No, you will not have scheduled meetings with the psychologist. If you would like to meet with them during your journey for a specific concern they will be available to you. However, if more consistent care is required they will be happy to provide a professional recommendation for you.
Shannon’s Surrogacy Story
Once again, Shannon made a huge difference in a Couple’s life. But this time, her efforts affected a little boy who wanted a baby sister so much! He got his wish on May 9, 2011 when she arrived weighing 8lb 14oz!!!
Stay tuned to read Dennis’ words about his wife and their surrogacy journey together. Can’t wait!
Where are your Surrogates from?
A majority of our Gestational Carriers are from Southern California. We also work with GCs in other surrogacy friendly states.
Good Friday Brings Great News
Good Friday brought great news for Surrogate Mother, Sheena, and her Couple when their pregnancy was confirmed. This was the second time that Sheena brought such joy to this family. The last time ended with little Tommy’s birth in April 2010! Congratulations to us all!!!
We have several pregnancy tests in May and we are hoping for similar results. Send positive vibes to Tasha, Elaina, Francesca, Shelly and Rosie!! Stay tuned to hear about their news.
Check out the Surrogacy Stories of recent births and read about how Surrogacy saved a mother’s life. It is an amazing story with a beautiful ending, of course! Shannon and Brandi will be delivering in May. Let’s send our well wishes to them and their Couples as they come to the end of this journey and embark on a new one.
Sara’s Surrogacy Story
Surrogacy Saves a Mother’s Life
March 7, 2011 marked the end of Sara’s Couple’s journey to parenthood. It was a day we celebrated for many reasons. The obvious reason was the celebration of their twins’ births as they now had a baby boy and a baby girl to share their lives with; children to teach and bring up with their families’ values and beliefs. This was a dream they had when they came to us and it seemed easy enough since the Intended Mom was so young. She had the misfortune of being born without a uterus (Rokitansky Syndrome) but this in itself should not have prevented her from creating embryos with her husband. To the fertility doctor’s surprise, her response to the medication was poor. It was unexplained. I’m sure many have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility, so you understand the frustration and desperation that came over this Couple. They were determined to get an explanation and began their trek to seek answers. Knowing that this could take months if not years, I approached Sara to give her the option to move on to another Couple who were ready to proceed. She didn’t even hesitate when she gave me her answer. She declared her commitment to her Couple explaining to me that she felt she was meant to be with them, so she couldn’t abandon them.
In the coming months, tests were run and medication was dispensed all in efforts of improving the Intended Mom’s response. Nothing worked. I asked Sara again if she was sure she wanted to wait. She saw gals come and go in Group so I could only imagine she was getting frustrated. Her commitment never wavered. She assured me she was fine and wanted to continue waiting. Then finally, a doctor suggested an MRI. There wasn’t an indication for it necessarily, but at this rate, they were running out of options. A tumor was detected. She had no symptoms that are typically related with this type of tumor and she was so fortunate it was found at this stage. Not only did this explain her poor response to the fertility meds, but detecting it at this stage saved her life! It was something that was treatable and after several more months she was deemed healthy and able to proceed with building her family! All the while, Sara and her family were by their sides cheering them on to success.
I met this special Couple on March 8, 2008 and three years later, almost to the day, Sara succeeded in completing her mission of becoming a Surrogate Mother and made the dreams of her Couple come true when she delivered a beautiful baby girl weighing 5lb 1oz and a baby boy weighing 5lb 5oz.
Where do your Intended Parents come from?
Literally all over the world! We have had couples here in Southern California, throughout the United States, and Europe, South America, and Australia.
Keeping the Faith
I just said goodbye to the latest addition to the Building Families family. Little Luke is on his way home with his parents to start their new lives together. Every time we get to this point, I reflect on our journey. We reminisce about the fun times and we recall the difficult ones. This Couple decided 5 years ago that they would join Building Families. The first two years were spent doing all things necessary to join the program and then the trials began. They had 3 Surrogate Mothers before their dream would be realized. This is so unusual as most of you know. It isn’t supposed to be that hard once you reach us. But for some Couples it is. I am a woman of faith so I believe in the bigger plan. In my 20 years I have learned to pray for the wisdom and strength to help everyone through whatever is to come. Sometimes the reasons are revealed but other times we never know why it didn’t work or why there was so much difficulty. I remember a young potential Surrogate Mom applying to the Program. She was referred by another Surrogate Mom in the Program so I knew she would be great. She hadn’t had her annual physical exam done in years, so I told her it would need to be done before we could proceed. It is a routine exam, so what could happen with someone so young? Well, long story short, she was eventually diagnosed with cervical cancer and at less than 25 years of age she had to have a hysterectomy! We talked about it and she wouldn’t have gone to the doctor when she did if we hadn’t required it. She would have eventually, of course, but by then it may have been too late. You look at this and think how her wanting to be a Surrogate Mom actually saved her life. I told her friend, our Surrogate Mom, that there was a reason that she approached her to become a Surrogate Mother, just not the reason she thought. Which leads us back to little Luke. We may never know why his arrival was delayed for years, but he is here now and his new parents are extremely grateful. I can only imagine that there were times when they questioned if they should quit this journey, but somehow they managed to gather the strength to continue. And of course, we are all so happy they did!!
Ramona’s Surrogacy Story
Off Schedule
Ramona is a mother to five children and every baby she delivered arrived right on schedule. There was no reason to think this birth would be any different. Her own mother and father were so sure that they decided to take a trip to Las Vegas just days before she was due. They believed they had plenty of time to get back to share in the joy of this new baby’s arrival. But, to everyone’s surprise, Ramona’s water broke at her last doctor’s appointment so the date was set and it was not her duedate. She delivered a gorgeous baby boy weighing a perfect 7lb 14oz on February 10, 2011! After telling her mom on the phone that she had delivered already, her Dad began cheering in the background. I’m sure everyone thought he hit the jackpot. But the winners were this Couple who finally were blessed with the family they deserved.
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Webinars!
Hello Everyone,
I just finished my second Webinar! It was exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I have never done anything like that before. But it really felt good to be able to provide information for Couples wanting to understand more about why surrogacy costs so much and what traits make a good Surrogate Mother! Having worked with wonderful Surrogate Moms for 20 years now, it wasn’t that difficult putting that Webinar together! The presentations have been uploaded to the website so check them out and please tell me your thoughts. Honestly, I want to know!!
Happy New Year Everyone and God’s Blessings,
Carol
What Qualities Make a Good Surrogate?
We took our webinar and combined it with some common questions we’ve answered in our Who Makes a Good Surrogate article. Make sure to check it out!
Learn what qualities are critical when choosing the woman that will carry your baby.
Hello and welcome to our webinar, “What Qualities Make a Good Surrogate?” My name is Carol Weathers and I am the founder and program director for Building Families, I have been involved in surrogacy arrangements for 30 years now. In that time, I have met hundreds of women who wanted to become Surrogates and have managed several hundred successful arrangements. I expect that by the end of this webinar, you will have a better understanding of what qualities are important when choosing your Surrogate and also give you some new things to consider.
Please understand that my role here today is not to dispense legal, medical or even psychological advice as I am neither a lawyer, doctor or a psychologist. The information I am providing you here today comes from my many years of experience. It may seem like some of these topics are common sense or that it shouldn’t be necessary to inquire about them, but trust me when I tell you that they are all key to ensuring the Surrogate is a good candidate, which ultimately can bring your arrangement to a successful end.