Carmen Ventura began thinking about the possibility of being a gestational carrier after seeing an ad on social media. After all, Carmen loved being pregnant and had a 2-yearold son and 5-year-old daughter of her own.
She spoke with her husband, friends, parents and in-laws about the possibility of becoming a gestational carrier — a woman who carries and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple, but who is not genetically related to the child. With their full support and working with Compassionate Beginnings, an Ohio-based egg donor and surrogacy agency, Carmen decided to pursue providing this wonderful gift to another couple.
Starting the Journey
A gestational carrier takes oral medication to prepare her uterus, and then an embryo — created from the intended parents’ egg and sperm — is implanted in her uterus through a transfer process at a fertility center. She has no genetic ties to the baby; the gestational carrier simply carries the pregnancy.
While Carmen’s son accepted his mother’s growing belly with ease, her daughter was a bit more inquisitive. She read them books that explained the surrogacy experience in a way that was easy for children to understand, but what really helped her 5-year-old understand the process was meeting the intended parents and being able to match an actual family with what was happening.
Medically, being a gestational carrier was just as Carmen expected. What she didn’t expect, however, was how naturally her relationship with the intended mom, Jess, developed — or how the intended couple would become such an important part of the lives of Carmen and her family.
A Joyful Ending
Carmen was induced at 39 weeks, a common practice for gestational carriers so that everyone can plan to be present for the delivery. Carmen and her husband had decided ahead of time that they were comfortable with the intended parents being in the delivery room. The hospital allowed the intended parents to have an adjacent room, so once the baby was delivered and everyone got to see him, he was taken to the next room for the new family to have time to bond.
After a well-deserved rest, Carmen was released from the hospital 30 hours later — a typical timeline for gestational carriers when the pregnancy and delivery are complication-free. This is because most carriers prefer to recover at home with their own family.
One of the main questions Carmen was asked during this process was, “How are you going to be able to give this baby away?”
Since she was not genetically attached to the baby and her job was to be the strong vessel to bring this baby to his rightful family, Carmen said it was not hard to see the baby and not take him home.
“It was so great to see the joy in the intended parents’ faces, and I was ready to be home with my own family,” she said. “I was fully satisfied, and my job was complete.”
For more information about gestational carriers, contact Compassionate Beginnings at [email protected] or 513-490-0333, or visit compassionatebeginnings.com.
