A Mother's Story
Every now and again, something moves you. Really moves you. I’m a crier. I’ve always have been, and I always will be. I cry during all of my client’s births. While crying just now, I felt compelled to grab my computer and write this post because I needed to get my emotions out. This is the story of a Mother. Of two Mothers.
I have a friend. She is the kind of friend you would want. She’s loyal. She’s real. She’s funny. She has your back. She is a great daughter, a loving wife. What she wasn’t, was a mother.
More than anything, she wanted to be a mom. Who could blame her? She is the kind of person you know will raise her child with love; the kind of child we’d want our children to be friends with. She tried. She prayed. She waited.
As you might guess by now, she is an infertility warrior. I met her through my support network of women going through infertility. She, from the day I met her, supported me and cheered me on. I knew in my core how much she wanted me to have a baby. I knew, because I wanted the same for her. When I got pregnant, I felt her tears of joy. But, she still wasn’t pregnant.
It seems He had a different plan for her. My friend decided to move forward with her dream of becoming a mother through gestational surrogacy. I can remember the moment I saw the text from her a few days after her and her husband’s embryo was transferred into their surrogate. Her name showed up on my phone, but I couldn’t preview the text. I said the strongest prayer for her. I opened it. Her GS was pregnant. The next thing I did was drop down to my knees and pray for her baby to come into this world 9 or so months later, healthy and happy.
Over the course of the pregnancy, I got to virtually learn more about her GS via the GS’s social media profile. What an amazing woman. Besides the fact that she, a mother of two adorable children, would so selflessly give a person previously a stranger the most incredible gift, she was just a very special and lovely person.
I have this picture of my friend and I from my baby shower, and I always look at it and think how we were both expecting our miracles at the same time. How lucky for us. When my daughter was born in September, she was one of the first people to reach out and congratulate me. Again, she was always so genuine in her happiness for me. And again, I prayed for her soon-to-be sons safe arrival. And I thanked God that she too would soon be holding her child.
When a baby is born, so is a Mother.
On April 23rd, her GS gave birth to her perfect and healthy son. She was in the room and got to watch their child be born. Imagine how lucky you are after years and years of wondering if your time would ever come, to witness your child enter the world, safely. She got to cut the cord, do skin to skin, and hold her baby that has been in her heart for all these years.
Being a mother is a gift. Having children is a gift. Giving the gift of motherhood to a stranger… I don’t know what you call that. There is no word to give a gesture like that justice. Love maybe. Thank you for giving my friend her hearts greatest desire.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you. To those of you who are mothers. To those of you who are about to become mothers regardless of how this miracle is happening for you. To your mothers. To those who have mothered us even though they weren’t mothers but cared enough to love us.
“A mother is not defined by the number of children you can see, but by the love she holds in her heart.” – Francesca Cox
