Today was a long day, but for good reason. We arrived at REACH this morning around 9:15 am for our day full of appointments with our surrogate (gestational carrier) and her husband – aka, my cousin Kristen Broome. So it’s official, our “surrogate” has a name! A lot of people already know, being that this info has been plastered everywhere from the Charlotte Observer to Fox News. However, we had never officially given her name. So here we are, jumping into this process head first!

We decided to continue our IVF treatment at REACH for several reasons, one of them being the ability to finance. While we we adamant to avoid this, there is no feasible way to write a check for the entire amount due (IVF alone is around 20k) by July. So, to remove some of the pressure, we decided to get a loan for the amount we need and make payments using the money we have raised (and then some, if we need to). It will be hard to have the monthly payments with me still being in school full time, but we are counting on our fabulous fundraising abilities to carry us through the fall when we apply for 501(c)(3) status (nonprofit).

Emotionally, I am still on the same roller-coaster that I’ve been riding for the past 5 months; but there seem to be more “ups” than “downs” in the near future. I am ecstatic to finally anticipate something tangible; our baby is trulynot that faraway! I can look forward to a lot in the next year, but I also know that there will be many hard times as well. Not feeling my own baby’s first kick, not experiencing the “glow” of pregnancy (although my previous pregnancy was quite rough from the get-go), and worst of all – not knowing the feeling of delivering my baby from my own body. A lot of people tell me, “this is the way to go! None of the hard parts, and you still get a baby!”. True, but I would give up the “ease” of having a surrogate carry for me if it meant I could carry and deliver my own child like most women. Oh well, this is the route we have to take; and because I know at the end of this particular path is a baby for us, I will smile the whole way.

For more information about our fertility clinic, please visit them at www.NorthCarolinaFertility.com