Maintaining the health of surrogate mother

The health of the surrogate mother and the quality of lifestyle she maintains is obviously a very crucial factor determining both the health of the baby and herself. It also becomes a moral obligation for the person lending her womb to take care of the baby whom she is raising inside that belongs to someone else. It is almost safeguarding somebody’s asset.

It is the responsibility of the surrogate mother to monitor the healthy growth of a baby belonging to the intending parents with whom she has entered into an agreement. If she keeps her health in good shape, the baby delivered would be healthy in all probability unless some misfortune strikes. If she turns careless about her own health, the delivery would be disastrous and might lead to termination as well.

The surrogate mother should exercise the same level of dedication and interest while raising the baby of intending parents as if it is her own child. And this is possible if she does justice to her own health. Needless to say, the surrogate mothers should eat healthy and should be on a light exercise regime on a regular basis to avoid picking up any health complications.

The intending parents and the clinic should arrange for proper nutrition and health care with due monitoring of the advancement in pregnancy. This is the basic support required to maintain the health of the surrogate that would culminate in successful child birth.

To maintain a sound health profile, the surrogate mothers should run a stable lifestyle which would mean there should be no cigarettes, alcohol or drugs in her life.  Even if she needs some over the counter drugs she must have a valid prescription and approval from a qualified doctor who is aware that she is pregnant and acting as a surrogate mother.

Elaborating on the abuse of smoking, the habit leads to more than one ill effect. They are as follows:
* It can cause a still birth.
* It can precipitate into a premature delivery.
* It can lead to the birth of a baby with a very low post-delivery body weight.
* It deprives the developing fetus in the womb a sufficient supply of oxygen by narrowing the blood vessels including the umbilical cord as a coat of nicotine settles down on the inner lining of the vessels.

Maintaining a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) is very important for surrogate mothers. The target is to keep the BMI under 32. If the BMI of surrogate mothers shoots up, she will be at a risk of picking up diabetes, which is certainly a menace to her health and also to the pregnancy.

The mental health of the surrogate mother is equally important as the physical health.
In the initial selection stage, the intending parents and the clinic should make sure she doesn’t have a history of mental illness in her genetic bloodline. Even if she carries a healthy gene free from any psychological disorders, a continuous counseling is required while she carries the pregnancy on behalf of her client.

A weekly visit from her husband, relatives, parents or even boyfriend would work wonders. During pregnancy, she goes through an immense physical and mental stress and she needs to vent out the accumulated heaps of mental strain.  The mental support from her near and dear ones is very crucial at this stage. She needs to unwind. She needs to keep her exhausted mind in a good, healthy and relaxed state.

Prescribed medicines must be taken with religious regularity. A surrogate needs to program her daily life with a balanced mix of exercise, sleep and meditation and should stick to this program without failure to maintain a proper health.

A surrogate mother should schedule a regular health check up in due consultation with the client and the associated clinic. She must ensure to be on the peak of her health during pregnancy. Regular monitoring in the clinic will help in early detection of abnormalities and rectified timely.