Category: Surrogate Mother

Gay Parenting, Surrogate Mother

They were gay and wanted a baby. She loved being pregnant. They made a deal.

Intended Parents

Source Washington Post

Christina Fenn and her husband, Brian, have driven an hour and a half to this quaint coffee shop in Monroe, Conn. Fenn sips her morning latte, skittishly glancing out the window at the parking lot. “I’m nervous,” she says, grabbing her husband’s arm. “Nervous-excited, though.” He smiles back.

She’s wearing green, her lucky color. Green shirt and green jacket, green bracelets, green socks. She feels as if she needs all the luck she can get today.

“They’re here,” her husband says, standing to greet two men walking toward them.

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Postpartum depression, Surrogate Mother

When You’re A Surrogate, The Postpartum Recovery Looks A Little Different

Intended Parents

Source Romper.com

When a gestational surrogate delivers a baby after ten months or so of carrying another person’s child, their job, so to speak, is done. With the baby safely in the hands of its parents, the story seems to be over, but for surrogate moms, that couldn’t be further from the truth. For all information out there on gestational surrogacy, the postpartum period isn’t talked about much.

There are a lot of misconceptions around surrogacy; for starters, it’s important to understand the difference between traditional and gestational surrogacy. In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate uses her own eggs to create an embryo — she is genetically related to the baby, and this arrangement has become pretty rare in the U.S. for obvious legal reasons. In gestational surrogacy, there’s no genetic link — the intended parents are the ones to donate the egg and sperm in a process using in vitro fertilization.

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

My Pregnancy Struggle Came to an End When My Cousin Agreed to Be My Gestational Carrier

Intended Parents

Source People

I didn’t always know I wanted to have kids, or even get married. I’m an independent, free-spirited type — but something changed when I married Michael. He’s an amazing teacher and I loved seeing him with kids; the thought of starting a family together excited me. We first started “trying/not trying” soon after we got married at 31, but I told Michael we may have issues; at 14 years old I had been hospitalized with endometriosis. I thought getting pregnant might be a challenge and figured it could take a year or two to conceive. I never imagined it would take close to a decade, or that we wouldn’t use my body to carry the baby.

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Kyrgyzstan, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

KYRGYZSTAN – Surrogate Motherhood Thriving In Kyrgyzstan, Despite Society’s Misgivings

Intended Parents

Source Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

In dire need of work to support her family in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, 30-year-old single mother Kanykey has opted to earn thousands of dollars by carrying a baby for a couple unable to conceive a child on their own.

Surrogate motherhood is on the rise in predominantly Muslim Kyrgyzstan, despite society’s aversion to unwed pregnant women.

After getting a boost from a 2015 law that defines and protects the rights of the surrogate mother, the baby, and the adopting couple, new fertility clinics sprung up in this Central Asian country and surrogacy has flourished.

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Surrogate Mother

Vernon mom comes close to death after living room birth

Intended Parents

Source Infotel


‘SOMETIMES WE FORGET THE RISK THAT WE’RE TAKING.’

VERNON – Ashley Stevenson went to the doctor the day before her third child was born and discussed inducing labour since Valentina appeared not to be in any rush to be born. But that was about to change dramatically, putting her life in danger twice, all for a child she knew she wouldn’t keep.

“It was about 3:45 a.m. and my water broke,” Stevenson says. “And not just a little bit, but a ‘jolt-me-awake’ water-break.’”

Stevenson’s son was staying with his grandparents and her partner, Jordan Hammer, wasn’t there so Stevenson was alone in her apartment. She called Hammer and within about five minutes of her water breaking, her contractions started, “and they were not little ones,” she adds.

With no time to waste she decided to drive herself to the hospital, but after just three steps outside to the car she quickly changed her mind. Back inside her apartment, she called 911.

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Superfetation, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Surrogate rare twins was bio mom of one of the babies — and claims agency charged her a ransom to get her son back

Intended Parents

Source Crime Online

A surrogate mother in California who became pregnant with twins and learned that one of the babies was her biological son is suing, alleging that the surrogacy agency wanted her to pay them to get her son back.

According to the Daily Mail, Omega Family Global matched Jessica Allen, 31, with a childless Chinese couple (called the Lius in the article) and Allen underwent in vitro fertilization in April 2016. A frozen embryo from the couple was implanted into Allen, who successfully became pregnant.

It wasn’t until a month after giving birth in December 2016 that she found out that one of the twin boys belonged to her and her husband. The Mail reported that Allen was unaware she suffered from superfetation.

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Canada, Surrogate Mother

Canada – ‘The biggest thing is love’: woman carrying baby for husband’s twin brother

Intended Parents

Source CBC

A family from Cape Breton is soon to grow in a unique way.

Matt and Ryan Currie are identical twin brothers.

Ryan is married to Lauren. They live in Westmount, Cape Breton.

Matt lives in Halifax with his husband, Michael.

Lauren is seven months into a pregnancy as the surrogate for Matt and Michael’s child.

“I don’t think that there’s a day that goes by that we don’t pinch ourselves with disbelief and excitement,” said Matt.

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Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – Why I’ve agreed to be a surrogate for the fifth time – after being sterilised

Intended Parents

Source Inews

I discovered surrogacy when I was looking into donating my eggs. My interest in carrying someone else’s baby came from a place of feeling quite sorry for myself. I was a young single mum and alone. Then I had this realisation that someone would swap places with me in a heartbeat. All these couples that couldn’t have children – I could help them.

What I didn’t like about egg donation was that it was completely anonymous. I was attracted to Surrogacy UK (SUK) because of their “friendship first” ethos. It meant I could have a relationship with the couple, their friends, and possibly have one after I gave birth, too.

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Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – My Family Was Complete But I Wanted To Birth Another Child, So I Became A Surrogate

Intended Parents

Source Huffington Post

Surrogacy had never even crossed my mind. The urge however to be pregnant and give birth again was strong and real. A kind of primal urge. But I knew my family was complete, with a husband, a daughter and a son. We were done. My body had other ideas though.

I knew it was probably a bad idea to have a third child just for a birth experience! So when my friend Stacey asked me what I knew about surrogacy it was like a light bulb actually went off in my head. Here was a bone fide way to scratch my pregnancy and birthing itch but without adding to my family. With the added bonus of helping another couple to start or complete their family. What a head spin.

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Cochrane mom gives gift of life

Intended Parents

Source Cochrane Eagle

One Tuesday afternoon last fall, Heidi Rousseau was attending a Bible gathering for moms. It was there that the course of her life in the months and the year ahead would completely alter.

Rousseau, a mother of four, was approached by a recent acquaintance, Chantelle Toews, who shared a troubling predicament faced by her family – Toews could not bear any more children due to a complication in the delivery of her first child.

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Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Surrogacy laws: why a global approach is needed to stop exploitation of women

Intended Parents

Source The Conversation

Surrogacy may have become a popular way for many couples in the limelight to have children – notably Kim and Kanye, Elton John and David Furnish, as well as Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick. But it isn’t just a service for the rich and famous.

People may choose to use a surrogate for all sorts of reasons – fertility issues being the obvious one – but people with health problems or complications with previous pregnancies as well as same-sex couples or single people looking to start a family, are all also common clients.

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – Surrogate who has gifted six babies to women struggling with fertility reveals she’s planning to do it for a SEVENTH time – and she keeps in touch with ALL the families after giving birth

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Amy Trelease, 42, a management analyst, from Carson City, Nevada, said she was determined to help women struggling to conceive after learning about egg donation and surrogacy in college.
She gave the gift of a newborn for the first time at the age of 26, having donated her eggs twice before in her early 20s.

After having her third child Dillon, now 13, she went on to have five more babies in seven years, gifting them to women who were dealing with infertility.

She has scheduled an IVF transfer for next month, which will be her first step to carrying a baby for someone else for the seventh time. 

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Cambodia, Surrogate Mother

Pregnant Cambodian women charged with surrogacy and human trafficking

Intended Parents

Source The Guardian

Thirty-three pregnant Cambodian women hired to act as surrogate mothers were formally charged with surrogacy and human trafficking offences.

The women, who were arrested last month when police raided the illegal business, were charged on Friday at the Phnom Penh municipal court under a law that specifically targets surrogacy, which was outlawed in 2016 as Cambodia was becoming a popular destination for would-be foreign parents seeking women to give birth to their children.

Acting as an intermediary between an adoptive parent and a pregnant woman carries a penalty of up to six months in prison. The human trafficking offence is punishable by seven

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Gay Parenting, Surrogate Mother

Gay couple who used their best friend as a surrogate say they’ve learned to ignore the ‘weird stares’ their family gets – and reveal their daughter, three, feels ‘lucky’ to have two dads

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Robert Young, 31, from Newcastle, spent years anguishing over whether he should become a parent alone using a surrogate but decided that the process would prove too expensive.

However, when his friend, Emma, offered to give birth to a child using a donated egg and his sperm, he decided to go ahead – just months before meeting his partner Samuel Spiers, 28, also from Newcastle, on Tinder.

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Surrogacy Abroad, Surrogate Mother, Ukraine

Why Ukraine has become a hot-spot for child surrogacy

Intended Parents

Source Jam News

Elizaveta Pohudina lives with her husband and young daughter near the city of Kharkov in Ukraine. In April, she gave birth to a baby girl and gave her to a couple from Spain.

Elizaveta is a surrogate mother. She has long dreamed of owning a home, though has not had the money to make the purchase. She decided to become a surrogate mother in order to receive a large, one-time payout. Her family supported her in her endeavor, though not immediately.

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Cryogenic storage failure, Egg Donor, Same Sex, Surrogate Mother

Two dads, an egg donor and a surrogate: How a freezer failure changed everything

Intended Parents

Source CNN

San Francisco, California (CNN) — Their first date was over lunch during a Proposition 8 protest, where they joined hundreds of others railing against the passage of California’s same-sex marriage ban. The two men took a break from demonstrating, threw their hearts on the table and talked about their desire to have kids.

So it was somehow appropriate that in June 2013, nearly five years later, Bill Taroli and Yang Li stood in a delivery room and welcomed their son, Henry, one day before the US Supreme Court overturned Prop 8. A couple weeks later, with their newborn in their arms, they exchanged vows and were legally married.

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Surrogate Mother

Woman Who Says She’s Addicted to Being Pregnant Gives Birth to Her Fifth Surrogate Baby

Intended Parents

Source Life News

A five-time surrogate mother, Didi Perry went into the business to help people who could not become parents naturally.

The Dallas, Texas woman, who has three children of her own, recently gave birth to her last surrogate child a few months shy of her 50th birthday, according to the Daily Mail.

“I enjoyed being pregnant with my own kids and I wanted to do something that would help someone else,” Perry said. “I love how healthy I feel when I’m pregnant and I love the feeling of the baby moving around.”

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Canada, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Canada – Surrogate mom who has delivered 7 babies for others ‘would do it all over again’

Intended Parents

Source CBC.CA

Kristy Cartwright has given birth to three sets of twins and a baby boy, for four different families — and if she could do it all again, she would in a heartbeat.

This despite the fact that currently, the federal law does not allow surrogates to be paid for their services, although there’s been a recent push to change that law.

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Canada, surrogacy compensation, Surrogate Mother

Canadian parents want to do more for the surrogates carrying their babies

Intended Parents

Source Global News

A private member’s bill has been tabled, with the goal of decriminalizing the act of paying surrogates in Canada. The legal patchwork surrounding the issue is grey. Abigail Bimman explains how the system works now, and why there’s opposition to the change.

With beaming smiles and giddy excitement, Mike Black and Travis Wood show off an ultrasound photo of their nine-week-old, unborn baby.

“I’ve been dreaming every night it’s a baby boy,” Black told Global New earlier this week.

Getting the photo required a 4,000-kilometre trip from Slave Lake, Alta., to Ottawa, where the couple’s surrogate lives and was getting an ultrasound. It’s an experience Black describes as “life-changing.”

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Australia, Canada, intended parents, Surrogate Mother

Canada – Dream comes true for Australian parents with Canadian surrogate

Intended Parents

Source The Star

During the Star’s Made in Canada series, which looks at this country’s booming international surrogacy industry, the Crabbs and their Canadian surrogate, Paula Capa, a teacher in Kitchener, struggled to become parents.

“Obviously we’ve been waiting forever for this,” David says. “And now we’ve got one beautiful little angel sent from heaven.”

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