Video: How Does a Surrogate Get Pregnant?

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Ask the Experts

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How does a surrogate get pregnant?

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Dr. Melissa Yih, IVF New Jersey: The cycle, basically, involves the surrogate being on medication to synchronize her cycle

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with either the intended parent, if the intended parent is planning on donating her eggs to be used to create the embryos,

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or, in certain cases, also, an egg donor might be used to provide her eggs for the cycle.

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So, the surrogate would be placed on birth control pills initially to synchronize her cycle with whomever is donating the eggs.

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She is then placed on a medication called Lupron, which is used to suppress her natural cycle.

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And then we start her on estrogen to mimic the first half of a normal menstrual cycle.

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And then once the egg donor or intended parent is being scheduled for retrieval, then we put her on progesterone,

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which is a medication or hormone that's required for the second half of a normal woman's menstrual cycle.

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And that hormone would be used to help support the pregnancy.

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At that point, when the either egg donor or intended parent is ready for retrieval, we retrieve the eggs,

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we fertilize the sperm, and then the embryo is transferred either three or five days later back to the surrogate.

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And the transfer itself is a fairly simple procedure. It doesn't require any anesthesia.

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It typically is done within a minute or two, and it doesn't require that the surrogate stays in the hospital or stays in the clinic

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for a prolonged period of time. She can go home after the procedure.

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The pregnancy test for the surrogate is typically done about two weeks after the retrieval,

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and at that point if she is pregnant then she continues on the estrogen and progesterone support

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until we can see evidence that the placenta is starting to make hormones to support the pregnancy.

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If she's not pregnant, then she stops the medication and that's the end of the cycle.

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