met with a potential couple

Just a few days after I made my announcement my agent called me (Lauren over at http://www.surrogatesolutions.net/ ) and said there is a couple who will be in my area for the weekend and asked if I was ready to start my search for the perfect couple? I was surprised it was going a bit fast but I'm not sure why I expected this process not to. I asked Laurent to "warn" couple about my crunchy side before they met me so we didn't waste each others time if they weren't willing.

I met with them at their hotel down at Disney and my awesome agent Lauren joined us for coffee. It was great having her there with us to be an ice breaker and to help guide the conversation where it needed to go as far as what we were both looking for in the "ideal surrogate/intended parents" because lets he honest, I have a list of things I wanted from my couple. I want them to be involved with the pregnancy and at the birth, updates after the baby is born,  providing breast milk after is very important to me and I want an out of hospital birth. I also wanted to really love my couple since I was going to be going through something so intimate and personal. I also really wanted a Gay Jewish couple who were home birth friendly but I think I will be searching for years if I get that picky but I did put it out there.

 I was certain this search would take years to find just the right couple so I wasn't optimistic when meeting with my first couple but kept an open mind. When having my first meeting with my agency  I told Lauren that I was doing this because I wanted another pregnancy and the birth I never got to have with my kids, my home birth but birth center was just as good too. She told me that I should hold out for a couple who were open and willing to go along with my plan but I should stay flexible in case I end up with twins or a complication during pregnancy which I was.

The meeting went great although I freaked them out a bit at the end when I asked how they felt about me nursing the baby at birth. I was just seeing what they were comfortable with and where we make boundaries. They were OK with everything else but I told them since we were just having a meet and greet that nothing had to be decided then and there. The IP-intended parents were sweet and seemed like awesome parents to the 20 month old they already had naturally. I expected a couple with no kids so that information surprised me a bit but after hearing their story about an emergency hysterectomy and her almost dieing after birth due to what seems like another unnecessary medical intervention gone horribly wrong but I wasn't there or know enough about it so I'm not going to assume. Anyway, getting off my doula soap box now. There story broke my heart but they are so in love with their adorable daughter so much so that the dad got a bit giddy, pulled out his phone and started showing me photos of her and telling me about her.

 One of my expectations when meeting THE couple for me was to fall in love with them immediately and leave knowing they were the ones for me. I didn't feel that way with them although looking back at that now maybe it was because they were OK borderline unsure of the birth center birth and breast milk but needed to think about it. Lauren and I spoke about my feelings as we walked back to our cars and I asked her to keep looking but felt that this couple was my best option because they wanted to put only 1 egg in at a time to avoid multiples. The best way for me to get my out of hospital birth was to make sure I had a singleton.I do like these IP's. I only met them once though so I can't say I love them yet.

Christmas was very soon so I was not expecting to hear anything from my agency for a while and wasn't sure they even wanted me, I may be willing to do this but lets face it, I am an acquired tase personality wise. You either like me for who I am or you don't so I wasn't expecting them to just fall in love with me either just because i have a womb for rent. I did hear back from my agent a few days ago and they did actually like me and were fine with my "demands". I haven't made any decisions and still want to meet with other couples but we'll see what the future holds....