We are now fortunate to live in a world where more people have options to make their dreams come true and start a family. In the past, the conventional route of a woman in a relationship allowing herself to become pregnant was the most common path. Today, however, even couples with serious medical considerations have alternatives such as adoption or, if people really have their heart set on a newborn, surrogacy.
Surrogacy is where another woman agrees to become pregnant on behalf of a couple. Once the impregnation has been confirmed, and she undertakes the nine-month journey, the baby is then united with the new parents, and life as a family can start.
However, as it is abundantly clear from this path to family success, the most important thing in this equation is the surrogate mother herself. She is the cornerstone of the entire goal, and without her, no one can move forward. So it’s crucial that hopeful families find a surrogate mother to work with and, more importantly, find the right one. But how do you go about finding the right surrogate mother for you?
Critical Qualities
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways that hopeful parents can go about ensuring that they find a surrogate mother that is suitable to work with. Certain characteristics will always be consistent in what couples should be looking for. Some primary characteristics to keep an eye out for are:
Age Range
In the simplest terms, the ages of 21-40 are considered the prime birth years. Of course, this also varies from one individual to the next, so it’s not unheard of for some women to be unsuitable for pregnancy even at the age of 21. Other women may be medically evaluated as still safe for pregnancy even as they approach the age of 50.
Of course, the primary reason for this age range is a matter of health. This age range is typically when women have the greatest chance of shouldering the burden of pregnancy for the months required, with no huge risk to either their own health or that of the baby.
Medical Suitability
Somewhat related to age is also the general health and medical condition of a woman willing to become a surrogate mother. In most cases, couples who are going the surrogate route are doing so because of medical concerns they must deal with, such as being too old to safely bear children or having a heart condition that would put both the mother and child at risk as the demands of pregnancy become greater.
So, it should be no surprise that if many couples have medical considerations as barriers to conventional pregnancy, they wouldn’t want those same issues to be a concern with a surrogate mother. However, beyond basic physical health, there is also the question of lifestyle. A person can have the genetic potential to be naturally healthy, but if their lifestyle involves no exercise, eating poorly, and consuming high amounts of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs, all of that throws their ability to safely have a baby into question. This is why it’s important to have a surrogate mother candidate who doesn’t just get a “green light” in a medical evaluation but has the lifestyle to supplement that good health.
Pregnancy Experience
This is one of the primary reasons that picking a surrogate mother on the extremely young end of the ideal age range is typically not recommended. The best results for surrogate motherhood occur when the surrogate mother has already had the experience of becoming pregnant and giving birth.
If a woman has never been pregnant before, this adds extra layers of uncertainty and even potential anxiety. She has no prior medical history to fall back on as a reference, so while she may be theoretically suitable for becoming pregnant, that has not been officially confirmed. Perhaps more importantly, she doesn’t have the personal and emotional experience of being pregnant and giving birth, and thus, most of this would be unknown and an intense emotional experience her first time. There is even a chance that a surrogate mother becoming pregnant for the first time may want to raise the child as her own.
Making The Search Easier
Each of these qualities is important, and it can take a lot of time, interviewing, and even research for couples who try to find these women on their own and then negotiate with them to secure a surrogacy agreement. However, there is a much easier way to go about this, and that is to work with an experienced Surrogacy Agency. These organizations specialize in screening potential candidates for surrogacy and then, perhaps more importantly, pairing them and mediating between hopeful parents and surrogacy candidates to ensure that couples and surrogate mothers are suitably matched and receive the treatment that both deserve. If you want to find a suitable surrogate mother in the most efficient, effective way possible, a surrogacy agency is the way to go.