Gestational Surrogacy
Using IVF and Having a Surrogate Mother Carry the Child for You

Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, Gurnee & Crystal Lake, Illinois

Page author Richard Sherbahn MD

What is surrogacy?

• Surrogacy involves using one woman's uterus to implant and carry the embryo and deliver the baby for another person or couple.
• It is most often done utilizing IVF - in vitro fertilization, but is sometimes done with intrauterine insemination.
• The woman that carries the pregnancy is called the surrogate, "surrogate mother" or "gestational carrier".

Who should be treated with gestational surrogacy?

• It is usually done for a woman who has had her uterus removed but still has ovaries.
• She can provide the egg to make a baby, but has no womb to carry it.
• Using her eggs and in vitro fertilization technology, IVF, she can utilize a surrogate mother to carry the pregnancy (her own genetic child).
• A surrogate is also sometimes used for cases where a young woman has a medical condition that could result in serious health risks to the mother or the baby.
• It is also done sometimes in couples with recurrent IVF implantation failure.
  • However, success is much more likely using IVF with donor eggs and the infertile woman's uterus compared to using the infertile woman's eggs and a surrogate.
  • Egg quality problems are common, but uterine problems are far less common.

How is gestational surrogacy performed?

1. An appropriate surrogate is chosen and thoroughly screened for infectious diseases.
2. Consents are signed by all parties. This is an important step in surrogacy cases. All potential issues need to be carefully clarified, put in writing and signed.
3. The patient is stimulated for IVF with medications to develop multiple eggs.
4. The surrogate is placed on medications that suppress her own menstrual cycle and stimulate development of a receptive uterine lining.
5. When the patient's follicles are mature, an egg retrieval procedure is performed to remove eggs from her ovaries.
6. The eggs are fertilized in the laboratory with her partner's sperm.
7. The embryos develop in the laboratory for 3-5 days.
8. Then, an embryo transfer procedure is done which places the embryos in the surrogate mother's uterus where they will hopefully implant.
9. The surrogate delivers the baby.
10. The baby goes home from the hospital with the "genetic parents".

Pregnancy rates:

• Success rates for surrogacy IVF procedures vary considerably.
• The age of the woman providing the eggs is one critical factor.
• In general, pregnancy rates are higher than with eggs from infertile women.
• Some programs are reporting delivery rates of over 50% per transfer for gestational surrogacy cases (using eggs from women under about age 37).
  

Our IVF pregnancy success rates

Cost for a surrogate IVF cycle

• Our cost for surrogacy (with own eggs) is $4000 more than our price for IVF
  • Our costs for IVF
• There are other costs involved with surrogacy including:
  • Legal fees
  • Costs for psychological counseling
  • The cost of the surrogate mother
• We do not have surrogates - you must find your own
• There are agencies and organizations that can help you get a surrogate carrier

Please note: Our clinic does not do surrogacy cases in which the surrogate is both an egg donor and a surrogate carrier for the infertile couple.

Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago | Gurnee, IL (847) 662-1818

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