WHAT ARE THE RECIPIENTS LIKE IN PERSON?

Before we met our embryo recipients, we "knew" them from extensive emails, phone calls and some photos of them and their families. We thought we had a good idea of who they were.

It was obvious that they were child-centered, caring women. They both have professional jobs. Their relationships with their families sounded strong. Jenny seemed to have a fun sense of humor. She wrote interesting emails. Erin sounded like the practical grounding force for the relationship. She looked glamorous in the photos they sent.

In person, we gained a clearer sense of who these women truly were that we were trying to help to become parents. Jenny was much more motherly than she had seemed via email. She was obviously the planner, taking care of everyone and making sure everything was alright. Her personality was bubbly and warm.

Erin had grown her hair much longer. She looked nice with long hair, but not as glamorous as with a trendy, short haircut. She seemed sportier than in her photos, but still very practical.

As Southern women, both were very polite, especially when one of my relatives strongly suggested activities for them for the rest of their (brief) stay in our town. By "suggest" I mean "dictate".

Our children took to Jenny and Erin immediately, even the little one, who was going through stranger anxiety at that time. Our older child tried to impress them with all sorts of gymnastics.

It was obvious that we had made the right choice in selecting these women for the embryos. We all headed out for brunch.

MEETING THE RECIPIENTS

When the recipients came to our town for their embryo transfer we were scared but excited that they had decided to meet us. We thought they might not want to add to their stress with a visit to our town. We left the decision up to them and they said yes. It seemed like a good idea for them to meet our children before their transfer. If the kids were bouncing off the walls the recipients might think twice before using our embryos!

We had sent Jenny and Erin the train schedule and map instructions to find the train station. It is always hard to navigate in a new place and the recipients just missed the scheduled train. No matter. They called to say they were on their way.

Soon the intercom from downstairs rang. Jenny and Erin were on their way up! We were going to meet our recipients after all...