What in the womb is going on here?

Welcome to our blog: Not My Tummy (But I’m Still Mummy!). I believe that sharing our story will help reduce the stigma around medical infertility and gestational surrogacy in Canada. When my partner and I began this journey, we struggled with the lack of first-hand knowledge that was available to us. We are building this blog and chronicling our journey with you to fill that knowledge gap. We hope that this will help other Canadian couples experiencing infertility and requiring gestational surrogacy in the future. I never thought my story was that compelling, but today I think that changes.

Zane and I are now beginning our journey towards building a family by working with a gestational surrogate. I’ve known concretely that I won’t be able to carry my own pregnancies for several years and we have been slowly sharing that with the people in our lives. I have epilepsy, and the medication which controls my seizures has severe risks to a growing fetus. Neurologists, fertility specialists, and pharmacists alike have warned against carrying a child. I tried switching to another medication in order to make carrying a child a possibility, and the results were disastrous.

When I made the decision to remain on my current medication, (thereby not being able to gestate) my family and friends were incredibly supportive. It didn’t absolve me of the guilt for making that decision (it’s not one that any person takes lightly), but it certainly helped. Since starting a family was a few years away, I was not too concerned about what was to come.

In the time that followed, Zane and I got engaged, bought a condo in Toronto, and settled into our careers. We planned a big, beautiful wedding, and with just months to go until the big day, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Since then, we’ve postponed our wedding three times and welcomed a beautiful puppy named Dodi into our lives.

So now what? We begin a new and exciting chapter, and we bring you along for the ride. So buckle up, because from here on out, even though it’s not my tummy, I’m still Mummy.

Baden

P.S. Be sure to follow us on Instagram! @notmytummy