Not being able to have children of your own can make life very difficult and depressing if you want to have children. Surrogacy is always a great option to consider. There are many very healthy women who are more than willing to be a surrogate for someone who cannot have children on their own.
If you have found a woman who is willing to be your surrogate, you need to create a legally binding contract regarding the surrogacy. You can hire a lawyer to create the contract for you to make sure that it is completely legal and nothing is forgotten. There are a few things that should be included in the agreement.
Ensure the Surrogate is in Good Health
Before you even start the process of surrogacy, you need to be sure that she is in good physical health to ensure that she will be able to carry a baby safely. Have her go to a doctor for a full physical checkup and have STD tests run to ensure that she doesn’t have any diseases that could be transmitted to the baby when she gives birth.
It can take a few weeks to get the results back from a health screening, so you want to be sure to do it as soon as you can. Be sure to be present when she gets the results from her doctor so that you can be sure that they haven’t been forged when you receive the news.
Have Her See a Psychiatrist
Before a woman agrees to be a surrogate, it’s a good idea to make sure that she’s in the mental state to be able to handle the stress and emotion that comes with carrying a baby and then handing him or her away to someone else to raise.
Many women do feel a close attachment to the child because they carried them in their body for so long. A psychiatrist can determine if the person is at a place in their life where they can handle everything that comes along with being a surrogate in a healthy way.
Run a Criminal History Check
Even if you hang out with someone and think that you know them well, there is a possibility that they do things on the side that you know nothing about. Running a criminal history check on her allows you to learn if she has been arrested for anything in the past that is questionable or if there are any outstanding criminal situations that they may be facing. The last thing you want is for the person carrying your child to have to spend any time in jail during the pregnancy.
Payment
When you hire someone to be your surrogate, you need to pay them for their part in the birth of your child. You need to reach an agreed-upon price and how the payments will be made.
You don’t want to give the person a lump sum of money at once in case something goes wrong. Most people arrange for an upfront payment to be made and then payments made at each trimester with a final payment made around the time of birth.
Tobacco, Alcohol, or Drug Use by or Around the Surrogate
You need to make specific stipulations regarding tobacco and drug use, as well as alcohol consumption during the pregnancy. You want to be sure that your baby can grow to be as healthy as possible and the surrogate should agree to take random drug tests to ensure that she isn’t doing anything that could harm the baby during the pregnancy.
Within the paperwork, there should be a stipulation that the surrogate “will go to a clinic that offers methadone near me if I test positive for drug use.” This ensures that the surrogate will have to get help for a drug addiction right away if she fails a drug test. The sooner that a pregnant woman stops using drugs while pregnant the better. Drugs can cause birth defects, premature deliveries, and even death.
Make Regular Doctor Visits Mandatory
You need to specify that regular visits to the doctor to monitor the health of the baby and the surrogate. You want to be sure that the baby is growing properly and that the surrogate is taking care of herself at the same time.
Stipulate that you will pay for the visits if the surrogate doesn’t have insurance. You want to be sure that your baby gets the proper care regardless of the surrogates financial situation.
You also need to specify if you’re able to be in the doctor visits with the surrogate or not. If you want to be present in the room, you need to talk to the surrogate about it ahead of time to make sure that she feels comfortable with the situation. It can be a very intimate time and having others in the room could be uncomfortable for her.
Once you’ve had a lawyer create the contract with you, you need to have your future surrogate go with you to his or her office to have everything fully explained. You want to be sure that you both understand what the stipulations are so that you can both feel comfortable agreeing to them.
Once the document is signed, you are both legally bound to it and must keep up with the specifications listed in it. Be readily available for your surrogate at all times as carrying a baby can be overwhelming and scary but carrying someone else’s baby can be even more intense.
