Prenatal care and surrogate mothers

Surrogacy is always a complicated process, as well as usually a beautiful one. There are, after all, more parties involved in a surrogate pregnancy than there are in a conventional gestation where the baby's mother carries. The key to a successful surrogacy for both surrogate mothers and intended parents is a good match, and pre-made agreements that are best when they are written down. Prenatal care is certainly a very important aspect of that.

Both women who would like to become surrogate mothers and people who are hoping to have a baby with the help of surrogacy should think about what prenatal care they are comfortable with in advance, and discuss this well before a pregnancy occurs. What are some of the specifics that those who want to go on a "surrogacy journey" should talk about?

Do you want to use a doctor or a midwife for prenatal care? Do you intend to have prenatal testing? Remember that some prenatal tests, like an amniocentesis, carry risks for pregnant women. Surrogates may not be comfortable with this. What kind of eating and health habits does the surrogate mother have? Is there anything you would not be comfortable with? And for surrogate mothers, would you accept specific requests regarding eating and exercise? Remember that decisions regarding abortion are exclusively made by the surrogate mother. This is important to take into account because of various potential situations. Surrogate mothers may choose to undergo an abortion for health reasons, for instance, or a surrogate mother may refuse to have an abortion if your baby has a birth defect. This should be discussed in advance. If the baby has birth defects due to some action of the surrogate while pregnant, the surrogate will not carry any responsibility for this. Will intended parents be present for prenatal appointments? This depends on preferences, as well as factors like geographical location. It should certainly be on the list of things to talk about.