The match was official and we were all ready for medical & psychological screening. Honestly, I wasn’t too worried about what to expect. I am a huge advocate for counseling and therapy just to maintain a healthy mental state. However, I was nervous about actually completing a psych evaluation for the first time with my spouse. Let’s be honest, we are a lot more open and honest when it’s just yourself and the therapist.
It took no time to get scheduled for the psych evaluation. This eased the process with eliminating the worrying while waiting. Our session was via “Zoom.” She was very pleasant to talk with and accommodating to my schedule. She was very open and helpful when answering any questions I had. There was several forms to complete prior to our session. I feel this moved the process and ease of the session along quite well. We reviewed together and had conversations around some of the questions that were included on the forms. Some information I provided was never mentioned. All and all it felt good to be able to have that opportunity to express myself and reasons behind why I want to be a surrogate.
The psych screening with my IP was a lot more thorough than I anticipated. Some of the questions were very basic, and others were more intimate. So many questions allowing her to assess me, know me and trust me. Trust that I am fully aware of the magnitude this journey I’m embarking on brings, and that I fully understand and accept the potential emotional impacts associated with it. Support each other after all is one of the most important aspects of this journey. I felt that she was able to ask the right questions in order for us to connect on that level.
Getting medical clearance was probably the easiest part of the process for me. I was up to date on everything and very familiar with my doctor. Since my physical and pap with my OB was already completed for the year, I was able to request the records and send them right over for approval. Next would be getting the saline sonohysterogram (SHG) done. This process was not so easy. I was originally told by the local hospital they could do it and to just come to admissions with the order the day I needed it done. Only later to find out they in fact did not do SHG. That was devastating to hear because now I had to wait another month for my cycle in order to have it done. Joe and his team were great at finding me a clinic that could do it close to my home. I was able to get scheduled for the following month with no problems.
