For couples that have medical circumstances making traditional pregnancy difficult or even impossible, surrogacy offers an alternative that still allows people to start a family. With surrogacy, another woman who has been evaluated as medically suitable agrees to become pregnant on behalf of a hopeful family. Once the baby is born, that infant is united with the waiting couple, and life together as a family can begin.
Because this alternative also requires significant financial investment, hopeful families choosing this path are understandably concerned about maximizing the chances for a successful surrogacy experience. Here are some of the factors that hopeful families need to be aware of to have a higher surrogacy success rate.
General Surrogate Health
The first and probably most important factor in surrogacy success is, unsurprisingly, the surrogate mother herself and her state of health. Most couples who choose surrogacy do so because medical factors, such as surgery, illness, or even age, would impact a healthy pregnancy or simply make it impossible.
So, a premium is placed on finding surrogate mother candidates who are viable surrogates in every way. Women of excellent general health between the ages of 21-40 fall into this range. However, another important differentiator is experience. The best surrogates are those who have already experienced pregnancy and have given birth at least once. This means they have already experienced what pregnancy entails and won’t have the same doubts, questions, or anxieties as a woman becoming pregnant for the first time in her life.
Donor Health
While the overall health of a surrogate mother is crucial, another important factor for success is the health of the donors. In traditional surrogacy, this ties intrinsically with the health of the surrogate mother as her egg will be used. However, the health of the sperm donor is still an important matter, particularly if that donor has a family line with a congenital disease such as cystic fibrosis that introduces a significant chance of a baby being born with this condition.
This success rate is even more affected by In Vitro Fertilization, where both the sperm and the egg are donated, typically from the hopeful parents. Now, the success rate is influenced by the overall health of both donors, including age and any inheritable genetic conditions that may be passed on.
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis
This is related to donor health and, for some, is an absolutely crucial factor in success. If one or both donors have a family history of inherited congenital conditions such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia, that doesn’t mean a baby is guaranteed to inherit the condition. However, a chance does exist.
With preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, multiple egg and sperm samples are used for fertilization, and each one is subjected to PGD screening. Any fertilized eggs that are flagged as having the inherited disease are not used, which means only the healthy fertilized egg is used in implantation, thus ensuring a high rate of surrogacy success.
Nutrition
A fetus is an organism in a state of accelerated growth, which means the baby is in constant need of nutrients for healthy growth. To ensure a high rate of success, it’s critical for the surrogate mother to eat healthy, which, in turn, means the baby is benefiting from important nutrients as well.
For the best chance at success during pregnancy, the surrogate mother should consult with both an obstetrician and a nutritionist to ensure that what she’s eating and drinking provides a growing baby with everything needed for healthy development.
Environmental Factors
In one sense, environmental factors can sometimes overlap with nutrition. However, environmental factors, while sometimes relating to what a person consumes or inhales, can also relate to life circumstances. The standard environmental factors that would greatly and negatively impact a surrogacy’s chance of healthy success are the consumption of alcohol and even inhalation of second-hand smoke from attending a bar or a club.
However, other factors that would play a role are things like whether a surrogate mother is forced to work to support herself and the baby as the pregnancy progresses. Under normal circumstances, the hopeful parents would be expected to assist with living expenses during the surrogacy, but if the surrogate mother got no such support and had to continue to work while pregnant, this could have potentially negative effects on success.
Having A Good Process
One of the best ways to ensure success in surrogacy is by ensuring a smooth experience at every step of the journey. This can be more easily facilitated by working with people and organizations that are well-versed in each stage of this process. There are surrogacy clinics and agencies that can act as “one-stop shops” for surrogacy services.
This only requires some careful research and due diligence on the part of a hopeful family. By being careful with this selection, a more successful surrogacy journey awaits the couple.