Steps of the Process

There are approximately 5,001 steps in the surrogacy process. I think most people involved in surrogacy would agree that "Hurry up and wait" is the motto of the process. Although it can be a huge test of patience, I'm glad there are so many hoops to jump through because that shows they are selective and want everything to work out well. Here's a run down of the steps through Northwest Surrogacy Center. The steps I've completed are in bold and the date after is when I completed them.

• Fill out initial questionnaire on NWSC website (7/1)
• Receive a call from NWSC representative (7/3)
• Fill out a more in depth Surrogate Questionnaire (7/7)
• Have a phone interview to discuss some of the harder parts of surrogacy- like abortion and selective reduction (7/11)
• In person interview with NWSC reps. Mark had to attend as well. At the interview, we went over the process pretty in depth, talked about our wishes for IPs and signed some more paperwork. (7/14)
• Send NWSC photos of our family for the profile, release my pregnancy medical records to NWSC so they can send them to Oregon Reproductive Medicine (the clinic that will conduct the  IVF cycle), and have my health insurance policy faxed to NWSC.  (All of this was completed by 8/7)
• Psychological evaluation- Mark and myself had to meet with a psychologist to make sure we are mentally stable enough to take this journey. It was very relaxed and layed back. I also had to take a 320+ true/false questionnaire. The psychologist then had to write a report and approve us. (Eval on 8/21, approved 9/5)
• Have ORM review and approve my medical records (9/3)
• Recieve IP profile and decide if you want to move forward with them- we did! (9/8)
• "Meet" the IPs. Our couple lives in France so we will be meeting them through Skype. (9/18)
• Start developing contracts (first draft received 10/10, Final draft signed 10/23)
• Home inspection with a social worker to make sure we don't live in a crack house (10/6)
• Physical evaluation with ORM ( 11/21)
• OB clearance and bloodwork (initial appointment on 11/25 with final results coming in on 12/22)

• Start medication- received med calendar 12/23, started injections 12/29 (birth control started 11/16) 
• Embryo transfer- hopefully the baby/ies stick! (2/2)
• Bam! Pregnant!- (First BETA confirmed pregnancy on 2/11; first ultrasound confirms TWINS! 3/2)
• Carry out the pregnancy
• Deliver

I'm sure there are other steps in there that I'm missing but that's the gist of it. We are very anxious to move onto the next steps!