My name is Kerri. My husband and I live in Kansas City with our 3 children. We have a boy, age 7 and 2 girls, ages 6 and 4. As a family we enjoy spending as much time outdoors as possible! We also all enjoy watching and participating in a variety of sports. I am currently transitioning from a stay at home mom to getting back into the workforce. I substitute teach in the local school district as well as coach Junior high basketball, cross country, and track. I was an adapted PE teacher and loved my job! I am hoping to get back into full time teaching this upcoming school year. We are also involved at our church in the children’s department and outreach ministries. Between the kids’ activities, my coaching, and church we are busy…but loving every minute of it! (well, minus the tantrums, the kids arguing, the “dinner is disgusting” comments, bedtime fights, and laundry….despise laundry)
My husband and I were married for a year when we decided to begin having a family. It did not come easy for us. After trying for over a year we began the fertility testing. Everything came back normal. I then had the HSG dye test the beginning of April 2008 and was given a prescription for Clomid to start taking with my next cycle. We count ourselves blessed because I never got my cycle that month, we found out we were pregnant with our son later in April. We only had a small insight into what couples who face infertility go through. The disappointment month after month and the emotional roller coaster that comes with it all.
I have an aunt (she is not much older than me) who had been struggling with infertility for years. My husband and I offered for me to be a surrogate for her and her husband. The original doctor believed that she could carry a baby, she would just need an egg donor. I was an egg donor for her. She unfortunately miscarried all the embryos. By this time I was pregnant with our third baby. After I gave birth to her, we again offered and they accepted. I delivered a baby girl for them in November of 2014. It was one of the most incredible things my husband and I were able to be a part of. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to be able to be a surrogate again!
This brings me to my current surrogate journey. I wasn’t sure how to go about being a surrogate for a complete stranger. Family Source Consultants was recommended to me and they have been fantastic through the entire process. They could not have matched me with a better couple. From our first Skype conversation we clicked. We “met” December of last year and I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with their little girl. My IP’s truly feel like family. They came and celebrated our girls’ birthdays. They stay with us when they come for appointments and it feels natural. The more they come, the messier my house is when they get here-that is how you know you are like family!
My IP’s have an amazingly heart wrenching story, as do most. My IM said something to me that I will never forget. She said, “You know, as much as we have been through- the heart aches, the emotional ups and downs, I would go through it all again, because it brought us together. I would have never met you or your family if it wasn’t for all we had gone through.” If their journey to conceive wasn’t rough enough, our pregnancy brought more emotional ups and downs! I was diagnosed with complete previa around Thanksgiving. After a couple brief stays in the hospital, I was admitted the beginning of January to stay until birth. Going through this with them, as scary as it was, brought us all that much closer. They are an extension of our family. We will forever have family in Chicago!
Their little girl made her appearance March 1st. Seeing hold their little girl, the baby they have been waiting years and years for, was just amazing! There was not a dry eye in the room. People have asked me if knowing what I know now, would I do it again. My answer, without hesitation, is 100% yes! I will never know on this side of heaven why I was blessed to be able to have 3 children of my own, and my IP’s were not. But I do know that I am honored to be able to help them fulfill their dream of having a family. God uses many venues to create a family. I was just lucky and blessed enough to be a part of this one!
Staci Swiderski, CEO and owner of Family Source Consultants has been involved in the field of reproductive medicine since 2002. Staci has vigorously grown the comprehensive egg donation and gestational surrogacy agency to become a worldwide leader in the third-party reproduction field. Staci is a former intended parent herself. She and her husband welcomed their son via gestational surrogacy in 2005. Additionally, Staci had the experience of assisting an infertile couple (AKA Recipient Parents) build their family through her efforts as an egg donor, with her donation resulting in the births of their son and daughter.
