A blog about mom life and surrogacy.

Classic Virgin Mojito Mocktail: Refreshing, Easy & Family-Friendly

Postpartum Boudoir – Celebrating Your Body After Baby

My surrogate birth story! Baby girl was born at exactly 40 weeks on her due date July 26th. I went in for induction on Tuesday and she wasn’t actually born until Friday! So it was a very long hospital stay for me and the mama. My body wasn’t responding to the induction medication, so they finally just broke my water to get things going. She came out perfect at 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Her mom was next to me the whole labor and cut the umbilical cord. To date, still one of my favorite memories!

Check out my featured article on Messy Like a Mother blog!

"When I started working in surrogacy, I had no prior professional experience in the fertility world. With that being said, I personally knew women who had suffered from infertility and really struggled with getting pregnant. I knew how much I cherished being a mother, and the idea of helping others really intrigued me.

Fast forward a couple of years, and the idea of becoming a gestational surrogate myself started to grow on me. I had seen first-hand so many sweet connections between surrogates and the parents they helped. Many of them became lifelong friends, even considering them members of their family. Being a woman who is lucky enough to have high fertility and experienced healthy pregnancies, I was a great candidate to be a surrogate.

My surrogacy agency matched me with a single woman who could not get pregnant on her own. While I was open to helping anyone have a baby, I really liked the idea of one woman helping another woman become a mother."

Read the entire article here:

On May 11, 2023 I was officially Medically Cleared for my surrogacy journey!

It initially took a minute for me to get the official green light to move forward, because my iron levels were a little low.

After 30 days of prenatal and iron supplements, I did a second round of blood tests and voilà, I had all the right numbers.

We are now in the process of legal clearance.

A little Monday Motivation.

Don't wait for things to get easier,

simpler,

better.

Life will always be complicated.

Learn to be happy right now.

Otherwise, you'll run out of time.

New on the blog! A Complete Guide to the Surrogacy Medical Screening Process. In this blog post you'll find an outline with everything you can expect to happen during your medical screening visit to the fertility clinic. Including how to prepare for the process.

I am happy to report that nothing painful happens during this visit, just a little needle prick from a blood draw. The ultrasound and hysteroscopy are similar to a regular OB appointment, and are not painful.

In my opinion, many surrogacy agencies and clinics do not educate the surrogates enough on the process of medical screening. For my own medical screening, I had to seek out information from industry peers to help fill in the gaps I didn't know. Hence this guide was born.

A couple months ago I was driving to a friend’s house to stay for the weekend, and I literally followed this full arch rainbow all the way to her cabin.

Happy Pride Month! 

I'm enjoying all those summer moments with my kids before my upcoming surrogacy embryo transfer. I won't be able to ride rollercoasters with a baby bump, so gotta get in all the thrills while I can!

Surrogacy is one of those rare occurrences when you can truly make money doing something you love, all the while making someone's parenting dream come true. Talk about win-win!

Talking about my surrogacy medical screening travel eats... part two! In order to be approved as a surrogate, most women must travel to their fertility clinic for medical screening. The travel is all paid for by the parents, and includes a per diem food budget.

As a surrogacy industry professional, I have many times been posed the question: “Why don’t parents just adopt instead of using surrogacy to have children?”

Opponents to surrogacy often feel that adoption is the “best way” to build your family if you are unable to conceive yourself. I believe that there are many amazing ways to build a family, and no one should be telling other people what is the correct way for them. Adoption is a great option for some parents, while others feel that natural conception or surrogacy is right for them.

In this guide I outline some of the pro-surrogacy arguments I have heard from intended parents, and hopefully give open minded readers the chance to hear another side of the story.

Let’s talk about surrogacy travel per diem… because hey, a girl’s gotta eat! 

During my medical screening travels I spent the day in Las Vegas. I had two meals, breakfast and then lunch with the agency case managers. 

I did my research beforehand and I found Cafe Lola, which is very Instagrammable and cute. The food is fresh and light, great for traveling!

My pro tip is to research ahead of time and find food options within your per diem budget that are actually fun and delicious. All surrogacy agencies will provide you with a daily food budget, mine was $50 a day.

I know we are traveling for a purpose, but I like to make a little mini vacation out of it. Don’t end up eating whatever airport food you find, plan ahead a little bit to maximize your travel experience!