[Banned-assistedreprotechnology]

Surrogacy is the answer for same sex couples, partners and individuals to have children when they are incapable. A surrogate mother is a female who agrees to carry a child for nine months so that the child can complete another’s dream of parentage.

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[Tmerritt]

I am an Intended Mother who is in search or a Gestational Surrogate. My husband and I decided to go through surrogacy because I am unable to have any children. Being that we are still learning a lot about the process, I want to know if their are any support groups for IPs?

[VanessaB]

While this article is somewhat helpful there are a few points that could use clarification, and even correction.

Eight embryos is not something that any professional Reproductive Endocrinologist would likely ever place in a gestational carrier's uterus.

Here are the ASRM (the self-regulating body for Reproductive Endocrinologists) guidelines: www.asrm.org/Media/.../Guidelines_on_number_of_embryos.pdf

As you can see, depending upon the age of the Intended Mother or Egg Donor (up to age 42), typically from 1 to 5 embryos would be transferred. With use of an Intended Mother of a more advanced age, more may be transferred. One Reproductive Endocrinologist recommended I transfer my 6 embryos--but I was 45 years old when I made the embryos (took over one year to make those due to my age). Other than Ms. Suleman, I have never heard of 8 embryos being transferred, and I am involved in the infertility community.

Also, the term "Surrogate Mom" used here in the article is not used by professionals, nor is it used by Intended Parents, nor is it used by most Gestational Carriers--most Gestational Carriers do not call themselves "mom" or "mother."

The author also uses the word "donor" exclusively in a few places when discussing how a cycle with a Gestational Carrier is coordinated. Here are the sentences to which I refer: "With gestational surrogacy, the donor and surrogates menstrual cycles need to be synchronized" and "The eggs will be removed from the donor, inseminated by the donor sperm, and then implanted into the surrogates several days later."

In a cycle, the Intended Parents are not referred to as "donors" but as Intended Parents. Or "mother" or "father." If donor egg or donor sperm is used, then, naturally, the word donor is appropriate.

Due to lack of clarity such as this, this article, I fear, just perpetuates the perception that the parents of a child born of surrogacy is somehow less their child.

Back to this sentence, "With gestational surrogacy, the donor and surrogates menstrual cycles need to be synchronized" -- this is not necessarily the case.

There are many times that a Gestational Carrier and either an Intended Mother or a Donor, depending upon the situation, are not coordinated in their respective cycles. This is when a Frozen Embryo Transfer is planned. One reason this might be planned would be due to scheduling conflicts. An Egg Donor, for example, might have limited schedule availability, and if the Carrier cannot be available at the same time, they might cycle separately--the Egg Donor would cycle first, then the resulting embryos would be frozen for a later transfer to the Gestational Carrier.

So, that should have read something like this: "With gestational surrogacy, the intended mother's (or egg donor's, depending on whose eggs are being used) and surrogate's menstrual cycles may be synchronized with medications. Though sometimes, due to schedule conflicts or other reasons, the intended mother's (or egg donor's) eggs might be retrieved and fertilized then frozen for a later transfer to the gestational carrier. This is called a 'frozen embryo transfer.'"

Thank you for your effort to provide information about this approach to having a child, and for your effort to inform women who are interested in surrogacy. Your last paragraph here, "There is a lot of soul searching, researching and planning involved with surrogacy. Yes, most women are compensated for being surrogates; but for most, it’s not the price. It’s knowing they played a part in completing a family" is very true.

[Admin-pattyandthemoos]

Originally Posted by VanessaB

While this article is somewhat helpful there are a few points that could use clarification, and even correction.

Eight embryos is not something that any professional Reproductive Endocrinologist would likely ever place in a gestational carrier's uterus.

Here are the ASRM (the self-regulating body for Reproductive Endocrinologists) guidelines: http://www.asrm.org/Media/.../Guidel...of_embryos.pdf

As you can see, depending upon the age of the Intended Mother or Egg Donor (up to age 42), typically from 1 to 5 embryos would be transferred. With use of an Intended Mother of a more advanced age, more may be transferred. One Reproductive Endocrinologist recommended I transfer my 6 embryos--but I was 45 years old when I made the embryos (took over one year to make those due to my age). Other than Ms. Suleman, I have never heard of 8 embryos being transferred, and I am involved in the infertility community.

Also, the term "Surrogate Mom" used here in the article is not used by professionals, nor is it used by Intended Parents, nor is it used by most Gestational Carriers--most Gestational Carriers do not call themselves "mom" or "mother."

The author also uses the word "donor" exclusively in a few places when discussing how a cycle with a Gestational Carrier is coordinated. Here are the sentences to which I refer: "With gestational surrogacy, the donor and surrogates menstrual cycles need to be synchronized" and "The eggs will be removed from the donor, inseminated by the donor sperm, and then implanted into the surrogates several days later."

In a cycle, the Intended Parents are not referred to as "donors" but as Intended Parents. Or "mother" or "father." If donor egg or donor sperm is used, then, naturally, the word donor is appropriate.

Due to lack of clarity such as this, this article, I fear, just perpetuates the perception that the parents of a child born of surrogacy is somehow less their child.

Back to this sentence, "With gestational surrogacy, the donor and surrogates menstrual cycles need to be synchronized" -- this is not necessarily the case.

There are many times that a Gestational Carrier and either an Intended Mother or a Donor, depending upon the situation, are not coordinated in their respective cycles. This is when a Frozen Embryo Transfer is planned. One reason this might be planned would be due to scheduling conflicts. An Egg Donor, for example, might have limited schedule availability, and if the Carrier cannot be available at the same time, they might cycle separately--the Egg Donor would cycle first, then the resulting embryos would be frozen for a later transfer to the Gestational Carrier.

So, that should have read something like this: "With gestational surrogacy, the intended mother's (or egg donor's, depending on whose eggs are being used) and surrogate's menstrual cycles may be synchronized with medications. Though sometimes, due to schedule conflicts or other reasons, the intended mother's (or egg donor's) eggs might be retrieved and fertilized then frozen for a later transfer to the gestational carrier. This is called a 'frozen embryo transfer.'"

Thank you for your effort to provide information about this approach to having a child, and for your effort to inform women who are interested in surrogacy. Your last paragraph here, "There is a lot of soul searching, researching and planning involved with surrogacy. Yes, most women are compensated for being surrogates; but for most, it’s not the price. It’s knowing they played a part in completing a family" is very true.

Thanks for your comments I am going to see about having some revisions to this article. I believe the comment about 8 embryos is out of date.

[Simplesurrogacy]

Thanks for sharing information. Keep it up.

[trannytryingttc#2girl]

Keep up the updates on Surrogacy. Love to hear more myself as I'm an Gestational Surrogate as well.

[NCAMomma]

It is to the point an informative. Nice article.

A couple things off- 1. no one is putting 8 embryos in. I own an Agency and the standard contract states two embryos will be transfered unless otherwise agreed to by all parties at the recommendation of the RE on the day of transfer based on embryo quality. And the other thing is that Traditional Surrogacy does IUI's or insems a much less invasive procedure than IVF by simply placing the sperm inside the ovulating woman.

When you use the terms Sperm Donor and Ovum or Egg Donor they are correct no matter who the donor is. I donated my egg and Jon donated his sperm to create Austin in a dish LOL The donation was for ourselves but still considered a donor of genetic material.