Last night I was thinking a little bit about why I wanted to be a surrogate mother in the first place, and I'd like to share that in my journal. The first time I ever heard about surrogacy was in high school when I saw a story about Deidre Hall (Marlena on Days of Our Lives) and how she has two sons through surrogacy. I thought it was such a neat thing, and thought that maybe someday I would consider it. Of course, at the time I didn't even know if I could have children of my own, or exactly how I would bond with a child during pregnancy, so I didn't give it much more thought until I was pregnant with my first child.
I thought about it often while I was pregnant with Tayler, but at the time I really wouldn't have known how to go about it, or where to find information on it. I didn't even know if it was legal in Alberta. Tayler's labor was very hard on me. I was young and I hadn't gone to any prenatal classes to prepare me. So right after the birth I was convinced I could never have another child, especially for someone else, because it hurt so bad!! Lol
5 months later I found out I was pregnant again, much to our surprise. For Caylen's birth I was really scared. But at the same time I was much more prepared. Her birth was so much easier, and about 5 minutes after delivery, I forgot what it felt like. So the thought of surrogacy popped back into my head.
Over the next few weeks I thought a lot about how awful it would have been if I couldn't have had my children. My kids are really such a blessing, and I can't imagine my life without them. They make you laugh 100 times a day with the silly things they do. They always want a hug and a kiss (my kids are still young!!) and they just make you so proud over every little thing they do. I wanted to share that joy with someone who needed my help.
I started researching surrogacy on the internet and found that surrogacy is not illegal in Alberta. The more I searched, the more I wanted to do this. I couldn't wait to be pregnant again---yes, I enjoy being pregnant.
It was a little tough to convince Jason that this was a good idea. He had visions of mood swings, back rubs, foot rubs, and all those other pregnancy related things he would have to put up with. After he saw that it would make me this happy, he decided that he would be behing me 100%. I'm so glad for his support, because even though I just started the pregnancy, it took a lot to get to this point, and I couldn't have done it without him.
At first my IPs and I talked via email. We discussed all the issues of what we wanted from this experience and got to know each other. After about a month and a half of emailing, we decided it was time to meet face to face. As soon as I met them, I had a feeling that they were "the ones". I started to get really excited, and we decided to get the ball rolling.
So that's the story of how I got to be a surrogate. I'm so grateful that I'm pregnant, and that in 9 months my IPs will have a much waited for baby.
