Hi, I am currently a surrogate carrying twins for my cousin and her husband and due to have a c section next week, what I’m wanting to know is once the babies are born and if everything is ok will they just be allowed to leave the hospital with there intended parents? Obviously I will have to stay in the hospital to recover from the c section but I wouldn’t want the babies staying with me for nearly 3 days if it can be helped??? I’m just a bit curious to know if there’s any legalities that were going to come across???
Reply by Rayven
Your lawyer should have filed your prebirth order and/or legal documents allowing the parents of the children to make all decisions regarding their welfare (including taking them home) long before now. This is generally done at about 30-32 weeks. Please contact your lawyer about the specifics regarding your state and the hospital you are working with.
Most likely, the babies will not be in the room with you. Most hospitals will allow the parents their own room, as long as they have space, and the baby will not be in your room at all. So there really should be no concerns over timing.
As to how the hospital will handle it, you never really know. Make sure you have your attorney’s phone number on you. My first surrogacy went fine. The hospital had it all together. The twins stayed in a room with their parents, they checked out a day later than me, everything went great.
The second surrogacy, at the exact same hospital, it was like the hospital had never heard of surrogacy before. They made me sign the baby out, at which point I handed him to his parents and we got into different cars and drove away.
The third surrogacy, at a different hospital, went fine as well. No issues at all. I checked out less than a day after the birth and the baby checked out the next morning.
All three times I had to meet with a social worker at the hospital and sign some papers. One social worker treated me oddly, asking me things like was I sure I wanted to do this, that kind of thing, while looking at me with pity. One social worker acted like it was her first day on the job and she had no idea what to do. The other social worker was completely comfortable and had no problems.
You just don’t know what you will get.
And if the people at the hospital tell you something differently than your lawyer did, call him. Even if it is 11pm. Call him. That’s why he is there.