Do you have what it takes to be a surrogate? Carrying a baby for someone else is incredibly rewarding but also very intense. When you first imagine being a surrogate, it might sound easy. You spend ten months being pregnant, and you get paid. Great! But there’s a lot more to surrogacy than just being pregnant. You must be in the right mindset, have support, and be committed to handing all the responsibilities involved in being a surrogacy.

  • Surrogacy requires a lot of patience due to the long process.
  • Having a support system is essential.
  • Being flexible and committed to your schedule is a priority.
  • Surrogates must take medication and hormones.
  • You must be motivated to help others build their families.

Patience (and lots of it!)

The average pregnancy may take 40 weeks, but the actual surrogacy process is a lot longer – maybe around 18 months. It’s filled with many stops and starts, which many surrogates refer to as a “hurry up and wait” situation.

You’ll be waiting for an agency to accept you, waiting medical and psychological screening, waiting to be selected by your Intended Parents, waiting while you’re preparing for the embryo transfer, waiting for confirmation of your pregnancy, which may not happen the first time around.

There will be more tests and checks throughout the pregnancy, all of which will require time and patience. Surrogacy is not a process that anyone can speed up!

A Strong Support System

Your pregnancy will affect the lives of everyone around you. If you have a partner and/or children, they will not only have to be okay with your surrogacy but support you as well.

As a surrogate, you’ll be committing a huge amount of time and energy to your agency, your Intended Parents, your clinic, and your own health. There will be times when you have to put yourself ahead of others or shift your responsibilities. But if you have a strong support system, you’ll breeze through this.

Ability to Stick to a Schedule

Being flexible and committed is crucial for a surrogate. Remember, you’re on this journey with many other people. You’ll have lots of appointments to attend at your clinic as well as mandatory medical and psychological screenings and in-person or virtual meetings with your IPs, who will be eager to know how you’re progressing.

This schedule will have to take priority, and there may be times when you miss out on special events or other moments with your own family and friends. An open mind and a flexible schedule can make all the difference.

Lots of Medications That Need to Be Taken on Time

While a natural conception causes the body to produce the hormones required for pregnancy, an IVF conception will not. So, for a surrogate pregnancy to be successful, your uterus will have to be prepared with supplemental hormones and medication.

These medications will help control your menstrual cycle and get your uterus ready for the embryo transfer at exactly the right time. They are essential to ensure a healthy pregnancy, so you’ll have to be okay with taking whatever your fertility doctor has prescribed.

Empathy and Desire to Help Build a Family

Of course, there are many financial perks to being a surrogate. But money shouldn’t be your sole motivation.

The most important part of becoming a surrogate is your genuine compassion for others – especially Intended Parents.

Many Intended Parents have gone through a lot of sadness before choosing a surrogate. You may have seen family or friends experience a similar ordeal, which has motivated you to become a surrogate.

Surrogates are selfless and caring. Having a child for someone else isn’t easy: you’ll have to consider someone else’s needs first for a substantial amount of time.

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Staci Swiderski, CEO and owner of Family Source Consultants, has been a prominent leader in reproductive medicine for over two decades. Through her strategic vision and dedication, she has developed Family Source Consultants into a globally recognized agency specializing in comprehensive egg donation and gestational surrogacy services. Under Staci’s leadership, the agency has become a trusted partner for intended parents, surrogates, and egg donors worldwide, known for its rigorous standards, compassionate support, and commitment to excellence in third-party reproduction.

Her professional insight is uniquely informed by her own family-building experiences. As an intended parent, Staci welcomed her son via gestational surrogacy in 2005, and as a known egg donor, she assisted an infertile couple in expanding their family. These experiences lend a rare depth to her leadership and have fueled her ongoing dedication to ethical, empathetic, and professional support within the field of reproductive medicine.