Starting Your Surrogacy Journey

Some of the Intended Parents that we work with at Coastal Fertility may need the assistance of third-party reproduction in order to start building the family of their dreams. For single parents, same-sex couples, and couples who are unable to carry a pregnancy to term, surrogacy process is a great option. 

Starting your surrogacy journey and finding a surrogate may feel overwhelming. You probably have a lot of questions and may have started conducting your own research. There are numerous agencies to choose from. If you read through all the reviews and listen to everyone’s opinion of each one, it makes it that much more overwhelming. 

Queries About Surrogacy

You’re probably in the same situation as most couples who are just starting their journey. You don’t know a lot about IVF, embryo creation, PGS testing, monitoring, finding the right surrogate or anything else related to surrogacy. This is perfectly normal.  Some couples prefer to conduct their own research before starting their surrogacy journey. However, with something as complex as the surrogacy process, blind research can make things even more daunting. All you know is that you want a family, and this may be your best option. 

Steps of Surrogacy Process

We have worked with numerous Intended Parents, each of them unique with their own personalities, stories, and expectations. Often, nearing the end of a consultation call, Intended Parents asks, “What’s next?” This is a critical question, one that deserves a well-thought-out answer.

There are usually four steps but depending upon some situations, there can be five main steps during the initial phase of the surrogacy process. 

1. Check in with your financial and emotional stability
2. Research and select a surrogacy agency
3. Research and select an IVF clinic
4. Select an egg and/or sperm donor
5. Create viable embryos

These steps are not necessarily in the correct order.

Emotional and Financial Stability

Before moving forward with the surrogacy process, every Intended Parent should have a solid discussion with their partner or loved ones. They should talk about the emotional and financial implications when using a surrogate to start their family.  Surrogacy is a big decision and should be approached with careful consideration. Throughout your surrogacy journey you will need to have an immense amount of patience and trust. You will also need a certain amount of financial stability. If the financial part of the surrogacy process is a concern, there are a variety of options to help fund your journey. There are even certain programs that provide financial assistance for qualified candidates. You can also join several online communities and Facebook groups that provide support for Intended Parents and surrogates as well.  

Researching and Selecting an Agency

Once Intended Parents are ready to move forward with their surrogacy journey, they have two options: they can start researching and selecting a surrogacy agency. Otherwise, if they need to create their embryos they can research and select an IVF clinic. Some parents prefer to have their embryos already created before selecting an agency. So, this way they are “ready to go” as soon as the contract is signed. Others prefer to seek out an agency first. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Before signing with any agency, we always recommend visiting a fertility clinic. This way you can have your fertility assessed along with your reproductive health. Finding a surrogate and surrogacy is an expensive procedure. There may be other less expensive treatment options available that will give you the same end result. If there are other potential options available, we suggest pursuing those first.  

Selecting the Right IVF Clinic

Choosing the right IVF clinic is an important decision. We suggest that all Intended Parents start their research online, focusing on the testimonials from previous clients. Your decision shouldn’t solely be based on the reviews, but it’s a good place to start and can help you narrow down your available options.

We also urge potential Intended Parents to do a personal audit of their specific expectations for their surrogacy journey. Here are some questions that you should consider – How is the location of the clinic and agency in relation to where I live? Do I wish to use a large organization or a smaller one? Should I choose an agency that provides both egg donation services and surrogacy services or the one that specializes exclusively in surrogacy? What kind of relationship do I wish to have with the coordinator and surrogate? You might have to speak with more than a few different agencies and clinics before selecting the one that best fits your needs.

Once you’ve chosen a surrogacy agency, they should be more than willing to provide a list of recommended IVF clinics. IVF clinics will do the same in terms of recommending surrogacy agencies. 

Embryo Creation Process

During the initial phase of the journey, Intended Parents will start the process of creating embryos. Depending on their individual needs, they will either start searching for sperm/egg donor or prepare themselves for an egg retrieval procedure. If an egg donor is needed, for some Intended Parents, looking through all the profiles for their perfect match is the most challenging part of the process. We recommend starting with the donor selection process relatively early during the initial phases of your journey.

Once your IVF clinic has the sperm and eggs from the desired resource, they will create the embryos. Then they will store the embryos until they are ready to be transferred.  At this point, we do a Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS). This screening looks for any genetic abnormalities that might affect the health of an infant and reduces the chances of a failed embryo transfer as well as miscarriages throughout the pregnancy. At Coastal Fertility, we always walk our Intended Parents through the whole process and explain why genetic testing is important. 

Coordinating With Surrogate

After completing these steps, Intended Parents can depend on their surrogacy agency to coordinate the rest of the journey. These steps generally include finding the surrogate, scheduling the initial meeting between the Intended Parents and surrogates, scheduling and managing the surrogate’s clinic appointments and traveling. We provide 24-hour support to our Intended Parents throughout the entire course of their surrogacy journey. Our goal is to make the entire process as stress-free and enjoyable as possible.

Building a family is a wonderful and exciting thing, and we are here to help you throughout your surrogacy journey. You can call us at 949-726-0600 or visit us at www.coastalfertility.com to learn more about the surrogacy process and/or our fertility clinic.