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Back The Surrogate Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Part One
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Part Two
  39. Thirty-Four
  40. Thirty-Five
  41. Thirty-Six
  42. Thirty-Seven
  43. Thirty-Eight
  44. Thirty-Nine
  45. Forty
  46. Forty-One
  47. Forty-Two
  48. Forty-Three
  49. Forty-Four
  50. Forty-Five
  51. Forty-Six
  52. Forty-Seven
  53. Forty-Eight
  54. Forty-Nine
  55. Fifty
  56. Fifty-One
  57. Part Three
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Acknowledgments
  64. About the Author
  65. About the Publisher

And the whole question of how we got our child, and the underlying topic of infertility. Was I afraid of their reactions? Their opinions about surrogacy? Not afraid, but I dreaded what they might do, like blurt out questions or give me well-meaning advice. And were they secretly judging me, talking behind my back? Did they think I was too old to become a mother? It was none of their business, and perhaps my fears were exaggerated, but those were the things I thought about. Eventually, of course, I had to tell the team. We had to work out coverage and communication. We had to address the calendar and deadlines, reassign responsibilities while I’d be out. I was a workaholic. I loved my work.

In fact, I had an idea for a story I wanted to do. I’d been gathering sources and jotting down thoughts as our journey progressed. The concept was a woman’s need to be productive, her need to be valued as a contributor to society, compared against the options available to her, especially without an education. I’d noticed that many of the surrogates I’d researched were relatively uneducated or unskilled, which limited their options in our society, for many reasons. But with surrogacy, young, healthy women could earn good pay and step into a powerful, impactful role: carrying a child for another family. There were great physical (and emotional) risks involved, and the area was poorly regulated. Surrogates were rather poorly protected, I thought. I wondered what led women to take such risks. Someday, when this was over, I thought I’d interview Cally about it. I wanted to check out my instincts on the topic.

I often sat in the empty nursery with my journal and made notes about my stories, lists of questions to ask. The baby was almost here, and I’d have to find another place of inspiration. Hal was supposed to hang the mini-blinds, but he kept putting it off. He acted like we had all the time in the world, but I knew how to work a deadline. He played the experience card a bit more than I appreciated. He’d been through this all before, he kept reminding me, and the nursery would be fine. None of this was new to him.