Surrogate Mothers Online Q & A: I am the mother of two wonderful daughters and I have married a fantastic man who doesnt have children of his own. We are interested in surrogacy and we are wondering which process will be best for us due to the fact that at age 22, I had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Please help me bless my wonderful spouse with the information for obtaining the right surrogate program. Thank you. - <a href="mailto:JGocsik@aol.com">Katherine</a> in Tulsa, OK

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Surrogate Mothers Online Q & A

Q & A: Just Starting Out - Surrogacy

For those just starting down the surrogacy path. Topics may include finding the right match, pros and cons of independent vs. agency, where to start, etc.

21. I am the mother of two wonderful daughters and I have married a fantastic man who doesnt have children of his own. We are interested in surrogacy and we are wondering which process will be best for us due to the fact that at age 22, I had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Please help me bless my wonderful spouse with the information for obtaining the right surrogate program. Thank you. - Katherine in Tulsa, OK - Top

The SMO website has some wonderful informative articles on surrogacy. You can also look at some of the other surrogacy websites: www.opts.com and
www.surrogacy.com. Also, do a search on surrogacy on Snap or another web search engine. A book I found helpful was "A Matter of Trust" written by a woman who built her family through surrogacy. It detailed the process pretty well. It should be available on Amazon.com as well.

There are two kinds of surrogacy -- traditional where the surrogate is artificially inseminated with the intended father's sperm (so the baby is genetically related to the surrogate) or gestational where the intended mother and father go through in vitro fertilization of their eggs/sperm and the resulting embryos are put into the surrogate (no genetic relationship to the surrogate).

You can also choose to use an agency to help find a surrogate or go independently (find a surrogate on your own). If you do go independently, I would strongly suggest that you still do everything an agency would do when screening a surrogate -- psychological screening, physical screening, and be
sure to have a contract.

Also, I would suggest joining one of several e-mail surrogacy support groups. There is the one here on SMO (surrogates AND intended parents) as well as on www.opts.com (surrogates AND intended parents) and www.surrogacy.com (surrogates only list or parents only list). They are great sources of information and support.

Best wishes,

Linda P
Mom of twins via gestational surrogacy and donor egg - Updated: January 14, 2000
For those just starting down the surrogacy path. Topics may include finding the right match, pros and cons of independent vs. agency, where to start, etc.

21. I am the mother of two wonderful daughters and I have married a fantastic man who doesnt have children of his own. We are interested in surrogacy and we are wondering which process will be best for us due to the fact that at age 22, I had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Please help me bless my wonderful spouse with the information for obtaining the right surrogate program. Thank you. - Katherine in Tulsa, OK - Top: The SMO website has some wonderful informative articles on surrogacy. You can also look at some of the other surrogacy websites: www.opts.com and
www.surrogacy.com. Also, do a search on surrogacy on Snap or another web search engine. A book I found helpful was "A Matter of Trust" written by a woman who built her family through surrogacy. It detailed the process pretty well. It should be available on Amazon.com as well.

There are two kinds of surrogacy -- traditional where the surrogate is artificially inseminated with the intended father's sperm (so the baby is genetically related to the surrogate) or gestational where the intended mother and father go through in vitro fertilization of their eggs/sperm and the resulting embryos are put into the surrogate (no genetic relationship to the surrogate).

You can also choose to use an agency to help find a surrogate or go independently (find a surrogate on your own). If you do go independently, I would strongly suggest that you still do everything an agency would do when screening a surrogate -- psychological screening, physical screening, and be
sure to have a contract.

Also, I would suggest joining one of several e-mail surrogacy support groups. There is the one here on SMO (surrogates AND intended parents) as well as on www.opts.com (surrogates AND intended parents) and www.surrogacy.com (surrogates only list or parents only list). They are great sources of information and support.

Best wishes,

Linda P
Mom of twins via gestational surrogacy and donor egg - Updated: January 14, 2000

Unless stated otherwise, all responses in the SMO Q&A are courtesy of one or more of the following hosts:

Sherry - Experienced gestational surrogate currently working on her 2nd surrogacy arrangement

Linda - New Mommy to twins born via gestational surrogacy and egg donation

Jennifer S. - Experienced AI surrogate

Lynn - New Mommy to a daughter born via traditional surrogacy

Tracie - 5 time egg donor (triplets, 2 sets of twins and 2 singletons) and 3 time surrogate (2-AI, 1-IVF).

Lisa - Experienced egg donor and previous gestational surrogate currently working on her 2nd surrogacy arrangement (Lisa was our former ED host, prior to July 1999.)
Disclaimer: Responses from SMO Q&A Hosts do not necessarily represent the opinions and ideas of SMO. Neither the Q&A hosts nor SMO guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the responses given here. As such, neither SMO nor the Q&A hosts are responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. Neither SMO nor the Q&A hosts shall be liable or responsible to any person or entity for any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly by the information or ideas contained, suggested, or referenced in these responses.

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