One of the major effects on the life of a woman is deciding to be a surrogate mother. Carrying the child of someone else in her own uterus and then delivering has the same effects on her health as vaginal delivery has. On the other hand, with the added complication of IVF and legal contracts, surrogate mothers also face enormous emotional effects. That is why a woman should consider many things before she decides to be a surrogate mother of an intended couple unknown to her who is desperately seeking to have a baby taking a complete year or more of time when she will have to suffer more or less both physically and emotionally. Here are some remarkable health and emotional effects of surrogate mothers.
Health Effects of Surrogate Mothers
Major Medical Effects
Surrogate pregnancies carry the same health risks and side effects as natural pregnancies and deliveries. This involves nausea from morning sickness, swelling, weight gain, heartburn, back pain, and other effects of uneasiness. To some unfortunate surrogate mothers, hypertension, potential damage to their reproductive organs, and gestational diabetes may appear as the symptoms of effects that are destructive to the health of the surrogate mothers.
Surrogacy Miscarriage or Preterm Labor
Just like any other pregnancy, surrogacy has the risks of surrogacy miscarriage or preterm labor. These cause serious health effects on the surrogate mothers and proper steps must be taken to avoid them. The surrogate mothers should keep close contact with their doctors, take proper medication and sufficient rest and follow all the recommendations of their doctors.
Minor Health Effects
Surrogate mothers can expect some minor medical effects. Since they have to take IVF medication and some fertility medication at home to help her pregnancy, she may feel acute pain on top of her bruises and some allergic reactions. Also, as they will have to take medicine to regulate their menstrual cycle to increase the chances of their pregnancy, they are going to experience premenstrual syndrome effects that include mood swings and headaches.
Emotional Effects of Surrogate Mothers
Effects of the Most Tragic Side of Surrogacy
Surrogate mothers (gestacion sustituta)do not only experience health effects but also emotional effects as pregnancy is naturally an emotional event in the life of women when surrogacy is completely a different type of pregnancy. When a woman decides to advance on the road of surrogacy, she knows that after her successful surrogacy, she is going back to her home without the baby whom he felt with all her existence in her womb for the last nine months and that this departing with the baby is forever. This tragic though make the surrogate mothers very emotional and in some cases, some surrogates frequently become emotional all through her life.
Other Emotional Effects and How to Cope with Them
Surrogate mothers feel overwhelmingly happy when they successfully deliver a baby to the intended parents but their emotional depression during and after the pregnancy haunts them. They should not only think of their own emotion despite being a natural effect, but they should also think about the emotion and expectations of the intended parents from them. The goodwill of the surrogacy agencies is largely dependent upon their control or guidance over the effects of their emotion. To help them, the therapists and psychological experts will always ask them questions when the surrogate mothers should not be ashamed to share their emotions with them as emotional effects are very usual to all the surrogate mothers.
Despite having some health and emotional effects on surrogate mothers, the noble task of contributing to creating and expanding families is so greater that surrogacy should be preferred if the women have those physical and mental capabilities. To avoid or reduce the health and emotional effects, women should research well before they decide to take up surrogacy as a carrier what involve surrogacy as a necessary or inevitable part of or consequence, and what are the risks and effects, that they will have to remain in close contact to their doctors. IVF clinics, intended parents and their family and friends.