Overwhelmed

Two days ago, I finally shared the blog I'd been working on making pretty for two weeks now (damn you HTML and your nonsense codes).  The idea of gestational surrogacy was one that my husband and I discussed privately many times before sharing the information with an extremely small group of family and friends. So putting it all out there on Facebook this week was a big step. I was prepared for phone calls, texts, and comments of all types...shock, confusion, well wishes, and sadly, even a few negative, judgmental comments. (I may have had an arsenal of words ready for that particular group...) ;)

What I wasn't prepared for is the outpouring of support, compliments and praise. When the Facebook notifications started popping up, I was expecting a few comments like this: "Wha?!?!?!" I did NOT expect the ones like this: "I am so proud of you!! What an amazing and selfless act of kindness." Those are the words that appeared over and over.... PROUD.... AMAZING.... SELFLESS.... and so now my word back to you is OVERWHELMED! I don't even know what to say. Thank you all for your support and kind words. It's hard to wrap my head around the compliments, because I'm not focused on what I'm doing. I'm focused on what someone else will get out this!

Fact:  There are loving couples in this world who need help to have a baby.

Fact:  My body happens to handle pregnancy and childbirth pretty well.

Fact:  I am a mother who wants my children to grow up in a world where the rights of everyone are protected, and freedom is denied to no one.

Fact:  I will do whatever I can to speak up or lend a helping hand (or uterus) to the people who are facing inequality.

So here's where I am right now in this application process. I have made it through the loooong pre-screening questionnaire on the agency's website (more about that in another post) and was accepted less than 24 hours later. My medical records from my previous pregnancies have been requested, and apparently are taking a little longer than usual become some of them are in storage (I guess that's to be expected when you request information from 10 years ago!). Once my medical records have all been received and reviewed by an IVF doctor, I will officially move on to the next phase of the process, which will include a psychological assessment and an interview with a social worker, for both myself and my husband. I'm excited for things to start moving along again!

Oh, and P.S. If I just totally jinxed myself by stating that my body handles pregnancy and childbirth well, I take it back!! :)