Surrogate Mother Care at New Life

Psychological counselling and Mental Well Being

It’s just as important to look after our Surrogate mother’s mental health and well being during pregnancy as their physical health. Although pregnancy is often portrayed as a time of great joy, that’s not the reality for all women. The emotional ups and downs of pregnancy might seem overwhelming at times. At New Life, we try our best to make sure our Surrogate mothers feel well taken care of as we strongly believe, well being during pregnancy leads to the delivery of healthy baby.

Thus we constantly monitor our Surrogate mother’s emotional well being by ensuring:

They always have pregnancy care coordinators available 24/7 for them to support
Psychologists in case their hormonal changes cause them feel stressed or anxious
Encouraging them of doing things that brings them joy
Respecting their time, thus they never have to wait in long cues, instead their appointments are on exact set times
Highlighting how important they are for us and for our lovely parents – to be
Talking to their family members to ensure they have family support and proper environment
Providing additional medical check ups and psychological counseling after baby delivery. We need to make sure their health and well being has utmost value not only before and during pregnancy but after baby is delivered.

Surrogate Mother Testimonials

Monitoring Healthy Lifestyle

Healthy lifestyle during pregnancy is very important as it has equal benefits to mother and the baby. At New Life we constantly conduct educational trainings for our Surrogate mothers and explain them how important it is:

To have enough sleep
To have enough rest. Whether it’s going to bed early, taking breaks throughout the day, we ensure that they are stress-free and as rested as possible
Not to overload themselves with work
Self Care and Hygiene
Mild exercise and walking as it offers relief from an aching back, helping with constipation and keeping their weight at a healthy level, helps their mood as well.
From the very beginning our Surrogate mothers are well aware, that we don’t accept Surrogates who smoke or drink alcohol. We also do random alcohol/tobacco tests at National Forensic burro.

Monitoring Nutrition and Prescribed medicine timely intake

Nutrition during pregnancy is very important for the healthy development of fetus. Lack of proper nutrition can lead to various medical conditions and consequences starting from miscarriage to baby delivery with brain hypoxia which in long term can cause different neuropsychological problems such as late psychological development, dyslexia, difficulty to learn or concentrate. We conduct number of educational trainings for our surrogate mothers to explain them how crucial it is for them and baby to have healthy intake of sufficient nutrients. On top of that we advice them to strictly restrict intake of:

Junky food
Sugar and unhealthy carb products
Caffeine
Dedicated nurse and pregnancy care coordinators constantly reminding and monitoring how thoroughly they follow doctor prescriptions and their vitamin or hormonal pill intakes.

Monitoring Weight Gain

Weight gain is important for the healthy pregnancy and for the long-term health of Surrogate mother and the baby. Overall weight gain during pregnancy should not be less then 11-16 KG.
To less or no weight gain is very dangerous as it increases the risk of miscarriage, premature delivery or baby will be delivered too small along with other pregnancy complications. At New Life we constantly monitor, educate and counsel our Surrogate mothers on this subject. All New Life Surrogate mothers are well aware, that:

They cannot gain weight with junk food
That there are dozens of risks associated with no weight gain
That too much weight gain (more then 17-20 KG) is as risky and dangerous as no weight gain. That it causes labor complication, leads to gestational diabetes and gives birth to a larger baby with greater risk of diabetes and obesity in the childhood.
That their weight is monitored and is as important as medical check ups and ultrasound screening.

Medical Check up’s and Genetic Screenings

Genetic Screening: At New Life all pregnant surrogate mother’s have triple marker genetic test when pregnancy reaches 16-17 th week. Accuracy of triple Marker test is 60-70 percent. If parents want to have more precise genetic screening at much earlier stage (10 weeks of pregnancy) , we also offer ‘’PRENA’’ genetic test ( at additional cost) which guarantees 99 percent accuracy. We send blood sample in Germany for PRENA test and results are ready within 10 days.

Besides, Surrogate mothers have routine medical screening tests throughout the entire pregnancy:
Pregnancy 0-13 week: Trans abdominal Ultrasound, Consultation of gynecologist, consultation of therapist, complete blood count, urine analyzes, syphilis, B Hepatitis, HIV, Blood group and Rhesus, Pap Smear test, Free Beta Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, PaPP- pregnancy associated plasma protein, Nuchal Translucency scan.
Pregnancy 14-18 Week: Ultrasound scan, consultation of gynecologist, Alfa fetoprotein, Beta Chorionic Gonadotropin and Estriol, triple marker screening test
Pregnancy 19-21 week: Complete blood count, Urine Analyses complete, Glucose, Test for Secondary Hemostasis, Four Dimensional Ultrasound scan, Consultation with gynecologist
Pregnancy 30-32 week: Complete blood count, Urine Analyses, Cardio Topography, Pap Smear Test, Ultrasound scan, Consultation of the Doctor
Pregnancy 33-40 Week: Complete Blood Count, Ultrasound scan, Urine Analyses complete, Cardio Topography.

Educating about Labor and Respecting their preferences

The entire process of labor and delivery can go quickly or it can be quite slow. Many women feel anxiety or fear about childbirth because its associated with a lot of pain, suffering and “uncomfortableness”. We conduct pre labor educational trainings (though its not their fist delivery) and explain to our surrogate mothers, that the more they fear, the more they become anxious and the more stress hormones are released, thus making labor, more painful. After educational sessions they feel much more relaxed, confident and cared. On top of that, later on overall environment at private maternity hospital with most caring doctors and 4 times daily meal makes them feel even more comfortable.

Its also worth to mention in this part, that according to health experts and gynecologists all over the world, cesarean delivery does not diminish labor associated risks, thus cesarean can only be done when it is medically required. In a very rare occasions, intended parents still request their baby to be delivered via C section. In this case we need to pre agree it with surrogate mother as we very much respect their rights and preferences. In case Surrogate mother’s first delivery was via C Section, second baby will also be delivered in same way.

Transparent Payment Plan

Trust is built and maintained by many small actions over time. At New Life we believe, that the glue that holds all relationships together–including the relationship between us and our Surrogate mothers is trust and transparency. In order to ensure transparency, New Life requests all personal payments, as stipulated on your contract/payment annex, are paid directly to surrogate mothers. When there is transparency, there is a trust established that leads to synergy, interdependence, and deep respect. Both parties make decisions and choices based on what is right, what is best, what is valued most highly.