Today we’d like to introduce you to Shadina Blunt.
Hi Shadina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a mother of three. I started motherhood early and was a teen mom at the age of 16. At the time, I couldn’t understand why that was the card that was dealt to me, but I pushed through and graduated school on time with my then 8-month-old daughter. I continued with the college to become a nurse and by the time I graduated, I was a mother of two small daughters. I began my career in OB GYN care and could quickly see the need for surrogacy and made the decision then that I wanted to become a surrogate to help families build their families. Fast forward to ten years later and my final child being born, I know that I was done with motherhood for myself and now was the right time in my life to start my surrogacy journey.
I completed my first surrogacy journey in 2017 to help bring a baby into this world for wonderful first-time parents. They were so thankful for having a medical person that could help them navigate through the surrogacy journey. My kids were still rather young with my youngest being 4 at the time and needing to navigate his mother being pregnant but the baby not coming home with us. We all worked so well together to bring this baby to life, even though there were a lot of medical difficulties along the way. Some would say I nearly lost my life, but I knew the entire time I was covered by a higher power that lives above. Once the baby was born for this wonderful family. We still remained in contact by choice of the Intended parents. I went back to living my normal life. I had no intentions on doing another surrogacy journey. Especially with complications I’ve experienced previously.
A year later, I was presented with the question of if I would be a gestational carrier again for a celebrity family. I was very hesitant at first, one because I had no desire to complete another journey and two of course I was scared from my last experience. The more and more I spoke with the family on what they needed, I knew I was the right person for the job. Along with this journey was the ask to share the journey publicly due to their celebrity status of the intended parents. The parents being Kandi Burruss and her husband Todd Tucker was a whole new world for me being so private, but I knew it was the right thing to do to spread the word about surrogacy and how much it is needed in my community.
Once I was medically cleared to move forward, I was on board 100 percent to help another family bring life into this world.
While pregnant with this family’s baby, I became overwhelmed with my family and other people asking if once I was done if I would consider carrying for them. I knew I wanted to help more, but I couldn’t carry everyone’s baby. So, the next best thing was opening my own Surrogacy Agency to continue to help families. I founded and opened Surrogacy Miracles and Consulting in October of 2019. I opened the agency right before the pandemic and was able to keep the doors open during a difficult time and have been able to help many families since opening the door.
Having the agency has also allowed me to see other issues with the cost of surrogacy. There are over 4,000 surrogacy cases each year and about 55 percent of families that need to use surrogacy won’t be able to afford surrogacy. In 2020, I started my foundation called Surrogacy Miracles Family Foundation to help intended parents with grants to help pay for their surrogacy journey.
I have my own children and during my surrogacy journey. My youngest son had so many questions about “How did I get pregnant?” “ Where’s the baby?” In December of 2021, I released my first children’s book Miracles to Motherhood “A tale of Mary’s gift of life” to help children understand what surrogacy looked like. I felt there needed to be more books available that represented the black community and surrogacy.
These are a few of the things in the Surrogacy community that I have already accomplished, but there is so much more I want to do and plan to do to continue to share the greatness of surrogacy.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of the challenges I have faced in my life and journey:
1) Starting life off as a teen mom trying to navigate becoming successful through education.
2) Personal Family Obstacles and Challenges that delayed my progress in life & reaching certain goals.
3) Difficult Surrogacy Journey that puts my life in danger.
4) Starting a Surrogacy Agency in the middle of a world pandemic.
5) Challenges with finding support for surrogacy in my community due to it being so taboo.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Surrogacy Miracles and Consulting?
Surrogacy Miracles and Consulting is a Black Owned Women-Led Agency that helps families navigate through the full surrogacy journey. We are one of the Top 5 Surrogacy Agencies in GA and founded by myself. I have a partner Dr. Jackie Walters from Married to Medicine and my whole Management staff carrier’s medical background. What sets us apart is the connection to assisting many of Atlanta Celebrities through their surrogacy journey with the professionalism and privacy that is required for surrogacy. We are proud to have publicly shared our brand on a large platform to bring more awareness around surrogacy in the black community. I want readers to know that Surrogacy is not Taboo in the black community or any community. There are resources out here for your surrogacy Journey and or funding for your surrogacy journey. While we do support a lot of celebrity clients we are not just a celebrity agency. We support all family types, Heterosexual, Same-sex, LGBTQ, and single parents.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking.
Surrogacy in itself is a major risk because there is no guarantee that it will work. Our business is built on the clients that we are able to help every day and if there are no gestational carriers willing to help, then the business stops there and families are left without options to grow their families.
Founding this business, I took on all the financial overhead until bringing in my partner. The Pandemic did not help us as we did not know what the outcome of fertility would be, but we survived.
The pregnancies in surrogacy are a risk as pregnancy for any woman is risky and the female body takes a toll. There is a lot of room for negativity in surrogacy, but I chose to stay positive at all times and if an emergency situation arises, find the best solution to keep everyone happy and safe.
Pricing:
- Agency Fee $28K
- Gestational Carrier Compensation $40K-$80K
- IVF Treatment Cost $20K-$40K
Contact Info:
- Website: surrogacymiraclesconsulting.org
- Instagram: @surrogacymiracles
- Facebook: Surrogacy Miracles & Consulting
- Twitter: @surrogacymirac2
Image Credits
323 Creative Designs Zabian Productions
