Bernson-Herman Surrogacy Journey

Hello! We are Madi and Jessica, friends and fellow teachers of Emily. We have created this Go Fund Me to support Emily and Jason, two amazing people in what is their last hope to become parents of a child of their own. As you may or may not know, surrogacy is an incredibly vulnerable and expensive process. If you are lucky enough to know Emily and Jason, they are two of the most humble and generous people we have ever met. Please take the time to read about their story, donate, and share widely as we want to take as much financial stress away from them as possible.

 

Emily and Jason's Story:

 

My husband and I count ourselves as lucky. We have friends and family who love us and support us. We find love and happiness in each other every single day. There's only one thing we are missing: a child to share our life and love with. We want nothing more than a child to raise with all the love that fills our hearts. A child for whom our hearts will burst with love.

 

My husband and I have been on a fertility journey for years now. We have worked with various doctors and alternative medicine specialists. We have tried various medications, procedures, and lifestyle habits. One of those medications worked. We got pregnant, but I had a severe and rare reaction which put me in the hospital. That pregnancy was our first known miscarriage. I’ve even taken a two-year leave of absence from teaching to give us better odds. We’ve gone through one round of IVF, which created four healthy embryos. We’ve gone through two separate embryo transfers. Both embryo transfers started to take, but then ended in miscarriage. The last two miscarriages happened this school year. On the second day of school, I received devastating news at my ultrasound that the first embryo transfer had terminated. For the second embryo transfer, my miscarriage started in the middle of a school day. I was put on bedrest for a couple of days. But, again received bad news at the ultrasound. Each loss has been the death of a loved one I will never know. These losses have been emotionally difficult, and I can’t go through the emotional pain of another miscarriage. More importantly, we want to give ourselves the best chance at starting our family with our two remaining embryos.

 

We have decided to try surrogacy. We have signed with a small, local surrogacy agency called All Families Surrogacy and made the first payment of $10,000. They even offer a 10% agency fee discount to teachers, which will be applied on the third payment! I cried happy and grateful tears during our consultation when I heard that. Our coordinator will be with us throughout the entire process. We don’t feel like a number with her. She has already been so helpful guiding us through the process of creating our profile, which is ready to be shared with potential Gestational Carriers (AKA Surrogates). Now the waiting process begins. We are currently 30th on the list, but because we have two embryos ready, we might not have to wait as long as some Intended Parents.

 

After we get matched with a GC, we’ll need to pay for the GC’s salary, medical insurance, lawyer fees, travel expenses, etc. We'll also need to pay the fertility agency for the embryo transfer and the fertility pharmacy for all the injectable medications to prepare the GC's uterus for embryo transfer.

 

Jason and I have made sacrifices and worked hard to save for this fertility journey. We continue to live with family instead of purchasing a home of our own. Jason and I earn extra money as Door Dash drivers when we can. We've asked family to contribute what they can. I'll be teaching summer school for the first time. This summer, I'm also going to try to sell art and Jason is going to sell his boat. We're doing all we can. If you are able and willing, we would greatly appreciate donations to our cause.

 

If you decide to contribute to our fundraising to help us create our family, we will be over-the-moon excited and overwhelmed with gratitude, joy, hope, and so much LOVE!

 

Love,

Emily and Jason