So then I started looking into becoming a surrogate and what it took to be one. It's definitely not an easy task. First you have to find an agency, going Indy (independent) for your first journey would be too overwhelming. I definitely recommend going through the process with an agency for your first time. Then there's a medical screening process, psych evaluation process, matching process, legal process and then the journey starts.
Fast forward to June of 2015... Finding my agency wasn't hard at all. I had spoken to some of my other classmates about who they were going through and checked out their agencies. I ended up going with one that I had found out in Irvine, CA. I met with my coordinator probably around the end of June 2015. After I met with her, things were in limbo for a few months. Waiting around for a phone call or email to let me know that my medical records were cleared was kind of stressful. Luckily I had a really busy summer. And then in late July, beginning of August I got a call that the Dr's at the fertility center looked over my records and said everything looked good! I was so excited to hear the good news because after this point, things started rolling forward.
I started the medical screening process at the end of August. There was a lot of lab work, lots of tubes of blood being taken out and trips to the fertility center. Once I was medically cleared, I went through the psych evaluation process. This process was much simpler, no needles! I was officially matched at the end of August! I was super excited and so anxious to keep going forward. The legal process wasn't too difficult, just a lot of reading. I had a 2 hour phone call with my lawyer to go over the contract, I didn't need to change anything, which was a good thing. No issues arose out of this stage, I was worried because I follow a surrogacy forum and there are people on there that have had issues with their contracts and it was just a mess.
I was finally cleared of all of the above processes, now I wait for the fertility office to call so that I can start the medication process. Unfortunately I had to wait another month! I was told that I wasn't vaccinated for Hep B, so they needed to vaccinate me with a series of 3 shots in one month. There was a one month waiting period before I could get tested to see if my body created the anti bodies for Hep B. The whole month of October was a waiting game. On a positive note I didn't have to make any trips to Irvine during this time. Although I don't mind the 1-1 1/2 hour trip up and back, it takes up half my day! So now we are now into November, lab work done and I am in the clear! WOOO HOOO!!
Whew! that was a quick 5 months since I began my journey of becoming a surrogate mom. At some points it seemed like time was at a stand still but thinking back, it actually went quicker than I thought. I know this post was a doozy and I started it kind of late in my journey but people have been asking me to document my journey so that they can follow me. So that's why I started my blog today... Come back next week for a blog update!
