One of my friend is planning to hire a womb (surrogacy), what are the chances that she will take a healthy baby home?

Answer 1

• The success rate of surrogate pregnancy is mainly dependent on the health of the sperm donor, who has undergone a list of medical evaluations. The age of the surrogate mother and her heath and fertility history.
• It is usually 55%-65% for fresh embryo transfer (transferring the embryos just after fertilization), as against 45% for frozen embryo transfer (storing the embryos for future use, by the process of freezing and thawing). The successful birth rate is 95%.
• Gestational surrogacy often proves successful in the first IVF attempt. Even in case if second or third attempts are required, results are always positive.
• Sometimes gestational surrogacy can lead to development of twins.

Answer 2

There are a lot of factors that undermine or decide the chances of taking a healthy baby home post a surrogate pregnancy. The success rate of the pregnancy and a healthy baby are dependent on not one but many factors. It is not really possible to analyse the rate of success in all of these instances.

Hiring a surrogate

The first steps to getting a healthy baby would be hiring a surrogate in the first place. Unfortunately, many couples are unable to find a healthier surrogate who is willing to get pregnant via fertility treatments. The other issue is that even if she agrees, you have to get your legal papers sorted. There is always a chance that the mother can change her mind at end of the term.

Health of sperm donor

One of the first factors that determine healthy conception would be sperm health or rather the sperm donor health. It has been seen that a younger, healthier man is more likely to have a better chance as compared to someone older.

Health of surrogate

The next aspect is the fertile health of the surrogate. Someone younger again has a higher chance of succeeding here. But in case pregnancy doesn’t occur after 6 cycles of IUI, then there is something wrong. In most gestational surrogacy cases, usually IVF is successful the first time. Even if later attempts are required, chances of success are very high.

Medical success

In most cases, it has been seen that an average of 60% successful cases happen when embryo is transferred right after fertilisation. In the cases, where frozen embryos are used success rate is much lower.

Complications

In some cases, complications may arise with multiple births in gestational surrogacy. However, if right medical care is provided, such complications can be handled with care. And all the babies are healthy.