Author Kimberly Gowdy Speaks on Book, The Colorless Womb

In Author Kimberly Gowdy’s The Colorless Womb, she details her journey of conceiving and carrying a child to term, a struggle that she shares with readers from beginning to end. Growing up, she knew that she wanted a family, but the challenges that came with it led her to seek out surrogacy with the encouragement of her husband. On this path, she encounters an experience that leads her to acceptance, tolerance, and strength—all built on the foundation of faith and love. With these things and the support of her loving partner, she was able to create an important piece of work that will inspire many other women who have gone through similar challenges.

The Colorless Womb is an incredible and inspiring story. How did you make the decision to share such an amazingly personal story with this book?

I’ve always believed in using your testimony to help someone else. My hope was that The Colorless Womb would inspire, not just those dealing with infertility, but anyone who has either waited or is waiting for their dream to come to fruition.

Faith seems like a strong driving factor in your life and the decisions made. When writing The Colorless Womb, did your faith ever waver? If so, how did you overcome that obstacle?

My faith is absolutely a driving factor in my life, but to be honest, yes, there are times when I wavered. Writing the book brought up a lot of memories that I had to relive. I had to write and rewrite, walk away, and come back, just to get one solid paragraph. But those moments also allowed me to express in a way that I thought the reader would appreciate. Knowing that I was helping someone else showed me to keep going.

Challenges with pregnancy have been such a long-ignored or not as openly discussed topic in past years—especially where Black women are concerned—and is only in recent years something women can now freely be transparent about. Do you feel that The Colorless Womb will have a place within this discussion?

The Colorless Womb addresses not only infertility but loss. Infertility is not just an inability to get pregnant, but also an inability to carry a child. I never experienced the beauty of carrying my child to term and hearing his first cry. Surrogacy should have a place in the discussions on infertility.

As a Black woman, did you have any reservations about someone who was not Black being your surrogate due to the differences in cultures? If so, how did you confront that to overcome it?

I was apprehensive about surrogacy as a whole. I was embarrassed that I was in this situation. I had to become comfortable with admitting my own inability. My surrogate being white was not a problem for me, although that feeling was not shared by some outsiders. Initially, I envisioned having a surrogate with whom I could see myself vicariously, but our blessings don’t always show up in the package that we expect.

Being a mother who is older and having a baby, your creating MOBY is important to other women out there who can say they are very much a part of MOBY. Where do you see MOBY in the future as it relates to growth and the legacy that may come from it for you?

As women choose to follow their dreams in terms of careers, travel, and lifestyle, older motherhood is rising. I wanted us, mothers, to have a name that identified us so that we have an immediate connection. I want the name MOBY to become synonymous with not just older mothers, but mothers who in a lot of cases are more emotionally, personally, and financially positioned for motherhood.

Kimberly Gowdy resides in John Creek, GA with her husband, David Gowdy, and their 8-year-old son. She continues to write and is passionate about not just writing, but her career as an insurance professional of many years. She founded MOBY (Mommy Older, Baby Younger) by accident via conversations with her friends but found that it made sense to other women as well. It was created in support of women experiencing motherhood after age 35, and the response has been positive. She continues to share her story.

You can find out more about Kimberly Gowdy by following her on social media!