I wrote GOOD EGG with the 7.3 million plus couples in the United States alone, who struggles with infertility in mind. The idea came to me when I accidentally bumped into my egg donor at the fertility clinic days before our first embryo transfer.
As I sat there, doped up on hormones awaiting my name to be called, out from behind Door #1 appeared a bright light – a tall, lanky figure stood before me – everything suddenly stopped, everything but my racing heart. Standing just a few feet away from me was the woman whose photo was presented to us after we had purchased her eggs. The woman we selected based on a simple application. The woman who would inevitably procreate with my husband.
A woman that could do what I wasn’t naturally able to do – standing just a few feet away was my future baby mama.
A raw sense of jealousy and dread suddenly fell over me – the fertility hormones I’d been injecting daily into my body for months certainly didn’t help. Odd as it may sound, I felt invisible, I felt small, I felt alone and scared. My mind began to wander. “Do we really know her?” “Should we have spent more time going through applications?” “Could she have lied on her application?” Just as my check-list of “what ifs” rattled off in my brain, she swiftly placed her sunglasses on and headed towards the exit. I desperately wanted to follow her, but heard my husband’s voice in my head, “DO-NOT MOVE!”
It’s an odd dynamic having to select another woman to procreate with your husband. I wanted to know more. I wanted to sit with her, have a coffee, hear her voice, get to know her on a deeper level. But at the end of the day, as I watched my baby mama disappear out the door, all I could do was sit there stoically and wonder who was she? Who was she really? I’ll never know. That’s the risk women like me take when we can’t do the one natural thing we are supposed to be capable of – creating a new life.
Despite the numbers, infertility is an extremely lonely journey. It’s dark, scary and unpredictable. I wrote GOOD EGG in hopes of alleviating the stress and dread that sadly goes along with infertility. I wrote it for the millions of couples who struggle with the daunting sense of desperation that goes hand in hand with the financial and emotional strains. I wrote this adventure-comedy to keep hope alive for all those who endure this journey.
I believe GOOD EGG takes a difficult topic, one rarely talked about, one hardly seen on screen and brings levity, action and heart to it. My hope as a director is to make others who have walked in my shoes laugh and realize that they’re not alone. Now as a mother of twin girls born via surrogacy, I can attest that despite all the hormone shots, all the tears, the fear, the desperation, that it was all well worth it.
– Nicole Gomez Fisher
