Your surrogacy journey might indeed be a bit of a journey! Some surrogates find themselves very close to the fertility clinic their intended parents have frozen embryos at, while most surrogate moms will have to travel at least a little for the surrogacy process.
Before you’re even matched, your intended parent(s) will have had their embryos created in their chosen fertility clinic. That could be anywhere in theory, but we work with many fertility clinics in Southern California, so there’s a good chance that is where you’ll be for your clinic appointments!
For all surrogates, you can expect a minimum of a medical screening and an embryo transfer at your clinic. For locals, you may have your monitoring appointments at your fertility clinic as well but for those who don’t live close, this is what you can expect your journey to look like.
You will begin with your medical screening. We will try to make your appointment a turn-around trip, with you arriving the morning of your medical screening appointment and departing home after your appointment. This isn’t always possible if your appointment is very early, in which case, we’d have you fly in the evening before, and we’d put you in a hotel. After a great night’s rest, your case manager will pick you up and accompany you to your appointment. After your appointment, if time allows, we will try to allow time enough to treat you to a nice meal before you head home. It’s not always possible but we really enjoy getting to know you in person whenever we can!
Once you’re home from your medical screening, we will await the results, which can take up to several weeks. Following medical clearance, we will enter the legal phase and will once again wait for legal clearance. (For a more in-depth breakdown of what to expect during the surrogacy process, please visit our blog post here!)
Upon approval to proceed with the embryo transfer, your cycle calendar will be provided to you. It will include the embryo transfer date but will also have a few appointments required of you prior to the actual transfer. Unless you’re local to your clinic, you will be able to complete these appointments at locations near you, which your case manager will help to arrange. You can expect these to include at least one set of bloodwork and one ultrasound to ensure the lining of your uterus is ideal for the transfer. If your bloodwork or uterine lining is not quite where we need it to be, you can expect to repeat those tests prior to the transfer, and the transfer very likely could be pushed out. If this happens to you, it is common and nothing to worry about! Sometimes we just need to adjust your medication or might need a little more time to get it perfect!
Once everything is where it needs to be, we’ll get the green light for the final embryo transfer date. At this point, your case manager will make all your travel accommodations for you. She will book your flights and hotel that you will stay at for the duration of your embryo transfer journey, which will include 48 hours of bedrest in a nice hotel following the transfer! After the transfer, you’ll head home to wait out the next several days until your scheduled blood tests. You will once again have lab work done at a location near your home to confirm your HCG levels, which will be repeated a few days later to ensure your levels are rising at an appropriate pace and confirm the transfer was successful and you’re officially pregnant!
As far as “travel” it is typically only the medical screening and embryo transfer that you will have to travel for. Occasionally, the clinic you’re working with might require an additional visit to the clinic a few days before the transfer. This isn’t super common, but it does happen occasionally for various reasons. The rest of the appointments required of you will be at locations near your home. You will also see an OB near you throughout the duration of your pregnancy and deliver at a hospital close to your home.
What are you most excited about for your surrogacy journey? Are you excited to travel? Are you nervous? Do you have questions? Please let us know in the comments below!
If you are eager to apply to be a surrogate, start your initial application here! If you have any questions, please reach out to us at 949-501-3624 or contact@ivysurrogacy.com and follow us on social media @ivy_surrogacy for more informational posts!
