Our Surrogates Group Made Surrogacy Much Easier for Single Mothers
A couple of years ago one of the moms I see at school became a Surrogate and was very open about it. As we picked up our kids she would talk about the money she was making and how she was helping another family have what we all had, kids. It sounded great but, I know from when my kids were born, that an expectant mother needs support and help and I wasn’t in a position to go through a pregnancy alone.
Although the money would be really nice, especially now that I’m single. A couple of us single mothers were talking about it one day, how hard it was to even get out to a medical appointment. At this point our Surrogate friend pointed out that we would have enough money to stay home with our kids if we were Surrogates and could help each other out.
That got all of us thinking and talking, if we did it roughly at the same time we would have the time to support each other. Eventually six of us visited Physician’s Surrogacy, the agency our friend was a Surrogate for, and took the medical exam. Four of us passed and our friend got $1,000 for each of us when we signed up as a referral fee.
All four of us were matched with Intended Parents within three months so we weren’t all due to give birth at the same time. The $40,000 we each made as first time Surrogates supported our families for the year so we were all able to stay home with the kids. This is a great work at home job because you still have time for everything else in your life.
Anyway, just like we discussed, we helped each other out with baby sitting, rides, and somebody to talk to. We even took the kids to do fun things as a group, something most of us couldn’t afford or didn’t have the time for before.
The staff at the surrogacy agency was also very supportive of us and are families and had a lot of great suggestions about how to manage things. However, it was our Surrogate group from the neighborhood that made it work well. We made plans for when we went into labor, things like who would drive and who would watch the kids. Just knowing that was in place made me feel better. I’m not saying it all went off perfectly, nothing does, but it worked and we are a tight group now.
When we talk to others about surrogacy we always tell them about our group and how it really helps. The $1,000 we get as a referral fee when someone we talk to does sign up is great too, we put part of the money in a “vacation fund” for our group adventures. Our group has just started talking about doing it again.
—V.C., Santee, CA
