What is surrogacy | Dr Rama Sofat Hospital

               What is surrogacy | Dr Rama Sofat Hospital

Surrogacy is a method or agreement whereby a woman agrees to carry a pregnancy for another person or persons, who will become the newborn child's parent(s) after birth.Intended parents may seek a surrogacy arrangement when either pregnancy is medically impossible, pregnancy risks present an unacceptable danger to the mother's health or is a same sex couple's preferred method of having children.

What Is a Surrogate Mother?

THERE ARE TWO TYPES:

Traditional surrogates: Dr. Rama Sofat explains that it's a woman who gets artificially inseminated with the father's sperm. She then carries the baby and delivers it for you and your partner to raise.A traditional surrogate is the baby's biological mother. That's because it was her egg that was fertilized by the father's sperm. Donor sperm can also be used.

Gestational surrogates: A technique called "in vitro fertilization" (IVF) now makes it possible to gather eggs from the mother, fertilize them with sperm from the father, and place the embryo into the uterus of a gestational surrogate.The surrogate then carries the baby until birth..Dr. Rama sofat explains that she doesn't have any genetic ties to the child because it wasn't her egg that was used.A gestational surrogate is called the "birth mother." The biological mother, though, is still the woman whose egg was fertilized.

Who Uses Surrogates?

Dr Rama Sofat advices that if you're a woman, you may consider a surrogate for several reasons:

• Medical problems with your uterus
• You had a hysterectomy that removed your uterus
• Conditions that make pregnancy impossible or risky for you, such as severe heart disease

You may want to think about surrogacy if you tried but couldn't get pregnant with a variety of assisted-reproduction techniques, such as IVF.

Finding a Surrogate

There are several ways you can find a surrogate mother:

Friends or family:Sometimes you can ask a friend or relative to be a surrogate for you. It's somewhat controversial.

A surrogacy agency: Most people use one to arrange a gestational surrogate. It is best option as explained by Dr Rama Sofat.

WHAT SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND WHILE SELECTING A SURROGATE?

 Experts like Dr Rama Sofat  agree on a few points about how   to select one:

You should choose a surrogate who:

A healthy woman 

• Is at least 21 years old
• Has already given birth to at least one healthy baby so she understands firsthand the medical risks of pregnancy and childbirth and the emotional issues of bonding with a newborn
• Has passed a psychological screening by a mental health professional to uncover any issues with giving up the baby after birth
• Signs a contract about her role and responsibilities in the pregnancy, such as prenatal care and agreeing to give you the baby after birth

Using a Surrogate

Lady taking medical counselling from doctor

Dr Rama Sofat says a surrogate should get a medical exam to check that she's likely to have a healthy, full-term pregnancy. The organization suggests she gets tests that check for infectious diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B and C.

Surrogates should get tests to make sure they have immunity to measles, and chickenpox. Also, you may want to ask that she get a medical procedure to visually "map" the uterus, which can help the doctor check her potential to carry a pregnancy.