Spelade
-
The steps in the surrogacy process. The first thing that crossed my mind when starting out was where can I do everything in one place? That way I could have a single point of contact and delegate all of the logistics to them. In fact, this does not exist and after extensive research I realised why. Due to conflicts of interest within the process, You must have independent people working for you in their specific areas of expertise.
For example, if a clinic is finding you a surrogate and then also medically approving her, how do you know whether she is the best candidate for you? With this independence between the people, they are working in your best interest. The three stakeholders in the process are Number one, the IVF clinic Number two, the surrogacy agency Number three, the reproductive attorney The IVF clinic looks after the three parts that make a baby Sperm, egg, and uterus And all of the medical aspects around these three things Your surrogacy agency will do all of the non medical work around the surrogate Your reproductive attorney will ensure that everyone in the process is protected legally.
These three stakeholders become the team around you. They work together as your eyes and ears to ensure that your goal of having a baby is done effectively and efficiently.
Choosing your IVF clinic. 12 years ago, I felt lost. I knew one couple with a family through surrogacy and compared with today, there was very little access to information online about how to work with an IVF clinic. The one thing I had seen that resonated with me was a CNN documentary about two men who had a surrogate baby.
Knowing what I know today, I would have done more due diligence. as using only two sources of information and going with the first thing that crossed my path is something that I would not recommend. The aim of today's episode is to simplify for you how I would choose my IVF clinic by highlighting my top five selection criteria which are doctor, success rates, experience, costs, and donors.
Number one, the doctor. Do you like the doctor on a personal level? Did they give you the confidence in their ability and their knowledge around surrogacy? When you speak to the doctor, you should get a feel for who they are and how their clinic is run. If they inspire you, then that is always a great starting point.
Number two, success rates. These are key to understanding how good a clinic is and there are two numbers on which to focus. Successful transfer rate. And live birth rate. As this is such an important topic, I have made a whole episode deep diving into it. Number three, experience. How many surrogacy cycles does the clinic do every year?
Have you heard about the clinic whilst you've been doing your due diligence? What is their online reputation? IVF involves a lot of teamwork. And although the doctor is key, the rest of the team also helps to make for a successful outcome. Number four, costs. Talk to the finance team and get the full picture on all of the costs involved.
What are the payment options? Are you able to access any fertility benefits? As cost is one of the most important and complex topics, I have a dedicated episode on this. Number five, donors. Does the clinic have an in house egg donor database with donors that you like? If these egg donors are pre screened, then you know they are viable candidates for an egg donation and therefore you can move forward quickly with them.
Those are my top five picks of things for you to focus on, but please do not use this episode as your only frame of reference. I would suggest that you get opinions from professionals too. If you would like to know more about anything in this episode, then please ask in the questions section.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ivfdaddies/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ivfdaddies/support
