• The surrogacy process is challenging and also the most rewarding for all the parties involved. Both potential surrogates and intended parents are curious about the process and how surrogacy works, in a practical sense. Before the beginning of the surrogacy process, you should educate yourself on the basics and find out if you are completely committed to this process. Surrogacy professionals can help you to learn all you need to know about a surrogacy arrangement. A formal surrogacy agreement must be done before conception.
• First, you are advised to undergo certain investigations to check the feasibility of the procedure. For that, you must determine your goals, expectations and the professionals you are willing to work with.  You should also think about whether or not you want to involve the assistance of a surrogacy agency. Remember: surrogacy without an agency requires much more coordination by intended parents and surrogates, which can add an extra level of stress. Most agencies offer hopeful intended parents a first free consultation to get to know more about the programs available, about the financial options.
• Surrogacy agency provides all the surrogacy services and will also help you decide about basic aspects, including whether you need donor sperm/egg services. It’s very important that you rely on well-versed professionals and trustworthy agency. You will need the assistance of a surrogacy attorney, to help you understand the legalities of the process you’re entering into. The work of an attorney is required to complete the legal work (contracts, birth order, legal parentage, etc.).
• Your clinic/ surrogacy professional will let you know if you qualify for the surrogacy process or not. Both surrogate and the intended parents need to meet the criteria for a pleasant and successful journey. Once you meet the criteria for surrogacy, both surrogate and the intended parents will go for a medical assessment and will have counseling about the surrogacy arrangement after the matching process is done of intended parents and their surrogate. If everything is okay and both the parties agree to move forward together, they sign a surrogacy contract to ensure that the legal interests and rights of both are protected.
• The surrogacy contract is crucial and can prevent serious legal problems down the road. The intended parents and the surrogate obtain legal advice from two different lawyers. Once contracts have been signed by both sides and approved, medical procedures begin to prepare for the embryo transfer. This process will be handled by an agreed-upon fertility clinic. The medical procedures recommended for surrogacy will depend on your circumstances. The surrogate will go through fertility treatments before the embryo transfer and during the pregnancy.
• The intended mother or egg donor will be given medication to help her develop healthy eggs and will undergo an egg retrieval procedure. An egg retrieval procedure is performed at a fertility clinic. Once the healthy pregnancy is confirmed, the surrogate mother will start receiving prenatal care, which will continue throughout the pregnancy and after the embryo transfer, the pregnancy will be confirmed.
• The transfer procedure is quick and painless. The surrogacy process concludes with the birth of the baby and the discharge of the surrogate from the hospital. You should keep in mind that some details especially the legal requirements, may vary from state to state. The process of surrogacy is simple when it entails very coordinated and professional process management. There are strict regulations and eligibility requirements that must be met before entering into a surrogacy agreement, not everybody can enter into a surrogacy arrangement, so it is very important to seek professional advice as counseling is a requirement of the surrogacy process.

• There are different types of surrogacy and you should know which is the right one for you and your partner. It can be overwhelming to learn about different types of surrogacy, so you need expert help to make sure you choose the kind of surrogacy that’s perfect for you. As surrogacy is not one-size-fits-all, you will need assistance to make your decision. A professional can help you choose the process that’s right for you based on what you desire from your surrogacy experience.
• Surrogacy can be classified into different types depending on the techniques used to achieve pregnancy.

• In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate woman is the child’s biological mother. She may act as both the egg-donor as well as the actual embryo surrogate. It is based on a mode of conceiving by a surrogate mother. Traditional surrogacy is also known as partial, straight surrogacy, it is the first kind of surrogacy known in history. But these days it is falling into disuse. 86
• In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate’s own eggs/biological material are fertilized using artificial insemination, making her the biological mother of the baby. Traditional method is not recommended due to the lack of legal protection. Also, the major con of traditional surrogacy is that there is a genetic link to the child, a surrogate is the biological mother of the child. From a technical standpoint, traditional surrogacy compromises a simpler medical process, as the surrogate is inseminated artificially through IUI, it is not required that she undergoes medical treatments prior to the procedure.
• Traditional surrogacy has become more unpopular over the years in favor of gestational surrogacy. A traditional surrogate mother is genetically related to the baby and a traditional surrogacy doesn’t need egg donation because the surrogate mother acts as both the egg donor and the actual surrogate. Because the surrogate mother has genetic ties to the baby, the legal process for traditional method is very complicated. On average, traditional surrogacy is less expensive because of the differences in medical procedures and the requirements of egg donation.

A genetic relationship may legally and emotionally complicate traditional surrogacy, but the following people may consider traditional option:

• Single men
• Same-sex male couples
• Intended mothers who cannot form healthy eggs

•  Single men, same-sex male couples and women who cannot produce healthy eggs may choose traditional surrogacy because they will need a donor’s eggs in any case; in traditional surrogacy, the surrogate doubles as the egg donor. Many professionals do not offer traditional surrogacy programs, and many surrogates are more comfortable with gestational surrogacy than traditional surrogacy. Intended mothers do not have the privilege of being biologically related to their children in traditional surrogacy.
• In traditional surrogacy, many couples prefer that the surrogate is someone from their family or close friend as the surrogate will be the biological mother of the child. The traditional surrogate mother must be a healthy fit woman completely free from any genetic diseases, with decent living conditions, no criminal record, etc. She will be donating her eggs; hence the surrogate has to be checked for fertility potential, the quality of eggs that the woman has and her physical capacity to carry the pregnancy till term. In traditional option, the surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with the sperm of the intended father (or else sperm donor).
• Traditional surrogacy is not legal in some states and in several states traditional surrogacy is allowed. For thousands of years, the history of surrogacy referred to only one process – traditional surrogacy, because no medical procedures existed to enable an intended mother to be genetically related to her child. Until 1884, any surrogacies had to be completed in the traditional manner, requiring sexual relations.
•  Traditional surrogacy includes various medical surrogacy procedures, IVF can be also utilized in traditional surrogacy too. Intended parents who pick traditional surrogacy may have more trouble finding a ready surrogate, increasing intended parents wait times in traditional surrogacy and also, traditional method poses an increasingly critical legal risk. The intended mother must usually do an adoption process to become the legal mother of the baby in traditional surrogacy.
• A traditional type of surrogacy is on the basis of the creation of an embryo and it is still an available option for many people who want to raise their children. Traditional surrogacy is legal in some countries but banned in most countries. When thinking about traditional surrogacy, the intended parents have to generally pay for the following- Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI), surrogate medical expenses, counseling costs, agency fees, any other related price regarding the procedure. In the case of traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother can change her mind as she is the biological mother of the child.
• Then again, parents need to go to the court to fight for the custody of the child. Keep in mind that most of the surrogacy clinics and agencies do not perform the traditional surrogacy because of the inclination of gestational surrogacy. It needs proper research, time and financial security to build a family via this type of surrogacy.

• Gestational surrogacy is also called a host or full surrogacy. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate is just a gestational carrier, which limits her role as just being the gestational mother. The practice of gestational comprises a woman known as a gestational carrier who agrees to bear a genetically unrelated child with the help of assisted reproductive technologies.
• Gestational surrogacy is now becoming a very common form of family building approach. It has helped thousands of couples and individuals who wanted to grow their families but were medically unfit. Gestational surrogacy is the most popular type of surrogacy today, in which the surrogate is not related to the baby she is carrying.
• The baby isn’t genetically linked to the surrogate mother in gestational surrogacy. Instead, the embryo is created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) in a laboratory, using eggs and sperms of the intended parents or donors, which is then transferred to the surrogate during a minor medical procedure. In all scenarios, the surrogate does not have any genetic or biological relationship with the child she delivers.
• The surrogate becomes pregnant through in vitro fertilization. In gestational, the egg can also come from a donor. The first gestational surrogacy was conducted in 1985. The surrogate carried the biological child of a woman who had a hysterectomy but had retained her ovaries.
• Gestational surrogacy poses less potential psychological harm to all parties involved because the surrogate is not a biological parent. The cost of gestational surrogacy is generally more expensive, this is due to differences in the medical process as IUI is less expensive than IVF and also, it involves not many medical procedures and fertility treatments. There are many cost factors to be considered when choosing gestational option.
• To be eligible for gestational surrogacy, all the parties involved in this process should follow guidelines to ensure that gestational surrogacy is the appropriate treatment option for both the gestational carrier and the intended parents.  Fees for gestational surrogacy often include – the cost of in vitro fertilization, associated legal and agency fees. Before choosing gestational surrogacy, be aware of the complications involved in this process, share your issues with an experienced professional and discuss about the legal, financial, emotional challenges.
• In gestational surrogacy, the egg is taken from the intended mother or the donor (in case of the intended mother is not in a position to provide a healthy egg) and the sperm from the intended father or the donor ( in case of the intended father is not in a position to provide a quality sperm). Eggs are mixed with the sperm and the embryos are then transferred into the surrogate’s uterus.
•  In gestational surrogacy, only one anonymous donor is used to maintain the genetic relationship with at least one of the intended parents. Anonymous donor arrangement is when the intended parent and donor have no identifying information about each other. With anonymous donors, there is no way for the intended parents or the donor-conceived child to contact the donor.
• The gestational surrogacy process may vary somewhat based on your state’s laws and your individual circumstances. Gestational surrogacy is possible with an embryo from both intended parents, but only in the case of opposite-sex couples. In the case of single parents and gay couples, they have to turn to donors to create the embryo that will be transferred into the surrogate’s uterus.
• The following people might consider gestation surrogacy: Anyone who is not able to safely carry a pregnancy to term, same-sex couples, hopeful single parents, people who don’t want a genetic link between the surrogate and their child, people who have struggled with infertility. In most gestational surrogacy cases, both intended parents are genetically related to their child and the surrogate mother carry the baby as if it were any other pregnancy. In general, the gestational process involves finding a surrogate opportunity, completing legal contracts and transferring the embryo to the surrogate.
• Your surrogacy professional/attorney will help you understand gestational surrogacy laws in your state and help you in simplifying the process. Gestational surrogacy is the least legally complicated form of surrogacy, it allows infertile couples, single parents and members of the LGBT community to complete their families.