Surrogacy options suck for gay couples. There are only 2 or 3 destinations where surrogacy is explicitly supported for gay couples, which often leads couples to shady programs in developing countries like Kenya, or pretending to be straight to arrange a legally murky journey in Ukraine or Cyprus.

There are excellent IVF clinics in many countries overseas – and many are much more affordable than a typical US clinic. So it’s tempting to perform your IVF overseas and then bring your embryos to the US for the surrogacy part of the journey. But wait! It’s not that easy.

I have a clinic India that still likes to freeze embryos at Day 3. The rationale is that the embryos will develop better in their natural ‘in utero’ environment. I prefer Day 5 embryos, but I defer to the doctors on these types of issues– but there are exceptions, and PGS/PGD analysis is one of those exceptions.

Some states are friendlier to surrogacy than others. Some fully support your parental rights, while others may prosecute you. The most critical requirement is that the baby is born in a state that recognizes the Surrogacy Contract, because that will determine if you are the legal parents on the birth certificate are not.

The trend of surrogacy in the US is currently booming. More and more couples (both heterosexual and same sex) as well as those happy to be single parents are looking to surrogacy to start their families. The Bulletin has reported on a concrete State that has apparently become a “surrogacy hub”. In Oregon there are…
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Single women struggling with infertility don’t get many options. Having a baby abroad with both an egg and sperm donor isn’t possible because the baby doesn’t qualify for citizenship. But if the Intended Mother is a U.S. citizen residing in the U.S. then Embryo Adoption can save a lot of time and money.

I totally understand the struggle to afford a family. Ever since my children were born in India, I have been wracking my brain looking for affordable alternatives to $150K programs in the United States. There is some good news and bad news on that front.

“Collapsed Embryos” is certainly an unfortunate term that can drive fear into Parents, but it’s really not as terrible as it sounds. Blastocysts in-vitro typically undergo repeated collapse and expansion before they arrive at the point where they are ready to “attach” and latch onto the uterus wall. This is a normal part of the embryo’s growth cycle.

Good news. Many women continue ovulating after having their uterus removed — so it’s often be possible for a woman to donate eggs for an IVF and surrogacy program even after a full or partial hysterectomy. The first step will be a complete ovarian ultrasound scan to judge the condition of the ovaries as well as the ovarian volume.

When we flew back to the US with our newborns, it was the easiest flight of my life. Even at 3 weeks, newborns do really well on airplanes — the droning background noise makes them sleep even more than usual. The cabin crew also loved the babies and were happy to go above and beyond to get us anything we needed. But we did make some critical preliminary preparations…