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ABOUT CHERISHED BONDS
This is our story...
My Surrogacy Story
Meet Our Founder
Hi! My name is Tonia and I have been helping couples and individuals grow their families through surrogacy for seven wonderful years. This is certainly not an industry you "stumble across", so let me tell you how I got here. In 2019 I was pregnant and on my first surrogacy journey. It was unproblematic in most respects, but I was due to deliver in early 2020. In an extremely rare turn of events, the parents of the baby I was carrying were unable to make it into the US due to the closed borders during the pandemic. My family and I assumed the responsibility of caring for the newborn - without hesitation - until the parents were able to make it to their baby. During this 4 month period, our agency ceased their support, leaving my family solely responsible for assisting the parents with travel, insurance, and all other aspects of newborn care. It took an enormous emotional toll on us and of course the parents of baby. Still, I would do it again in a heartbeat if it was the only way to bring that precious child earth-side. Though this was a rare circumstance, I have dedicated my career to supporting and educating IPs on how to navigate surrogacy safely and advocating for gestational surrogates ethical treatment.
My Birth Story
Why I became a doula
As a birthing woman in the US, when people ask me what my birth plan is, I often say, "to make it out alive". While I say it with a humorous undertone, I am very serious. I have had the great privilege of birthing four extraordinary souls into this world. With every birth my circumstances have changed and thus my treatment by hospital staff has changed. With every delivery, I can't help but compare them to my first birth. Where I was forced to be induced, was refused any comfort measures other than an epidural, was denied access to cold packs, hot packs, or even the bathtub, was on continuous monitoring and after 24 hours of labor I was cut open without my consent. Resulting in over 40 stitches, permanent pain, and even worse my child was born with a preventable hematoma and eventually was hospitalized for jaundice and sepsis as a result. My subsequent births were all another version of this story but slightly better each time. The older I get the more my heart breaks for the younger version of myself who didn't know she had choices, didn't have adequate support, and whose birth was something traumatic that happened to her and her partner, not the beautiful experience that it should have been. She was robbed of her empowerment, her choices, and the time that they should have spent bonding with their baby was instead spent fighting for their life. I was called to become a doula to support the community that I came from and empower women and their partners to trust their bodies, their intuition in the birthing process and to help them feel empowered in childbirth instead of being robbed of their power.
