When couples or individuals want a child but can’t carry a pregnancy due to uterine complications or the lack of a uterus, they often turn to surrogacy. But what exactly does surrogacy mean, and how does it work? Here we offer a detailed explanation of the surrogacy process.
What Exactly is Surrogacy?
A surrogate, also known as a gestational carrier, is someone who carries a pregnancy for a couple or individual who wants a child but can’t carry a pregnancy. Most of the time, this arrangement is contractual, and there is a fee. Sometimes friends or family members carry the pregnancy without compensation. Doctors call this arrangement an altruistic surrogacy.
Who Uses Surrogates/Gestational Carriers and Why?
There are many different reasons couples and individuals use surrogates. Sometimes, there are uterine complications or underlying health issues that prevent a woman from carrying a pregnancy. In other circumstances, a same-sex male couple, or a single man, wants a biological child but needs a surrogate to carry the baby. Here are the most common reasons for surrogacy:
- Hysterectomy
- Structural abnormalities of the uterus that prevent carrying a baby to full term
- Multiple or large uterine fibroids
- Scarring inside the uterus
- High risk to the mother due to a health condition like kidney disease, a serious heart condition, or diabetes.
- Recurrent miscarriage
- Transgender person or couples
- Same-sex male couple
- Single man
Who Can Be a Surrogate?
When you decide you want to use a surrogate to grow your family, you can ask a friend or family member, if you like. But because complications, both legal and emotional, surround surrogacy, it’s often easier to work through an agency and find someone you don’t know personally.
Surrogates, whether through an agency or a friend or family member, must be:
- In excellent health
- Between the ages of 21 and 45
- Has given birth to at least one healthy baby, but no more than five
- Understands the physical process and medical risks involved
- Understands the emotions involved in pregnancy and childbirth
- Passes a psychological screening
- Has had no more than three caesarean births
- Understands their legal roles and responsibilities regarding surrogacy, which include regular prenatal appointments, maintaining prenatal health, and giving your child to you after delivery
What is The Process for Surrogacy?
The process for using a surrogate is less complicated than you may think. You’ll meet with your doctor, who maps out the journey for you. You’ll use your own eggs if possible, or donor eggs. You’ll find a match through an agency, family, or friends. That match undergoes medical and psychological screening and evaluation.
Once your doctor confirms your surrogate’s emotional and physical health, you and your gestational carrier meet with an attorney who specializes in surrogacy arrangements and finalize the contract outlining the rights and responsibilities of all parties.
Next, depending on whose eggs you use, the IVF process begins. The doctor gives you or your egg donor hormone medication that stimulates egg production. You or the donor attends regular appointments for ultrasounds and aabwork that establish the best time for egg retrieval. Once the doctor retrieves the eggs, the lab fertilizes the eggs using your partner’s sperm, or donor sperm if necessary.
Your surrogate prepares for the embryo transfer by taking hormonal medications that ensure the uterus is ready. You may choose preimplantation genetic testing before the transfer if you wish. This ensures that the embryo implanted is the most viable and free from potential genetic or chromosomal birth defects.
Once the doctor transfers the embryos, they follow up with a blood test in about two weeks, confirming pregnancy. The surrogate attends regular prenatal appointments until giving birth. Either shortly before the birth of your baby, or immediately following, your attorney files an order establishing you and your partner as the legal parents. Your name(s) appear on the birth certificate. From beginning to end, the entire process typically takes 14-18 months.
Is Surrogacy Right for You?
If you’re considering surrogacy as a way to grow your family, you probably have additional questions. At LA IVF, we welcome your questions and can help you take the first steps on the path to parenthood through surrogacy. To learn more about gestational carriers and if it can help you, contact LA IVF.
