I am so excited to launch my book, More Than Just a Baby: A Guide to Surrogacy for Intended Parents and Surrogates. It is now available to purchase.
I was inspired to write the More Than Just a Baby shortly after I gave birth as a surrogate. I felt so many powerful and amazing emotions and wondered whether what I was feeling was normal. I remember thinking ‘there really should be a book about this.’ So, I wrote that book.
I am passionate about positive and empowered surrogacy arrangements that focus on the best interests of children, and the longevity of the relationship between the surrogate and the intended parents. Surrogacy relationships are the most complex of relationships that we can enter in our lifetime. It really is about more than just the baby.
I have been an IVF mum, and I know the heartache and roller-coaster of emotions of infertility and IVF treatment. I’ve also been an egg donor, and have thought deeply about the connections between myself, my children and the children conceived from my eggs and their families. I became a surrogate because I understood the aching desire to be a parent and wanted to give the opportunity of parenthood to someone else. I was also really happy to be pregnant and give birth again, without having to raise the child myself.
Surrogacy has been such a gift for me, and my family. I want intended parents and surrogates to experience the joy of surrogacy, and understand the complexity and gravity of the relationships so they can have a positive, lifelong relationship, well beyond the birth and the legal process.
I want to take a moment to thank the community for their support in getting More Than Just a Baby published. That includes my early readers and reviewers, including IVF nurse Heidi Jensen, surrogate Amanda Meehan, mother through surrogacy Phillipa Ross, surrogacy counsellors Katrina Hale and Sarah Nowoweiski, surrogacy lawyer Ben Sayer, and dads through surrogacy Jarrad and Michael Duggan-Tierney. I also need to thank my partner, Troy, and our children Archie and Raf, and of course my intended parents Mike and Nate and their daughter Darcey, without whom the book would never have been written. They say it takes a village to raise a child – sometimes it takes a village to write a book too.
I’d love for you to read More Than Just a Baby and let me know what you get out of it. I hope it helps you along the way – no matter where you are up to in the perpetual journey that is surrogacy and family creation.
Media enquiries can start here.
Hi! I’m Sarah Jefford (she/her). I’m a family creation lawyer, practising in surrogacy and donor conception arrangements. I’m an IVF mum, an egg donor and a traditional surrogate, and I delivered a baby for two dads in 2018
I advocate for positive, best practice surrogacy arrangements within Australia, and provide support and education to help intended parents make informed decisions when pursuing overseas surrogacy.
