I was born with a condition known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (or MRKH for short), although I didn’t find out that I had it until I was 18, in 2007. Basically, for me this condition meant that I was born without a uterus. Without any of the other issues sometimes associated with MRKH it was the lack of a period that led my mum and I to chasing answers.

At the time I had a long term partner, Brodie, who is still by my side today. The years between then and now were hard, and emotional and full of ups and downs. But on the whole we had a happy life, with one big thing missing (the cliché can’t be avoided).

I know kids aren’t for everyone, but for me I’d always wanted a family, and having an amazing partner who I knew would be an amazing dad only made me want it more.

Beck (left) with her best friend Lee (right). Image: Susan Lowick, @saltwaterblue.photography .

Lee with Beck's daughter, Briar Lee. Image: Supplied.

This September Briar will be two years old, meaning our surrogacy journey began just over three years ago. Some would say that our journey is over but surrogacy really is a bond for life. We've since moved home to the Mid North Coast and we're only minutes away from Lee and her family. Now we get to enjoy lazy Saturday afternoons all together on their back deck eating cheese and biscuits, and sharing a drink while we watch Briar run around the backyard. It's not all sunshine and lollipops, parts of our road to getting here were hard, and as we sail into the terrible twos I'm sure we'll have some trials of a different kind come our way. But everyday we feel beyond blessed to have gone through this together, and I know that Briar will never doubt how much she was wanted, or how loved she is.

"I feel so proud of what I was able to do for Beck and Brodie and I enjoy talking about it when it comes up in conversation," says Lee. Image: Susan Lowick, @saltwaterblue.photography

Lee picks up the story here...

Every day for the next week, Beck brought Briar to visit me. I enjoyed those cuddles so very much. When I held her I felt so much love, but it was different to the love I felt with my babies. In truth, it felt more like she was my grandchild. There was only one day that I felt really teary and asked her not to visit. It was three to four days post-birth which I knew from experience was a common time to experience the baby blues.

Brodie headed home on the Monday – almost a week after the birth – and Beck and Briar headed home on the Thursday. The night before they left, Beck and Briar came for dinner and I bathed our little Peanut. When I hold her and look at her it’s hard to imagine that she was ever in my tummy. She is such a little miracle and watching her with her mum and dad is just the best thing ever. If I had my time again, I would definitely do it. There are no regrets. It’s been such a rewarding experience to helping Beck and Brodie create their little family. A family that now, will forever be a part of ours.

After they returned to Gilgandra I had one more week at home before returning to work and luckily we moved into our shed that week. One of my good friends, Mary even spent her day off helping me move some more boxes into our shed. Keeping busy was good for me because I was hormonal and teary for a few weeks post birth. In hindsight, I definitely went back to work too early. I wasn’t ready physically or emotionally. But I managed, and by the second week back I was returning to my old self.

I feel so proud of what I was able to do for Beck and Brodie and I enjoy talking about it when it comes up in conversation. I hope that if anyone is thinking about helping a friend, sister or cousin to start a family that by reading both sides of our story they can see that it is really possible. Miracles can happen and dreams do come true.

Our next project is a little different, we've been working of compiling both our personal diaries from our journey into a book which will hopefully give people some insight into the road of surrogacy from from both the perspective of a surrogate and an intended parent. You can keep up with our story and this project through our Instagram @projectpeanutaus.

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