When you’re trying to get pregnant, it can affect all aspects of your life. Infertility often brings financial, emotional, and relationship struggles that can be exhausting and quite difficult to overcome. For some individuals and couples who are trying to build their families, surrogacy can be the answer to their prayers.
For women who have uterine abnormalities, have had a hysterectomy, or have a history of recurrent miscarriage or stillbirth, surrogacy can be a viable solution for a live healthy baby. Intended mother or egg donor’s eggs and intended father or donor sperm are harvested and fertilized through a process called In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). The resulting embryo(s) are transferred to the surrogate’s uterus rather than to the intended mother. For those who have lost all hope and/or suffered multiple miscarriages, surrogacy can make dreams come true.
Though this procedure sounds simple, it is often complicated for couples to navigate on their own. Financial, legal, and medical aspects need to be considered before entering into a surrogacy arrangement. IVF cycles are expensive, and it may take several cycles to achieve a successful pregnancy. Intended parent(s) are responsible for paying the surrogate’s medical costs for the pregnancy and the delivery. Legally, the laws in each state vary, and it’s important to understand the steps needed to establish legal parentage over your baby after the birth. You will also need to work with a reproductive specialist who has experience with surrogate IVF procedures, to help arrange a successful transfer of your embryo(s) to the surrogate.
Working with someone who specializes in surrogacy arrangements can greatly ease the stress of this process. Rather than navigating it alone, an Infertility Consultant like myself guides couples through the step by step process, ensuring that they are aware of all the financial and legal possibilities. As an unbiased professional, I’m able to help couples overcome the emotional and information overload that often accompanies this journey.
Choosing a surrogate is a big decision, and it’s important that you determine the factors that matter most to you, such as the surrogate’s successful pregnancy history, her family background, her lifestyle habits, and her thoughts on terminating the pregnancy should problems arise. Based on your determining criteria, a pool of potential candidates will be presented. Working with an infertility consulting firm such as Lotus Blossom Consulting, that has a large network of qualified and available surrogates, can help reduce the time it takes to find a suitable candidate, moving you to embryo transfer and parenthood that much faster.
For couples who cannot conceive on their own, surrogacy offers new hope. Working with an experienced Infertility Consultant can help guide you to a successful surrogacy arrangement, overcoming infertility and having the family you always envisioned.
Mindy Berkson founded Lotus Blossom Consulting (LBC) to help intended parents globally explore their options for biological families in the U.S. Through strong strategic alliances, LBC Consultants bring together the unbiased resources and professionals necessary to accomplish the end family building goal and serve as a guide through the often stressful financial, physical and emotional demands of the infertility process. For more information, please visit www.LotusBlossomConsulting.com or phone Mindy at 847-989-8628.
