All About Surrogacy

When we talk about surrogacy, many times we forget to talk about surrogacy, we do not want that to happen, so today we want to talk about surrogacy, make it as clear as possible what it consists of, the techniques used, and the different types of surrogacy that exist.

What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is when a woman is pregnant and will later give birth, however the baby belongs both genetically and legally to other parents.

Surrogate motherhood

What techniques are used to achieve pregnancy?

To reach the stage of pregnancy, the surrogate mother, gestational or carrier (as it is sometimes called), techniques such as in vitro fertilization, or artificial insemination are used, the choice of one technique or another depends on the particular case.

In vitro fertilization (IVF)

In vitro fertilization (or also called IVF), is an artificial fertilization technique where the fertilization of oocytes by sperm is sought.

This type of assisted fertilization occurs outside of the mother’s body. In this way, by extracting one or more oocytes from the maternal ovaries, the fertilization of the spermatozoa in the liquid medium is sought. When the Oocyte has been fertilized (generally this is called a pre-embryo), it is transferred to the woman’s uterus, seeking that it nests in the uterus itself, and continues its development until delivery.

Artificial insemination

Insemination is a method of assisted reproduction, which consists of depositing sperm unnaturally in the future pregnant woman.

How does the deposition of sperm occur? This type of technique is usually produced with specialized instruments, using techniques that replace copulation itself, with the sole purpose of achieving a pregnancy.

What types of surrogacy are there?

 The types of surrogacy that exist differ according to the objective of the mother who provides the womb, and the monetary factor that exists in between. On the other hand, it can also be categorized based on the genetic makeup of the baby itself (that is, the people who provide both the egg and the sperm). In this way, surrogacy itself can be of two types:

Traditional Surrogacy

The traditional surrogate provides her egg, but the father comes from the intended father or a donor. In this case, the baby is usually conceived by artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization.

Gestational Surrogacy

In this case, both the egg and the sperm are provided by the intended parents requesting the surrogacy. In this case, the pregnant woman has no genetic relationship with the baby. By what name is this mother known? It is usually called a gestational mother or a carrier mother. In this case, pregnancy occurs through in vitro fertilization.

On the other hand, you can also make another differentiation, considering the finances that may be involved, which may be:

Altruistic surrogacy

In this case, the woman who is going to get pregnant does so without profit (she does not get money). However, the biological parents themselves are responsible for both medical and legal expenses.

Commercial surrogacy

In this case, the gestational mother agrees to become pregnant in exchange for a sum of money.

A surrogacy professional will be able to give you more information about the different types of surrogacy.

Surrogacy in Canada

Altruistic surrogacy in Canada is legal

In this video you will find everything you need to know about Canadian Surrogacy

Meeting your Intended Parents

Nine great tips for the first meeting between the intended parents and the surrogate

Independent Surrogacy

Thinking about doing an independent surrogacy journey?

Here you will find 11 great tips for finding a private surrogate

 

Ten Beautiful Surrogacy Quotes

Being a Surrogate Mother

What is a surrogate mother? When you approach surrogacy, it’s important or you to understand the meaning of being a surrogate and how the surrogacy process works.

Additionally, your role as surrogate will be to help to build a family, and this is truly priceless. You and your intended parents must build a relationship based on individual respect, dignity and care each party deserve.

Surrogacy procedures normally require the surrogate to pass a medical screener and a psychological assessment, need the surrogate to be at least 18 or 21 depending on the Country and State where surrogacy is pursued and require the intended parents to agree to accept any resulting child, regardless of any impairment the child may have. Usually American clinics have higher standards than the Canadian ones.

Although these requests may be a bit different between surrogacy agencies and countries, most surrogacy specialists ask that the potential gestational carrier would have had minimum one uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery and have also one kid living at home, have no history of drugs or alcohol abuse in her family as well as no family records of genetic , psychological or medical issues, be living in a stable home (most prospective parents prefer with a helpful boyfriend, spouse or partner to have a good support network) and have medical insurance that will cover the pregnancy.

As explained before, every surrogate mother needs to pass a carefully screener, and agencies normally  will have control over what couple surrogates work with during the surrogacy journey, because it´s important to finding compatible matches (intended parents and surrogate mothers) that do for the best potential journey for all the parties involved in this surrogacy process.

Being a surrogate is a gift for couples or people who cannot have children. Some surrogates say that they have waited a long time to make the choice to go ahead and being a surrogate mother but that they become really happy and even cry when they found out we were pregnant, the first time they watch the kid in the ultrasound with the intended parents was a magic moment, the times and talks they spend with intended parents throughout the pregnancy and of course the day where they are able to meet the baby they carried. It´s an amazing adventure for a surrogate mother that all woman deserves to have the possibility to choose. When a woman decides to become a gestational carrier (also an egg donor) it was out of her personal passion to be pregnant and have children of her own.

Counseling and advise for the surrogate mother is performed by surrogacy specialists so she has a clear understanding of the psychological issues related to the process of surrogacy journey, including handling a relationship with the expectant parents, managing with attachment problems due to the pregnancy, and coping with the impact of surrogacy on her own life, at work, at home, with her husband or partner.

A gestational carrier must be willing to pass a deep medical screener, a criminal background analysis on her and her partner, fill out a full health questionnaire, a psychological assessment and probably a home visit led by the surrogacy agency and sometimes for the intended parents.

For propective parents is not easy to find surrogate mothers but being a surrogate is not a simple decision.

One very important part of the journey, that the surrogate doesn´t have to forget is the contract part. A surrogate mother needs to make sure that the agreement include topics such as the amount of reimbursement she will receive, who will be responsible for paying medical and psychological expenses, what will occur in the case of twins or triplets, what will occur if the surrogate mother or the intended parents wants to terminate the pregnancy in the middle, and what will occur if a miscarriage happens. All those details will be negotiated in put a written contract with your surrogate. And both parties needs to have their own legal representation before signing this contract.

Surrogacy is a gift! Thanks to all the surrogate mothers that decide being a gestational or traditional carrier and to help other intended parents!! Tank you

You can find more info about this amazing proces here

Looking for a Surrogacy agency

Are you looking for a surrogacy agency? here you will find a surrogacy agency database online with a lot of surrogacy professionals

https://www.mysurrogatemom.com/surrogacy-agencies/

 

Find surrogacy lawyer

Whether you are a surrogate mother, egg donor, sperm donor or intended parent if you start a surrogacy or donation process is very important you get in contact with an attorney expert in third party reproduction.

You can find surrogacy lawyer in MySurogateMom specialists database.

An ART lawyer will guide you through the whole process!

By the way, do you know what ART stands for?

ART is Assisted Reproductive technologies more info:  https://medlineplus.gov/assistedreproductivetechnology.html

Surrogate Mother Requirements

Whether you are considering becoming surrogate mother and want to help others become their dream of parenthood true, or you want to grow your family via a surrogacy process, you need to know that there are some common requirements for surrogate mothers.

In the following video you can find out more info about the requirements for becoming a surrogate mother

 

Surrogacy, Hospitals and NICU

Where the surrogate mother is going to deliver your baby is a very delicate topic that you should talk with her from the beginning. There are surrogate mother that want to have a natural delivery at home, other that wish to do it in a midwifery and not in an hospital because it´s more comfortable for them. This is an important topic that sometimes is not discussed in advance and that can create a lot of anxiety afterwards.

Sometimes the surrogate mother lives near a smaller community hospital with a nice L&D unit but no NICU and the nearest NICU (level 4) is an hour away. What you can do? Many Intended Parents consider in-house NICU non-negotiable, even if the pregnancy is singleton and there’s no apparent increased risk. Why is this? Abundance of caution coupled with many Intended Parents having histories of trauma or loss? Or concern for increased risk of complications with IVF pregnancies? Basically – is it an emotional decision, or one supported by numbers?

Some agencies put in their contracts that all surrogate mothers deliver at a hospital with a NICU – not up for discussion but sometimes it´s up to the intended parents and even it can be  an emotional decision because sometimes  it is not based on statistics or data. Intended parents feel like everything that could have gone wrong in the past few years has gone wrong, and that scares them. They want to have every protection in place in case something unexpected happens. It’s their way of protecting their baby.

Although it can be emotional decisions you need to think about quick transfer capabilities between hospital and what that really means (time to make the decision, get the flight crew dispatched to the room, load the baby on the ambulance, sign off on paperwork, etcetera) , you need to know that the idea that the decision is made and suddenly you are in the air and your child is where they need to be perhaps is not 100% accurate.

Discuss openly this subject with your surrogate mother and ensure both are on the same page.

More info about surrogacy here