Today I took my 6-month-old to his first swimming lesson!
This time last year I was praying daily that everything would stick with the pregnancy that was still in its very early stages.
The too many years before that, blended into hope, praying, hurt that you can’t ever describe, miscarriages, finances, and physical, mental, and excruciating emotional turmoil.
And then came Tamari and Global Surrogacy Consulting! In my desperate research, we happened upon Growing Families and were introduced to a few agencies across the world AND then … Tamari from Global Surrogacy Consulting. I hung up from our online meeting (my husband was working overseas at the time on FIFO) and immediately felt immense relief. If there was someone who was going to help me get over the pain of being told I couldn’t have children – it was Tamari! We jumped in and between GSC and Growing Families, our embryos in existence were flown to Argentina – a relatively new land for Surrogacy!
We waited impatiently, as everyone does for a surrogate match and it came Christmas Eve. We only met with one surrogate online, despite having three lined up, and well if I could have reached through the line and kissed her I would have. She was fantastic and we felt blessed. But ‘blessed’ seems innocuous when she fell pregnant on her third transfer. After the second failed transfer, I was sure the universe was out to get us but Tamari kept me mentally upbeat, and well I don’t think my husband and I will ever forget in the early morning hours of August 8th, 2023 being told that the third transfer had stuck. We didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. And well… I am not sure what I did for the first 12 weeks after that.
Every day, I walked the oval at work (I am a school Principal) and mentally visualized this baby. I prayed hard and to be honest, I sat in a bit of disbelief – because when you are in our position, and if you are reading this – you’ve probably endured so much terrible heartache, sometimes you trick yourself into thinking that the Universe is just going to continually work against you. Something was going to go wrong… At some stage!
But it didn’t! And we boarded our plane completely naive to what was going to occur, a bit excited and a bit scared… We missed a flight due to a late landing and arrived in Buenos Aires late. We were picked up and taken straight to the hospital. Our beautiful – and I mean the most beautiful baby boy was born about 30 minutes later. Alive, physically perfect (a little bit of distressed labor that led to an emergency cesarean and a couple of anxious moments in the delivery room…) but we were handed a real-life baby – that we could call ours! When I look back at the photos, I think both my husband and I were in a state of happy disbelief.
Hamish had to stay in the neonatal ward for 2 weeks due to some concerns. However, the Sanatorio Otamendi was amazing, the staff were professional and our bub’s nurses were just beautiful. Our surrogate was well looked after and headed home with much love and hugs a couple of days later.
We were unfortunately caught up in legal issues in BA and Hamish’s birth certificate was withheld from us. He/ we were the longest-waiting family in the Civil Registry waiting, waiting, waiting… GSC sent two lawyers over to support us and other intended parents within the GSC wing from Georgia – for which we were so grateful for. Luka and Tamuna were professional, respectful, and now people who left an indent in our lives that will forever hold great memories. Camilla, the ‘pocket rocket’ translator would find every way to help us, shadowing us at the drop of a hat to negotiate vaccinations and visiting the Civil Registry to speak to lawyers. No other agency did this and other intended parents in BA were gob smacked that our agency was so proactive.
In a nutshell – we always felt incredibly supported by GSC even though we were going through the most insanely frustrating time. Our bub didn’t have any identity. We couldn’t leave to go back to our own country and this was actually incredibly stressful and I never want to experience this again. For myself and my husband, the hurt of our families not being able to enjoy Hamish’s early days and months is immeasurable. We will never get that back.
We are now home. With the most beautiful baby in the world. Our love for him cannot be explained because I don’t believe we can get over how amazed we are to have him! He is the funniest, happiest little Argentinian/Australian. Our lives have been enriched by a crazy situation that allowed us to meet and love a host of people who came into our lives and continue to stay in our hearts. Luka and Tamuna, Camilla and Tamari – Words will never thank you for your support in taking both Tim and my lives to a new level of love with Hamish and life!
Our surrogate will remain forever an important part of our and our son’s lives. We are lucky enough to have a great relationship with her and send videos and texts whenever we want to share anything. One day, I am sure she will meet her beloved little boy again.
If you would like any more information about our endeavors with GSC, don’t hesitate to contact me. I will unashamedly tell you that we owe them more than any kind of financial figure can pay.
