In the Beginning

Well, I feel like yesterday my journey officially began.

The consultant (Zara) from Family Source Consultants and I met at a restaurant at a halfway point between my location and hers. I had to track about an hour towards Chicago but it wasn't too bad.

She was very friendly as I had expected. We mostly talked about marriage, family, daycare....all the ins and outs of my life. Then of course we also talked about surrogacy....I had some questions for her, she had some for me.

We got down to the details as she explained the entire process and what it entails, medical and psych evaluations, fertility drugs and injections, retrievals and transfers, Dr appointments and of course D-day too.

She has 3 different IP couples in mind for me. One is right here in the Chicago area which would be great and convenient. The other two are from out of state, on in Missouri and the other in Minnesota. This would require some travel on my part but should still be workable.

She is hoping to contact these couples in the coming days and present them with my profile. She said several times during our meeting that she is certain they will place me with IPs, it is just a matter of getting the right match.

Seems like things moved really quickly. Just one month ago I was contacting them about my interest and now here we are working towards finding IPs. It is all very exciting and I can't wait for more news.

This has been in the fore front of my mind all day long. As with most things that I become passionate about I can see myself getting drawn in to the process, craving all the knowledge, support and insight that I can. I am thankful to have found AllAboutSurrogacy.com (AAS), what a great resource. I also happened upon the journal of the surrogacy agencies consultant that I met with yesterday. It is very interesting to look into the lives of the IP/IM/IF and gain insight into their journey as well and how they came to decide on surrogacy. I can't wait to read more experiences from IP and GS/TS alike.

All the family and friends I have told so far about my/our plans have praised me, told me how unselfish I am, giving, honorable and amazing. I have heard a lot of "God Bless Your Heart" and other such comments. I guess I just don't see it. I am not anyone special, I most certainly am not amazing that is for sure. I only want to give to a couple what they deserve, to feel the touch of their child's skin next to theirs, wipe the tears from their eyes when they are sad, hear them laugh and the chance to love someone more than they could ever imagine. I want to give the gift of life, the experience of parenting, and the joy of having a family. These are the things I most cherish in my own life and I want to pass that along so others can be touched by them as well.

I can't wait for my journey to get underway!!