# Looking for advice on what to expect as a surrogate?



## whitecasts (Feb 28, 2011)

Hi all,

I've just joined this group as I'm very seriously considering becoming a surrogate for my brother and his wife. They need to use donor eggs and my brother's sperm and are in the process of getting an egg donor from the Ukraine.

I have three of my own children which were all conceived naturally so am really unaware of how or what drugs are used to improve your chances of conceiving / regulating your cycle and what effect these can have on your body. Any advice on this will help! e.g how long do you take the drugs for? How do you take them? How do you make sure you're at the right point in your cycle to receive the embryo?

I'm sure 101 questions will come up as time goes on but just wanted to get the first one out there!

Thanks
Kathy


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## nostalgicsam (Jul 1, 2005)

Hi Kathy,
welcome and what a wonderful thing to consider doing   

with host surrogacy (using embies at a clinic) the clinic will put you on a drug protocol according to your cycle, they will calculate what drugs you take and when, they will down regulate you (this is injections usually) this is to prevent you from producing eggs yourself, they will then give you progesterone which can be pessaries or injections and this will build your womb lining up ready for the transfer of the embryo into your womb, you will continue to take progesterone upto about 12 weeks of pregnancy (if the transfer is sucessful) this 'helps' keep the womb lining for embryo implantation and growth.

This is a very basic description but please feel free to ask more, it really is exactly what any woman who is havign ivf goes through except the embryo will be transfered into yourself.

Down regulating can induce mood swings and hot flushes like the menopause and the progesterone can make you have symptoms similar to pregnancy (even if sadly you aren't) as it's the hormone that all women get a surge of in pregnancy, the injections are really ok once you get over the shock of the first one   

Only a few infertility clinics are liscensed to carry out surrogacy treatments, so I'd advidse you check on the hfea website to find a cinic near you, unless youa re planning to have the treatment abroad, in the UK you will also have to be approved by an ethics committee and you will all need to undergo a counselling session at the clinic.

It is also a requirement here in the UK that sperm or embryos are frozen for 6 months b4 treatment, so it's best to get this done soon as possible, you will all need blood tests too for HIV etc etc etc

This is a really basic description, but do feel free to ask anything more   
Sam


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