Surrogacy Stories: Tassia’s Powerful Journey as a Gestational Carrier
My name is Wendie Wilson-Miller and I’ve been working in the field of assisted reproduction for over 23 years. As a native of Southwest Washington and owner of a Portland-area surrogacy agency, I’ll be sharing a series of “Surrogacy Stories” over the coming months from other Pacific Northwest natives. These stories will include first-hand accounts of the assisted reproduction journey from the point of view of our surrogates. My hope is to spread the word about what the experience is like and how different kinds of families benefit from the service that these incredible women provide.
Tassia is a two-time surrogate who, after her first journey, discovered a profound love for surrogacy and joined the All Families Surrogacy team. She knew she wanted to be involved in helping complete families after watching friends and family struggle with years of infertility and loss.
With over a decade of experience in customer service and data entry, Tassia brings passion and great attention to detail as she helps guide surrogates through the screening process. Her favorite part of being the Intake Coordinator is getting to know the compassionate surrogates, and watching them move on to match with families and complete meaningful journeys. Hear from her in her own words in this month’s Surrogacy Stories.
I’m Tassia. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, but made my way over to sunny Southern Utah after high school. I love animals, reading, traveling, jiujitsu, anything outdoors and, most of all, being a mother. My love for pregnancy and birth began with my first daughter. After delivering in July of 2014, I found a new passion for pregnancy and delivery. In February of 2018, we had yet another absolutely beautiful birth and welcomed another daughter into our family. With these 2 precious girls, we knew our family was complete. However, I did not feel my journey of being pregnant was over.
After years of watching friends and family struggle with infertility, miscarriage, and other struggles to make their families whole, I started to cautiously research surrogacy. A family friend of mine had posted about her surrogacy journey and was kind enough to Zoom chat with me and explain the process. This is how I found AFS, and I applied in July of 2019.
At my pap, they found precancerous cells on my cervix that needed to be removed. This meant I had to wait an extra 6 months for a follow-up and the “all clear” to move forward. The month that I was due for my follow-up was when the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down. After a few extra months (and patience), I got the green light and I was finally able to begin my first surrogacy journey!
The agency did an amazing job with the matching process. The first profile I came across was better than I could have ever hoped for. We had a match call over Zoom, and both of us gave an enthusiastic yes to move forward. In June of 2021 the Intended Parents (IPs) stood by my side as we completed the embryo transfer. I video chatted with them for every prenatal appointment. The IPs became like extended family, and when they came into town to prepare for the baby, we were able to spend a lot of time together.
I LOVED having them in the room for the birth, and hands-down my favorite part of the whole journey was when the mother was able to catch her baby boy! There were happy tears from almost everyone in the room. After knowing their years of struggles, and watching them anxiously await their baby’s arrival, witnessing them become parents was one of the most rewarding, humbling experiences of my entire life. Everything we went through together was beyond worth it.
I chose to pump breast milk for the baby, and shipped packages of frozen milk to the family every 2-4 weeks for the next 6 months. Now, more than a year after the delivery, we have been able to go on a few trips together, and share photos with each other often!
Over this time, I went back and forth trying to decide if I would like to do one last journey. I put things on the backburner, until my coordinator at AFS reached out to me in October of 2022. She let me know she had the most wonderful family that would be a great fit for me. After reading their story, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be doing one more surrogacy journey. I took time to think about it and discuss it with my family just to be safe.
The initial process flew by the second time, and by May of 2023 we had completed a successful embryo transfer. We have met the family in person a few times now, and have been able to video chat for every appointment so far. I am currently 15 weeks pregnant, and look forward to sharing all of the wonderful milestones with these sweet parents. This will be my final pregnancy, and surrogacy has brought so much joy and love into my family’s life. I cannot express how lucky I feel to have these wonderful new people in my life.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE JOYS OF BEING A SURROGATE? LEARN MORE HERE.
GO HERE TO READ ALL OF THE SURROGACY STORIES IN THIS SERIES.
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Featured photo: Tassia with her Intended Parents and their baby.
