My daughter was born through surrogacy in 2023. The years that led there were the hardest, most confusing, most isolating of my life.

There were coordinators who spoke in acronyms. Lawyers whose contracts I couldn’t read. Agencies who wanted a deposit before they wanted my name.

What I needed, what almost no one had, was someone who had already walked this road. Someone who could sit across from me and say: I know. I’ve been there. Here’s what happens next.