Surrogate embraces helping families experience joy of nurturing a child

Claudia Sinclair* gave birth to a child born through surrogacy just a few months ago and is already anticipating going through the process again. For her, the chance to carry a child to full term for another woman gives her an opportunity to spread the joys of parenthood to a family in need.

“It’s like a beautiful feeling that I have given birth to a child for another family to provide that sense of love, that sense of worth, that sense of belonging,” she said.

Surrogacy is an assisted reproductive method in which a woman, called the surrogate or gestational carrier, agrees to carry and give birth to a child for another individual or couple.

Gestational surrogacy is practised in Jamaica with an average of five births recorded from this type of surrogacy each year.

In this form of surrogacy, an egg from the biological mother is fertilised with sperm from the father or donor through in vitro fertilisation. The resulting embryo is then implanted in the uterus of the gestational surrogate.

Some years ago, a friend introduced Sinclair to the idea of being a surrogate, and even though at the time she did not have a child of her own, she immediately knew that it was something she wanted to do.

DECISION TO HELP

After becoming more aware of the process, and hearing the stories of families struggling to have children, Sinclair, now the mother of one, said she made the decision to help.

“They (family) want that sense of belonging to say they are nurturing a child. Maybe they go through adoption and it is not going as they want it to go, and they are seeing how the process goes with a surrogate,” she said.

Surrogates are often recruited by clinics through information sessions or people who become aware and reach out to the clinics offering their services.

While altruism is encouraged among surrogates, they are also paid up to US$13,000 for their service. Ideally, these are women who had already given birth, and who, after going through a medical and psychological screening, are deemed fit.

They are then matched with a commissioning parent and sign a contract called a gestational surrogacy agreement. This contract outlines obligations of biological parents and surrogates and details what will occur when the baby is born.

Sinclair stated that her commissioning parents reside overseas and were very involved in her pregnancy.

“The family was on point with me, making sure that everything is going good, making sure that I’m eating and that everything was going quite fine with me and the baby,” she said.

SUPPORT INSTRUMENTAL

That kind of support from the commissioning parents and her immediate family was instrumental throughout the whole process, she said. She explained that for the first months, after the invitro fertilisation treatment, she had to really pace herself.

After giving birth, whatever emotional attachment she may have felt towards the child was overridden by the connection she was able to create for the new parents.

“If you’re going to do surrogacy, you have to have the support, the family support is the main thing. Without the support, it’s like you’re just doing it on your own” she said.

“The postpartum depression does kick in ... but that’s when the support is important. You have to have the support that will remind you you did a good thing.”

Acknowledging the complexities involved in the decision to become a surrogate, Sinclair emphasised that anyone considering it should be certain that their decision is a sincere one.

“If you are planning on doing it, don’t just do it because you want to do it for do it sake. You have to do it from the heart, and you have to [be] mentally prepared,” she said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com