Women who decide to become surrogates often say they love being pregnant and experiencing the miracle of birth, but they are finished having their own children. They also genuinely want to help a couple have a child.
While surrogates are paid for their time, it’s rare to find a surrogate who is only in this for the money. Due to psychological screening, women who are thinking primarily about compensation are likely to be turned down early in the process.
Surrogacy is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it’s a compassionate way to help bring life into this world and build a family that otherwise could not happen.
Gestational Surrogacy is a legal arrangement where a woman agrees to become pregnant and deliver a child for a contracted third party. This unique and amazing woman, typically referred to as the ‘carrier’ or the “surrogate,” carries the pregnancy to delivery after having been implanted with an embryo. Through our surrogate mother program, Shared Conception deftly arranges and coordinates gestational surrogacies, whereby embryos are created with eggs from the intended mother (or egg donor) and the sperm is from the intended father (or sperm donor). These embryos are implanted in the surrogate by a process called in vitro fertilization (IVF). The surrogate is a carrier only and has no biological connection to the child.
A woman might decide to use a surrogate for several reasons.
-She may have medical problems with her uterus.
-She may have had a hysterectomy that removed her uterus.
-There may be conditions that make pregnancy impossible or medically risky, such as severe heart disease.
-Other women choose surrogacy after trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant with a variety of assisted-reproduction techniques (ART), such as IVF.
Surrogates have also made parenthood an option for people who might not be able to adopt a child. Reasons could include:
-Their age
-Their marital status
-Their sexual orientation
-A disability
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. Shared Conception will efficiently help in making these arrangements.
Assuming a happy and healthy birth occurs, the parents should get to hold the baby soon after the birth. Surrogacy is certainly a feat that impacts all parties involved. It is a dream that becomes a reality when reality didn’t seem possible!