Home Forums Infertility and Assisted Reproduction Surrogacy sister surragacy

[color:"red"] I have done IVF 2 times and the first attempt I was pregnant for one week. I probably would of never have known if it wasn't for the pregnany test. The second IVF ..nothing. My husband and I have been struggling with this for 5 years now. My sister has offered to be a surrogate. She is 39, I am 33. Time is running out for her and we have discussed that we should try her instead of me. Can anyone tell me the procedure.. cost?? lawyer fees. We live in Toronto. Please help. I am consulting with my Dr. this Saturday. [/color]

it all depends... are you going to use her eggs or yours?

My sister willl be a gestational carrier. Sperm and Eggs are ours.

OOPs! forgot to log on!
sami <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Hi Sami,

How wonderful that your sister has agreed to help you. We made our surrogacy arrangements in the US because of the laws in Canada banning paid surrogacy. I'm not sure what the legal costs are in Canada. In the US they were about $2500 for the contract and $2500 for the pre-birth order. The medical expenses for IVF are pretty much the same everywhere, about $10, 000 give or take.

The procedure is fairly simple. They can do a co-ordinated cycle, then take your eggs, fertilize with your husband's sperm and then the resulting embryos are placed in your sister's uterus. The more embryos you put back, the higher the risk of multiple pregnancy. My husband and I put two embryos each time and resulted with a singleton each time. It took us two tries for each of our sons.

By the way, did you know you can breastfeed? We have a protocol to induce lactation on this website that I followed twice to induce lactation for each of my sons. You can print it from this page http://www.asklenore.com/breastfeeding/print/induced_lactation/protocols4print.html

Hope this helps.

Warmest regards,

Hey Sami,

If you are using your eggs and not your sister's then her age is not as much of an issue. My cousin is currently acting as a gestational surrogate for us and she is 48!

Our fees for the IVF were about $10,000 but then you have meds for both you and your sister which can be pretty expensive. Our lawyer's fees were about $400 for the contract and then will be about the same for the birth order. I don't know how we lucked out because other lawyer's around here charge between 2 and 3 grand for the same thing. (We live in Idaho.)

If you have more questions the BB over at Fertilethoughts.com is pretty active with Surrogates and IP's alike. They have been very helpful and answered lots of questions for me.

Good luck on your journey. We only have a few weeks left. It's been a crazy ride, but we've made it through all right.

Rebecca

Sami,

My husband and I are expecting our first child in August via home insemination. It took us about three years...not all trying though. It took our surrogate one year to have a period once coming off the Depo shot, one year waiting for my husband to come off his military deployment, then pretty much one whole year of trying. We had our doctors blessing, as a matter of fact, he gave us our supplies to try to conceive at home. Our costs are pretty minimal...compensation to our surrogate (a dear friend) for here expenses, 15% of her medical and hospital bills, about $2,500.00 for attorney fees. Much cheaper then going through a clinic.

If this is a route you are interested in taking, I would be happy to talk with you about it. It worked for us!

Vicki ~ Mommy-to-be to Naomi Angalene with the help of our Surro-Angel Angie
EDD 8/16/05 Daddy's birthday <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Wife of 17 years to Carl