't see them. Rather than calling it off we continued the call. It was so awkward staring at a blue screen while I knew they could see me!! Despite all of these issues the call went great! CE, G, and K were such a pleasure to talk to. There was not one awkward moment and conversation flowed freely! The only issue we had was my kids, especially Little J (my 3 year old) wanted to be completely involved. I figure that's my life, and they are part of the package deal so they may as well see the chaos the kids bring! Little M was dressed as The Hulk during the Skype session, so I'm sure that was interesting to see too!
That is me getting ready for the Skype call. My sisters IM (intended mother) suggested I move our site words off the cabinet, so I did do that. Ended up being for no reason since we moved to the office!
Once we got off the Skype call M and I couldn't stop talking about how much we enjoyed the call and love the guys! They really are such an awesome couple. Very warm and loving and funny, they will be great daddies!! I immediately messaged CE and told her how we felt. They apparently really liked us too and decided to move forward with the match. Within two days I was matched!
This couple works with an agency, so my next step was to apply to their agency. My previous journey was Indy so this is all new to me. There are a lot of things I like about going Indy, but I'm kind of excited to let some responsibility go and rely on the agency some. The fact that CE will be my primary contact makes it a lot easier to accept also! I spoke to the agency owner, filled out the application, sent my records, and just today got fingerprinted. Well on my way to getting this journey started!! M is such an amazing husband and support, he let me drag him around getting fingerprinted on his birthday. We celebrated with a birthday lunch after, so that made it okay I hope!
There we are at the fingerprinting office!
There we are getting ready for birthday lunch!!
Next step is to have our home visit. In about two weeks CE will be flying in to do our home visit. More like waiting for a friend to come visit! It will be a nice distraction while my kids are out of school for 3 weeks!!
We are also waiting for the clinic to approve my records and schedule my medical/psych evals. I've heard the clinic is very strict, so I am a little worried about that. Hopefully it all happens soon!!!
