Intended Parent from Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Explain your reasons for wanting a surrogate/donor:
During the fertility process, I learned that I would not be able to carry a baby. I was heart-broken but was not deterred. So, with 10 rounds of fertility treatments later (yep, it was a lot!), we have 2 PGT-A tested embryos. Aware of our struggles, a good friend of ours made a generous offer to be our surrogate. Our hopes were high, but unfortunately due to health issues of her own, she was unable to complete that process. We will always be grateful to her but are now again looking for a new GC to help us grow our family.
How would you best describe yourself(s):
I’m Melissa. Prior to the pandemic, I finally decided to no longer wait to find "my someone" and begin my fertility treatment journey. And as it happens, I met my husband-to-be, Gary, less than a year later. Life has a funny way of surprising you when you least expect it! We both realized pretty quickly that we had found our person and my journey to have a child quickly became our journey, together. Gary is a veteran and owns an insurance brokerage and I’m an artist but also help run an industrial machine shop. Most days you can find us tending to our urban homestead (i.e. chickens and garden in the city), working on home renovations, and exploring Richmond. You can find us at the farmers market most Saturday mornings picking up the staples and looking for fun ingredients as I’m always experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. In addition to the chickens, we have 2 dogs and foster for a local dog rescue from time to time. Gary has 2 children (17 and 19) that are a huge part of our lives and are constantly asking when we are finally going to have our baby. It’s our dream to be able to give them an actual due date one day soon!
Use this space to communicate a letter to potential Surrogates/Donors:
We are looking for a surrogate/GC, 21-35 years old, who has had at least 1 successful pregnancy and delivery in the past and is a non-smoker, in good health, healthy height-to-weight ratio, etc. We live in Richmond, VA so someone on the East Coast would be ideal but are open to other States as well. There will be lots of other details to discuss along the way, but we’d like to start here.