6 years ago (almost to the day), I first actively looked into becoming a surrogate and I feel like I have well and truly come full circle since then! I have traversed the highs and lows of surrogacy, supported Intended Parents, surrogates and their families and friends, and started an institution that is Melbourne Surrogacy Support Dinners which I passed on the organisation of last year- to some amazing local surrogates. I have attended and spoken at seminars and conferences, snorting and ugly crying in front of large audiences as I shared my journey and those of others. I have contributed to ..read more

As I head into my final days (not weeks, not months!) of university, I am thrilled to have submitted a “passion project” for one of my units. Because I study online, practical placement is not available so in its place is a subject called Major Project. For this project, you are asked to put together something that you are passionate about. It could be a short film, a website, an article, a blog (already done lol), a documentary or a podcast. It has to be something that fills a gap in the current market or narrative. I chose to produce a podcast about surrogacy, called Surrogate Talk with Rene ..read more

Once upon a time there lived a surrogate (Princess) and her family (the Prince and the 3 terror-dwarfs). After experiencing the joy that was creating a family, the Prince, Princess and 3 terror-dwarfs considered offering the Princesses’ uterus to another couple (the Knight and the Lady) in the hope of making their dreams come true. In late 2015, the Prince and Princess proposed a baby-making toast to the Knight and Lady who gratefully accepted. In early 2016, the Prince, Princess, Knight and Lady slayed many dragons: lawyers counsellors independent counselors The Patient Review Panel stupid p ..read more

I have had some requests for updates lately. Initially I found myself skirting the issue, not wanting to bring up what feels like a constant barrage of shit that has come our collective way since my last posts (whenever they were). Instead, I think I will let it out here. Waffle on for a bit in the hope that I get that nice, cathartic release. I guess I have been putting off posting until now because part of me hoped that I would be able to jump online and announce “I am pregnant!” which sadly, hasn’t happened. But because you know what happens, don’t stop reading. There is a lot going on… We ..read more

Most people in the Australian surrogacy community know Maggie; our voice of reason and someone who always seems to have the right thing to say, in good times and in bad. She is a beautiful soul, inside and out and I am honoured to call her my friend. I was thrilled to see that today, Maggie has shared her story to the wider world via her friends blog, Body Fabulous. Enjoy xo ..read more

I’ve had this update page sitting open for 10 minutes before realising that I really don’t have much to write! Life has been moving forward at a million miles an hour. I am busy being a mum, making memories, studying, training, eating lots of yummy food and working. So nothing outside the “norm”. Surro stuff is still plodding along. There hasn’t really been much progression since last time so I have spent my impatient moments training for the running events that I can still participate in while not duffed. The surrogacy conference was great but as usual, VERY draining emotionally. Lots of stor ..read more

This post is just a bit of an update about what’s been happening, what is currently happening and what will be happening in the future. As usual, there is lots going on! I would be lying if I said that during my self imposed break from all things surrogacy, I didn’t think about surrogacy every single day… I totally did! Not just about our journey but thoughts about how others were going, where they were at, if they were okay, if they had success etc. But not being in the community every day was refreshing as it allowed me to regain focus to centre myself and work out what my next step would be ..read more

Hi. *waves* Remember me? As some of you are already aware, I am taking a break from the surrogacy community at the moment. It can be a little overwhelming and mentally draining so I needed to step back and take care of number 1 for a while. But that being said, a wonderful woman who offers so much to the surrogacy community, Sarah Jefford, has produced a very valuable resource called The Australian Surrogacy Handbook. I highly recommend that you take a look. It has information that is relevant to both surrogates and IP’s and is written in a way that is clear and without that legal jargon we ca ..read more

“I asked Renee if I could be a guest blogger for Valentines Day, given I am obviously one of her number one fans… (my hubby describes Renee and Matt as the “Rolls Royce” of altruistic surrogacy – and we all know it’s true!) It is now two weeks since we got the devastating news that our surrogacy journey with our embryos has come to an end.  It has been almost seven years that I received my cancer diagnosis and told that my treatment would leave me infertile. For that entire time I have thought/dreamt/planned on becoming a mother (yep that’s more than 2500 days, I counted!) with our own fr ..read more

Monday 16th January I’ve been taking a bit of a break from blogging- as you know. There is nothing drastic going on, just needed a break. Since we last “spoke”, lots has happened with Christmas, the New Year, a holiday and some more studying thrown in for shits and giggles. It has been a busy time but nice to have a rest from all things IVF, cycle watching, jabbing, bloods, surgeometers etc. The failure of transfer number 4 bought with it an EPIC period- almost 2 weeks long. It was heavy, crampy and felt like it would never end so I was pleased not to have to jump from that straight into scans ..read more