Coming Out of the Closet: Finding a Surrogate in Spain

Elias and Maialen: Our Story

Finding a Surrogate in Spain

No one ever plans that their path to becoming parents will be difficult. When we discovered we couldn't have children on our own because of health reasons, we weren't sure the direction to take. One day while driving, I hear a local radio personality mention that he and his partner had just had a baby via surrogacy. I honestly didn't think there was a possibility of finding a surrogate in Spain so I reached out to him. His information set us on a surrogacy journey that I will be forever grateful for.

This is our story of finding a surrogate in Spain and getting our first daughter . . .

After several failed attempts at becoming parents, we researched the possibility of surrogacy and found a surrogate in the United States. On September 13, 2021, we are told that Elizabeth, our surrogate, got pregnant using one of the two embryos we created back in

2019. We were joyful and excited, but past experiences lead us to be cautious.

We were nervous the first few weeks passed. We talked to Elizabeth almost daily

at the beginning. If it took more than ten minutes to answer we always began to

think of the worst. Fortunately, everything went normally, communication was

constant (once or twice a week), and every month or so we had a video call. At

the beginning of October, thanks to a good deal from an airline, we got one-

way tickets to Salt Lake City for April 23. The due date was May 12, but we decided we should come two or three weeks in advance just in case.

Months passed, and we were so excited for April to come. Although there were no problems throughout the pregnancy, the last ultrasound showed the first signs of a problem. Elizabeth was found to have pre-eclampsia (high tension reduces the flow of blood to placenta and

causes a lack of oxygen), and the birth had to be brought forward to 37 weeks. Three weeks ahead of schedule! Can you guess which day was chosen? Yes, you guessed It. The chosen day was April 23rd, the day we were supposed to fly out to SLC.

After contemplating whether we should go sooner or not, we decided to keep the day and fly on the very day of childbirth. We spoke to Elizabeth and she agreed. The Madrid-Barcelona-San Francisco flight was a nightmare. As soon as we got to Barcelona, we got a message from the airline, the Barcelona-San Francisco flight was canceled for technical reasons. We would have to wait until April 27th to fly out. We pleaded with the airline that we were expecting a baby and we had to travel as soon as possible, but it wasn't enough. The baby, of course, was born when we were in Barcelona on April 24th. We finally arrived in the U.S. on 27th of April (the adventures of that flight deserves another article), and Elizabeth, who had been discharged from the hospital, came to the airport with her husband, and we were able to go straight to the hospital where our daughter was.

When we arrived at the hospital, we were incredibly nervous, and though Elizabeth had sent

us pictures of the baby, in the corridors as we went to our daughter's room, we

wondered: "What will she look like? Who will she look like? Will she be all right?" When we arrived at our baby’s room, there were some other babies too. To our surprise, one of the nurses gave us a male baby saying, ”Here’s your son." ”We were expecting a girl,” we said. Of course, that incident did not happen (haha), but once we left the hospital we made jokes about it.

Our first journey wasn't without it's problems, but the final outcome brought us a beautiful baby. We had become parents for the first time! Thanks to gestational surrogacy, we were able to fulfill our dream. What is more, we knew firsthand that all the bad things we had heard on television about this practice ere untrue. We experienced kindness, generosity, sincerity, and, above all, professionalism on the part of all the people around us: lawyers, doctors, nurses, and especially our gestational carrier Elizabeth. We will never be able to forget what she did for us.