Blog
Great Gift Ideas for Intended Parents
Going the extra mile for your intended parents may form a lasting bond between you. A healthy baby, of course, is the best gift you can give them – but if you want to be extra-nice, personal gifts can go a long way. They need not be expensive; in fact, our...
Talking about Surrogacy: Advice for Gestational Carriers
“When are you due?”“Not for another two months.”“Have you picked out a name?”“Not yet. The parents have a few in mind, though.”Although you’re excited and confident about your decision to become a surrogate, some...
Ensuring a Healthy Surrogate Pregnancy
What an amazing opportunity it is to give the gift of life, especially for another person via surrogacy. This gift comes with a lot of responsibility and expectation to create a healthy baby—and it all begins in pregnancy. During your surrogate pregnancy, you are...
Surrogacy Terms Decoded: 17 Definitions You Should Know
Although rewarding, the surrogacy process and its lingo can be confusing at times. Not to worry as our surrogacy agency, Shared Conception, has defined common terms you’ll come across during your surrogacy journey to make the experience as seamless as...
The Delivery
As a surrogate, when the time comes to deliver the baby, there are so many emotions racing. We want to be sure everything is ready and in place well before the actual delivery day. There will be a cute bundle of joy (or two or three!) that will take center stage, of...
A Brief Look at the History of IVF
• In 1934 at Harvard University, scientist Gregory Pincus conducts IVF experiments on rabbits. Results suggest that similar fertilization is possible in humans.• A few years later, John Rock and Miriam Menkin succeed in the first IVF of human...
Waiting and waiting….patience is important during the Surrogacy process
One of the hardest things to do in surrogacy is wait. This goes for all parties: the IPs, the surrogate, the egg donor, the agency coordinator, etc. It's so hard to wait when something so amazing is almost in your grasp; you just have to put the...
Is there a weight requirement to become a surrogate?
Our surrogacy agency, Shared Conception, loves receiving your questions about surrogacy so please keep them coming. One question that weighs on most people's minds is this: Is there a weight requirement to become a surrogate?There is no weight requirement...
Poll: Vast Majority of Americans Support Surrogacy
A recent YouGov poll asked U.S. citizens what they thought about surrogacy. Our surrogacy agency, Shared Conception, was not surprised to learn that 71 percent of people polled said they approved of surrogacy. To give you a gender breakdown, women approved of...
Teamwork Makes the Surrogacy Dream Work
A successful surrogacy is a team effort. It means the cooperation of surrogates, egg donors, intended parents, doctors, nurses, social workers, attorneys, and coordinators. Focusing on openness, honesty, and communication can help make a good journey great.But we...
Three Books for Children of Surrogates
Seven Signs you would make a great gestational carrier.
1. You’re family oriented. Diapers, spit-up, tantrums— you name it, you can handle it with ease. You make being a caretaker a priority because you want it to be. That’s essentially a gestational surrogate’s role–carrying and...
Negotiating Your Surrogacy Contract
Celebrity Elizabeth Banks and Her Thoughts on Surrogacy
Around 10 percent of couples are affected by infertility, in addition to gay couples- many of whom would like to build families. Surrogacy has become one of the most viable options for couples who cannot conceive. Even though it is far more common today than it was 20...
9 Tips for a Smooth Surrogate Pregnancy
These Goop.com tips come from pain expert Vicky Vlachonis, author of The Body Doesn’t Lie. Vicky suggests that one aspect of pregnancy is relinquishing control and trusting that your body knows what it is doing. That said, her suggestions are practical and...
Seven Things the Media Gets Wrong About Surrogacy in the USA
1. Forgetting about the happy families created through surrogacy. Intended parents, surrogates, and the wonderful children brought into this world because of their love are real people. Articles talking about the dangers of surrogacy are not only misleading but...
Surrogacy Laws State by State–Things You Need To Know
Surrogacy law encompasses family law, contract negotiation, estate planning, insurance and often immigration law. Legal experts working with Shared Conception and other surrogacy agencies are in charge of negotiating agreements between intended parents and surrogates...
IVF for Surrogacy and Egg Donation: An overview for intended parents
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the medical procedure behind gestational surrogacy and egg donation. In the process, eggs are removed from an egg donor or from the intended mother and fertilized with sperm in a lab to create embryos. The resulting embryos...