Q: What are the basic requirements for becoming a gestational surrogate carrier?
Q: What is required of a gestational surrogate?
Q: So am I biologically related to the child I carry?
Q: How long does the whole surrogacy process take?
Q: Where will my surrogate deliver my child?
Q: Who pays for the medical insurance for the surrogate?
Q: Will I have contact with my surrogate?
Q: What are the basic requirements for becoming a gestational surrogate carrier? (top ^)
A: To be considered for surrogacy, you must be a healthy, drug-free, and tobacco-free woman between the ages of 21 and 39 who has already successfully carried at least one child of your own to term. In addition, your BMI must be below 32. Being free from depression or anxiety is also an important qualification.
It might be easier to think of yourself as an aspiring parent needing the help of a surrogate to start a family. The requirements you want in your surrogate would most likely be the requirements of other aspiring parents.
Q: What is required of a gestational surrogate? (top ^)
A: Beyond the obvious requirement – willingness to carry a baby (or babies) to term on behalf of the aspiring parents – if selected as a gestational carrier, you must be willing to undergo medical testing and take fertility drugs as required for the surrogacy process. And most importantly, you must be willing to have a close relationship with the aspiring parents during the pregnancy.
As a surrogate, you will need to travel to the IVF clinic of the aspiring parents for the initial medical screening, the embryo transfer procedure, and the initial pregnancy checkup. If you have a domestic partner or husband, he will be expected to accompany you to these appointments and pass the psychological screening as well.
Q: So am I biologically related to the child I carry? (top ^)
A: TLC Surrogacy only works with gestational surrogates. A gestational surrogate is not related to the baby biologically (genetically). The eggs and sperms for the resulting embryos are provided by the aspiring parents. The surrogate’s eggs are never used. Therefore, the baby you carry is not related genetically to you.
Q: How long does the whole surrogacy process take? (top ^)
A: It depends on the timeline of the aspiring parents and the IVF clinic they use. Typically, the process takes approximately three to four months from the day the surrogate and the aspiring parents verbally agree to work with each other to the time of embryo transfer and pregnancy test confirmation. During those three to four months, the surrogate and the aspiring parents meet in person, the surrogate goes through the medical and psychological screening process, the surrogate and the aspiring parents negotiate a legal contract, the surrogate and the biological mother receive hormone treatment, the biological mother goes through egg retrieval and the eggs go through the IVF fertilization process to prepare for embryo transfer to the surrogate.
Q: Where will my surrogate deliver my child? (top ^)
A: In almost all cases, a surrogate delivers your baby(ies) at the hospital of her choice close to her home. Since one can hardly predict when a baby arrives, it’s logistically difficult to arrange for the surrogate to travel a long distance to deliver the baby.
Q: Who pays for the medical insurance for the surrogate? (top ^)
A: It depends on the current medical insurance coverage that the surrogate has. Because of the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare), most everyone in America is covered by some forms of medical insurance. Therefore, most likely the surrogate already has medical insurance coverage. The aspiring parents are not expected to pay for the medical insurance that the surrogate is currently carrying. However, some health insurance policies exclude medical expenses related to surrogacy. In such cases, the surrogate will have to purchase new coverage to carry your baby. When that happens as well as in cases where the surrogate has no current medical insurance, you, the aspiring parent, will have to pay for the medical insurance premiums during the surrogacy process.
You will need an attorney specializing in assisted reproduction to guide you through the medical insurance evaluation process. If you don’t know any attorney specializing in this field, TLC Surrogacy will refer you to one.
Q: Will I have contact with my surrogate? (top ^)
A: Absolutely. All surrogates expect to keep in contact with the aspiring parents throughout the surrogacy process and during pregnancy. Many aspiring parents even develop a lifetime relationship with their surrogates. Now some aspiring parents as well as some surrogates do wish to keep the relationship more businesslike, and that’s okay as long as the feelings are mutual. In other words, how frequently you and your surrogate want to see each other in person or communicate is up to your mutual arrangement.