Happily Ever After

If you asked me six years ago, would I be having a baby through surrogacy and egg donation on the other side of the world I would have laughed! Absolutely unachievable! The stuff of a Hollywood movie, not something that happens to “everyday people” like my husband and I; but as I sit here looking at the angelic face of my miracle baby girl, I know that whilst I’m not in a Hollywood movie, I certainly did get my “happily ever after”.

Like all good stories, the path to happiness has not been easy. In fact, it was extremely difficult: full of grief, financial hardship, marital stress and even an international war. You see our journey involved recurrent miscarriages, my own personal health issues which culminated in a hysterectomy and attempting surrogacy in multiple countries before finally becoming parents.

I still remember the meeting I had in the Chachava Clinic office where I was told by our Coordinator that we would be successful, and we would have a child. But I couldn’t believe it. Even though I had flown half-way around the world for this meeting, it still seemed unachievable: something that happened to other people but not to us. After all it had been so many years, dollars and heart ache… why was this going to be any different?

When you are new to the world of surrogacy, especially coming with your own personal fertility or health issues that have led you to this point, it really can seem beyond reach. But with a good clinic and a supportive community of other intended parents, international surrogacy is not just something to dream about, it can and does become reality for intended parents every day.

I wish that our research and path had led us to Georgia, and more specifically Chachava, sooner. I wish we had not had to go through all we did. But I also know that if we didn’t follow the exact path we did and take all of those “wrong” twists and turns… well we might have had a baby, but it wouldn’t be the perfect little girl that I hold in my arms now. Everything that needed to happen to have our daughter happened.

Whilst I can’t go back in time and make our journey any easier, I do hope that other Intended Parents have a smoother journey to parenthood than we did. I hope that they discover Georgia and Chachava sooner than we did, and that they can get their “happily ever after” too.

Christine, Australia