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A woman must fully comprehend what it means to be a surrogate mother. She needs to know what her body will go through, what the couple she is working for will expect of her while she is carrying their child and what the risks are in all of this. A woman may enjoy the idea of being pregnant and carrying a child but she must think of the risks of surrogate motherhood before she embarks on such a long journey. One of the risks involved in surrogate motherhood is the pregnancy itself. A natural pregnancy is dangerous; let alone an artificial one. Complications happen that can't always be avoided. It is simple fate that may lead you to miscarry, or acquire health problems from the pregnancy. Though using a surrogate motherhood agency is the safest way to go, no one can promise you that there will be no complications. If and when you are pregnant with someone else's child, you are responsible for taking care of it while in your womb. What you eat, drink and take into your body will affect the child. Not everyone has the self discipline to take their vitamins every day or not smoke a cigarette. If something happens and the child is born with a problem that could possibly be because of you and what you did to your body during pregnancy, then you will be investigated. It may not have been your fault, but if the possibility exists then the agency has to look into it. When you get into surrogate motherhood, you become business partners with the parents of the child for the duration of the pregnancy. There is no backing out. If the couple that you chose turns out to be mean or irresponsible, you are stuck with them until the baby is born. This is especially dangerous if you are not using a surrogate agency. If the couple skips town, you won't be taken care of and will be stuck with a baby to raise. What happens if the child is born with some kind of deformity or disease? The parents may not want the child. So then, is it you that takes care of it? Is it put up for a

When a couple can not have children, they will often seek out a surrogate mother. This is a person that will carry the couple's child and deliver the baby. Once the baby is born the child will be handed over to the couple. Anyone wanting to become a surrogate mother should look into it thoroughly. You can be an independent surrogate or you can use an agency. The first thing you should do is find out what is expected of a surrogate mother and evaluate yourself to see if you can handle it. Read stories from women who have done it and how it affected their lives. This is not just business, this is your body and you will never be the same. Once you have decided that you can handle it, find out what you need to have a healthy pregnancy. What vitamins and diet you should be on are two very important things to look into. You should find out what the laws and rights are in your area concerning surrogate mothers. Surrogate Agencies There are many agencies out there. You can research them on line or look in the phone book. Each will be different in how they handle a case. Find out from them how they work and what they can do for you. Ask for references of other women who used the agency. Contact those women and ask them about their experience there. Once you have decided on an agency; you will be required to fill out an application. After that you will be checked by a doctor from the agency to make sure you meet all the requirements needed. Once you are signed up and deemed healthy by the agency, they will begin looking for couples that they think would be a good match for you. You will be contacted and meetings will be arranged with possible couples. After having several meetings, you will need to choose a couple. This couple should share your views on pregnancy. If you like coffee and they don't want you drinking it during pregnancy, then they may not be the right couple for you. This is a very important part of the process. Don't forget it isn't only you ch

The conversation at the Sdyor dinner table is often about food. Where vegetables grow, what type of trees the fruit are picked from, and what type and cuts of meats come from what animal. Over the years some of the kids have even paid attention. Sometimes too much so...

The different views and opinions on surrogate motherhood are as vast as those on abortion. Everyone has their views and ideas of the social and ethical issues related to surrogate motherhood. Let's look into some of these issues and what the different sides think about it all. Is it morally correct to rent your body? Some would argue that renting your body to have a baby is hand in hand with renting it out for sex. You are being paid for the use of your body. On the other side, pro surrogates would say that this is an unfair comparison, as sex for money is seen to be dirty and having a baby to help someone who can't is a pure thing. What does religion say about the ethics of surrogate motherhood? Roman Catholicism and Islam forbid it. The Roman Catholics refer to the story of Sarah, wife of Abraham, in the bible. She was barren and gave her maid Hagar to her husband so that she could bare them a child. Abraham impregnated her through copulation. In the end Sarah got jealous, Hagar didn't want to give the baby up and she and the child were thrown out. Not a good ending. In Islam the belief is simple; a woman should bare only her husband's children. How does being born from a surrogate mother affect the child when it grows up? What does a person say when asked, who is your mother? Some people argue that being born from another woman can confuse a child and cause it to have issues as an adult; have feelings of confusion on the subject. The pro surrogates will say that there are many stories of successful children born of surrogate mothers that don't have these problems. It is simply explained to the child. The parents were unable to have children so they took each part of the child from the parents and put it in a surrogate to be born. Can a surrogate mother truly consent to the taking of the child after it is born? This is a major issue. Before gestational surrogating, it was only through artificial insemination of the father's sperm that a surro

What unrest are you 2 hours from? What needed conversation with your child have you been avoiding or procrastinating with starting? Ask yourself, "What discussion with my child scares me?" The answer is the discussion you need to have today.

As parents we want what is best for our children. Of course what I think is best is that they all grow up, move out, get married, and give us lots of grandchildren. I get the feeling I'm going to be quite old when I get my wish...

Being a new mum comes with a set of new questions and concerns, with some of the most common being about breastfeeding. Is my baby eating enough? Long enough? And what is this I heard about my baby sleeping through the night by 3 months?

Being a new mum comes with a set of new questions and concerns, with some of the most common being about breastfeeding. Is my baby eating enough? Long enough? And what is this I heard about my baby sleeping through the night by 3 months?

It happens every year. You finish the kids holiday shopping without knowing what that one big gift they truly want is. It seems that as soon as the last bow is secretly placed on the last wrapped present they burst into the room without knocking to tell you they have figured out what they really want for Christmas...

If you are considering adoption in San Antonio, or elsewhere in Texas, you may wonder how much the adoption will cost, or have concerns about how to pay for those expenses. Understanding what fees to expect and knowing your options for financial assistance may help to alleviate your concerns and allow you to more confidently pursue adoption.

A surrogate mother often faces criticism and judgment from others for the choice she have made. However, those are less problematic when compare to the risks that she takes for her own family, friends and spouse. These risks can be daunting and cause challenges she might not have considered before getting involved. These risks can be anything from medical and health concerns to finances and job security and often family and personal risks as well. Medical risk is a huge factor, when a woman becomes a surrogate often times, she and the donors would have to undergo intense examination. These exams range from blood, health tests to the initial process of the implanting of the eggs from the donor. In the beginning the clinic will bring her and the egg donor together to begin a lengthy process of sequencing ovulation cycles. The clinic would put the surrogate mother on birth control and steroids, such as Luprin. These medications are meant to get both the surrogate mother and the donor's cycles on the same schedule. This is crucial because the surrogates' uterus needs to be ready for the embryos. Just having to deal with the pain of insemination and testing can be unbearable, not to mention the unpleasant side effects from all the medication and actual insemination process. However, that is just part of it. The surrogates are also faced with depression, sleep disturbance, guilt and the difficulty to remain unattached. These factors alone cause many surrogates to face the fact that they are walking a long road that not many others might have the strength to do. Many clinics offer support groups and counseling. Aside from medical and emotional risks, there might also be legality issues with the laws of the state they reside in. What kind of laws protect the surrogate, what rights does she have to things such as privacy? And there are also finances to consider. Generally, surrogate mothers are responsible for all insurance costs. As a surrogate you should be financially

Surrogacy is a path that many couples who are unable to have children of their own have chosen due to the intimacy and experiences involved in the process. There are many things that should be taken into consideration before you make the choice of becoming a surrogate mother. You should first speak with an attorney and/or an adoption agency specializing in surrogacy. They can provide you with a list of things to consider and agencies available to start you on your way, educate you on your rights as well as those of the adoptive couple and what you can expect and what is expected out of you. When you consider on becoming a surrogate mother, you also need to decide whether you will be an independent surrogate or agency surrogate. As an independent surrogate, you need to be responsible for your own arrangements, finding the right couple, working out a contract and, if anything goes awry with the arrangements, you will be responsible for finding another couple. As an agency surrogate, all of these arrangements and legalities are managed for you by your agent. Either route you choose, make sure that you have consulted an attorney who specializes in surrogacy and adoption to serve your best interests. The next step in becoming a surrogate involves the physical aspects or extent of the measures you are willing to take to become pregnant. You need to decide if you are willing to undergo artificial insemination, hormone therapy and/or in vitro fertilization. Each of these measures are time consuming and not fail proof, so it is always best to have an alternate plan, if possible, in case your first choice for conception does not work. Finally, once an agency or attorney is employed in your journey to becoming a surrogate mother, psychological and physical tests need to be done to make sure that you are healthy enough to carry a child to term and that there are not any past medical or family histories that may cause pregnancy or genetic issues. Extensive counseling will be

Surrogacy is perhaps one of the most selfless acts that a woman can bestow upon a couple in need of a child. Surrogacy, however, can come with both physical and physiological risks that may or may not be easy to recover from. Understanding what the psychological risks of surrogate motherhood can make the transition from carrying a child to relinquishing that child easier. The psychological risks of surrogate motherhood may be a heavier burden to carry, but pre-screening and on-going counseling both before and after the event can help surrogate mothers adjust. There are four areas that are of particular interest in the psychological aspect of surrogacy: contact (bonds), control, closure and ethics. Surrogate mothers form relationships with the couples they surrogate for and that bond may perhaps be even stronger than the bond they may feel for the child they are carrying. They see and talk to their couples regularly and become used to the caring bestowed upon them from their couples. These bonds are strengthened by the routine prenatal visits, maternity clothes shopping, calls to see how they are feeling or if they need anything for comfort. These routine events cause them to become almost dependent on their couples and some surrogates report even becoming depressed after the birth not because of having to relinquish the child, but because they no longer have a reason for contact with their couples. Another one of the psychological risks of surrogate motherhood is that of closure. Often, this can go hand in hand with every contact or bonding issues. The routines and relationships developed between the surrogate, couples and medical staff that often make the transition from pregnancy and surrogacy to the birth and farewell stage that makes it difficult. Not only does the surrogate have to deal with the loss of a child, per se, but also the loss of those unique and caring relationships and routines that they have grown used to over the previous nine months. And fina

There are pros and cons to both sides of this argument. With the private arrangement, you will first of all need to find your surrogate mother. This is usually much easier done through an agency, as all surrogate mothers to be will have been screened and will have gone through a comprehensive health screening. Also, all of the surrogate mothers with an agency will have had psychological screenings to guarantee the fact that they will be able to deal with the very strong emotions that will be coursing around their bodies during the pregnancy. Unless, of course, your surrogate mother is a relative or close friend of the family in which case it would seem to be a lot easier. Ethics, moral code and emotions will still loom large in all of the concerned parties worlds. So it would still be wise to involve an attorney and legal contracts so that everyone knows exactly where they stand, and what is expected of them. In most countries and states legal and binding contracts written up by attorneys, are needed by the parents to be anyway. As they are going to have to be legally adopting the child everything, will need to be written clearly and legally about the birth and how it came about. Very often during the pregnancy the doctors and nurses will need to know why there are two women, one pregnant, the other not, and very often two fathers who are so interested in this one child. If you have gone through an agency, they will be able to advise you on what to do and say in this situation. If you are sorting out surrogacy arrangements privately then yes but if anything unexpected should happen and you are unable to deal with the problems there is a reasonable chance you will end up wishing you had gone to the agency. Agencies do have trained professionals that can help you with all of the different issues that are involved in surrogacy. From the emotional feeling of all parties, the majority of agencies will have counselors who can help you work your way through any difficul

Okay, we admit it. We are not big water drinkers, and never have been. Trust us...we've given ourselves lectures time and time again about the importance of drinking the requisite eight glasses of water a day, but who are we kidding? We can barely choke down two glasses, and that's with living in hot and humid Florida. While we take responsibility for our irresponsibility just as much as the next person (yeah, right), we wholeheartedly blame the Coca Cola company for our lack of commitment to healthy drinking. How dare they make Coke taste so darn good? We have been obsessed with Coke (the real stuff, not that diet stuff) for as long as we can remember. Scoff all you want, but our Coca Cola addiction has caused a real problem in our household. Our kids are at the age when "do as I say, not as I do" doesn't hold water (had to get that pun in). It's our job as parents to teach our children healthy eating and drinking habits, and the best way to do this is by example. But, we really don't like water. We've tried it all...tap water, filtered water, bottled water (whew, there are a lot of brands out there!), cold water, room temperature water, water with lemon (and/or lime). No matter what we do, the results are the same...blah, blah, blah. Are we prime examples of mature and responsible adults or what?

One of the most wonderful things about the summer is the abundance of fresh Bing cherries. Dark and sweet, this cherry is one of our all-time favorite fruits. We've been known to go through bushels of them in a sitting. Another funny story about our older brother growing up (we've told a few of them!)...our grandmother somehow convinced him that if he ever swallowed a pit, a real cherry tree would grow in his tummy. Talk about traumatizing a child...gotta love it, especially as a younger (and often tortured) sibling! Hence, our poor brother, though he loved them, hardly ever ate cherries for fear of what would happen...what a wuss!

Scrapbooking for kids is a trendy new activity for all ages, and a What I am thankful for scrapbook is the perfect Thanksgiving craft for kids to do at home or at school.

The other day I was in a train and one of the co-passengers asked me inquisitively about how my little ones were quiet and busy with their books, while her cute little fairy was adamant to get the mobile phone! Well, my answer was simple - "kids learn what they see and what they are taught".

t may not seem the right thing to do but using a child's birthday as a lesson about giving back, not receiving is actually a great idea. This is just what Leah did when her daughter turned two. Since she was her second child, Leah decided time was enough for looking for baby birthday party places and toys.