General Fertility Information about Surrogate Pregnancy

For those couples that are having difficulty conceiving a child, surrogate pregnancy is becoming a much more popular choice for defeating their infertility. Surrogate pregnancy is an excellent option for those women who would not be able to carry a child, even if other infertility treatments would be successful.

In a surrogate pregnancy, another woman carries to fetus to term for delivery. There are two types of surrogate pregnancy; traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. In a traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother provides the egg for the embryo, and the male of the infertile couple provides the sperm. The sperm will then be placed into the surrogate's body by means of intrauterine insemination, where the sperm can fertilize the egg. In some cases, the egg may be fertilized by in vitro fertilization (IVF) as well. Traditional surrogacy is an excellent option for those couples where the woman is unable to produce eggs, or has poor quality eggs.

In a gestational surrogacy, both the egg and the sperm come from the infertile couple. The egg is fertilized by in vitro fertilization, and then implanted into the surrogate mother, where the fetus gestates to delivery. Gestational surrogacy is a good choice for those couples who are both fertile, but the woman is unable to carry the pregnancy to term without complications.

Surrogate pregnancy is a rather expensive infertility treatment. In many cases, the couple receiving the infertility treatments will not only have to cover the cost of the medical procedures, but will also have to provide for various expenses that the surrogate incurs as well, such as health insurance, any lost wages from loss of work due to the pregnancy, transportation fees and sometimes even living expenses. Total fees for a surrogate pregnancy can run from $30,000-$50,000 or more.