What is Surrogacy ?

Same sex intended parents who want to have a genetic link to the baby

When a surrogate is found that feels right for the parents, the surrogate may "meet" the parents via phone conference. If that goes well, an in-person meeting may take place next. (This is not always required, but highly suggested, even if travel is necessary.)

If the intended parents and surrogate feel they are a match, then the surrogate will go through medical and psychological screening (this may be repeated even if a previous screening had occurred

passes the screening, then the intended parents and surrogate will negotiate a contract, with the help of experienced surrogacy lawyers. The agency may suggest a lawyer, or you may choose one yourself.

Most important, it's not a good idea for you and the surrogate to share one lawyer. It may seem to save money, but it's not worth the risk that your (or your surrogate's) best interests are not fully represented

Once contracts are signed, fees are negotiated (part of the contract process), and all surrogacy payments have been put in an escrow account, you'll give all this information and paper work to your fertility clinic. Now, the surrogacy procedure itself can begin.

The gestational surrogate and the intended mother will have their cycles put in sync with birth control pills and then hormonal injections. Once the treatment cycle begins, the intended mother will go through the beginnings of IVF treatment, which involves injections to stimulate the ovaries and monitoring through ultrasound and blood work.

In the meantime, the surrogate will take hormones to help prepare her uterus for embryo transfer.
On the day of the egg retrieval, the intended father will provide a semen sample to the clinic.

The retrieved eggs will be combined with the sperm of the intended father. Any resulting embryos will be watched for a few days, to determine their viability.
Then, three to five days after the retrieval, a carefully chosen number of embryos will be transferred to the surrogate's uterus.

She may need to take hormonal supplements in the form of injections or suppositories to help support the pregnancy.
If the cycle is successful, once a heartbeat has been detected, the surrogate will be cared for by her regular OB/GYN.

There may be communication between the intended parents and surrogate, either directly or through a mediator, throughout the pregnancy. The level and kind of communication should have been agreed to before the surrogacy arrangement, so the parents do not feel left out and the surrogate does not feel micro-managed or overwhelmed.

As the time of birth arrives, the surrogate may need to relocate temporarily to another state or country, where surrogacy arrangements are legally recognized. This may not be needed if the surrogate already lives in a surrogacy friendly state or country, and ideally, it's best to choose a surrogate in a surrogacy friendly place.

All this should have been arranged and agreed upon during the contract process, with the help of the lawyers.

When the gestational surrogate is verified to be in labor, she will contact the intended parents.

he hospital should have been told about the surrogacy arrangement beforehand, so proper communication and access can be provided for all involved.

Whether the intended parents will be with the surrogate during or after the birth will depend on agreements between them, hopefully decided upon earlier. Some surrogates will be happy to have the parents present, while others may request privacy for all or parts of the labor.

Assuming a happy and healthy birth occurs, the parents should get to hold the baby soon after the birth. In some surrogacy arrangements, the gestational surrogate may agree to provide pumped breast milk for the baby for a certain period of time.

The attorney should have arranged the parental rights or pre-birth order paperwork before birth, and it should be available at the time of the baby or babies' birth. This will help get the intended parents' names on the birth certificate, instead of the surrogate's name

In some states and countries, there is a required delay of days or weeks before the surrogate can confirm the intended parents as the true parents.

While we always hope for success, it's possible that the IVF cycle will not be successful and several cycles will be attempted.

It's also possible for the IVF cycle to be canceled midway for medical reasons, for no embryos to be viable, for the surrogate not become pregnant even with viable embryos, or for the surrogate may miscarry.

Same sex intended parents who want to have a genetic link to the baby

If you’re considering surrogacy, you’ve likely put in hours of research – and that information is incredibly important as you prepare for your experience.

When most people think of surrogacy, they think of traditional surrogacy – the surrogate becomes pregnant in either the traditional way or through artificial insemination, conceiving with her own egg. In a process that dates back many generations

it’s only been in very recent decades that the second type, gestational surrogacy, became an option. Here, the surrogate carries a child that was conceived with the intended mother's or a donor’s egg and the intended father's or donor’s sperm. A gestational surrogate or gestational carrier has no genetic connection to the child.