So far in what I call ‘phase two’ I have had my psychological clearance and have almost completed my medical clearance. The medical/psychological clearance only took about one month to complete.
The psychological clearance wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It started with 344 questionnaires that I had to take online. After that I scheduled a zoom meeting with the psychologist. This meeting was about an hour and a half and then another hour and a half with the intended parents. The psychologist watched our interaction and asked questions about our expectations, wants, and needs throughout the surrogacy process.
The start of the medical clearance was a little strange. It starts with having to message a bunch of people when my period arrives. Which now I understand the reason why. Once you move on to the embryo transfer the transfer needs to happen at a certain time in your cycle and timing is everything when it comes to surrogacy.
Of course, it felt like my period took forever to finally happen. I know that everyone was waiting for it to start and was getting anxious about it. When it finally came, I sent out an email and immediately had two appointments scheduled. One from a week later to get blood work completed and a second the day after to receive an ultrasound. Since I was matched with my intended parents both trips out to the center are paid for.
One thing that I have learned so far is that I do not know enough about my body and how an actual baby is made. Luckily, everyone that I have come in contact with so far has been very “step by step” with every appointment/test that I need to take and has been taking the time to explain why something is being done.
