In October of 2012 I gave birth to my 3rd child. I already had a 6 year old and 1 year old… I was done having my own but loved being pregnant and so the journey began!

I contacted Sally in March via email at Surrogacy in Canada Online and was told to fill out the form (a very long form!) and she would call me for a consult. Two days later she called and welcomed me to her surrogacy program and that my profile would be put up for the IP’s ( intended parents) to see.

It was a weekend so I only had a couple people message but one stood out, they were close and very forward in their email and online profile (no beating around the bush) and I liked that. I thought these were the ones! And as I sent my email back I got butterflies, these might be the ones!

We emailed back and forth and we had a phone conversation one night that lasted 2 hours. The time flew and it felt like a long lost friend I had reconnected with. It would take a meeting and another week but on April 8th we said our I Dos to matching.

Our screening appointments and contracts went very quick, and June was the transfer month. I was doing a natural cycle where they used my own natural cycle to build a lining to get me ready for their embryo, but I had to be very careful! Because I never had drugs I still ovulated and even though we didn’t need my egg, I could still have become pregnant with my own :/.

July was exciting with a positive pregnancy test, and we were all very excited. Every 3 weeks we went in for ultrasounds to check on baby. 6 weeks great! 9 weeks great! Our last appointment in September at 12 weeks 5 days was exciting, we were leaving the clinic and onto a midwife. They brought us in started and created a file. As I looked on the screen it did not look like a 13 week baby :(. I had to tell my IPs and prepare them for the bad news, and as the doctor and tech came in, it was confirmed, their baby had no heartbeat. I felt like a failure.

My IPs were amazing they wanted me to rest and if I was ready they wanted to try again, they trusted my body could carry to the end and it made me excited to try again! But during the miscarriage I hemmoraged and ended up in the hospital for 24 hours. Again my IPs concern for my health was the first and most important.

In November we tried another cycle and because of the blood loss we had some problems getting my lining thick enough. It was a failed cycle as my body didn’t want to do it, lining must be over .7 I was around .5. We all decided I would try drugs to get my body ready the next time but it didn’t like the drugs and had the opposite reaction by shutting down, another failed cycle.

December, January, February, all ended in not having enough lining but in March we had a sign things were getting better and tried a transfer of their embryos… it did not work. Again they hoped I would continue and try another cycle, and in April we were pregnant again!

It was very nerve wracking for the first 12 weeks, but every appointment went amazing, 6,8,10,12 weeks all were beautiful and then we got released to the midwives with a perfect bill of health for everyone. 4months, 5months, 6months, 7 months, 8months, then 9months. They went by very fast with lots of appointments and get togethers. We also found out they were having a little girl. As they prepared to welcome their girl I saw so much joy and excitement for the whole family, this is what surrogacy is about!

At 39 weeks we had an appointment and I got a stretch to try and bring on labour. All day I cramped and at 5pm I had a blur in my eye, I thought that’s funny. So I called the midwives and during the phone call I had 2 small contractions and they asked if I was in labour, I assured them I was not. Off to the hospital I went to get checked out to make sure my eye wasn’t blood pressure related.

My husband and I parked at the hospital and started towards the hospital doors then I heard a pop and then felt fluid running down my legs, Oh My ! My water broke 10 seconds after getting out of the car. I called my IP’s and they were already half way to the hospital because they were worried about my eye issues and wanted to be with me.

On December 29th at 6pm my water broke and by 7:30pm my IP’s, doula, photographer, and midwives were all waiting to see baby girl into the world.
At 8pm contractions picked up and it was starting to get painful, but I kept going strong. 8:20pm I was ready to push and so I did but something wasn’t right, it was taking too long, and I had a panic moment she was stuck! My midwives said she was fine and ordered me to keep going.

At 8:48pm the first natural cycle baby for Surrogacy in Canada Online was born. Baby C was born into her mom’s arms at 7lbs 15oz and sunny side up (why she took so long!) We all left the hospital at midnight, I got to sleep in my comfortable bed and my IPs got to take their newborn girl home for their first night as mom and dad.

I ended up with complications and had a blood clot in my lungs (pulmonary embolism) and needed shots to get rid of it. I also had to retire as a surrogate even though my IPs and I wanted to give baby C a sibling.

In the end it was a great two years with lots of awesome memories, and a friendship connected in a special way for life.