The beginning

The first time I ever heard about surrogacy was on a television program years and years ago. At the time I thought that it was a lovely thing to do for someone, and made a mental note that I should consider doing something like that in a (then) distant future. This thought must have been tucked away in some corner of my mind waiting for a good time to remind me of itself, and this time came a few months after my daughter was born. 'It is time now!' it said. 'Your family is complete, you have two little monsters at home and that will do you' (well, that's not quite the truth, but you get my drift :) 'so why don't you give it a go and research this surrogacy thing... see where it takes you.'

So I did. I read reports, statistics, and research results. I joined online discussion fora. I sought out surrogates and asked them to share their experiences. I read the stories of childless couples (and singles) and wept at the tragedy of their losses. I learned the lingo and marveled at the amazing number of expressions and acronyms. And then I found someone who I wanted to help, and the project 'Sibling for Sophie Cleo' was born.

I offered my... ehm.... uterus to the lovely Kylie and Adrian in December 2009 - you can read their story here: http://idreamofsophie.blogspot.com/2009/02/we-found-out-we-were-having-girl-on-day.html. Since then, we have been slowly but surely getting HERE. After months of IVF and associated paperwork for them, and then all sorts of rigmarole involving ethical committees, psychological assessments, legal advice and health checks for all of us, including my amazing husband, we ticked all the boxes and were given the go ahead.

Today I had another blood test, about the tenth in the last few weeks. But this one is different. This one will tell us if the little embryo - a genetic offspring of K and A conceived about a year ago, kept on ice until last Thursday, and transferred into my hopefully accommodating uterus last Friday - has decided that it just might make itself comfy for the next 9 months. If the result is positive, I will be able to call myself a 'gestational surrogate'. Or, in the words of the surrogacy world, a tummy mummy.

Fingers crossed!

Veronika