Well, when surrogacy was first around I believe most if not all surrogates were Traditional Surrogates. The surrogate would use her own eggs combined with sperm from the Intended Father to produce a baby for the couple to raise as their own. Technically the child was in part their own, thanks to the fathers contribution, but the child was also genetically related to the Surrogate. There are still Traditional Surrogates today. Sometimes an infertile couple needs an egg donor AND a surrogate. A Traditional Surrogate acts as both. I think it is very admirable, but I don't think it is for everybody.
So then, what is a Gestational Surrogate? Well that would be surrogates like me. I have carried babies for infertile couples using their embryos. Sometimes the embryo was made up of the mother and father's genetics, sometimes an egg donor was involved. Either way, I was only a carrier for the baby(s). I was in no way genetically tied to or related to the baby(s). I was just the stork. I was an organ donor, donating my uterus, nothing else.
When I went to my medical screening awhile back (for my current surrogacy journey), I took some things to keep me busy on the plane and at the airport. Among those things was a book titled My Egg, My Womb, Your Baby! by Dawn Marmorstein. I was so excited to read a book about surrogacy while I was starting another surrogacy of my own.
Dawn has been a Traditional Surrogate three times. I was very curious to read how different her story would be compared to my own surrogacy experiences. In some ways, it was very different, but the feelings involved were very much the same. It all comes down to helping couples become parents.
"Dawn enjoyed being pregnant so much when she carried her own children that she decided she wanted to help others who were unable to create their own family. After doing some research, Dawn decided that she wanted to become a Traditional Surrogate mother -- both egg donor and surrogate mother -- who would be genetically related to the surrobaby she carried who ultimately destined to be given to another family. while modernly, most surrogacies are gestational surrogacies, where there is a separate egg donor who provides the egg for the carrying surrogate mother, Dawn's journey with traditional surrogacy created three babies related to her, each with her knowledge and consent that two would given to two separate same sex recipients, and one would go to a traditionally married couple.
I thought to myself," I could carry someone else's baby!"
It did not take me long to read the book. I got caught up in each experience she wrote about. It was so interesting to read all the similarities as well as the differences between traditional and gestational surrogacy. I thought it was really neat that Dawn and I had a lot in common. We both stumbled upon surrogacy on the internet, we both got a self-esteem boost and felt our sexiest when pregnant. We are both on our 4th surrogacy journeys.
She had plenty of ups and downs between different hospitals and agencies. At one point she was accused of having an affair with the baby's father. Dawn eventually decided to start up her own agency, Los Angeles Surrogacy Center.
Dawn's writing is real and raw. It is a wonderful look inside the surrogacy world. You should definitely read this book. You will not want to put it down.
Learn more about Dawn, her agency and her book below.
Buy My Egg, My Womb, Your Baby! on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1479121193/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_6SRMqb0RKGAN5
On Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/213653
Facebook Pages:
http://www.facebook.com/myeggmywombyourbaby
http://www.facebook.com/lasurrocenter
Dawn's website:
http://www.dawnmarmorstein.com/
Dawn's Surrogacy Blog:
http://surrobaby4.blogspot.com/
*Disclaimer- Dawn and I exchanged books about surrogacy for review. Read her review about my book here: http://www.mommylovestalking.com/2012/10/book-review-once-upon-surrogate-storks.html
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