Moving from Infertility to Surrogacy to Build Your Family

Infertility to surrogacy is a decision very difficult to proceed with. When starting a family, you probably have a few things in mind: love, happiness, and maybe some little ones to call your own. If you’re experiencing infertility — or know someone who is — it can be a very emotional journey.

But just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean that you should shy away from it. If anything, many people tend to let the fear of the unknown stop them from moving forward when they should be embracing their options and getting started right away. Here is how to start building your family with the surrogate mother process.

What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is where a woman carries and delivers a baby on behalf of another couple or person. It is a way for a woman to become pregnant by carrying and giving birth to a child for another person or persons. Surrogacy is used in many cases when the uterus cannot house a developing baby or when the intended parent(s) cannot have children.

Types of Surrogacy

There are two types of surrogacy, namely gestational surrogacy, and traditional surrogacy. Gestational surrogacy involves the embryo from the intended parents, which is transferred to the surrogate’s womb. In contrast, in traditional surrogacy, fertilization is done using the man’s sperm and the surrogate mother’s egg.

• Traditional surrogacy 

It is known as utilizing the services of a surrogate who is inseminated with sperm from the intended father and then carries the child until birth. The child is therefore genetically related to both intended parents. Traditional surrogacy is most often viewed as a last resort to achieving pregnancy when all other options have failed.

• Gestational surrogacy in India

The surrogate mother process, also known as gestational surrogacy, is when a woman carries a child for another couple or individual. The woman who bears the child is medically called a gestational carrier. It differs from traditional adoption in that the genetic parents and the birth mother may be different individuals.

Gestational surrogacy in India allows women who cannot conceive of having a child. It is an option for women with fertility problems and others who cannot carry a child for whatever reason.  

What are the alternatives to gestational surrogacy?

Although gestational surrogacy is a beautiful way for some couples to conceive, several alternative avenues of conception are available, for the journey from infertility to surrogacy. Find out more about these alternatives below:

Embryo Adoption

In embryo adoption, a woman undergoes fertility treatments and produces several embryos. After the embryos develop for six to ten days, they are frozen until a couple is found. The couple then receives the thawed embryos and implanting them in the prospective mother’s uterus as if she had conceived them naturally.

Donor Eggs 

In a donor egg surrogacy process, a surrogate mother in India will carry the baby of her (or your) spouse or partner to term and give the child up at birth. This is a significant way to extend your family if you cannot have a baby on your own.

Fertility Drugs

Fertility drugs are prescription medications taken to increase the egg supply or sperm count in a man. They are only intended for women and men who have been diagnosed with fertility problems by their fertility specialists.

Medical Procedures  

Several medical procedures may help those experiencing infertility conceive and experience pregnancy, even when they were previously told that nothing could be done.

Choosing the proper treatment is essential, and whether you’re looking at IVF, IUI, GIFT, or ZIFT, there are many ways to increase your chances for a successful conception.

In-Vitro Fertilization

This latest fertilization has transformed the meaning of surrogacy for good. In vitro fertilization (IVF), sometimes referred to as test-tube babies, is the process of fertilizing an egg with sperm outside of the body through a laboratory procedure. This process is used as a treatment for infertility when other methods of fertility treatment have failed.

Pros

• Conception becomes easy for couples who have been frustrated due to unexplained infertility.
• IVF helps the couple conceive without any hormone treatments or surgery
• It is suitable for couples who want a baby from their genetic material.
• Eliminates the risk of genetic disorders from conception

Cons

• High cost of treatment
• Not covered by medical insurance

Intrauterine Insemination 

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a type of assisted reproductive technology used to overcome male factor infertility. An IUI is performed when semen analysis reveals that a patient has low sperm concentration, low sperm motility, and an abnormal semen volume (low count).

Pros

• Male factor infertility
• Increase in sperm production
• Decrease in ovarian/uterine abnormality
• It is simple, convenient, and cost-effective
• It is done in a pregnancy clinic by experts

Cons

• Risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, chlamydia, or herpes.
• Complicated procedure
• Increased risk of conceiving multiples    

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a newer type of reproductive procedure. As its name suggests, it consists of the direct injection of a single sperm into an egg at the cytoplasm level. The purpose of this procedure is to increase the chance that fertilization will occur in cases where other types of surrogacy methods are unfeasible.

Pros

• Sperm count is unaffected
• Nontoxic for sperm and egg cell
• Lower temperatures don’t affect performance
• Low risk to women’s health
• No multiple pregnancies
• The low procedure costs at the closer patient–embryo success rates

Cons

• It takes more time to make the embryos and analyze them
• There are more expenses because it is a more complicated process
• Infections and other complications in both men and women
• High risk of multiple pregnancies

How to find the right surrogacy program for you?

Looking for a surrogate mother in India can be overwhelming. But if you know where to look, you’ll find some options that can be tailored to fit your individual needs and preferences. The right surrogacy program is out there. It would help if you kept a few things in mind.

• Experience

Professionals with years of experience in the field who can show you the successful results their efforts have created should run an adequately structured surrogacy agency.

• Past Results

Please find out about what they have accomplished for surrogates in the past. Also, please take a look at their plans for future success.

Some more points to consider

• Be aware of the surrogacy bill
• The surrogate must be healthy
• Ask about their surrogates’ profile
• Get a second opinion
• Consider multiple cycles

Surrogacy Bill in India

In a significant step, the Union Cabinet adopted the new Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2020 on February 26, 2020, enabling any ‘willing’ woman to be a surrogate. The Cabinet adopted the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill after considering the suggestions of a Rajya Sabha Select Committee.

Key Points

• It aims to make ethical altruistic surrogacy in India available to infertile Indian married couples between the ages of 23 and 55 for females and 26 and 55 for men.
• Surrogacy is only available to Indian couples in the nation.
• Before proceeding with surrogacy, the couple must acquire a certification of essentiality and a certificate of eligibility.
• It further states that intended parents should not, under any circumstances, abandon the child delivered via surrogacy. The newborn infant is endowed with all the same rights and benefits as a natural child.
• The bill also aims to regulate surrogacy clinics’ operations. All surrogacy clinics in the nation must be registered with the relevant authorities to perform surrogacy or associated operations.

Understand And Accept The Risks Involved With Surrogacy

Surrogacy is a fantastic way for you to have a child, but it also means that you will have to accept some risks. For your journey from infertility to surrogacy, familiarize yourself with these risks, and be sure that you can deal with them before proceeding further with the surrogate mother process or any other surrogacy method. The support of an agency can significantly reduce these risks and increase a couple’s chance of a safe and healthy pregnancy and baby.

In Conclusion

Surrogacy is a safe and excellent method to achieve a family. Surrogacy provides options for those who struggle to conceive or desire to complete their family with genetically related children.

Surrogacy also provides a second chance at motherhood if the first attempt was unsuccessful or unable to hold onto their infants after the birth.

Each case is different, and the surrogacy journey varies from person to person, but surrogacy has allowed thousands of people to become parents who otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance. We at Fertilityzilla allow you to help you carry your journey from infertility to surrogacy to fulfill your dream of parenthood. 

FAQs

How does a surrogate mother get pregnant?

Through in vitro fertilization, a traditional surrogate gives her own egg cell while also carrying and giving birth to a child for an individual or couple. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) with sperm from the intended father is generally used to conceive, from infertility to surrogacy.

What exactly is surrogacy?

Surrogacy, also known as gestational surrogacy, is an arrangement in which a woman will carry a child for another woman or couple, often people who are unable to have their own biological child. It is the act of carrying someone else’s baby for them through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for infertility to surrogacy.

Will the baby look like the surrogate mother?

If a surrogate baby is to resemble anybody, it will be the two individuals who donated the egg and sperm to the embryo’s creation. So, sure, if the surrogate is a conventional surrogate (meaning she donated the egg in conjunction with bearing the baby), the baby will resemble her.

Is the surrogate mother the biological mother?

A surrogate mother has no genetic relationship to the fetus she carries. The fetus is biologically related to the intended parents, and the surrogate mother merely provides the womb and bears the child for them.

Does a surrogate use the mother’s egg?

A surrogate may use the egg of the mother or an egg donor. Surrogates are always inseminated with the father’s sperm and never use their own eggs in the process.

What are the risks of surrogacy?

The physical risks of surrogacy are like those of pregnancy. Pre-existing conditions such as poorly controlled diabetes may increase the risk of gestational diabetes, and being overweight may increase the risk of developing symptomatic high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Will a donor egg look like me?

Yes, probably. The donor egg will look like you or your partner — not the donor. As the parents of your child will be 50% responsible for their physical appearance, the other 50% will come from you.

What are the rules of surrogacy?

The surrogate mother must be a close relative of the intended couple; she can be a married woman with a baby of her own. The surrogate mother should be 25 to 35 years old. Also, a surrogate just once in her lifetime to receive an eligibility certificate from the relevant authorities.

Can a woman carry another woman’s egg?

Yes, this is an option for infertility to surrogacy. While a woman must carry the baby to birth, she does not have to be the egg donor. A friend or family member could donate her eggs. The donor’s eggs would then be fertilized with the intended father’s sperm in a petri dish.

References

https://surrogate.com/intended-parents/

https://www.webmd.com/infer

https://www.healthline.com/health

https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/18/10/2196/622680

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345743/