Being pregnant can be stressful on its own, but when there are things like flooding, power outages, or another bad weather-related emergency, being unprepared can add extra layers of worry.

While it is easier said than done, above all else, try not to stress out. Stress can adversely affect your body and the baby. Below are ways to prepare and ideas on what to do during such an event.

Being in Texas means there are occasional hurricanes. Thankfully in most cases, there is enough warning to prepare properly. Before the hurricane arrives, you should create a family communication plan, so everyone knows what needs to be done before and during the hurricane (or an evacuation). Review and practice the plan. Be sure to include the intended parents on what your plans are.

While you may have had a specific hospital in mind to deliver your baby, you need to have alternate locations where you can have your baby if the hospital or birthing center is not an option during the storm. If you are close to your due date, speak with your health care provider in advance on what they recommend to do in case of an emergency. They may be able to provide you with a list of resources, safety precautions and dos and don’ts specific to your pregnancy needs.

If you plan to go to a hospital shelter, check in advance to see if they have a room for you, who may come with you, and what supplies you will need to bring. Typically, in these situations, space is very limited.

Next, you should pack your emergency supplies. This is a great list of items you should pack if you are pregnant:

• Nutritious foods such as protein bars, nuts, dried fruit, and granola
• Maternity and baby clothes
• Prenatal vitamins and other medications (Make sure to have a list of all prescriptions and vitamins you currently take and have at least a two-week supply). Keep these in a sealable plastic bag. Also, if possible, bring all medications in their original prescription bottle. In an emergency, an emergency decree allowing pharmacies to refill medications may be made, but you must have the original bottle.)
• Extra bottled water
• Emergency birth supplies such as clean towels, sharp scissors, infant bulb syringe, medical gloves, two white shoelaces, sheets, and sanitary pads
• Two blankets
• Closed-toe shoes

*list provided by http://www.getreadyforflu.org/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Family-Hurricanes

If you have a chronic medical condition or pregnancy-related complication and are planning to leave town, it is important to bring your current medications, your most recently updated medical records, and the name and phone number of your health care provider.

What to Do After the Hurricane

Once the storm has passed, the cleanup and recovery phase begins. During this time, be careful not to become dehydrated or over-tired. Both of these are contributing factors to premature labor. Be sure to get plenty of rest by taking frequent breaks, drink plenty of water, if possible, take cool showers, wash hands well and frequently (especially after any contact with floodwaters), do not lift heavy objects, know the signs the signs of preterm labor.

What Happens if You Give Birth During a Storm

The low-pressure systems that come with hurricanes can cause women to go into labor. The signs of labor include increased back pressure and pain, vaginal leaking, light contractions, and your water breaking. If you go into labor during the storm, first call 911. Do not attempt to drive if there is flooding or other severe weather alerts. Driving could make things worse, so above all else, keep you and the baby safe.

If you have to give birth at your home or an alternate location, get in touch with your hospital, health care provider, intended parents, and both sets of attorneys as soon as possible. If you have to evacuate to a shelter, be sure to alert those in charge about your condition right away so that they can find someone to help you. It’s

How to Feed During a Power Outage

If you delivered your baby during the storm and still do not have power, here are some ways you can still feed the baby:

• Pump in the car: most breast pumps can run off your car battery (if your pump needs a car adapter, be sure to look into purchasing this as part of your emergency supplies).
• Hand pumps: Make sure to have a hand pump. These are easy and do not require any electricity.

As a side note, if you have the ability to freeze any milk before the power outage, a good rule of thumb when determining if the milk is still ok is—if there are still ice crystals in the milk, it is fine. Ice crystals mean that it is still frozen and should be safe for the baby.

After Storm Recovery

Once the storm has passed and recovery efforts are finished, if it is safe to do so, it will be time to meet with the intended parents. Hopefully, too much time hasn’t passed since the intended parents will be on pins and needles waiting to meet their sweet baby! Shared Conception will be here to help you through this process. If you have any questions about preparing for a storm or how to stay in touch with our agency and the intended parents, please contact us at: 713-622-1144.

 

Being a surrogate provides a ray of hope for other families. This knowledge strengthens the resolve of a surrogate and helps surrogates stay strong through the emotional and physical challenges of pregnancy. Surrogates should embrace and celebrate that they will be the giver of the most invaluable gift.

Surrogates work on fostering a connection with the intended parents. Surrogates make them as much a part of the journey as they can so that the intended parents can begin building cherished memories for their future family.

How Surrogacy Affects the Surrogate

Many former and current surrogates say the process of surrogacy will be a life-changing experience but in the best of ways. While they do receive a base compensation for it, the best reward is being able to provide this meaningful gift to a loving couple.

Surrogacy is a selfless and fantastic gift, but it takes a woman of phenomenal strength to volunteer for it and she should feel immense pride.

What Surrogate Mothers have to Say

What does being a surrogate feel like? They say it is one thing to go through the action and the steps, but it is another to embrace the emotional journey. Their best approach, say experienced surrogates, is to hear the stories of other surrogate women, just as they share a glimpse of theirs here.

They say the amazing journey of other surrogate mothers inspires them to become one. For one surrogate mother, her surrogacy journey began with realizing how much she loved being pregnant. She has three little boys of her own. When her own family was complete, she knew she had to share this gift others. In mutual agreement with her husband, she began her inspirational surrogacy journey.

Final Thoughts

For surrogates, helping others comes very naturally to them. For them, surrogacy builds upon one vital truth: they can help two people become parents and experience the extraordinary joy of nurturing a life.

If you would love some guidance on your surrogacy journey, feel free to contact us.

For couples who have long yearned for parenthood, surrogates are no less than superheroes for them. Selflessness, unconditional empathy, and desire to complete another couple’s family make them superheroes. The amazing fact is that they’re ordinary women, but they do incredible things in their ordinariness, like volunteering for a phenomenal cause.

Every woman is precious and unique: you’ll find women from all walks of life stepping up to be surrogates, including stay-at-home moms, lawyers, teachers, factory workers, and even students. What unites these extraordinary women is their mutual and astounding desire for an experience that is greater and more fulfilling than anything else.

Surrogacy is an incredible calling. But what are the motivating factors or the signs that help a woman recognize her calling for it? Let’s find out below.

1. A Desire to Help Barren Couples or individuals Start their Family

For women, there can be no surer sign that they are called to be surrogates than having a heartfelt desire to help couples/individuals become parents. A woman may know of a barren couple/individual in her circle or may feel the emptiness and longing ache of those who don’t have children.

Hence, if she feels an undeniable desire to help give life and facilitate others experiencing the joy of parenthood, it is a sign of her calling. Realizing her ability to create life and complete another family signifies a calling for surrogacy.

Many women may find it challenging to put their unique perspectives into words. But it is the indescribable desire of wanting to share the unique experience of completion, parenthood, and life-creation that is the first sign of their calling.

2. Empathizing with Those Struggling with Infertility

Infertility has become a widespread struggle for many, as the surrogacy agencies in Texas will testify. Around ten percent or more women in the US alone struggle to get pregnant or carry their pregnancy to term safely every year. Women who are deeply empathetic and passionate with those struggling with infertility realize their calling for surrogacy.

A sure sign of your calling to be a surrogate is when you wish, above anything else, to provide a safe alternative to another couple. Medical experts will testify that surrogacy is the safest alternative for those struggling with genetic pregnancies.

Hence, when you feel the overpowering desire to carry a baby in your womb just so another couple can have a family, you know you are called to be a surrogate.

3. The Experience

Others find pregnancy overwhelming, but those who have a calling for surrogacy find it a rewarding, wholesome, unique, and enjoyable experience. If you relate to all these feelings, you should evaluate how much you would love to be a surrogate.

When some women reach the end of their pregnancy journey, they feel a strange sense of nostalgia. It begins when they experience the first kick, and lasts all the while they are pregnant. If this is what you feel, too, then there can be no doubt that you have the heart and soul of a surrogate.

Often, the reason behind repeated surrogacies is because women wish to relive the amazing feeling of giving life, being a protector and a carrier for a precious bundle of joy. It is even more wholesome and rewarding when this feeling combines with the joy and pride of seeing another family complete because you could deliver for them.

4. Wanting to Belong to the Surrogacy Sisterhood Community

Surrogacy is a tight-knit sisterhood community. It is a community of gestational carriers wanting to carry the baby for other women who are unable to carry a pregnancy to term. If you feel a deep longing to belong and contribute to this community and belong to it forever, you are called to be a surrogate.

The surrogacy sisterhood community uplifts other women by sharing their life-giving journey. It is a community where women reach out to help each other, experience a remarkable journey with them, and be their support to lean on in distressing times.

The community celebrates together when a family completes and does not let a couple’s longing for parenthood and having their own family remain unfulfilled. Those who wish to play a significant part in this journey of completion are doubtlessly born to be surrogates.

Becoming a Surrogate – Evaluate Yourself

When you have identified the signs of your calling and are willing to embark on the journey, take some time to evaluate your readiness. Perhaps you can prepare yourself by questioning your perspectives, your objectives, and yourself with these questions:

• Do I lead the kind of lifestyle necessary for the process of surrogate pregnancy? What do I need to change or restructure to make it easier?
• What are my reasons for becoming a surrogate?
• Am I ready to change my personal life, family responsibilities, and career to become a surrogate?
• Am I willing to compromise my work time and career objectives for a year?
• Will I manage to keep up with the medical plan for surrogate fertility?
• Can anything in my background raise a potential red flag about my ability to deliver a child safely? Do I have optimal health for completing a successful pregnancy journey for another?
• Am I willing to work with the intended parents for this journey and give them a year of my life to complete their family?

With these questions, your willingness and resolve to become a surrogate will become more straightforward, and even stronger. It will also give you a clear analysis of your emotional, mental and physical readiness to undergo what will indeed be a unique and larger-than-yourself experience of life.

Final Thoughts

The calling of surrogacy is like no other. It rewards the surrogate women in a way that no other achievements in life can match up to. For women who recognize the desires, the empathy, and the soul-deep willingness to end the struggle of another, there can be no greater sign than their greater calling to be a surrogate.

Once you deliver a child safe on another’s behalf, it will change your life in the best way possible. If you have further questions regarding the surrogacy process, feel free to contact us.

 

 

At Shared Conception, most of our surrogate mothers rarely use money as a factor for being a surrogate. They truly enjoy the idea of helping a family, enjoy being pregnant, and feel that the journey is more of a calling for them.

That being said—being a surrogate is a full-time job on its own. Between the matching process, medical appointments, pre-transfer preparation, and transfer, the surrogacy process can take 12 to 18 months. A question we are often asked is how is the compensation disbursed?

Our clients at Shared Conception use a surrogacy escrow agency. This agency, along with your contract, is your direct line to all your financial questions. This prevents any awkward conversations about finances between you and your Intended Parents.

Compensation begins on the 1^st or 15^th of the month following a heartbeat confirmation and on the same date each month thereafter, usually in 8 additional installments.

Surrogate mothers receive compensation for the following items:

1. Transfer fee
2. Start of medication fees
3. Allowance for maternity clothes
4. Multiples Fee(in the event you are carrying twins)
5. C-Section (if required by physician)
6. Medical insurance co-pays and deductibles
7. Invasive Procedures
8. Breast milk pump supplies, machine rental and shipping costs

During the surrogate process, there may be additional cases that require contingency fees. Such cases could include if the surrogate is put on bed rest. Items that would be covered would be childcare, lost wages and housekeeping for the duration of the bed request order.

Monthly incidental allowance is also included. This allowance is intended to cover for the surrogate’s travel expenses including meals and mileage (under 75 miles ach way), parking, phone, postage, faxing, childcare, notary, over-the-counter medications and other incidentals.

It’s important to note that the total compensation amount can vary greatly based on experience as a surrogate, what type of insurance the surrogate carries and specific procedures the surrogate may go through.

Final Thoughts

Surrogacy agencies in Texas play an active part in facilitating the process for surrogate women and intended parents. There are many steps involved in the process but Shared Conception is here to help with each step!

For any queries you may have regarding your surrogacy journey or surrogate compensation, feel free to reach out to us at www.sharedconception.com!

New mothers can turn to various practices for an easier pregnancy journey, whether they’re surrogates or not. These can include a birthing ball, pregnancy ball, and even crystals for fertility.

But even though many women are prepared to take up the physical responsibility of becoming surrogate mothers, they’re not so sure of its emotional aspect. Regardless of all the myths, surrogacy isn’t a challenging and apprehensive process. Not only is it fulfilling for many couples worldwide, but surrogate mothers have similar feelings. Although it seems natural to think that the process of giving up the baby is emotionally difficult, it’s actually very different from that.

In this blog, we will talk about surrogate mothers’ personal experiences and the joy they experience in helping couples and individuals start families.

Giving up the Surrogate Baby- Was it hard?

A common misconception is that surrogate mothers must navigate all these emotions independently. But really, surrogates have an intial consultation, and follow-up sessins if needed, with a mental health professional to help prepare for the process.

According to one surrogate mother, she received third-party reproduction support and mental health education, which helped her tremendously. It armed her with the appropriate strength, understanding, support, and motivation to become a wonderful candidate for surrogacy.

She explains that the process of surrogate pregnancy didn’t feel like she was giving up her baby because she started the journey believing that it was a gift she had to give. She began the process with a clear goal of giving the surrogate baby back to the real parents. While she shared a visceral connection with the baby during the nine months they were together; the real parents were the ones that would bond with the child.

Of course, it’s natural to want a healthy bond with someone during your pregnancy, and in this case, the surrogate mother developed one with the intended parents throughout the term. Surrogate mothers have a mutual desire to bring the baby into the world so that the intended parents could finally become a family.

Her experience is not unique. Instead, it is that of the entire surrogate community. Every surrogate mother will surely feel emotional after the birth, which is a natural consequence of the process. But in surrogacy, a woman realizes her calling and potential as someone who can complete families through the gift of a child.

For surrogate mothers, the journey focuses on the act of giving or returning what they created for the baby’s intended parents. A major reason mothers form a bond with their children is that over nine months, they feel like it’s just them and their baby. But in surrogate pregnancies, over an entire year, everyone surrounding the surrogate mother is excited for the baby to arrive. That means it’s not just one woman and a baby but a whole community, and once that goal comes to fruition, the surrogate’s primary feeling is joy.

Becoming a Surrogate-The Key

It’s common for people to wonder how a surrogate remains detached while carrying a baby in her womb? As an onlooker, it’s only natural for people to assume that the surrogate will find it challenging to give up the baby that she has been carrying.

Here, thanks to proper psychological counselling and guidance, the surrogate woman never considers it a pain to give up the baby. This allows her to focus on the joy and the privilege of completing a family from the very beginning. You must focus on the sense of accomplishment and pride you will feel and the appreciation you get for this selfless act. Just the thought of being an instrumental part of such an extraordinary and life-changing journey and sharing that blessing with others is rewarding.

It is important to stay focused on the fact that the baby is the rightful child of the intended parents. You’re doing someone a great service by taking care of yourself and moving forward with the delivery. Proper support and appreciation condition surrogate mothers to look forward to the moment when the intended parents finally meet their baby.

When you think about the joy that you give to a couple who wanted children, there’s no room for regrets when it’s time for you to hand over your baby to the intended parents.

In fact, there’s very little you have to do in this regard. Once you willingly commit to the process of surrogate pregnancy, you live each day knowing that you’ve helped a couple feel unconditional love for a child. You will feel proud that you have given them a precious bundle of joy to wake up to every day: a child who brings them endless joy with their smiles, soothes their hearts with warm hugs, and supports them when they’re older.

Surrogacy is an intimate journey that a woman shares with a couple, but she doesn’t suffer from a loss due to the process. Rather, she emerges as a stronger and more generous individual, a proud woman who has completed someone else’s world.

Gestational Surrogates – How is it for them?

Those without prior experience with surrogacy may not understand that the experience isn’t an emotional struggle but a rewarding one. Gestational surrogates don’t consider the final step as giving up the baby. In fact, they think of it as returning the baby to the parents who had entrusted her to care for it.

Gestational surrogate moms also emphasize the idea that the children they’re carrying have no biological relationship with them at all. The sperm and egg source are from the intended mother and intended father and if their sperm and/or begg is not able to be used, they obtain them from an egg donor an/or sperm donor. Then at the beginning of the process of surrogate pregnancy, they use the egg and sperm to form embryos and they transfer one embryo to the surrogate’s womb. Then, surrogate mothers look after themselves and the baby, considering themselves an important but only temporary part of the baby’s journey.

Final Thoughts

The process of surrogate pregnancy is not like adoption, which involves the emotional decision of giving up one’s child. In fact, in a surrogate pregnancy, there is no emotional decision-making or challenges at all.

It’s all about loving the baby for as long as it’s in your womb. It’s the same way some of us look after our nieces and nephews when they stay over on the weekends. When it’s time, the woman entrusted with a child’s care must return it to his/her rightful parents.

For further help with your surrogacy journey, feel free to reach out to us at Shared Conception and let’s talk!12