PRINTA surrogate's story
April 26, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Some women say their experiences as surrogate mothers are relatively free of the psychological hassles that adoptive birth mothers, such as Danielle Morris, have been dealing with.
“I think it’s different from adoption because the babies aren’t related to me at all,” says Susan Bitner, a Mexico, Mo., resident with two children of her own, who recently carried twins for a New York couple who were unable to conceive.
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Although the emotional challenges might differ, a surrogate birth mother must undergo extraordinary physical preparation to make sure she’s not genetically linked to the child she is carrying.
First Susan took four weeks of shots meant to induce chemical menopause, which was followed by in vitro fertilization, ensuring that no trace of her meiotic DNA would be present to contribute to that of the sperm. Then, in her case, an embryo created by an anonymous donor egg fertilized with sperm from the expectant couple was implanted inside Susan with a catheter. The fertilization, in turn, was followed by two weeks’ worth of progesterone, a hormone that occurs naturally in the placenta and strengthens the uterine lining, as well as an additional 10 weeks of progesterone once the pregnancy took.
“The needles are really big,” she says. “I was deathly afraid of needles before this process. I swear now you could stab me in the heart with one, and I’d be fine.”
In fact, the experience was so hassle-free that Susan is in the beginning stages of negotiating a second surrogacy contract. She says that the prospective parents had to take out a health policy and that all her medical expenses are paid but she receives no direct compensation for being a surrogate mother. “I love to help people,” she says, quickly adding “I’m addicted to pregnancy, I guess. I really like it.”
Ultimately what separates Susan’s experience from Danielle’s is the fact that the decision to carry a child for someone else precedes pregnancy, and Susan has the assurance that no genetic link will exist between her and the child. Surrogacy comes with the kind of built-in emotional distance that Danielle has been striving to attain for nine months.
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