Rent a Womb Science

If you have exhausted all other methods of having children, there are options to creating a family today that could not ever be imagined in our parents time. 

"Rent a womb", I don't mean any disrespect to either side.  Those in the position of offering their womb for money are bringing happiness to so many couples and those in the position of paying to "rent a womb" provide a financial incentive to women who otherwise may not find the means to support their current children.  Provided the new parents are not just trying to preserve their "girlish figures" or "don't have time to take off from their busy careers" and the surrogate moms are not jeopardizing their own health and are able to carry a baby to full term, then the reasons are pure and noble to go through surrogacy and by all means this is just a god given advancement in science that we all should enjoy. 

The first step is to decide on the best kind of surrogacy. There are two types of surrogacy - 

• Genetic. The surrogate is the genetic mother of the resulting child. In this the surrogate is artificially inseminated with the father(or a male sperm donor). Genetic surrogacy is simpler compared to gestational surrogacy. A DNA test at birth can determine for sure whether the child was produced as a results of the artificial insemination. If a family has any doubt about the artificial insemination's success, a PreNatal Paternity Test can also be performed but everyone should understand the risks involved to both fetus and mother.
• Gestational. In this the surrogate is not the genetic mother of the resulting child. The eggs(oocytes) are extracted from the mother(or egg donor) and mixed with the sperm from the father(sperm donor) in-vitro(in a test-tube, culture plate or similar vessel) that has an environment that will simulate that of the fallopian tubes.  A short biology lesson - a woman's eggs mature and move out of the ovaries into the woman's fallopian tubes where they are fertilized by sperm and move down the fallopian tube to the uterus in a normal pregnancy. In in-vitro fertilization, the embryo is transferred into the surrogate's uterus.

In detail, in case of gestational surrogacy, the egg-donor is prepared by administering follicle stimulating (hormonal) medications to stimulate the production of multiple eggs. This procedure takes about 4-6 weeks. These medications cause more than one egg to mature and the eggs will be retrieved before they are released from the ovaries. These retrieved eggs are then fertilized by the sperm in a Petri dish in an incubator.

When the fertilized eggs reach the four to ten cell stage of development; they are called embryos and are ready to be placed in the womb of the surrogate, which is simultaneously prepared to receive the embryo so that it could be carried to term.

Again, DNA testing is recommended to assure the new parents are actually the biological parents of the embryo.Paternity and Maternity Tests can be performed either at birth or prenatally via amniocentesis or chorionic villi sampling, in order to confirm that the donor egg and sperm did indeed produce a child.  Since there risk involved with PreNatal Paternity Testing,  a doctor should explain to both sides any circumstantial risks.

Not all eggs which are retrieved get fertilized and not all of the fertilized eggs are used in the current IVF cycle. Some of the embryos are cryopreserved for future IVF procedures. Deciding on the fate of the cryopreserved embryos early on in the procedure and in writing will eliminate unnecessary stress afterwards.

Cost

Finally, you can find a surrogate in the United States by contacting your local Fertility Center or In-Vitro Fertilization Center. However, skyrocketing medical insurance costs have once again put the United States at a financial disadvantage and many other countries are offering Surrogacy Programs.  For a list of countries offering Surrogacy programs check out Medical Tourism.  The DNA Lady does not endorse any of these sites and strongly recommend potential families investigate fully the facility they intend to use.

All families are a blessing, no matter how you arrive at them or how you define them.