5 Steps to Surrogacy Success
What You Can Expect As an Intended Parent
It can be daunting to understand the steps involved in surrogacy. Carefully choosing the agency responsible for walking you through the 12-18 month process can go a long way towards maintaining your peace of mind. Here is a guide to get you started.
For additional information, contact your surrogacy consultant.
Step 1: Choose an IVF clinic
Intended parents consult with an IVF physician for medical screening. The intended father’s sperm and/or the intended mother’s eggs will be analyzed to determine if they can be used in the surrogacy. Once complete, the couple contacts a surrogate agency to help them find a gestational carrier.
Step 2: Choose a surrogacy agency
The couple chooses a large agency or a smaller, more intimate agency. The agency will walk them through the process, which can include:
- Offering legal, medical, insurance and financial guidance
- Screening potential surrogates
- Setting up meetings with potential carriers
- Guiding the couple through the surrogacy process, from matching with a surrogate to delivery
Step 3: Start the medical process
Once the surrogate and intended parents decide to work together, both parties will need to have medical and psychological screening done:
- Psychological evaluations to anticipate problems that may arise and to identify any psychological reason the gestational carrier should not proceed with surrogacy
- Medical examinations to screen for infectious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases in any of the parties
- Other medical exams and blood work that may be required
Step 4: Find an attorney
Once medical and psychological screening is completed, both parties will need to be represented by an attorney specializing in third-party reproduction to represent them in the contract phase. Agreements should be drafted based on state laws and validated through the judicial system so everything is conducted in a legal manner.
Step 5: Get ready for the embryo transfer
After all of the medical screening has been done:
- The surrogate will start medications to thicken the lining of her uterus, and she will be on medications for approximately 4-6 weeks, depending on the protocol of the IVF clinic
- Once the surrogate’s uterine lining is optimal, the most viable frozen embryo(s) are thawed and transferred to the uterus of the surrogate via IVF
- The surrogate typically waits nine to 14 days before taking a pregnancy test; if the surrogate is pregnant at that time, an ultrasound is scheduled two weeks later to determine the number of embryos that implanted
- The baby’s heartbeat can typically be seen at this time
- After the pregnancy reaches eight to ten weeks gestation, the IVF physician will discharge the surrogate from his/her care to the care of her OB
- At this time, the surrogate’s OB will monitor her for the duration of the pregnancy