Does being a surrogate have greater risks?

by Beth
(Tennessee)

I am in the process of becoming a surrogate and i was wondering if being pregnant via surrogacy raises a greater risk for death than if I were to get pregnant by my husband naturally?

Reply by Rayven
**Please note, this answer assumes gestational surrogacy; traditional surrogacy without fertility drugs is the same as natural conception**

Beth,

Before proceeding with surrogacy, you need to seek professional medical advice. Please go over the risks and effects of surrogacy with your own doctor as well as the IVF clinic. Yes, the procedures that you will be subjected to have risks. Everything does. Please talk with your doctor about those risks.

To answer your over-all question in a non-medical way, yes, technically, you would have a greater risk of dying while being a surrogate mother than you would by getting pregnant naturally. It’s just common sense.

1. Medications
You will be taking tons of medications orally, via vaginal suppository, and through daily injections. They have side effects.

2. Procedures
You’ll be doing more procedures with surrogacy than you would with a regular pregnancy. You have the transfer, multiple additional bloodwork, testing such as a saline ultrasound, additional ultrasounds during the pregnancy and a higher chance of an amniocentesis.

3. Risk of Multiples
Finally, surrogacy does have high rate of multiples, twins, triplets or more. This causes more tests, more strain on your body, and more chance of complications.

Does this mean that you have a large chance of dying while being a surrogate? No. Not really, depending on your definition of the word “large”. Dying due to pregnancy is pretty rare in America in this day-and-age, though it does still happen. Being a surrogate may increase that chance, but overall, its still pretty small.

**Consult your doctor for facts about these rates before making a decision to become a surrogate mother. This information is not designed to replace medical advice.

More risky than death is the fact that while being a surrogate, you do have a chance of losing your ability to ever have another child of your own. It is not uncommon for a surrogate mother to lose her reproductive ability, to lose one or both ovaries, or even to have a hysterectomy in the attempt to help others become parents. This is a concern that does need to be examined prior to becoming a surrogate mother.

I am a 59 year physician who is cnsidering have a child thorugh surrogacy. Is this possible?

I am a 59 male physician who has had sevral children with my wife. We are considering having another child thorugh surragacy. Would there ever be any age restriction for the intended parent?

Reply by Rayven
There is no age restriction for the intended parents, especially not for the intended father. There are surrogate mothers (moms helping their daughters by becoming their gestational surrogate) in their late 50s, early 60s, and most intended parents are older when they decide to go through surrogacy to complete their families.

Not a problem at all.

Back to back surrogacys

How long should a surrogate wait between pregnancies? We have a friend that is currently pregnant in her first surrogacy and she has agreed to be our gestational surrogate. How long will she need to wait before starting our first cycle?

Reply by Rayven
There is no set rule for this. Ultimately, you will need to wait until her OB/GYN has cleared her for another pregnancy. Mine cleared me at my 6 week checkup after I gave birth to my first set of surrogate twins. I did not have a c-section.

Some doctors will suggest a 3-6 month or even longer waiting period. And just because her doctor clears her, doesn’t mean she should necessarily start another journey that soon. She will need to wait until both her doctor has cleared her and she feels ready to start another journey.

For me, I gave birth to the twins in February and did the next transfer (frozen, one embryo transferred, successful full term pregnancy) that October.

So, bottom line, her OB/GYN needs to clear her, and both you and she need to be comfortable with another pregnancy.

Am I eligible to be a surrogate mother?

by Jessica
(Ohio)

I have read the qualifications. I have two children and I have been thinking about becoming a surrogate mother. I think it would be really nice to bring joy to others lives. The requirements do talk about not being applicable if there is a history of toxemia or preeclampsia my first child I had both. My second child was very healthy and I had no problems or concerns. So this would stop me from going any further?

Reply by Rayven
Surrogacy is an interesting process, because nearly all the “requirements” (aside from having had at least one child and being old enough) have a little wiggle room, and often can be completely set aside. Because you have had one birth after the difficulties, you may still be eligible.

It will be much more difficult to match, however. Not only must you find a set of intended parents willing to take a chance on you, but you will also need to find a set of intended parents with a clinic that is willing to take a chance on you.

Personally, I would match through an agency. That way this information has been thoroughly gone through and dealt with long before the intended parents (and their clinic) get into the picture; meaning, if an agency will accept you, there is no reason why a set of intended parents would not.

Best wishes!

Can I be a surrogate and pregnant with my own at the same time

by chrissy
(enterprise, al usa)

I have had 2 kids and my best friend has had 3 but had her tubes snipped. now her and her new husband want a child and my spouse and i want another child. is it possible for her to carry or for me to carry both??

Reply by Rayven
Let me answer your first question: Is it possible for your friend, who has previously had three children of her own, but had a tubal ligation, to have more children of her own, or would she need a surrogate mother?

If the only reason she is looking into surrogacy is the fact that she has had a tubal, then she does not need a surrogate mother. She can go through IVF and carry and deliver her own child. Many surrogate mothers have had tubals, myself included. I had a tubal 10 years ago and have had 4 surrogate babies since.

But if there are other issues with her health or fertility that will make having a surrogate mother necessary, then no, you cannot carry her child and your own child at the same time.

This would not be a healthy situation.

First off, carrying multiples is difficult. There is a greater chance of you experiencing complications, putting both you and the babies in unneeded danger.

Then there is the fact that surrogacy is horribly expensive. In addition to the egg retrieval and the thousands of dollars spent on that for your friend, the costs would be duplicated for you to go through that. You would be placed on medications to stimulate the release of your eggs (lots of meds, including injections) then they would be retrieved via a large needle through your uterus. The eggs would then be inseminated with your husband’s sperm in a laboratory and the resulting embryos then transferred back into your womb.

All of this, of course, completely unnecessary for you, because you do not need to go through IVF to become pregnant. It would be physically and financially draining. And, who would pay for it? You, who does not need the procedure, or your friend, who is already paying tens of thousands, if not over a hundred thousand dollars for the entire journey?

Now let’s say that for whatever reason, you decided to go through all this and found a doctor to do it (that would most likely be your biggest challenge). You put in one embryo of your friend’s, and one of your own. What happens if only one takes? You would not know until the child was born and the results of the DNA testing came back if you were the mother or your friend would be the mother. Someone goes home with a baby, and someone else does not. And again, who pays for all this?

Could you go through 9 months of carrying a baby not knowing if it was your child or not?

Even if you carried twins, you still wouldn’t know for sure if both embryos took or if one split and the other did not make it until DNA testing. And even if they both took, you’d sit around wondering whose baby was whose for days. Logistically, this situation would be a nightmare.

In your situation, surrogacy is probably not needed. Have your friend talk to her doctor about her ability to carry another child.