Written by: Hillary Redwine, this is cross referenced
Meg Watwood truly has a servant’s heart, she is a two-time surrogate and mom of four, Meg loves helping intended parents create their families and views surrogacy as another way she can serve others. She was drawn to becoming a gestational carrier after she and her husband struggled to conceive following the birth of their daughter and required the help of invitro fertilization to conceive their twin boys. Their fourth child, a daughter, was born in between her surrogacy journeys.
“My own experience with infertility is what sparked my desire to help other women who were going through the same thing,” Meg explains. “I wasn’t sure how to go about it, and then I watched an episode of The Little Couple on TLC where they were talking about using a surrogate. I thought, ‘I can do that!’”
Meg was then on a mission to learn all she could about the surrogacy process. Looking back, she believes it was part of God’s plan as she was soon introduced to Gayle Garrett, the founder of Surrogate Solutions, at their church in Waco, Texas. She asked to meet with Gayle and the rest is history.
When it came time to match with intended parents, Meg was very intentional in how she envisioned the relationship. “Carrying someone else’s baby is intensely personal and intimate. I wanted it to be very relational and not a business transaction,” Meg says. “It was important to me for the intended parents to be involved and for my family to have a connection with them. I was willing to wait longer, if necessary, to find intended parents who were seeking the same kind of experience.”
The matches were successful for both of Meg’s surrogacy journeys. She delivered twins in 2013 and a singleton in 2017. She and her family remain close to both families she carried for and keep in touch via texting, sending Christmas cards and traveling when they can to visit the families.
“We usually have an annual trip with our Austin family to watch the Round Rock Express (minor league) baseball team play, and we’ve also been to Houston to visit our second family,” Meg says.
Another priority for Meg during her surrogacy journeys was to ensure that her children were accepting and involved in the experience. “With my first journey, I had three children who were still pretty young, but by my second journey, my eldest daughter was 12 and in junior high,” Meg says. “I had been pregnant for so much of her life that I wanted to make sure she was supportive of it.”
She continues, “My kids were excited each time. They got used to explaining to people who would ask if they were looking forward to being big brothers and sisters that it wasn’t our baby I was carrying, that we were helping another family. It became very normal for them.”
Meg’s children were at the hospital for both of her surrogate deliveries and were able to meet and hold the babies. “It was important for me that they were able to meet the babies and see who I had been carrying for so long and also to say goodbye to the intended parents because we had become friends with them,” she explained.
“My kids were very involved, and we [Meg and her husband] saw it as an opportunity to show them another way we can help people. We’re always seeking to serve others, and while it might be unconventional, we see surrogacy as a beautiful way to serve others in need.”
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