Setting up my surrogate profile was rather simple. My only wish was that I did not want to transfer multiple embryos at one time. For the rest, I really wanted the experience to be whatever the Intended Parents were hoping for, so I walked into the matching process open minded.
I can’t explain the gasp I gasped with how QUICKLY the NYSC team presented me with a match. It was less than a week after we finalized my profile that I received an email from Joe with the Intended Parents’ profile. I was equally ecstatic and heartbroken to read about them and what led them to surrogacy. It was a sobering reminder of why I’m on this surrogacy journey, but also, so exciting because it seemed like we’d be a great fit for each other.
Once the Intended Parents and I approved each other’s profiles to agree to move forward, my medical records were sent to the IP’s IVF clinic to review. The review took about 2.5 weeks, and then we were ready to have our match meeting.
The match meeting call was way less intimidating than I thought it would be. If you’re nervous, try not to be! Joe facilitated the entire call, and the conversation moved smoothly between the IPs and my husband and me. We found we had a lot of similarities, and I knew from that call that we’d work well together. The IP’s thought the same and we were officially matched! I was then set up with my NYSC Case Manager to go over all the next steps.
Looking back, I was really on the fence about what I wanted the relationship between the IPs and I to look like, but I am so glad the IPs wanted a surrogate who was local to them and wanted to be closer during the process. I have really enjoyed how close the IPs and I have gotten up to this point! The whole experience is very emotional, raw, and personal that having a close relationship with the IPs has been a welcome, unexpected benefit.
From surrogate profile to official match, the matching process took about a month. Next, medical and psych screenings!
