Actress Angela Bassett and her husband, Courtney B. Vance, are celebrating after becoming first-time parents. The couple became parents of twins -- a boy and a girl -- who were born through a surrogate in January 2006. Angela and Courtney's story is a true love story. They have written a book about their lives and how they came to become a couple and their journey towards parenting. Vance and Bassett, both 47, were married in 1997. When Courtney and Angela decided to start a family, they eventually turned to fertility specialists for help. After seven years of visiting in vitro specialists, getting shots and other treatments, the news was not encouraging. It was an extremely trying and emotionally exhausting time for the couple, and each failed attempt was especially devastating to Angela. After each failed cycle, Angela would stay focused on the prize of parenting: "I was devastated when it didn't happen [again and again]. I had to remain hopeful and resilient and, 'Okay, let's do it again.'" Eventually, a friend approached Angela and announced that she and her husband were five months pregnant. However she did not look pregnant at all. Confused, Angela said, 'You are?' and the friend revealed that they were working with a surrogate mother. She began to tell me about the idea of surrogacy. The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us. Angela brought the idea up to Courtney, and they decided to think about it. "The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us," Angela says. This was the turning point for Angela and Courtney. Their friend encouraged them to contact the Center for Surrogate Parenting for help and they did. Courtney Vance and Angela Bassett appeared on the Oprah show to discuss their love story which culminated in the birth of their twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah in January 2006. For Angela, the actual birth of their babies was an amazing experience. Just standing there together, holding each other with the realization that this is the moment that we've been working toward, praying for...[it's a dream come true].
CSP is proud to have helped David Furnish and Elton John for the second time become the proud parents of a baby boy, Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, was born on January 11, 2013. Big brother, Zachary Jackson Levon, was born on Christmas Day, 2011 with the help of the same surrogate mom.
Mitt Romney's eldest son, Tagg, made a surprise announcement today: He and his wife, Jen, are the new parents of twin boys delivered by a surrogate. "Happy 2 announce birth of twin boys David Mitt and William Ryder. Big thanks to our surrogate. Life is a miracle," Tagg Romney said via Twitter at 3:17 p.m. Ten minutes later, his mother, Ann Romney, said in her own tweet: “Grandchildren 17 and 18 are here - congratulations @TRomney and Jen! We can't wait to meet David and William.” Tagg Romney is one of five children of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his wife. Tagg and Jen Romney had four children previously. The Associated Press reported it was the second time the couple had used a surrogate. Their son Jonathan was born in 2010 by a surrogate. Tagg Romney said on his Facebook page that the latest surrogancy was gestational, meaning the new boys are the biological product of him and his wife. "Everyone is healthy and happy," Tagg Romney wrote. "They weighed in at 5 pounds 13 ounces and 19-3/4 inches, and 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 inches. A special thanks to our gestational surrogate who made this possible for us. Life truly is a miracle, and we feel so blessed to be able to celebrate the arrival of these precious boys into our family." Taken from article by Glen Johnson in The Boston Globe
San Diego's Channel 6 Weather Broadcaster Brooke Landau, and her husband, Tony Maturani, came to The Center for Surrogate Parenting, LLC when they realized they needed the help of a surrogate mother. Their baby boy was delivered on January 19th, 2013 and they couldn't be happier! Check out the inside story of Brooke's journey in these two video's produced by Brooke's TV station in San Diego, California.
We began working with CSP about six years ago so that we could achieve our dreams of creating a family together. Now we have two, beautiful boys, who bring love, laughter and heartwarming joy and pride with every moment. We are reminded daily of how precious life is and that being present for each other is the greatest gift. Thank you CSP, for your wonderful services and your continued support and encouragement along the way. Thank you CSP!
For seventeen years Joan Lunden appeared daily as a co-host on “Good Morning America.” After saying goodbye to early morning television in 1999, Lunden developed a series with A&E, called “Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden” and has penned several books about parenting. She also made headlines with her decision to have a child at age 54. After numerous failed attempts at in vitro, she was able to have twins, Kate and Max, through the help of a surrogate mother. She is ecstatic about being a parent to infants again. In an interview with MSNBC's Deborah Norville, Lunden talked about why she wanted to have a baby, the surrogate process, juggling motherhood and work, her years on “Good Morning America,” and her new healthy living book, Growing Up Healthy. On becoming a new mom again: Deborah Norville, Host: I remember thinking last year when I heard that you and Jeff were going to have these babies through a surrogate, I was reminded of the question Jay Leno asked Hugh Grant, “What were you thinking?” Joan Lunden: Our life is all about the choices we make, and when I was looking for a mate for life, I really was looking for someone who was a family man, somebody who would embrace my girls as much as they were going to embrace me. I guess I just wasn't finished having children yet. We tried in vitro fertilization many times, but it wasn't working. My doctor said, “No, keep trying, because it's a numbers game. We're going to get this done.” But when you're approaching 50, it's also a time game and you have to ask yourself, 'Is it really about me being pregnant, or is it about parenting and having babies?' So we decided to use a surrogate. NORVILLE: Is it different the second time around? You've had such a big space [between children], because your youngest is 16. LUNDEN: I'm much less daunted by it. I think I'm more patient, more secure. And quite honestly, because I went on my own little journey to health and fitness, I'm much more fit now than I was 20 years ago when I had my first round of children. On the surrogacy process: NORVILLE: Sadly, there are over nine million women in this country who are dealing with some sort of a fertility issue or another. And many of them do consider surrogacy, but how do you go about this process and deal with all the stress and turmoil that may come along with it? LUNDEN: That's the reason why I've talked about it. Most people out there hear the horror stories. They hear about the ones that end in the emotional heartache and the tug-of-war. I thought it was important these days that they hear a story that ended with a happy ending. Surrogacy used to be difficult, because the woman that was carrying the child was biologically related to the child. And sometimes you can still do it that way, but you do not have to do it that way anymore. NORVILLE: Does the mother of your children have any biological connection to them? LUNDEN: She has no genetic relationship. The embryos were implanted in her. We actually went out to California to do our implantation because the laws in California are tried, true, and tested. You're the parent of that baby before she has the baby. Whereas in other states you have to wait 6 months to adopt the baby, from the “birthing mother.” You don't have to worry about somebody trying to take a stake in your child later. NORVILLE: Solving fertility issues can be expensive, particularly in vitro. Most people go the in vitro route first and spend almost $10,000 per cycle, which they can not at most times afford. Do you think that insurance should cover that? Is childbearing a right or a privilege? LUNDEN: I think that in our society we should do everything to encourage child-bearing and family-making. And I think that if insurance will cover Viagra for men, it should also be covering these kinds of methods to try to build families. Some of them will, but usually only for one or two cycles. Often it takes five or six cycles for success to finally happen for a lot of these couples. So it drains them. They're emotionally and financially drained. NORVILLE: How did you select this woman? There are a number of people, through these surrogate agencies who want to be there for the couple that has the child. Yet, how do they match you and your husband up with the surrogate and her husband? LUNDEN: It's quite frankly one of trickiest parts of the whole thing, because everybody has personalities. And you need to match up the right personalities. If you have the intended parents—that's what we're called— who want to call every day and be heavily involved throughout the whole pregnancy, and if you have someone who doesn't want to have that kind of involvement, you've set up a situation that's not going to be a happy, wonderful situation for the person who went into it for all the right reasons. Then, you consider other possible situations that could occur from the get-go. You need to think about the following questions: What happens if you have triplets? Will you do selective reduction? Is she willing to carry them? Everyone has to be on the same page with these decisions. You have to decide how much contact you are going to have afterward, and put the relationship with the surrogate family into perspective. Do they want to see the babies? Do they just want a card once a year? Do they want to say, “I'm glad I did that for you” and never see you again? We met Deborah, our surrogate, and we knew we didn't have to worry about anything. We went through the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Los Angeles. They are probably the oldest and best known. They take care of everything for you. We went to Cincinnati for the birth, and we were right there. I cut the umbilical cord. We talk to them a lot. Their three daughters have become close with my three daughters. They're flying in for the twins' first birthday. I want Kate and Max to always know this woman who did such an extraordinary and selfless and loving thing as to give them life, to help give them life. I don't think that they should grow up and not know her. On raising newborns at 54: NORVILLE: Your kids are going to have one of the older moms when it comes time for junior high and high school and cheerleading tryouts and all that sort of stuff. But do you predict that there will be other moms in the same age group as you? LUNDEN: Absolutely. I know so many people right now, even just within my own realm of friends that are doing the same thing. It's part of our lifestyle. So many women waited until later to get married and then even later after they got married to have children. And then they have problems, and it takes them five, six, seven years to have children. NORVILLE: Since you've been very public about who the surrogate and the family are, it's also going to be a little different and difficult for your kids. None of these issues that seem kind of new and different to us today, will seem like that big of a deal twenty years from now. LUNDEN: Believe me, they're going to get to kindergarten and there's going to be eight sets of twins because of all the other moms that did in vitro and had twins. The mother of my 16-year-old's best friend in school, she's also divorced, had three teenagers, and married somebody eight years younger. She did in vitro and had twins. So already, to my 16-year-old daughter, this standard is old hat to her."
Kelsey Grammer is a television star who can have just about anything he wants, but like thousands of other couples around the world, he and his wife Camille, were unable to conceive a child together. Camille suffers from a form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which could present serious health risks if she attempted to give birth. They decided to turn to a surrogate mother to help them build their family. After contacting the Center for Surrogate Parenting, Kelsey and Camille were introduced to a surrogate mother, Juliana. Despite the fact that Juliana had been a surrogate mother before, she was rescreened by the program. The Grammers also underwent psychological and medical screening. Psychological counseling continued for all parties throughout the pregnancy. Julianna works as a nurse in Sacramento, and also has four of her own children. "I was immediately impressed that [Kelsey] wasn't your typical Hollywood person," says Julianna. " He was very down to earth... like meeting your next door neighbor." Julianna added, "I felt very relaxed with them. We decided at that first meeting that it was a go, that we would try for it." After a long period of taking injections, Camille's body responded and produced several eggs. Her eggs were fertilized with Kelsey's sperm and several embryos were created. The doctors place these embryos into Julianna's womb and waited 10 days to know if the blood test would declare them pregnant. The Grammers stayed in close contact with their surrogate mother throughout the pregnancy and attended almost all her obstetrician appointments. Julianna gave birth to their daughter, Mason Olivia, in 2001 and son, Jude Gordon, in 2004. Since then Julianna says she and the Grammers and the two other families she has had children for have all grown very close. She also says she regularly gets pictures of her surrogate children and that she stays in touch with all of them.
Magnus Mitchell Handelman joins big brother Felix, who Banks and Handelman welcomed in March 2011. The "Hunger Games" and "Pitch Perfect" star Banks, 38, shared the happy news on her website this morning (Nov. 14). "Like Felix, Magnus was born via gestational surrogate," Banks revealed in her announcement. "This experience has exceeded all expectations, taught us a great deal about generosity and gratitude, and established a relationship that will last a lifetime. I am also so very thankful to our family and friends for their support throughout this process, as well as the Center for Surrogate Parenting for helping make all this possible." Congratulations Elizabeth!
My partner and I spoke with CSP in November 2017 and were immediately impressed by our case manager’s (Fay) professionalism, dedication and empathy. Our experience with CSP was in stark contrast to other agencies that seem to want to sell us a product as oppose to match us with the right surrogate and help us through the miracle of building our own family. Fay guided us through this multi-party process to find us the perfect surrogate for our twin children. Having gone through this process herself in the early days of surrogacy, Fay proved to be invaluable as a trusted adviser. We are very grateful to have found Fay and to be working with all the wonderful professionals at CSP. We transferred our two embryos in April 2018 to our surrogate and are blessed to be pregnant. We have a truly extraordinary surrogate whose passion and determination amazes me every day. I can’t thank Fay and the CSP team enough for the support and dedication they provide to both the surrogate and intended parents.
When there was no hope for my husband and I to ever have a child we found CSP. Thankfully, we were blessed and ecstatic with the arrival of identical twin boys via our wonderful CSP surrogate. Not only did CSP know what they were doing (heck, I think they have been doing this for over 38 years) they CARED and they wanted us to become parents as much as we did! It’s not just a business at CSP, it’s a way of life. Helping others to become parents. We are still in touch with our surrogate. I HIGHLY recommend the sometimes-challenging but eternally rewarding mission to have a family. THANKS CSP!
We are so pleased with CSP. From our first interaction with our case manager, Fay Johnson, we felt an instant connection. She was kind, totally present, listened to our story and was able to relate to us on so many levels. She was also very thorough in explaining how the process works and managed our expectations. The entire team has been instrumental in presenting us with a surrogate who is perfectly matched for us!!! Without question, CSP is the ONLY agency I would refer to friends and family needing such an important service!!! We have an amazing surrogate thanks to Fay and CSP; and we will hopefully be blessed with twins this December!!!
CSP was the end of a very long and emotional road to parenthood for us. From the moment we met with CSP in Los Angeles, our hope was restored. On a personal level, every step of the process with Joanne and CSP was supportive, and thoughtful. They found us an amazing surrogate, which was a dream match for us. On the business side, the agency is so experienced that we felt completely confident with the logistics and legal details that they organized for us. Everything was water-tight and seamless. We are a CSP success story, and I am now the mother of 7-year-old twins. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t thank Joanne and her team for making our dream come true.
Actress Angela Bassett and her husband, Courtney B. Vance, are celebrating after becoming first-time parents. The couple became parents of twins -- a boy and a girl -- who were born through a surrogate in January 2006. Angela and Courtney's story is a true love story. They have written a book about their lives and how they came to become a couple and their journey towards parenting. Vance and Bassett, both 47, were married in 1997. When Courtney and Angela decided to start a family, they eventually turned to fertility specialists for help. After seven years of visiting in vitro specialists, getting shots and other treatments, the news was not encouraging. It was an extremely trying and emotionally exhausting time for the couple, and each failed attempt was especially devastating to Angela. After each failed cycle, Angela would stay focused on the prize of parenting: "I was devastated when it didn't happen [again and again]. I had to remain hopeful and resilient and, 'Okay, let's do it again.'" Eventually, a friend approached Angela and announced that she and her husband were five months pregnant. However she did not look pregnant at all. Confused, Angela said, 'You are?' and the friend revealed that they were working with a surrogate mother. She began to tell me about the idea of surrogacy. The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us. Angela brought the idea up to Courtney, and they decided to think about it. "The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us," Angela says. This was the turning point for Angela and Courtney. Their friend encouraged them to contact the Center for Surrogate Parenting for help and they did. Courtney Vance and Angela Bassett appeared on the Oprah show to discuss their love story which culminated in the birth of their twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah in January 2006. For Angela, the actual birth of their babies was an amazing experience. Just standing there together, holding each other with the realization that this is the moment that we've been working toward, praying for...[it's a dream come true].
CSP is proud to have helped David Furnish and Elton John for the second time become the proud parents of a baby boy, Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, was born on January 11, 2013. Big brother, Zachary Jackson Levon, was born on Christmas Day, 2011 with the help of the same surrogate mom.
Mitt Romney's eldest son, Tagg, made a surprise announcement today: He and his wife, Jen, are the new parents of twin boys delivered by a surrogate. "Happy 2 announce birth of twin boys David Mitt and William Ryder. Big thanks to our surrogate. Life is a miracle," Tagg Romney said via Twitter at 3:17 p.m. Ten minutes later, his mother, Ann Romney, said in her own tweet: “Grandchildren 17 and 18 are here - congratulations @TRomney and Jen! We can't wait to meet David and William.” Tagg Romney is one of five children of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his wife. Tagg and Jen Romney had four children previously. The Associated Press reported it was the second time the couple had used a surrogate. Their son Jonathan was born in 2010 by a surrogate. Tagg Romney said on his Facebook page that the latest surrogancy was gestational, meaning the new boys are the biological product of him and his wife. "Everyone is healthy and happy," Tagg Romney wrote. "They weighed in at 5 pounds 13 ounces and 19-3/4 inches, and 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 inches. A special thanks to our gestational surrogate who made this possible for us. Life truly is a miracle, and we feel so blessed to be able to celebrate the arrival of these precious boys into our family." Taken from article by Glen Johnson in The Boston Globe
San Diego's Channel 6 Weather Broadcaster Brooke Landau, and her husband, Tony Maturani, came to The Center for Surrogate Parenting, LLC when they realized they needed the help of a surrogate mother. Their baby boy was delivered on January 19th, 2013 and they couldn't be happier! Check out the inside story of Brooke's journey in these two video's produced by Brooke's TV station in San Diego, California.
We began working with CSP about six years ago so that we could achieve our dreams of creating a family together. Now we have two, beautiful boys, who bring love, laughter and heartwarming joy and pride with every moment. We are reminded daily of how precious life is and that being present for each other is the greatest gift. Thank you CSP, for your wonderful services and your continued support and encouragement along the way. Thank you CSP!
For seventeen years Joan Lunden appeared daily as a co-host on “Good Morning America.” After saying goodbye to early morning television in 1999, Lunden developed a series with A&E, called “Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden” and has penned several books about parenting. She also made headlines with her decision to have a child at age 54. After numerous failed attempts at in vitro, she was able to have twins, Kate and Max, through the help of a surrogate mother. She is ecstatic about being a parent to infants again. In an interview with MSNBC's Deborah Norville, Lunden talked about why she wanted to have a baby, the surrogate process, juggling motherhood and work, her years on “Good Morning America,” and her new healthy living book, Growing Up Healthy. On becoming a new mom again: Deborah Norville, Host: I remember thinking last year when I heard that you and Jeff were going to have these babies through a surrogate, I was reminded of the question Jay Leno asked Hugh Grant, “What were you thinking?” Joan Lunden: Our life is all about the choices we make, and when I was looking for a mate for life, I really was looking for someone who was a family man, somebody who would embrace my girls as much as they were going to embrace me. I guess I just wasn't finished having children yet. We tried in vitro fertilization many times, but it wasn't working. My doctor said, “No, keep trying, because it's a numbers game. We're going to get this done.” But when you're approaching 50, it's also a time game and you have to ask yourself, 'Is it really about me being pregnant, or is it about parenting and having babies?' So we decided to use a surrogate. NORVILLE: Is it different the second time around? You've had such a big space [between children], because your youngest is 16. LUNDEN: I'm much less daunted by it. I think I'm more patient, more secure. And quite honestly, because I went on my own little journey to health and fitness, I'm much more fit now than I was 20 years ago when I had my first round of children. On the surrogacy process: NORVILLE: Sadly, there are over nine million women in this country who are dealing with some sort of a fertility issue or another. And many of them do consider surrogacy, but how do you go about this process and deal with all the stress and turmoil that may come along with it? LUNDEN: That's the reason why I've talked about it. Most people out there hear the horror stories. They hear about the ones that end in the emotional heartache and the tug-of-war. I thought it was important these days that they hear a story that ended with a happy ending. Surrogacy used to be difficult, because the woman that was carrying the child was biologically related to the child. And sometimes you can still do it that way, but you do not have to do it that way anymore. NORVILLE: Does the mother of your children have any biological connection to them? LUNDEN: She has no genetic relationship. The embryos were implanted in her. We actually went out to California to do our implantation because the laws in California are tried, true, and tested. You're the parent of that baby before she has the baby. Whereas in other states you have to wait 6 months to adopt the baby, from the “birthing mother.” You don't have to worry about somebody trying to take a stake in your child later. NORVILLE: Solving fertility issues can be expensive, particularly in vitro. Most people go the in vitro route first and spend almost $10,000 per cycle, which they can not at most times afford. Do you think that insurance should cover that? Is childbearing a right or a privilege? LUNDEN: I think that in our society we should do everything to encourage child-bearing and family-making. And I think that if insurance will cover Viagra for men, it should also be covering these kinds of methods to try to build families. Some of them will, but usually only for one or two cycles. Often it takes five or six cycles for success to finally happen for a lot of these couples. So it drains them. They're emotionally and financially drained. NORVILLE: How did you select this woman? There are a number of people, through these surrogate agencies who want to be there for the couple that has the child. Yet, how do they match you and your husband up with the surrogate and her husband? LUNDEN: It's quite frankly one of trickiest parts of the whole thing, because everybody has personalities. And you need to match up the right personalities. If you have the intended parents—that's what we're called— who want to call every day and be heavily involved throughout the whole pregnancy, and if you have someone who doesn't want to have that kind of involvement, you've set up a situation that's not going to be a happy, wonderful situation for the person who went into it for all the right reasons. Then, you consider other possible situations that could occur from the get-go. You need to think about the following questions: What happens if you have triplets? Will you do selective reduction? Is she willing to carry them? Everyone has to be on the same page with these decisions. You have to decide how much contact you are going to have afterward, and put the relationship with the surrogate family into perspective. Do they want to see the babies? Do they just want a card once a year? Do they want to say, “I'm glad I did that for you” and never see you again? We met Deborah, our surrogate, and we knew we didn't have to worry about anything. We went through the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Los Angeles. They are probably the oldest and best known. They take care of everything for you. We went to Cincinnati for the birth, and we were right there. I cut the umbilical cord. We talk to them a lot. Their three daughters have become close with my three daughters. They're flying in for the twins' first birthday. I want Kate and Max to always know this woman who did such an extraordinary and selfless and loving thing as to give them life, to help give them life. I don't think that they should grow up and not know her. On raising newborns at 54: NORVILLE: Your kids are going to have one of the older moms when it comes time for junior high and high school and cheerleading tryouts and all that sort of stuff. But do you predict that there will be other moms in the same age group as you? LUNDEN: Absolutely. I know so many people right now, even just within my own realm of friends that are doing the same thing. It's part of our lifestyle. So many women waited until later to get married and then even later after they got married to have children. And then they have problems, and it takes them five, six, seven years to have children. NORVILLE: Since you've been very public about who the surrogate and the family are, it's also going to be a little different and difficult for your kids. None of these issues that seem kind of new and different to us today, will seem like that big of a deal twenty years from now. LUNDEN: Believe me, they're going to get to kindergarten and there's going to be eight sets of twins because of all the other moms that did in vitro and had twins. The mother of my 16-year-old's best friend in school, she's also divorced, had three teenagers, and married somebody eight years younger. She did in vitro and had twins. So already, to my 16-year-old daughter, this standard is old hat to her."
Kelsey Grammer is a television star who can have just about anything he wants, but like thousands of other couples around the world, he and his wife Camille, were unable to conceive a child together. Camille suffers from a form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which could present serious health risks if she attempted to give birth. They decided to turn to a surrogate mother to help them build their family. After contacting the Center for Surrogate Parenting, Kelsey and Camille were introduced to a surrogate mother, Juliana. Despite the fact that Juliana had been a surrogate mother before, she was rescreened by the program. The Grammers also underwent psychological and medical screening. Psychological counseling continued for all parties throughout the pregnancy. Julianna works as a nurse in Sacramento, and also has four of her own children. "I was immediately impressed that [Kelsey] wasn't your typical Hollywood person," says Julianna. " He was very down to earth... like meeting your next door neighbor." Julianna added, "I felt very relaxed with them. We decided at that first meeting that it was a go, that we would try for it." After a long period of taking injections, Camille's body responded and produced several eggs. Her eggs were fertilized with Kelsey's sperm and several embryos were created. The doctors place these embryos into Julianna's womb and waited 10 days to know if the blood test would declare them pregnant. The Grammers stayed in close contact with their surrogate mother throughout the pregnancy and attended almost all her obstetrician appointments. Julianna gave birth to their daughter, Mason Olivia, in 2001 and son, Jude Gordon, in 2004. Since then Julianna says she and the Grammers and the two other families she has had children for have all grown very close. She also says she regularly gets pictures of her surrogate children and that she stays in touch with all of them.
Magnus Mitchell Handelman joins big brother Felix, who Banks and Handelman welcomed in March 2011. The "Hunger Games" and "Pitch Perfect" star Banks, 38, shared the happy news on her website this morning (Nov. 14). "Like Felix, Magnus was born via gestational surrogate," Banks revealed in her announcement. "This experience has exceeded all expectations, taught us a great deal about generosity and gratitude, and established a relationship that will last a lifetime. I am also so very thankful to our family and friends for their support throughout this process, as well as the Center for Surrogate Parenting for helping make all this possible." Congratulations Elizabeth!
My partner and I spoke with CSP in November 2017 and were immediately impressed by our case manager’s (Fay) professionalism, dedication and empathy. Our experience with CSP was in stark contrast to other agencies that seem to want to sell us a product as oppose to match us with the right surrogate and help us through the miracle of building our own family. Fay guided us through this multi-party process to find us the perfect surrogate for our twin children. Having gone through this process herself in the early days of surrogacy, Fay proved to be invaluable as a trusted adviser. We are very grateful to have found Fay and to be working with all the wonderful professionals at CSP. We transferred our two embryos in April 2018 to our surrogate and are blessed to be pregnant. We have a truly extraordinary surrogate whose passion and determination amazes me every day. I can’t thank Fay and the CSP team enough for the support and dedication they provide to both the surrogate and intended parents.
When there was no hope for my husband and I to ever have a child we found CSP. Thankfully, we were blessed and ecstatic with the arrival of identical twin boys via our wonderful CSP surrogate. Not only did CSP know what they were doing (heck, I think they have been doing this for over 38 years) they CARED and they wanted us to become parents as much as we did! It’s not just a business at CSP, it’s a way of life. Helping others to become parents. We are still in touch with our surrogate. I HIGHLY recommend the sometimes-challenging but eternally rewarding mission to have a family. THANKS CSP!
We are so pleased with CSP. From our first interaction with our case manager, Fay Johnson, we felt an instant connection. She was kind, totally present, listened to our story and was able to relate to us on so many levels. She was also very thorough in explaining how the process works and managed our expectations. The entire team has been instrumental in presenting us with a surrogate who is perfectly matched for us!!! Without question, CSP is the ONLY agency I would refer to friends and family needing such an important service!!! We have an amazing surrogate thanks to Fay and CSP; and we will hopefully be blessed with twins this December!!!
CSP was the end of a very long and emotional road to parenthood for us. From the moment we met with CSP in Los Angeles, our hope was restored. On a personal level, every step of the process with Joanne and CSP was supportive, and thoughtful. They found us an amazing surrogate, which was a dream match for us. On the business side, the agency is so experienced that we felt completely confident with the logistics and legal details that they organized for us. Everything was water-tight and seamless. We are a CSP success story, and I am now the mother of 7-year-old twins. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t thank Joanne and her team for making our dream come true.
We have gotten to experience different cultures and make friends that we would’ve otherwise not met. It is very special for us to be a part of this.
This is an experience that’s impossible to predict, plan or control, but it will probably be the most moving event of your life. Possibly more so than birthing your own children. It’s just incredible.
The moment my Intended Parent’s saw their baby girl for the first time was the moment that made every bit of difficulty through pregnancy and delivery worth it. The joy and gratitude expressed was unbelievable and so touching. There is no feeling quite like it. Tears, smiles, laughter and lots of hugs! I thought meeting my own children was a beautiful moment, but seeing a family in this scenario meet their child for the first time after personally giving birth to her was equally, if not more, incredible.
When soap star Deidre Hall couldn't conceive, after half a lifetime of desperately trying, a loving surrogate provided the happy ending IDEA FOR A SOAP OPERA STORY LINE: For 20 years the beautiful blond TV star tries desperately to have a child. Two marriages dissolve, partly because of her inability to conceive, and her emotional health is rocked by megadoses of hormones. She endures half a dozen operations, hoping through medical technology to achieve pregnancy, and during one she slips into a near coma as her husband frantically calls her name. This is the kind of cliff-hanger that daytime divas thrive on. Problem is, Deidre Hall, 44, didn't experience these torments as psychiatrist Marlena Evans on NBC's Days of Our Lives--a part she has played on and off for 16 years--but in her own sometimes harrowing life. But the plot turned sweet last Dec. 16, when Hall and husband-to-be Steve Sohmer were celebrating Sohmer's 50th birthday. The phone rang, Hall answered it, and the ebullient voice on the other end spoke two words that ended Hall's decades of disappointment: "Hi, Mom." The voice belonged to Robin B., a 30-year-old divorced mother of three, who bears a striking resemblance to Hall. Hall and Sohmer had met Robin through the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Beverly Hills. Robin's news: The second try at artificially inseminating one of her eggs with Sohmer's sperm had worked. She was pregnant; Hall was having a baby. "I was gone," Hall recalls, "screaming and jumping up and down." Hall had never expected motherhood to be this complicated. She herself was the third of five children born (two minutes after her twin, Andrea). Hall moved to L.A. after college and married singer-songwriter Keith Barbour at 21, believing, she says, snapping her fingers, "I'd get pregnant just like that." She didn't, and as Hall moved through her 20s, she focused increasingly on her career. She switched from modeling to acting, and was cast as Days' elegant Marlena Evans, who would be kidnapped by a gangster, held captive by the Salem Strangler and unjustly confined to a psychiatric ward. Hall's offscreen life was barely less stressful. Divorced from Barbour in '77, she married TV executive Michael Dubelko (21 Jump Street) in 1987. After their wedding, the couple tried six rounds of artificial insemination. None was successful. Hall then underwent exploratory surgery that revealed she suffered from endometriosis, a condition in which fragments of the uterine lining travel to other parts of the pelvic cavity. When this tissue was removed surgically, Hall thought she had found the cure for her inability to conceive. In November of that year, the actress underwent the first of six in vitro fertilizations (IVF) over a nine-month period. The procedure that produced the first test-tube baby 14 years ago, IVF is no romp through the lab. For 10 days of each month, Deidre injected herself with a hypodermic of hormones that left her hips a mass of bruises and induced a moody mix of premenstrual angst and menopausal blues. Unfortunately, none of the IVF treatments took, and one actually put her in a brief coma. Hall and Dubelko made one last attempt in 1989, trying IVF-gestational. The result, again, was failure. Says Hall: "I learned that not only was my uterus a problem, but also the age of my eggs." They considered adoption, but their marriage was already taxed beyond endurance, and they divorced later that year. Sohmer, a twice-divorced father, had dated Hall for two years between her marriages. Now the couple took up where they had left off, and with both eager to start a family, Hall resumed her quest for motherhood. Trying in vitro again was out. "Your body," her doctor told her, "can't take it." Two options remained: adoption, and surrogacy using the surrogate's egg. Sohmer pushed for the latter. "I felt it was important to have a child that was biologically related to one of us," he says. Hall began dreaming of a child with "Steve's blue eyes, his skin," and, on her doctor's recommendation, the two turned to the Center for Surrogate Parenting, which had overseen over 221 surrogate births in its 12-year existence. Meanwhile, Robin B. was contacting the Center after seeing a newspaper ad that read GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE TO A CHILDLESS COUPLE. She had been considering surrogacy since the birth of her twins in 1987. "The day after they were born," she recalls, "I said, 'I could do this again tomorrow. It was easy.'" Hall, Sohmer and Robin, along with Robin's children, met for the first time last summer. "After watching Robin with her own children," says Hall, "we felt safe giving her ours." And Robin's concerns about her children's response to her being a surrogate were put to rest after she heard her daughter tell Hall, "Mom is going to have a baby and give it to a lady with a broken tummy." At eight months, after ultrasound revealed the baby was a boy, Hall told herself, "This all seems unreal." Two days before the baby's birth, reality finally set in with a kick as Hall and Sohmer sat on either side of Robin B. on their living room couch and, both hands pressed against her abdomen, grinned each time they felt little David flutter. "If I had been in love with the father, made love and created a child, no one could rip him out of my arms," she said at the time, squeezing Hall's hand. "This is their love child, so my thinking is more like that of a baby-sitter." Early Sunday morning, Aug. 23, the "baby-sitter" started experiencing labor contractions. By 4 P.M. at Cedars Sinai, Robin asked for a painkiller and was given an epidural. Two hours later, she was wheeled into the delivery room, Sohmer and Hall at her side. When the baby's head appeared, a scant 15 minutes later, an overcome Hall shouted, "He has ears!" The, the umbilical cord still attached, Hall reached for her baby. "Hey, quit pulling," Robin jokingly admonished. "He's still attached to me." Sohmer, cutting the cord, severed that connection. "It was," says Hall, "really like three people having a baby." Hall and Sohmer took their son home, but not before Robin spent a half hour alone with him. "I had thought up some great good-byes to say," she recalls, "but this wasn't a good-bye, it was more of a hello." In fact, Robin, along with her daughter, paid the new family a visit. "I had no fear that she would see that baby and want to keep him," Hall says. There's a notion that women can't do this for each other, that some mechanism keeps them from being so close. "It's not true," Robin disagrees. "The relationships I developed with Dee was real female bonding," she says. After a 20-year wait, Hall says her first weeks of motherhood have been "beyond my wildest dreams of joy." In the Days studio, the staff has hung a cue card that reads MOTHERS AND CHILD ARE DOING FINE. Soon, Hall and son will be regulars: she plans to bring David to work every day. "This is the most overdue baby ever born," she says, "and I don't plan to miss a frame of his life." Deidre and Steve are the proud parents of two sons, David (born in 1992) and Tully (born in 1995). Question: Are your children going to know from the start about their biological mom? Deidre Hall: Yes. In fact, the other night, David wanted to discuss his birth and I asked him what he wanted to know. He wondered what he was wearing. I told him "Nothing, you were naked." He asked who was there and I told him "Your Mommy and your Daddy. We loved you so much, we couldn't wait to meet you." He asked "Was Tully there?" I said, "No, he wasn't born yet. He was in heaven." David said, "Really? He wasn't in Robin's tummy yet?" I think he gets the idea. Question: Why not adoption?? Deidre Hall: Adoption was on my list. So was going door to door and begging strangers. Surrogacy just worked first. Question: Are you maintaining a relationship with the surrogate mother? What is her relationship with your child? Deidre Hall: Robin sees the children here at the house occasionally. We want them to grow up knowing that she is always a part of their lives. Question: What is your favorite part of the day with the boys? Deidre: I love that you asked me that, because I say it every day! Every night, my boys and I, after I give them their baths and brush their teeth and give them their night-night kisses, get into bed, and they both choose three or four books. And as we snuggle down under the covers and lean against the pillows, they both lean up against me, and we open the first book. And I always say, "This is my favorite time of the day." And my boys say it with me now. We all know it. The movie “Never Say Never: the Deidre Hall Story” - chronicles their two year decade of struggling with infertility, the love Deidre and Steve have for one another, and the miracle they found in surrogacy. SHELLEY LEVITT LORENZO BENET in Los Angeles Article published in People Magazine, September 28, 1992 Vol. 38 No. 13
Being a surrogate has touched me in ways I don’t believe I could have been otherwise. I feel that I’m a better person for having learned the type of selflessness this experience requires. My family has met amazing people, and we’ve all been so lucky to have learned about different walks of life.
I had just had my son, and I couldn’t fathom not being able to give birth to my babies. Any thought of infertility breaks my heart. I wanted to be able to do this for someone else.
I did quite a lot of research seeking out the perfect agency for me. I found CSP, and three journeys later, I am so happy I found them! They are amazing at matching, offer wonderful support, and had the longevity and wonderful reputation I was looking for.
The best thing is knowing that I gave something to someone that they might not have been able to get anywhere else. Being a part of something that is so much bigger than I could ever possibly be and knowing I made a difference in someone’s life. Nothing else in my life has brought me as much joy as knowing I was a surrogate and that I helped two couples become parents, realizing dreams they thought would never come true. Being a surrogate has shown me that miracles can happen and dreams can come true.
I wanted to help families who couldn’t have children and not experience the phenomenal feeling of fulfillment that comes with parenthood.
They made this journey so easy and fun! I love the support group! I love that I never worried about anything because they had thought everything through. They made my travel arrangements, sent payments and made my appointments when I did have to travel. They are well-seasoned and great at their job!
The greatest benefits have been watching loving and caring families grow and knowing that my family helped them do so. My family and I have enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and experiencing different cultures and ways of living. We are still in contact with my first two couples. My second couple, especially, we will have a lifelong friendship with. Both couples and their children are considered a part of our family.
I had such an amazing relationship with my first intended parents that I was hesitant about the second journey. I didn't think it was possible to top it, so I told CSP I wanted something completely different. Turns out, we have an even closer relationship with the second family, which I didn't think was possible. They are truly like family!
Teaching my kids a creative way to give back. Showing them selflessness. It has also shown many people in my life that getting pregnant is not always easy so it has really shone a light on infertility for people that know nothing about it.
I had wonderful pregnancies and enjoyed being pregnant. I think that bringing life into the world is the most amazing and beautiful thing I have ever experienced. I knew my own family was complete, so when a friend asked if it was ever something that I would consider it wasn’t even a question for me. If I could help complete a family then I felt that it was my journey to do so.
It was so amazing to see my intended mom’s face when her daughter was delivered. I will never forget the sheer joy on her face when she saw her baby for the first time. It had been a long, difficult struggle for them, and they still refer to me as their “hero.” She held on to that baby so tightly when she was born.
I always had wanted to help someone have a baby. I love being pregnant. I had offered to help a couple who were friends and were having difficulty and when they became pregnant on their own, I decided to reach out to CSP.
I looked in to reviews from both surrogate and intended parent perspectives. It was important to me that both sides felt supported. My impression after online research and then speaking to a representative was that CSP would provide that mutual support.
When I was researching agencies, one of the most important criteria for me was matching. In fact, it was my No. 1. This can really make or break a surrogacy journey. I truly believe this is what CSP does best!
If you're considering it, follow your heart and your gut! Surrogacy is so much more that “just being pregnant for someone else.” It’s a journey where you are learning about yourself and giving a family the biggest blessing in the world. You will make dreams come true.
The support I received from CSP as a surrogate was what made my first journey possible. The process can feel so overwhelming, with everything there is to learn. CSP made me feel safe and kept things moving at an easy, step-by-step pace.
Next to having my own children, becoming a surrogate was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I was always very passionate about it but had no idea where to start. When I found CSP I was so excited and nervous all at the same time. The incredible team of people they have really put my mind at ease. From the beginning to the end I have had so much support and never felt alone. Choosing to go with CSP as my agency was the best choice I made. I would have NEVER found the family I was matched with without them, the family who is now my second family. I will be forever grateful to all of the wonderful people who helped me make my dream come true in giving the gift of life to an incredibly deserving family!
We have gotten to experience different cultures and make friends that we would’ve otherwise not met. It is very special for us to be a part of this.
This is an experience that’s impossible to predict, plan or control, but it will probably be the most moving event of your life. Possibly more so than birthing your own children. It’s just incredible.
The moment my Intended Parent’s saw their baby girl for the first time was the moment that made every bit of difficulty through pregnancy and delivery worth it. The joy and gratitude expressed was unbelievable and so touching. There is no feeling quite like it. Tears, smiles, laughter and lots of hugs! I thought meeting my own children was a beautiful moment, but seeing a family in this scenario meet their child for the first time after personally giving birth to her was equally, if not more, incredible.
When soap star Deidre Hall couldn't conceive, after half a lifetime of desperately trying, a loving surrogate provided the happy ending IDEA FOR A SOAP OPERA STORY LINE: For 20 years the beautiful blond TV star tries desperately to have a child. Two marriages dissolve, partly because of her inability to conceive, and her emotional health is rocked by megadoses of hormones. She endures half a dozen operations, hoping through medical technology to achieve pregnancy, and during one she slips into a near coma as her husband frantically calls her name. This is the kind of cliff-hanger that daytime divas thrive on. Problem is, Deidre Hall, 44, didn't experience these torments as psychiatrist Marlena Evans on NBC's Days of Our Lives--a part she has played on and off for 16 years--but in her own sometimes harrowing life. But the plot turned sweet last Dec. 16, when Hall and husband-to-be Steve Sohmer were celebrating Sohmer's 50th birthday. The phone rang, Hall answered it, and the ebullient voice on the other end spoke two words that ended Hall's decades of disappointment: "Hi, Mom." The voice belonged to Robin B., a 30-year-old divorced mother of three, who bears a striking resemblance to Hall. Hall and Sohmer had met Robin through the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Beverly Hills. Robin's news: The second try at artificially inseminating one of her eggs with Sohmer's sperm had worked. She was pregnant; Hall was having a baby. "I was gone," Hall recalls, "screaming and jumping up and down." Hall had never expected motherhood to be this complicated. She herself was the third of five children born (two minutes after her twin, Andrea). Hall moved to L.A. after college and married singer-songwriter Keith Barbour at 21, believing, she says, snapping her fingers, "I'd get pregnant just like that." She didn't, and as Hall moved through her 20s, she focused increasingly on her career. She switched from modeling to acting, and was cast as Days' elegant Marlena Evans, who would be kidnapped by a gangster, held captive by the Salem Strangler and unjustly confined to a psychiatric ward. Hall's offscreen life was barely less stressful. Divorced from Barbour in '77, she married TV executive Michael Dubelko (21 Jump Street) in 1987. After their wedding, the couple tried six rounds of artificial insemination. None was successful. Hall then underwent exploratory surgery that revealed she suffered from endometriosis, a condition in which fragments of the uterine lining travel to other parts of the pelvic cavity. When this tissue was removed surgically, Hall thought she had found the cure for her inability to conceive. In November of that year, the actress underwent the first of six in vitro fertilizations (IVF) over a nine-month period. The procedure that produced the first test-tube baby 14 years ago, IVF is no romp through the lab. For 10 days of each month, Deidre injected herself with a hypodermic of hormones that left her hips a mass of bruises and induced a moody mix of premenstrual angst and menopausal blues. Unfortunately, none of the IVF treatments took, and one actually put her in a brief coma. Hall and Dubelko made one last attempt in 1989, trying IVF-gestational. The result, again, was failure. Says Hall: "I learned that not only was my uterus a problem, but also the age of my eggs." They considered adoption, but their marriage was already taxed beyond endurance, and they divorced later that year. Sohmer, a twice-divorced father, had dated Hall for two years between her marriages. Now the couple took up where they had left off, and with both eager to start a family, Hall resumed her quest for motherhood. Trying in vitro again was out. "Your body," her doctor told her, "can't take it." Two options remained: adoption, and surrogacy using the surrogate's egg. Sohmer pushed for the latter. "I felt it was important to have a child that was biologically related to one of us," he says. Hall began dreaming of a child with "Steve's blue eyes, his skin," and, on her doctor's recommendation, the two turned to the Center for Surrogate Parenting, which had overseen over 221 surrogate births in its 12-year existence. Meanwhile, Robin B. was contacting the Center after seeing a newspaper ad that read GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE TO A CHILDLESS COUPLE. She had been considering surrogacy since the birth of her twins in 1987. "The day after they were born," she recalls, "I said, 'I could do this again tomorrow. It was easy.'" Hall, Sohmer and Robin, along with Robin's children, met for the first time last summer. "After watching Robin with her own children," says Hall, "we felt safe giving her ours." And Robin's concerns about her children's response to her being a surrogate were put to rest after she heard her daughter tell Hall, "Mom is going to have a baby and give it to a lady with a broken tummy." At eight months, after ultrasound revealed the baby was a boy, Hall told herself, "This all seems unreal." Two days before the baby's birth, reality finally set in with a kick as Hall and Sohmer sat on either side of Robin B. on their living room couch and, both hands pressed against her abdomen, grinned each time they felt little David flutter. "If I had been in love with the father, made love and created a child, no one could rip him out of my arms," she said at the time, squeezing Hall's hand. "This is their love child, so my thinking is more like that of a baby-sitter." Early Sunday morning, Aug. 23, the "baby-sitter" started experiencing labor contractions. By 4 P.M. at Cedars Sinai, Robin asked for a painkiller and was given an epidural. Two hours later, she was wheeled into the delivery room, Sohmer and Hall at her side. When the baby's head appeared, a scant 15 minutes later, an overcome Hall shouted, "He has ears!" The, the umbilical cord still attached, Hall reached for her baby. "Hey, quit pulling," Robin jokingly admonished. "He's still attached to me." Sohmer, cutting the cord, severed that connection. "It was," says Hall, "really like three people having a baby." Hall and Sohmer took their son home, but not before Robin spent a half hour alone with him. "I had thought up some great good-byes to say," she recalls, "but this wasn't a good-bye, it was more of a hello." In fact, Robin, along with her daughter, paid the new family a visit. "I had no fear that she would see that baby and want to keep him," Hall says. There's a notion that women can't do this for each other, that some mechanism keeps them from being so close. "It's not true," Robin disagrees. "The relationships I developed with Dee was real female bonding," she says. After a 20-year wait, Hall says her first weeks of motherhood have been "beyond my wildest dreams of joy." In the Days studio, the staff has hung a cue card that reads MOTHERS AND CHILD ARE DOING FINE. Soon, Hall and son will be regulars: she plans to bring David to work every day. "This is the most overdue baby ever born," she says, "and I don't plan to miss a frame of his life." Deidre and Steve are the proud parents of two sons, David (born in 1992) and Tully (born in 1995). Question: Are your children going to know from the start about their biological mom? Deidre Hall: Yes. In fact, the other night, David wanted to discuss his birth and I asked him what he wanted to know. He wondered what he was wearing. I told him "Nothing, you were naked." He asked who was there and I told him "Your Mommy and your Daddy. We loved you so much, we couldn't wait to meet you." He asked "Was Tully there?" I said, "No, he wasn't born yet. He was in heaven." David said, "Really? He wasn't in Robin's tummy yet?" I think he gets the idea. Question: Why not adoption?? Deidre Hall: Adoption was on my list. So was going door to door and begging strangers. Surrogacy just worked first. Question: Are you maintaining a relationship with the surrogate mother? What is her relationship with your child? Deidre Hall: Robin sees the children here at the house occasionally. We want them to grow up knowing that she is always a part of their lives. Question: What is your favorite part of the day with the boys? Deidre: I love that you asked me that, because I say it every day! Every night, my boys and I, after I give them their baths and brush their teeth and give them their night-night kisses, get into bed, and they both choose three or four books. And as we snuggle down under the covers and lean against the pillows, they both lean up against me, and we open the first book. And I always say, "This is my favorite time of the day." And my boys say it with me now. We all know it. The movie “Never Say Never: the Deidre Hall Story” - chronicles their two year decade of struggling with infertility, the love Deidre and Steve have for one another, and the miracle they found in surrogacy. SHELLEY LEVITT LORENZO BENET in Los Angeles Article published in People Magazine, September 28, 1992 Vol. 38 No. 13
Being a surrogate has touched me in ways I don’t believe I could have been otherwise. I feel that I’m a better person for having learned the type of selflessness this experience requires. My family has met amazing people, and we’ve all been so lucky to have learned about different walks of life.
I had just had my son, and I couldn’t fathom not being able to give birth to my babies. Any thought of infertility breaks my heart. I wanted to be able to do this for someone else.
I did quite a lot of research seeking out the perfect agency for me. I found CSP, and three journeys later, I am so happy I found them! They are amazing at matching, offer wonderful support, and had the longevity and wonderful reputation I was looking for.
The best thing is knowing that I gave something to someone that they might not have been able to get anywhere else. Being a part of something that is so much bigger than I could ever possibly be and knowing I made a difference in someone’s life. Nothing else in my life has brought me as much joy as knowing I was a surrogate and that I helped two couples become parents, realizing dreams they thought would never come true. Being a surrogate has shown me that miracles can happen and dreams can come true.
I wanted to help families who couldn’t have children and not experience the phenomenal feeling of fulfillment that comes with parenthood.
They made this journey so easy and fun! I love the support group! I love that I never worried about anything because they had thought everything through. They made my travel arrangements, sent payments and made my appointments when I did have to travel. They are well-seasoned and great at their job!
The greatest benefits have been watching loving and caring families grow and knowing that my family helped them do so. My family and I have enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and experiencing different cultures and ways of living. We are still in contact with my first two couples. My second couple, especially, we will have a lifelong friendship with. Both couples and their children are considered a part of our family.
I had such an amazing relationship with my first intended parents that I was hesitant about the second journey. I didn't think it was possible to top it, so I told CSP I wanted something completely different. Turns out, we have an even closer relationship with the second family, which I didn't think was possible. They are truly like family!
Teaching my kids a creative way to give back. Showing them selflessness. It has also shown many people in my life that getting pregnant is not always easy so it has really shone a light on infertility for people that know nothing about it.
I had wonderful pregnancies and enjoyed being pregnant. I think that bringing life into the world is the most amazing and beautiful thing I have ever experienced. I knew my own family was complete, so when a friend asked if it was ever something that I would consider it wasn’t even a question for me. If I could help complete a family then I felt that it was my journey to do so.
It was so amazing to see my intended mom’s face when her daughter was delivered. I will never forget the sheer joy on her face when she saw her baby for the first time. It had been a long, difficult struggle for them, and they still refer to me as their “hero.” She held on to that baby so tightly when she was born.
I always had wanted to help someone have a baby. I love being pregnant. I had offered to help a couple who were friends and were having difficulty and when they became pregnant on their own, I decided to reach out to CSP.
I looked in to reviews from both surrogate and intended parent perspectives. It was important to me that both sides felt supported. My impression after online research and then speaking to a representative was that CSP would provide that mutual support.
When I was researching agencies, one of the most important criteria for me was matching. In fact, it was my No. 1. This can really make or break a surrogacy journey. I truly believe this is what CSP does best!
If you're considering it, follow your heart and your gut! Surrogacy is so much more that “just being pregnant for someone else.” It’s a journey where you are learning about yourself and giving a family the biggest blessing in the world. You will make dreams come true.
The support I received from CSP as a surrogate was what made my first journey possible. The process can feel so overwhelming, with everything there is to learn. CSP made me feel safe and kept things moving at an easy, step-by-step pace.
Next to having my own children, becoming a surrogate was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I was always very passionate about it but had no idea where to start. When I found CSP I was so excited and nervous all at the same time. The incredible team of people they have really put my mind at ease. From the beginning to the end I have had so much support and never felt alone. Choosing to go with CSP as my agency was the best choice I made. I would have NEVER found the family I was matched with without them, the family who is now my second family. I will be forever grateful to all of the wonderful people who helped me make my dream come true in giving the gift of life to an incredibly deserving family!