If you're based in the Washington D.C. area, this is your resource for Choice Motherhood

There has been a resurgence of interest from women in many parts of the United States, Canada and Europe to find connections with others on the Choice Mom journey. So I'm re-featuring this list of support options to help women find each other.

If you live in D.C., Virginia, or Maryland, and are considering using a surrogate, this is a good legal overview of the laws in those areas.

There are 10 major markets where Choice Moms live. There are Choice Moms everywhere, of course, but I'm focusing on 10 communities where this website gets the most traffic from single women. I'm building resource guides for the cities listed below, with your help.

It's amazing what we discover we don't know about how to conceive when we're really trying to. These three notable fertility specialists spell everything out on the "Choosing Single Motherhood" radio show.

Our two networking events in D.C. featured the excellent advice of Dr. Rani Abbasi, of Columbia Fertility Associates. Here's what she told us.

Given the large number of questions on the Choice Mom discussion boards about fertility, and the fact that many of us don't realize until late in the game how fragile our fertility is, I couldn't do this topic justice on the website and in our networking events without our Choice Mom fertility experts.

When embarking on parenthood, we often become ready to explore new pathways to health, including acupuncture, energy healing and natural health care. These practitioners have actively worked on behalf of the Choice Mom community.

When you are preparing to deliver a child on your own, finding the right pre- and post-partum doula can be vital to a Choice Mom. Listen to this podcast about finding the right one for you. Read more about doulas on this website. And recommend yours here in the comments field.

It's hard for self-sufficient women to ask for help -- or even acknowledge to ourselves that we need it. But we do. Even more than we care to admit, because we tend to be so hard on ourselves. This month I'm thinking about the kinds of support Choice Moms need, and how we can get and give it as a community.

Since I've been keeping track of website traffic for two years now, I thought it would be interesting to share information about where we tend to live, what information we tend to look for on the website, and what's been happening since I relaunched the website with its new format in February 2010.

I’m on the Amtrak from D.C. to NYC, having finished the first of back-to-back Choice Mom networking events. In D.C. we shared stories, tips and insight about:

My favorite part of Choice Mom networking events this year is our opening large group discussion, when we talk together from all stages about the issues and concerns we have faced. In the D.C. event, we had several Thinkers who wanted to know how women moved comfortably into the Trying stage. The question being, "How did you get to yes?" In response, Tryers and Moms reported:

At the Choice Moms networking event in D.C., Birthing Hands doula Claudia Booker offered many great tips for women about how to build a support network. She reiterated the importance of preparing for this well before the baby arrives. Some of her suggestions:

Nothing beats the recommendation of fellow Choice Moms about the doctors they entrusted to help them conceive. Following is a list of Choice Mom-recommended fertility specialists, with live links to fertility clinics that have supported in the past year the Choice Mom resources you find on this website and at our networking events. Use the comments field that follows to nominate your own favorites.

At the Austin Choice Moms event we started to talk about ways to simplify, and add flexibility to our work life, so that we can enjoy more time with our kids. How do we do it?