10 Steps to Becoming a Surrogate
If you want to become a surrogate, then you need to be ready for the long-haul. There are 10 or more steps to becoming a surrogate and how much time it will take.
The process of surrogacy isn’t a straight line and there are many ups and downs for both surrogate mothers and intended parents. Often, there are cycles and repeats when things don’t go quite according to plan. How long can you expect to wait after you become a surrogate to be done with the process? Two years is the longest most surrogate journeys last, however, we are in uncharted territory with the recent Coronavirus shutdown as well.
Here are a few reasons that might cause such a long delay:
1) Medical Record Collection and Application
Another aspect that can cause a delay is to complete the surrogate application. There are many steps involved in the surrogacy process. Through our surrogate agency, you have to have a drug test and submit to a background check. You will also later submit to a psychological screening performed that is hours long in length and very in-depth. This is also part of the surrogate qualifications to make you eligible.
You have your own family and work to do. Completing the application may take some time. It also needs to be reviewed. If you have to keep amending your application, then this can make the process even longer to join our surrogate agency in California.
One of the steps to become a surrogate is to have your medical records delivered to our surrogate agency. This helps you pass some of the surrogate qualifications by showcasing that you are in good health and that you had a successful birth prior to applying. The problem is that it can take hospitals a long time to put those records together.
The typical duration that you can expect to wait is around one to three months. If something is missing or the files are incorrect, then the process of the collection may need to start over.
If you are a surrogate mother who has medical records at a facility in a different state, or you are no longer receiving care at the facility you had your children with- these can create issues of timing for recovering your records.
2) Getting Matched with a Family
Believe it or not, steps to becoming a surrogate may not include matching with a family if you think you are a great candidate. However, many families have different wants and needs in the surrogacy process. Some families will like your location, and others may not. Some intended parents need a surrogate who is Covid vaccinated, some will not want that. Getting matched with a family is one of those steps to becoming a surrogate that can be longer than you think 3-6 months.
3) Receiving Medical Clearance
After you finally join our surrogacy agency located in the Sacramento area, your first step is going to receive medical clearance from a fertility clinic. Medical clearance essentially means that you are prepared to start undergoing fertility treatments for a healthy pregnancy to begin. You don’t always receive medical clearance initially.
The fertility clinic of the intended parents will test for diseases and may need a few weeks to analyze results for anything abnormal. For example, you may have an infection that you weren’t aware of. You’ll need to have the infection removed before you can begin the actual process of surrogacy.
Each time you start a new surrogate journey, even if you are an experienced surrogate mother, you’ll need to receive medical clearance from the treating fertility clinic of the intended parents.
4) Travel Time
Unless the fertility clinic happens to be close to you, you’ll likely have to travel a lot in order to get there. Travel time can also add to the process. The majority of fertility clinics located near you may or may not be the fertility clinic that you are working with. Intended parents find a fertility clinic near them in order to create the embryos that will be transferred.
The surrogacy agency can’t always control which fertility clinic is chosen for your case. You may end up having to go to a clinic far from your home in Southern California, Texas or Florida depending on what parents you are matched with.
This could add a few days to the journey. Especially if you have to keep returning to the fertility clinic for treatments. Travel time can eat away at the time that you spend at work and with your family.
5) Medication Problems
Once you finally enter the phase of receiving fertility treatments with your intended parents who are struggling with infertility, then you may also face a few more setbacks. Fertility isn’t a precise science. You may need a lot or a little of a medication. How your body responds to each medication is going to be custom and unique.
That’s why medication problems and setbacks are common during surrogacy. The specialists have to try a few methods and patterns to find what gives the best results. Sometimes this might mean that you have to cleanse your body of all medications for a month or two. Sometimes that might mean that you’re on a certain medication for a month, and then you have to be on another one the next month before you can attempt an embryo transfer.
Finding the right kind of dosage and medication to provide the results that the fertility clinic needs to see is one of the biggest reasons behind delays. Something can happen that can set the entire timeline back to square one.
6) Medication Absorption
In keeping with medications, it also takes time for the medications to have an effect. At the very least, you should expect to spend a few months just receiving treatment from the fertility clinic, getting your medications started and getting onto the calendar for embryo transfer.
The intended parents will also be receiving fertility treatments. Because they’re struggling with infertility, they’ll need treatments to help both of them become as fertile as possible. Otherwise, the formation of an embryo may never occur.
Even if your body is ready, they may still be struggling with their own treatments and may need to go through another egg retrieval or make sure their egg donor’s cycle is complete.
7) Legal Waiting Times
One vital step of the process after joining a California surrogate agency is to sit down with the surrogate attorney and parents who develop a surrogacy contract for you to review. This is called the gestational surrogacy agreement, or GSA for short. A surrogate agreement is formed in which all of the parties agree to how the healthy pregnancy is going to proceed. It will dictate who has custody of the child, what kind of treatments will be used, how the baby will be born, and what takes place after birth. For example, the parents might want to buy breastmilk from you.
It can sometimes take a while for the intended parents to pick their surrogate attorney. It might also take you some time, too. Luckily, our California surrogate agency can help you find a surrogate attorney.
The hardest part is making everyone work together to finding a solution and agreement that fits everyone. The negotiations can take days or months, depending on how parties are particular on certain issues.
8) Embryo Transfer
Surrogacy can also be extended when it comes time for the embryo transfer. The embryo transfer can go wrong many times. A healthy pregnancy isn’t guaranteed if the embryo doesn’t successfully transfer to the surrogate. Even after a series of fertility treatments, your body may still recognize the embryo as an intruder and destroy it.
Each failure means that you’re back at square one with fertility treatments. This cycle can continue on and on until the embryo finally is recognized by the body and starts to grow.
10) Re-Matching
Sometimes intended parents and surrogate mothers don’t get along. You may find that your personality clashes too much with the parents assigned to you. In this case, you may want to be re-matched. While our California surrogate agency can do that, it’s also going to add time on the journey.
You’ll have to start the entire process over. Beginning with fertility treatments, you’ll need to wait for months for them to start working on your body. Then you’ll have to hope that the embryo transfer is successful.
Re-matching can take some time, too. The agency may need to spend a little extra time to ensure that you receive parents that you get along with.
10) The Pregnancy
The tenth and most important in the steps to becoming a surrogate is the pregnancy! Once all of the above hurdles are jumped through, you have nine months of pregnancy awaiting you.
Even if the rest of the process went smoothly, it’s time to make it to the finish line!
It’s easy to understand why a surrogate journey can take longer than a year and closer to two years even if everything is going perfectly. If you’re thinking about becoming a surrogate, then you should be prepared to make a time commitment for at least two years. Although the road may be long, it’s ultimately worth it when you help infertile parents.
Apply here to become a surrogate with us!
Get Started On the Surrogacy Journey Today!
