Surrogacy is a process of assisted reproduction where a surrogate work with the intended parents. In this method, a surrogate carries and cares for the intended parent’s child until birth. Intended parents use surrogacy to start or expand their families when they can’t do so alone.

Here, we discuss what surrogacy is and why you should consider it:

What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is an arrangement or process of someone giving birth to someone else. This process helps people who aren’t able to have children become parents — it’s a process that requires legal and medical expertise, along with a strong support process throughout the journey. People who explore surrogacy to have a child are usually known as IPs (or intended parents).

Embryos are created through IVF in a lab at a fertility clinic. Sometimes, intended parents use their genetic material. However, in some cases, an egg donor is needed. In the fertility clinic, about a couple of embryos are implanted into a surrogate that carries the child to term.

So, do surrogates use their own eggs for surrogacy? Absolutely not. There’s no genetic relationship between gestational carriers and the child they carry.

While surrogacy has evolved over the years, it has been a family-building option for quite a long time.

Why grow your family through surrogacy?

Surrogacy allows individuals and couples from a range of ages, backgrounds, and sexual orientations to grow their families. Intended parents who use surrogacy comprise:

• Gay and trans-intended parents who want to genetically relate to their child
• Intended parents who have a health condition or genetic defect they don’t want to pass on their child
• Intended parents who aren’t able to carry a child
• Heterosexual coupleswho have struggled with infertility

Every surrogacy journey is distinct, and we’re proud to have helped grow so many wonderful families in the US.

What is the surrogacy process?

While understanding the meaning of surrogacy is relatively simple, understanding the process is a bit more complex. While the surrogacy process can be a bit intricate, working with an experienced agency like OC Women’s Surrogacy helps navigate the milestones and offers support when needed. Here’s a general overview of the surrogacy process:

• Apply as a parent or a surrogate
• Complete initial consultation (parents) and meet every requirement (surrogate)
• Parent and surrogate matching
• Screenings, medications, and embryo transfer
• Confirmation of pregnancy
• Pregnancy, building a link between surrogate and intended parents
• The delivery day and beyond

Since OC Women’s Surrogacy is a relationship-based agency, we encourage strong relationships between surrogates and intended parents.

What does surrogacy mean for surrogate mothers?

Becoming a surrogate is life-changing. Surrogates or surrogate mothers — often called gestational carriers or gestational surrogates — are willing to help others, passionate about family, and selfless and generous. Most surrogates develop life-long bonds with their intended parents and remain part of the lives of one another well after the child is born.

To be able to provide someone with the gift of parenthood is empowering. Women who apply to become surrogates are ready to be physically, mentally, and emotionally dedicated to their intended parents.

What does surrogacy mean for intended parents?

Becoming a parent through surrogacy is a rewarding and emotional path to parenthood. Intended parents put their trust in both their gestational carrier and surrogacy agency. While it can be a journey filled with ups and downs, the day your child is born is hard to describe. Intended parents can either work with an agency like OC Women’s Surrogacy or pursue independent surrogacy. However, working with an agency offers a level of expertise and partnership that parents wouldn’t have on their own. Having an agency manage the journey enables parents to focus on preparing for the arrival of their child.

What are some key factors for a successful surrogacy arrangement?

The following factors can contribute to a positive surrogacy arrangement:

• Agreement between parties on how the birth and pregnancy will be managed
• Being prepared for and aware of the financial costs involved
• Being realistic about the timeline (it can take about a year before an embryo transfer occurs)
• Every party has a good understanding of the medical processes involved
• Having realistic expectations about the probability of a successful outcome
• Clear boundaries and mutual understanding of the interactions and relationship between the surrogacy and her family, as well as the commissioning parents
• Open and clear communication between every party
• Every party being in good physical and mental health

How does a gestational carrier (surrogate woman) get pregnant?

A gestational carrier or surrogate gets pregnant when a doctor implants an embryo into her uterus. The gestational carrier has used medications to prepare herself for pregnancy. Although the process of embryo transfer is quick and painless, the doctor may ask the surrogate to rest and have limited activity a few days after the transfer.

Do I need to work with a surrogacy agency?

Surrogates and intended parents aren’t required to work with an agency for a surrogacy journey — this type of journey is commonly known as an ‘indy’ or independent journey. Understanding how intricate the surrogacy process can be, OC Women’s Surrogacy suggests working with a surrogate agency for both intended parents and surrogates to ensure they receive the support they want while allowing someone to administer the details and having the emotional support available during the entire journey.

Why should you consider surrogacy?

Thanks to their selflessness and sacrifice, surrogates are superheroes. However, like most superheroes, they’re just normal people stepping up for a greater cause. Every woman is unique: we have had surrogates that are 911 dispatchers, lawyers, teachers, stay-at-home mothers, and even students — they’re all united by their mutual desire to contribute to an experience greater than themselves.

Becoming a surrogate is a huge commitment. However, it’s also a great experience. Becoming a surrogate mother doesn’t change the lives of the intended parents but yours as well. When you finally decide to become a surrogate, you’re committing to being ‘all in’ to help someone accomplish their dreams of parenthood. Remember, it takes an extremely special woman to be a surrogate. Could that special woman be you?

Here’s why you should consider surrogacy:

You will have the help of a surrogacy professional

Whether you’re on your second or third surrogacy experience or a first-time surrogate, you never have to go through this process on your own. There are numerous reputable surrogacy agencies out there, like OC Women’s Surrogacy, who want to help you make the dream of your intended parents come true.

Your surrogacy agency will be able to:

• Help establish a communication arrangement
• Offer matching services
• Offer you guidance and counseling
• Connect you with legal professionals

OC Women’s Surrogacy will be there for you every step of the way to act as a mediator and a lifeline throughout your surrogacy process:

You form a close bond with the intended parents

Most surrogates choose surrogacy due to the bond they’ll form with the intended parents.

Surrogacy is an experience that will forever bond you with the intended parents. The relationship between the intended parents and a gestational carrier is an intimate one and is different from any other one. Most surrogates will tell you that during the matching process, you’ll feel it in your gut when you find the intended parents who are the right match for you.

Some surrogates don’t just have babies for somebody else. They gain a whole family through the entire process — it’s the most rewarding thing in the whole world, and most surrogates would love to do it all over again.

If you feel uncomfortable with the couple or person you’re carrying for, this can make for a tricky surrogate process. This is why feeling confident in the integrity of the relationship between you and the intended parents is vital. If matched correctly, this is a relationship that can last for decades.

You’ll be compensated

Well, compensation is arguably the biggest benefit you’ll enjoy as a surrogate. Although this shouldn’t be the only reason to become a surrogate, we understand how significant it is to feel valued for the incredible service you’re offering.

When some surrogates begin the process, they think that they could probably do it without compensation because they love it. However, compensation is extremely valuable. Actually, it’s the compensation that makes it feel like surrogates are valued in that sense.

How much compensation you’ll receive will depend on your own set of circumstances and the agency you work with. You can spend this money however you want.

You get to be pregnant

If you’re eligible to become a surrogate, you have already experienced pregnancy and have at least one child of your own. For most gestational carriers, the joy of being pregnant is one of the biggest reasons to become a surrogate.

Some women always have easy, good pregnancies. They enjoy being pregnant. So, when they have enough kids, the idea that they can’t be pregnant anymore can be pretty sad. So, they get into surrogacy.

You might miss the intimate feeling of growing new life in your body or that pregnancy ‘glow.’ If you know that your family is complete but miss being pregnant, there’s no better solution than surrogacy. You get to experience pregnancy again without the added responsibility of having another kid.

You help someone have a child of their own

The desire to help people is one of the main reasons why women choose surrogacy.

There are multiple reasons why intended parents may approach a surrogate to help them grow their family. They might be an LGBT couple who wants to have a kid that’s biologically theirs, a single person who doesn’t want to wait to have a child, or a couple who has been struggling with the pain of infertility. For people pursuing surrogacy, having a child of their own means the world to them.

By becoming a surrogate, you become the catalyst between them and their dream of having a family.

Once you put yourself on someone else’s shores, there’s no turning back. Once you see the pain and the struggle, you wish you could just help everybody. You may ask your husband, ‘What would you want if we couldn’t have children? What would you want somebody else to do for us?’

With surrogacy, you’re giving a couple or a person the ultimate gift of a child that they’ll be able to shower with love. Once you witness the look of pure joy on their faces when they see their newborn for the first time, you’ll know what it truly means to be a surrogate.

Looking to earn money through surrogacy? Turn to OC Women’s Surrogacy

Based in California, OC Women’s Surrogacy helps intended parents fulfill their dreams of starting a family through its surrogacy services. The company appreciates the commitment of surrogates to changing lives in the most beautiful ways. Therefore, to make this journey memorable and joyful for them, OC Women’s Surrogacy offers $50,000 in addition to exciting benefits.

OC Women’s Surrogacy continues to serve gestational carriers and families by offering a fulfilling experience through education, important relationships, and guidance on their journey. The company also offers a referral bonus of $1,000 through its surrogate referral program in California, helping individuals earn extra money for every potential surrogate referred.

We allow surrogates and intended parents to meet, bond, and discuss their requirements before making an agreement. Our surrogates go through a strict screening process to ensure they are in perfect health.

Give us a call now for more information on our egg donor and surrogacy program!