Pocket Bebe

I like names that are different, unique… When I was pregnant with our third daughter, we didn’t tell a single person what we were going to name her until after her little splotchy body and cone shaped head had fully arrived (she was beautiful, seriously).  Many people tried to get it out of us, but we kept her name locked up tighter than Fort Knox.  I’ll admit it was a wee bit of fun keeping the secret and having people beg us to tell them.  The reason we had decided to keep her name a secret was because after two previous go-rounds of naming our children, we honestly didn’t want a single person’s opinion.  It was our life, our daughter, our decision.  That didn’t mean we didn’t desire love and support from our family and friends; it was just better for us not to give the opportunity for opinion in this area.

Being true to my unique self, events have transpired in my life leading to my decision to become a gestational surrogate and carry someone else’s child for them.  This is another time in our lives where we desire the love and support of our family and friends, minus any “well meaning” opinion.  Surrogacy is a unique gift and not something everyone would be willing to do.  I don’t and won’t expect everyone to understand how we decided it was right for our family to take on a surrogacy, but I am inviting those in our life to follow us on this journey should they desire to do so.

I’ve decided to blog this surrogacy journey for two main reasons.  One, reason is the gift of genuine authentic relationships. I am so thankful for my immediate family and my many close friends who love me so well and I thank you all for the opportunity of letting me love you in return through marriages, break-ups, baby showers, miscarriages, illnesses, death, and simple everyday life.  I can’t imagine doing life without you all.  The other reason for blogging is we don’t want to forget a single second of this  unique journey.  Time tends to change perspectives either for good or bad; we don’t want to forget how our story unfolded and how we felt at that given moment in time.    

This process started for me in September of 2008 and with the full support of my amazing husband along with a green light from the reproductive endocrinologist, the psychologist, the Christian counselor, and the acupuncturist, we are on our way.  We did not take this decision lightly nor make it in haste – many months were spent in research concerning procedures, medications, physical risks, legal issues, and whatnot.  At this point our oldest two children do, to different extents, know what is going to transpire and with suggestions from the psychologist, I am preparing materials that our family will read and crafts we will create that help explain what surrogacy is and what it will look like between our family and Lucy’s family during and after the process.  

I hope our journey is a one you are willing to read about and take with us.  I hope for humble acceptance from those we love most as we feel this is a journey that God has blessed and put before us, a path we will travel to the very end leaving all the details up to Him.

© Pocketbebe, 2009.