If you’ve decided using a gestational surrogate is the right option for parenthood, your fertility treatment center can provide a list of surrogacy agencies to find the best person to carry your child. To ensure you enjoy a healthy relationship with the surrogate for the next nine months, review a few tips for making the search easier and less time-consuming. 

How to Select the Right Surrogate

1. Ask Whether She Has Been a Mother Before

Viable surrogates have experienced at least one pregnancy without serious complications that was carried to term. If the woman has had C-sections, ask how many. More than three cesareans are not ideal because scar tissue builds up around the pelvic area that can cause placental issues in the future.

2. Learn Her Health History & Lifestyle Habits

Your surrogate should be at a healthy weight with a body mass index of 32 or lower. She should enjoy an active, health-conscious lifestyle that includes eating a balanced diet of mainly whole foods, drinking plenty of water, getting enough exercise and sleep, and abstaining from harmful habits, such as smoking cigarettes and ingesting high amounts of alcohol regularly.

Her mental and emotional health should also be a concern, as she shouldn’t have any issues that required medication within the last six months. Certain medications can cause side effects that create further mental health issues or physical problems. 

3. Inquire About Her Home Life & Support System

It helps when the woman carrying your child has a healthy home life and numerous family members to support her during pregnancy. While you and your partner, if applicable, will be there to provide assistance, a solid home base avoids everything falling on you as you prepare the nursery and make other arrangements for the baby’s arrival.

4. Find Out What She Is Willing to Do

Injecting multiple embryos increases the chances of success, though it may result in more than one baby. Learn the maximum number of fetuses the woman does not mind carrying.

Also, ask if she will allow you in the room during the birth and whether she will express her breast milk to feed your child. Breast milk contributes to healthy infant development by reducing the risk of asthma, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), obesity, and Type 1 diabetes. 

Discuss surrogate possibilities with the infertility specialists at Pacific In Vitro Fertilization in Honolulu, HI. The fertility treatment center has served Oahu residents since 1985, offering a variety of services and helping patients through every phase of their respective journeys. Call the fertility treatment center today at (808) 946-2226 to make an appointment, or review their services online.