Helping A Friend Through Surrogate Parenting » Parent Plaza

It takes a special type of woman to be a surrogate, because surrogate parenting is not something that should be entered into without serious consideration and commitment. Generally, women who already have children and do not plan to have additional children of their own will make excellent surrogate mothers. Surrogate parenting is one of the greatest gifts that a woman can offer to a friend or family member who cannot bear a child of their own.

There are also instances where a woman will be a surrogate mother for couples or individuals who they have never met prior to the pregnancy. In these cases, there is often a structured payment set-up in advance to compensate the woman for her medical costs as well as to offer a payment for her services as a surrogate.

Surrogate parenting can actually be a lucrative arrangement, and many agencies are beginning to offer a service which will pair a willing surrogate with a couple who would like to have child, but cannot do so without a surrogate mother to carry the pregnancy and deliver the child.

What does the Process Entail?

Generally, when a couple opts to work with another woman to arrange surrogate parenting, there is infertility with one or both of the people involved. In such cases, a donor may provide either the eggs or the sperm used to fertilize the pregnancy. Often, fertilized eggs are implanted into the surrogate mother using in vitro fertilization.

At that point, the surrogate mother will carry the pregnancy until the time of birth. As per a pre-arranged agreement the couple (or individual) will then raise the child from the time of birth.

This is the reason that surrogate parenting is such a gift. The surrogate mother carries the pregnancy to term, delivers the baby and then relinquishes all rights to the child. Often times, the parents will offer to allow the surrogate mother contact with the child, particularly if the surrogate is a friend or family member.

In cases where the surrogate and the parents did not already have an existing relationship, this is purely the decision of the parties involved and there is no guarantee of visitation for the surrogate mother.

The decision to offer the service of surrogacy should never be entered into lightly. There are risks associated with every pregnancy and delivery, both physical and emotional. Only if the woman is a100 per cent certain that she will be able to remain emotionally unattached to the child that she is carrying should she consider becoming a surrogate.

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