FAQ

Surrogacy Adminitrative Part

How are the Surrogate Mothers assigned to the programs?

When the Intended Parents are selecting the surrogate mothers, they pay more attention to their physical appearance. Therefore from practice it shows that the IVF doctor should select and assign the surrogate mother to the program after doing the careful examination of her health. Surrogate assignment to the program takes place two weeks before the preparation starts. The case coordinator sends the parents detailed profile and pictures of the surrogate mother along with the screening sheet and parents make their final decision about the candidate.

It is worthwhile to mention that during the preparation of the surrogate mother, there always is a slight possibility the surrogate mother to get changed. There are various reasons for that and the replacement of the surrogates happen to maximize the chanced of success. The replacement with back up surrogate mother can happen because of endomtrium thickness, sudden bleeding during the preparation, not being synchronized with the egg donor or the Intended Mother, or some other medical reasons. Parents are always aware when the change happens and they are straight away updated about the replacement candidate details.

What happens after the first cycle fails?

In case the first cycle fails the parents are facing two scenarios. They may have frozen embryos left from their previous fresh cycle and they transfer frozen embryos to the surrogate mother, or they do not have any frozen embryos left and they need to go for fresh egg donor cycle again, or the intended parents needs to be prepared. In one agency payment for surrogacy program, parents have three trials, which means that for second and third trials parents are not paying the agency fee for surrogacy service, but only cover the actual expenses for surrogate mothers preparation.

If parents transfer frozen embryos for second / Third trial there is certain cost that should be discussed with the follow up manager. If they need to go for fresh cycle it depends on number of surrogates they use and payment depends on the package they have. Parents should note that the agency payment will be omitted and they will cover surrogate mothers preparation and fresh IVF expenses as well.

What does having two surrogate mothers mean?

Having two surrogate mothers is very much advisable for the parents as it significantly maximize the chances of success. However the parents need to take into account that while having two surrogate mothers they are having slight ( less than 5 percent ) possibility that they may end up with having 4 children if both of the surrogate mothers are pregnant on twins. For some parents any number above zero is appreciated and they are willing to use this program.

The parents should not confuse two surrogate mothers program with guaranteed package. Having two surrogate mothers only mean maximizing the chances of success. The payment package also depends on the number of pregnancy we receive. When the embryo transfer is performed we wait for the pregnancy confirmation and inform the parents about the number of pregnancy. If only one surrogate mother is pregnant Two surrogate mothers with one confirmed pregnancy applies to you. If we confirm that both of the surrogate mothers are pregnant Two surrogate mothers with two confirmed pregnancies applies to you.

How does the procedure work for Surrogacy with egg donation program?

Parents send the enquiry to the main contact person that appears on the website and inform about the requirements they have and mention the dates they are willing to participate into the program. Once the dates are negotiated parents do the donor selection. In order to select a suitable egg donor, parents need to visit our website at: https://www.surrogacyasia.com. Case coordinator will give the access to the database by giving the login details. After that, by clicking on the database parents see all available egg donors. You can see donor pictures and personal profiles attached to each of them, where parents can review their medical history, previous donation history, current occupation, education. Questionnaires are very informative however we always welcome the parents to ask us if there is any additional information they may need about the donor that helps them to make the final decision.

After selecting the egg donor parents send the passport copies and we sing the donation and surrogacy contracts. The contracts can be exchanged electronically and there is no need to send the hard original copies to us. Parents make a first payment according to the invoices we send. After receiving the payment we do the full screening of the egg donor and make sure we are ready to start the preparation. The IVF procedure takes place on the assigned dates and parents need to be present for around 5 days as it is hard to say in advance the exact dates of egg retrieval.

After the egg retrieval fertilization takes place and the embryos are transferred to the surrogate mother. In practice we transfer day 5 Blastocyst embryos. The number of the embryos transferred per trial is maximum two (2).

First pregnancy, HCG tests is done 14-16 days after the embryo transfer. Parents receive the official results on a same day or early next morning. If the first test shows the relevant level of HCG we do the repeated test two days after and that is how we finally confirm the pregnancy. One month after the embryos transfer first ultrasound scan is done.

How does surrogacy with Traveling Egg Donor Work?

In case the parents are not willing to have local Asian egg donor, New Life offers them unique opportunity to use Egg Donor Travel from different countries, such as: Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, South Africa, Thailand, India. The database can be accessed through the following website: www.newlifeeggdonors.com. Access permit to the database will be given by the program coordinator.

How does the procedure work for Surrogacy program?

Parents send the enquiry to the main contact person that appears on the website and inform about the requirements they have and mention the dates they are willing to participate into the program.

While having surrogacy program with us parents have two options. The intended mother can either get stimulated in local IVF clinic and come to Asia on day 8-9 of stimulation and have the egg retrieval done in our clinic or alternatively they can be completely stimulated in Asia. In first scenario parents need to calculate their staying in Asia for around 6 days, while if they are stimulated in Asia, they should calculate around 17 days to have the full procedure done with us. In both of the cases our IVF doctor need to have the complete screening of the parents and approve them for participation in the program.

After sending us the full screening parents send the passport copies and we sign the surrogacy contract. The contract can be exchanged electronically and there is no need to send the hard original copies to us. Parents make a first payment according to the invoices we send. After receiving the payment we make sure we are ready to start the preparation.

Intended Mother’s preparation will be synchronized to the surrogate mothers preparation. When the Intended Mother is prepared with local IVF doctor, during the preparation we need to have the stimulation updates of day 5 and day 8 with full report of how many follicles are in each ovary and what are the sizes of the follicles. On day 9 we need them to be present in our IVF clinic and the IVF doctor will decide the final trigger injection timing and the will set the egg retrieval date and timing.

How does the procedure work for IVF with Egg Donation program?

Parents send the enquiry to the main contact person that appears on the website and inform about the requirements they have and mention the dates they are willing to participate into the program.

Once the dates are negotiated parents do the donor selection. In order to select a suitable egg donor, parents need to visit our website at: https://www.surrogacyasia.com. Case coordinator will give the access to the database by giving the login details. After that, by clicking on the database parents see all available egg donors. You can see donor pictures and personal profiles attached to each of them, where parents can review their medical history, previous donation history, current occupation, education. Questionnaires are very informative however we always welcome the parents to ask us if there is any additional information they may need about the donor that helps them to make the final decision.
Intended mother needs to send the complete screening of hers. Our IVF doctor needs to review and approve that the patient satisfies the requirements and is fully fit to carry the baby.

After that parents send us the copies of their passports and we sign the contract. The contract can be exchanged electronically and there is no need to send the hard original copies to us. Parents make a first payment according to the invoices we send. After receiving the payment we do the full screening of the egg donor and make sure we are ready to start the preparation.

The carrier mother and the egg donor will start the stimulation simultaneously. Intended mother can start the preparation in their local IVF clinics and come for the egg retrieval and have the embryos transferred, or alternatively full preparation as a baby carrier can take place in Asia.

How does the procedure work for Surrogacy with Frozen embryos program?

Parents send the enquiry to the main contact person that appears on the website and inform about the requirements they have and mention the dates they are willing to participate into the program.

Parents need to arrange the embryo shipping to our laboratory. The clinic they have the frozen embryos kept need to prepare the report. In the report we need to have the information about the number of embryos that are frozen, in how many straws they are frozen, what is the grading of the embryo, number of days they were frozen and what media was used freezing the embryos. On top of this information we will need the infectious diseases: B Hepatitis, C Hepatitis, HIV and syphilis results of both of the parents.

After the embryos are safely delivered to our laboratory parents need to send the passport copies to us and we will prepare the contracts. Parents should make a payment and we will start the surrogate mothers preparation. The embryos will be thawed and transferred to the surrogate mother. The number of embryos that need to be transferred will be negotiated with the parents in advance.

Which shipping company we can suggest to the parents?

It has been over a year now that Kynisi shipping company delivers the frozen specimen to our laboratory without any complication. The website of the shipping company is http://www.kynisi.com.
We have a very good experience with IVF Couriers. http://www.ivfcouriers.com/

Please note that this is only a suggestion and New Life does not take any responsibility in negotiation between you and the company nor takes the responsibility for any risk of delivering damaged frozen material. This will be pure parents’ decision.

What happens after pregnancy confirmation?

After we have the HCG test done that confirms the pregnancy case will be passed to the pregnancy care coordinator. She will be sending the gradual updates about the pregnancy progress and will send the ultrasound reports to the surrogate mother. Parents are more than welcome to share any questions or concerns they may have. Parents can come to Asia to see their pregnant surrogate mother any time during the pregnancy and we will help them to communicate with each other.

What happens if the miscarriage of the surrogate mother happens?

Pregnancy is finally confirmed when the heartbeat of the baby is heard. If HCG report shows the pregnancy and first ultrasound confirms the existence of the pregnancy, but it fails to have a heartbeat this is not considered as a miscarriage and parents will do the next trial without paying the agency payment (if this is not the third trial included in one agency payment).

In case the heartbeat is heard and pregnancy is considered safe and then fetus stops developing, this is considered as a miscarriage and the parents need to start the new program with full payment. The payment payable to surrogate mother at certain stage of the pregnancy is discussed in the contracts.

Number of eggs expected from the egg donor?

Lot of parents are asking about having the guaranteed number of eggs, which unfortunately is not possible and we are not able to have number of eggs predicted until the actual egg retrieval takes place.

Before involving the egg donor into the program, we offer the parents that we do the Antral Follicle Counting of the egg donor in both of the ovaries and this will give us rough estimate number of egg we should expect. However this is not still a guarantee that same number of eggs will be received as may not all the follicles respond to the stimulation in a same way.

What happens to spare embryos?

As mentioned above, in our clinic we transfer maximum three embryos to the surrogate mother. All the rest of embryos are frozen and kept in the lab until further use. Sometimes the parents get confused that we receive for example 8 embryos, transfer three embryos to the surrogate mother and we only have three embryos frozen. They have doubts what happened to rest two embryos. It means that those two embryos did not have enough quality to get frozen. There is no point to freeze the embryos which potentially will not be survive after thawing and parents should not have fake expectations of having the frozen embryos.

What should parents know about the contracts?

The contracts we sign with the parents are uploaded on the website and parents can download and review them. The contracts (depending on the program they use) parents need to sign is egg donation, surrogacy and IVF contract and also the financial agreement which is the annex of the contract. If the parents have any doubts that the contracts on the website are not up to date, they can always ask the case coordinator to send the newest versions of the contracts.

Having the contracts very carefully structured and registered in the relevant authorities I am afraid we are not able to make any changes in the contracts. Parents can be assured that any corresponding emails between New Life and them can be used if they are concerned they were provided with false or inaccurate information.

When we send the contracts each page is signed and stamped by authorized person. We send the electronic versions to the parents and both of them sign each page of the contract and send scanned PDF version back to us. There is no need to pet the original hard copies to us.

Contract between the Intended Parents and the surrogate mother

Contract between the Intended Parents and the surrogate mother is one of the important issues that need very careful attention. We are having all the contracts ready and when parents are present for IVF dates they will sign the contract with their surrogate mother.

How to get the information about the costs?

You should contact the coordinator and all the detailed breakdown about required program will be provided.

How many times would we have to visit Asia through the procedure?

You need to visit Asia twice. Once to deposit the sperm (and or/ egg retrieval) and second to take baby home. If the parents are not meeting the timeline given by the clinic we welcome the parents to come to clinic at their desired date and leave the frozen sperm in the clinic , which will be used for fertilization for the IVF program.

Surrogacy Medical Part

What are the test results the egg donor / Intended mother / surrogate mother undergo?

  • CBC/hb- Complete blood count / Hemoglobin;
  • Blood group and Rhesus – In case blood emergency transfusion is required;
  • HIV – Human immunodeficiency virus
  • HbsAg – Hepatitis B
  • VDRL ( RPR ) – Syphillis;
  • HCV – Hepatitis C;
  • FSH (CD2-4) Follicle Stimulating Hormone – tests for ovarian reserve ( must be measured on day 2-4 of menses);
  • LH (CD2-4) – Luteinizing Hormone ( Must be measured on day 2-4 of menses );
  • AMH – Anti Mullerian Hormone – gives an estimate of the remaining egg supply;
  • TSH/T3/T4 – Thyroid stimulating hormone/thyroid function test;
  • Prolactin – Measures the level of hormone prolactin produced by the pituitary gland (blood test done within three hours of waking). High levels can indicate infertility;
  • Pelvic ultrasound for Antral Follicle Count (day 2-5 of menses );
  • Vaginal swab tests for Chlamydia to rule out any infection that may flare up during or after retrieval;
  • Insulin;
  • Blood Tests on Chlamydia;
  • Herpes Virus;
  • Cytomegalovirus

What tests are required from the genetic father?

  • HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus
  • STD HbsAg – Hepatitis B
  • VDRL ( RPR ) – Syphilis;
  • HCV – Hepatitis –C;
  • Semen analysis and culture done within 3 months before the program takes place.

What is our success rate?

In general, the success rate is high, 60 percent when we carry out egg donation with surrogacy program. We have many successful parents that have succeeded at the very first attempt but some individual factors usually effect. We always inform all of our intended parents beforehand that they should be prepared emotionally and financially for 3 fresh IVF attempts.

What tests are done during the pregnancy and how Surrogate mothers are monitored during the pregnancy?

First trimester:

  1. Once BHCG report is positive, pregnancy confirmed, your surrogate by that time is 4 weeks pregnant…
  2. In second stage ,after confirming the positive result the Early Pregnancy scan is scheduled which is done after 15 days of BHCG report, to determine number of gestational sacs (single, twin or more) with a good cardiac activity.
  3. At 8 weeks follow up scan done.
  4. The 12th week scan is due to determine the normal formation of fetus for any congenital abnormalities & for nuchal translucency.

2nd Trimester:

  1. Your surrogate is ready to go for obstetrician checkups, along with routine blood test done during pregnancy.
  2. As the pregnancy advances at 16 weeks, your surrogate is ready for a triple marker test which explain for spina bifida, downsyndrome & neural tube defects, in addition to this your surrogate weight , BP & diet measurements will be taken care by the nutritionist in the obstetrician chamber.
  3. As the pregnancy advances towards the the 20 weeks, your baby is approximately, weight is 300gms & 25cm in length & all the organs are well formed.
  4. Your surrogate is now ready for the Level-2 scan at this stage. We do a 3d scan at this stage which tells us all about the parameters of the baby in detail.
  5. If Required a routine scan at 24 week will be done, according to the growth parameters.

3rd Trimester:

  1. Your baby is app 1000 gms & length is 35cm.
  2. Weekly checkups are done by the obstrician till the delivery happens.
  3. During this period the surrogate is tested routinely for the blood & urine. Her blood pressure & weight measurement are under monitoring
  4. If required at 34-36 weeks again a routine detail colour Doppler scan is done, if everything is okay, then the proposed delivery schedule is finalized by the obstrician.
  5. At 37-40 weeks , we are ready to get the special gift from the surrogate for you & make sure that you are there to receive your bundle of joy…

Supplement given to surrogate during pregnancy:

  1. Iron Supplement
    Orofer – XT
    Composition:-
    Each film coated tablet contains:
    Ferrous Ascorbate
    Equivalent to elemental Iron 100 mg
    Folic Acid IP 1.1 mg
    Excipients q.s.
    Appropriate overages of Vitamin added
  2. Arachitol -O
    Calcium citrate Malate equivalent to elemental Calcium 250 mg
    Vitamin D3 IP 400 iu
    Excipients q.s
    Appropriate overages of vitamin adde
  3. Mamaprotinex :-
    Iron, Vitamins A, C, B2, B12, folic acid, copper, zinc, magnesium which are significant for blood cell formation and help prevent anaemia.
    Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, D & C which are important for skeletal development of the foetus & to maintain mother’s bone health
  4. Lycored :-
    Each softgel contains approximately
    Lycopene ( as Natural Lyc-O- Mato) 2000 mcg
    Zinc ( as Sulphate monohydrate) 7.50 mg
    Selenium (as Monohydrated Dioxide) 35 mcg

Please, do not hesitate to contact us for more information and details. We strive to provide the best possible service for you!

Guaranteed Baby Program

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