My Journey As A Surrogate

Two parents are doing everything they can to have a child. While they embark on a whimsical journey to build on their family, they dream about their baby, learn that love has no boundaries, and make the amazing discovery: there are many ways to have a baby. As they learn to see with new eyes, they begin the biggest adventure of their lives into the world of surrogacy –where they must rely on perseverance, courage, and hope to rise above the challenges. Una pareja hace todo lo posible por tener un hijo. Al embarcarse en un caprichoso viaje para ampliar su familia, sueñan con su bebé, aprenden que el amor no tiene fronteras y descubren algo increíble: hay muchas maneras de tener un hijo. A medida que aprenden a ver la realidad con nuevos ojos, comienzan la aventura más grande de sus vidas en el mundo de la subrogación, donde deben apoyarse en la perseverancia, la valentía y la esperanza para superar los desafíos.

The complexity of Surrogacy is arguably made even more so by the very nature of it being a decision many families reach due to the greatest of emotional challenges. There are so many opportunities for things to go wrong, but also the greatest of happy outcomes for so many families too. As a specialist surrogacy lawyer and a surrogate in 2018, Sarah Jefford has observed many surrogacy teams both flourish and struggle, and that has led to this very important book. In order to maximise every potential for things to go well for both intended parents and surrogate mothers, we need to make informed decisions that protect the interests of everyone involved, but most importantly that are in the best interests of the children - those who are already here, and those who will be in the future. If you want to know answers to the questions of how does surrogacy work, and the surrogate mother process, then this book will be your best place to start. But keep it handy throughout the entire process so that as your journey progresses, you will be able to understand the many aspects of surrogate pregnancy, intended parents roles, and each other's vital roles in creating a family together.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Love comes a riveting new narrative about surrogate pregnancy from both sides of the equation—the parents and the gestational carrier. Once considered a desperate, even morally suspect option, surrogacy is now sweeping headlines, transforming the lives of celebrity mothers and fathers like Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman and Elton John, and changing the face of motherhood and the American family. But how much do we really know about it? And is it really as easy and accessible – emotionally, financially, legally and physically – as magazines make it out to be? We often hear about successful outcomes, but little about the journey – about the precious hope that starts it all, the ups and downs of finding a surrogate, the heartache and obstacles, the risks and expenses at every step, or the unbelievable joy when years of determination pay off. In The Baby Chase, acclaimed writer Leslie Morgan Steiner weaves three stories together — of a nurse, a firefighter, and the Indian gestational carriers and doctors who helped them — to provide one intensely personal look at what makes surrogacy so controversial, fascinating, and in some cases, the only ray of hope for today's infertile parents-to-be. Rhonda Wile and her husband Gerry struggled for years with infertility. With perseverance that shocked everyone around them, they tried every procedure and option available – unsuccessfully – until they finally decided to hire a surrogate. While surrogacy was being touted as a miracle for hopeful parents, for Rhonda and Gerry, it seemed an impossible and unaffordable dream. Until they came across the beaming smile of a beautiful Indian woman on the internet... and, within a few short months, embarked on a journey that would take them deep into the emerging world of Indian carriers, international medical tourism, and the global surrogacy community. Moving, page-turning, and meticulously researched, this complex human story is paired with an examination of the issues—religious, legal, medical and emotional—that shapes surrogacy as a solution both imperfect and life-changing.

A deeply personal account of the trials and tribulations of the surrogacy journey! Surrogacy’s been coldly and unjustifiably called “baby buying” and “baby selling” and many states have banned it. But those insensitive terms do not tell the inspiring tale of a couple fiercely wanting to become parents. A Gay Couple’s Experience with Surrogacy: Intended Fathers is the moving true story of a gay couple’s decision to have their child through a surrogate mother. With humor and emotion, the author traces their intense experience from the initial decision to have a child through surrogacy on through the entire pregnancy and birth. A Gay Couple's Journey Through Surrogacy chronicles this couple’s no-holds-barred account of the emotional toll, the legal matters, the financial concerns, and the ultimate fulfillment of parenting a child. A Gay Couple's Journey Through Surrogacy reveals the author’s answers to these questions: why surrogacy over adoption? which type of surrogacy—traditional or gestational? what were the issues when choosing a surrogate? how much does surrogacy cost? what living expenses are included in the cost? what are the emotional and financial reasons that surrogates choose to bear another’s child? what are the pitfalls in choosing surrogacy? what are the legal issues—what to beware and what to consider An excerpt: Before I knew it, I was writing an ad of my own, and I actually posted it. David, of course, had no idea what I was up to. The ad read: “We’re a gay couple in New York that just celebrated our fourteenth anniversary and we’ve decided to extend our family. We’re looking for someone close by and even have a separate apartment available if needed.” Nice, huh? Could it be just a little bit more. . . vague? Could my ad have lacked a little more personality? Sure, have our baby and move right in while you’re doing it! Who the hell would respond to that? I wasn’t even sure after reading it myself that it made any sense. But what should I have said? What could I have said? I scrambled to find a way to delete it, but couldn’t. A Gay Couple's Journey Through Surrogacy is a touching memoir that reveals the challenges that face gay and lesbian couples who may be considering either adoption or surrogacy.

This book is a fascinating personal story that describes from start to finish the journey of a couple based in the U.K. undertaking IVF and surrogacy in the U.S. Written as their story it is also a detailed step by step guide that aims to help those starting out on the road to parenthood via surrogacy. Each chapter is a different step of that journey and it gives the reader an incredibly detailed insight into what to expect along the way. The chapters end with very practical questions and tips that the reader should be asking. This book raises pertinent questions targeted specifically for intended parents to analyse what should be done and when. In highlighting certain issues it enables those embarking on the surrogacy journey to become much more informed about the issues that will come up. Although this book is about two men creating their family in the U.S it actually looks at the thought process and decisions required around IVF and surrogacy. It has been written in a way that anyone considering surrogacy can learn more about the journey and hopefully can gain insights into what to expect. It has been written so that the chapters are virtually stand-alone; if one part is not relevant it can be skipped and the next chapter read. The aims of the book are to demystify surrogacy and to simplify the decision making involved at every step. But the real goal of this book is to help others have a single unbiased reference guide on the whole IVF and surrogacy process.

The real life behind Helen Hunt’s Oscar-nominated performance in The Sessions: “A provocative and unusual book about a provocative and unusual profession” (Booklist). For the past forty years, Cheryl Cohen Greene has worked as a surrogate partner, helping clients to confront and ultimately accept their sexuality. In this riveting memoir, Cohen Greene shares some of her most moving cases, and also reveals her own sexual coming-of-age. Beginning with a rigid Catholic upbringing in the 1950s, where she was taught to think sex and sexual desires were unnatural and wrong, Cohen Greene struggled to reconcile her sexual identity. In the 1960s Sexual Revolution, Cohen Greene found herself drawn to alternative sexual paths, and ultimately achieved a rich and rewarding career as a surrogate partner. Sex surrogacy as a profession was first developed by noted sex researchers Masters and Johnson in the 1960s, and since its inception has remained in the shadows. An Intimate Life offers a candid look into the personal and professional life of a surrogate partner, examining the cultural and emotional ramifications of pursuing something most people consider taboo. The memoir opens with Cohen Greene’s work with Berkeley-based poet and journalist Mark O’Brien, who was confined to an iron lung after contracting polio at age six. His short essay “On Seeing A Sex Surrogate” was adapted into the film The Sessions starring John Hawkes and Helen Hunt as Cheryl T. Cohen Greene.