An Introduction to Surrogacy

Thank you for taking the time to look at this page to see if surrogacy is for you and your family and if it is, helping to ease the pain of an incomplete family.

Surrogacy is such a wonderful journey to undertake as it creates such a unique friendship and with a little bit of love and luck a baby comes into the world to join us all.

All Babies are wonderful and special. Surrogacy babies are even more so due to the commitment of the parents to undertake many hurdles to overcome their infertility and also from the surrogate and her family.

These very special babies are extremely loved and wanted babies before they came into existence.

We would love to say that surrogacy is a very short and easy journey, however like most wonderful things there is a lot of time and commitment involved into bringing something so truly wonderful into the world.

It is wonderful that so many people take the time to look into becoming a surrogate , however, unfortunately many soon find that is not a journey they can take on, or take on at this time. By looking into, and asking questions about surrogacy and then by finding it is not for you and your family, you have not let anyone down. Like all paths we take in life it should be done with as much information as we possibly can to make an informed decision for ourselves and our families.

We can not underestimate what a successful surrogacy journey means to Intended parents and any children they may have.

There are lots of aspects to consider to help you make a decision about being a surrogate.

There are two types of surrogacy, Host (gestational) and straight (traditional). Many people looking into surrogacy feel that they will undertake Host surrogacy due to there being no biological link to the child. That way they know they can hand the child/ren over to the Intended Parents, the people they care about so much.

Host surrogacy is unfortunately a lot more difficult as it can be very time consuming. Both the surrogate and her partner have to attend the clinic for counselling and tests. A Host surrogacy journey can take a longer time than straight surrogacy as the chance of success each month is quite often lower than trying to obtain a natural pregnancy.

When people have looked further into host surrogacy they often decide to change to the path of straight surrogacy.

Even taking the path of host surrogacy then brings other forks in the path. Natural and medicated cycles, fresh and frozen cycles.

Some clinics will use a medicated cycle when using frozen embryos. Frozen embryos are previously created and stored embryos. When the embryos then have a chance of comming into the world with the help of a surrogate mother a number are defrosted and NO MORE than two embryos are transferred to the host surrogate.

A natural cycle is when the surrogate is monitored using blood tests and scans and when she reaches the natural conception time the thawed embryos (that survived the process which is only 60%) are then transferred into the surrogate

A medicated cycle is where the surrogate is given drugs to control her cycle and control how her body is prepared for the embryo transfer.

A fresh cycle is where the surrogate and intended mother are given drugs to bring their cycle time together so as the eggs are retrieved from the intended mother two created embryos can then be placed with the surrogate without being frozen.

Host surrogacy can take a lot of time and so needs a lot of commitment.

Before any treatment for surrogacy can begin you have to find the right intended parents for you. Everyone is different and we all choose our friends for different reasons and do not get on with everyone wonderfully. Time needs to be taken to find the right intended parents and if you feel they are the people you would like to help. You need to discuss many aspects of surrogacy to make sure you all agree so that no problems come to light at a later date. No one wants to be in the position where an issue has arisen when the surrogate is 6 months pregnant and a wonderful friendship become strained or even breaks down.

Should you decide that surrogacy may still be for you and your family, you will then need to take the next step to speaking to people who have experience of surrogacy and finding those special people that you hope to make 'a little wish' come true

Very Very good luck with your journey.

Added - May 2006