7 Ways to Be a Good Gestational Carrier for a Surrogacy Journey
The experience of being a gestational carrier can vary based on the individual and the intended parents that the gestational carrier is carrying for. There are ways that can help guide this journey to be a successful and enjoyable journey.
Here are seven ways to be a good gestational carrier for a surrogacy journey:
Honesty
It may be difficult to feel led to share your personal information and medical history with the intended parents and your surrogacy professionals along the way, but this is imperative to have a successful journey. During the surrogacy application process, being completely honest with your surrogacy professionals and intended parents is going to assist in preparing you to share personal and medical information going further. The surrogacy journey is an intimate and special journey you will take with intended parents that requires trust which is achieved by honesty from all parties.
Organization
As a gestational carrier organization will be essential. There are responsibilities involved with being a gestational carrier such as keeping track of your medical appointments, keeping the invoices from those medical appointments when received, and managing calls with the various communications required as a surrogate.
Your surrogacy professional at Bright Future Families will help you with submitting those medical bills to be paid and managing your medical prior to pregnancy but organization is beneficial in being a good gestational carrier.
Take Care of Yourself
Being a surrogate is very rewarding, but it can be hard. Like with everything, life is about balance. Balancing being a parent, an employee, a spouse, and a gestational carrier can be challenging because there are responsibilities in each role. If you don’t take care of yourself first, you won’t be able to balance it all. You can not pour from an empty cup. Putting yourself first and making sure you are taking care of your needs will help you have a healthy pregnancy. Taking care of yourself will help to ensure that as that baby develops within you that it is surrounded by love and contentment.
Remembering to Ask for Help
It can be difficult to ask for help. Don’t forget that you have a support system that you can reach out to that can include family, friends, your spouse, and even your trusted surrogacy professional. It can be helpful to be able to talk about your surrogacy journey with those that are in support of your decision to be a surrogate. If some of the responsibilities become too much, reach out to your spouse, family, and close friends to assist you. To be able to acknowledge that you need assistance is a trait of a good surrogate because you are remembering to take care of yourself and as mentioned above, you can’t pour from any empty cup. An empty cup can’t properly nurture a growing pregnancy.
Patience
At all times in the surrogacy journey, patience is needed. From when you start the application to post-partum. To be a great surrogate, you will have to have patience to go through the medical clearance, background check, medical procedure process, and the pregnancy. It can be a very long process that will require patience for all parties, especially the gestational carrier.
Communication
Communication will be required to be a good gestational carrier throughout the surrogacy journey. Good communication is needed between the gestational carrier and the surrogacy agency because the agency is going to facilitate the match between the gestational carrier and the intended parents. Communication and honesty are needed to ensure a proper match.
After a match is made, while it is important the good communication continues with the gestational carrier and agency, it is ideal for the gestational carrier and intended parents to also have good communication between them. A crucial part of being a good gestational carrier in the surrogacy process is trying to understand what the intended parents have gone through and continue to go through. It is difficult to trust someone with the life and development of your child/ren and that is what the intended parents are doing through this process.
After pregnancy is achieved, it is ideal to keep the intended parents aware of medical appointments, sending ultrasound pictures, and just staying in contact regarding the pregnancy. Good communication between the intended parents and surrogates is going to ensure the best journey possible.
Enjoy the Process
The best way to be a good gestational carrier in the surrogacy journey is to just enjoy it! Enjoy the excitement that comes with pregnancy for your intended parents. Keep your support system close to you to share the steps in this journey with. Remember that it is good to be excited for them and look forward to the day they receive the gift of parenthood.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to our surrogacy professionals at Bright Future Families for even more advice and guidance on your journey.