In a maternity hospital, somewhere in the United States, four adults anxiously await the birth of their new baby. Only two of those adults are biologically related to the unborn child. The baby’s mother and father are sharing the moment of birth with their surrogate and her husband, who is also her birthing coach. The baby is born and the first one to hold her is her biological mother Patricia, who passes the baby to her birth mother, *Anna and then to both the biological and surrogate father.
The surrogate, *Ann, and her husband *Jordan, have six children of their own. So why would they agree to carrying another couple’s baby? And how do you even get someone to agree to surrogacy? Welcome to the 21st century baby for couples who need help conceiving.
Modern Family Surrogacy Center describes the practice:
Surrogacy involves using one woman’s uterus for the purpose of implanting and carrying an embryo, in order to deliver a baby for another person or couple. The woman who will carry the embryo is known as the surrogate.
(http://www.modernfamilysurrogacy.com/page/different_types_of_surrogacy)
To understand the process better, I spoke with Patricia, a Psychologist and the biological mother of the baby that Anna and Jordan carried and delivered. Pat and her husband got pregnant using their own sperm and egg and through the modern technology of in vitro fertilisation (IVF), had the fertilised egg transplanted into Anna’s womb. Pat had exhausted the possibilities of carrying a child to full term herself. When I asked her why surrogacy, she responded, “It was available as a biological option, because I knew I could have a biological child”.
It took just over a year before they could find the right persons who would act as their surrogate family.
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