Top 10 Surrogacy Terminologies For Intended Parents

Top 10 Surrogacy Terminologies That Every Intended Parent Should Know

Gestational surrogacy is an arrangement in which the surrogate mother agrees to bear a child for another person or persons who will be named as the intended parents of the child. The intended parents will become the legal parents of the child after birth. You may have known this by now. But there are other things as well that you might not know – some terminologies related to surrogacy. So, in this article, we will discuss briefly surrogacy terminologies for intended parents before going through the process of surrogacy. Don’t worry! we are here to help you out.

People may try a surrogacy arrangement when pregnancy is medically impossible, when a single man or a gay couple wishes to have children or when the risk of pregnancy is too dangerous for the intended mother, Surrogacy is one of the reproductive aided technologies.

Here are some of the most used terminologies in the surrogacy process:

#1. IUI (Intrauterine Insemination)

Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) is a procedure for fertility that involves inserting sperms within the uterus of a woman to promote fertilization. IUI’s goal is to increase the number of sperm entering Fallopian tubes and thereby increase fertilization chances.

IUI offers a benefit for the sperm by giving it a head start but also takes a sperm to enter and fertilize the egg alone. Compared with In Vitro fertilization it is a less invasive and less costly choice.

#2. IVF (In vitro fertilization)

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a complex set of treatments that are used to help with pregnancy or avoid genetic defects, and to assist with a child’s conception.

Mature eggs are recovered from ovaries during IVF and fertilized in a laboratory by sperm. The fertilized egg known as an embryo is then moved to a cervical womb. It takes about three weeks to complete an IVF cycle. Such steps are often divided into various sections and can take longer to complete.

More resources for infertility treatment topics: 

All about the IVF Process

Difference between IVF and IUI

#3. IP (intended parents)

IP stands for intended parents. Intended parents mean a couple who enter into an arrangement with a surrogate in which they will be the parents of any child born to the surrogate through assisted reproduction regardless of the genetic relationships between the surrogate, intended parents, and the child.

#4. ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies)

ART stands for Assisted Reproductive Technologies. It contains all fertility therapies that manage both the eggs and embryos. ART procedures usually include extracting eggs from the ovaries of a woman, mixing them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the body of the woman or transferring them to another woman. These may NOT involve therapies in which only semen is treated or procedures in which a woman takes medication only to induce the development of eggs without getting eggs retrieved.

Read more:

How to improve the IVF success rate?

What to do after failed IVF cycles?

#5. BETA (Beta human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG))

It is a blood test used to find out the pregnancy in the woman. Beta human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a hormone released during pregnancy by the placenta and is usually found in the blood. A beta HCG test is a blood test that is used to diagnose pregnancy, which is usually positive at the time of the first missed day. The BHCG test involves a small blood tube, which the doctor can take from a vein. These HCG levels can be used to determine the progress and how the baby is developing.

#6. ED (Egg Donor)

ED stands for Egg donor – For those who cannot use their eggs, egg donor IVF is a fertility treatment choice. The success rates for egg donor IVF are strong, particularly when using a screened egg donor. Although egg donor IVF means that the intended mother is not genetically related to her child, it is intended that the father is. Egg donors are well compensated for the egg they provide to the intended parents. For egg donors, it is about fulfilling the dream of the others to have a baby which is much more than satisfactory as compared to money.

Read more about egg donation:

How to choose an egg donor?

All about IVF with egg donation

#7. ET (Embryo Transfer)

ET stands for Embryo Transfer. Transfer of embryos is necessary where natural conception is not an option. The last part of the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is embryo transfer. Fertility drugs are used during IVF to induce the ovaries into producing healthy eggs. Then these eggs are removed from the ovaries of a woman and fertilized in a laboratory. Once the fertilized eggs have grown, they transfer the embryos to the woman’s uterus. The embryo must then bind itself to the wall of its womb or uterus for a pregnancy to begin.

#8. HPT (Home Pregnancy Test)

HPT stands for Home Pregnancy Test. HPTs are used to identify whether a woman is pregnant or not. It is what it sounds like. It is used to determine the positive and negative results. Right steps can be taken after using HPT to confirm the pregnancy with the help of the BETA test.

#9. GC (Gestational Carrier)

GC stands for a gestational carrier. A GC is used when an intending parent wants to have a child and either has no uterus or a medical condition that would safely preclude a pregnancy from being carried. A gestational carrier often referred to as a gestational surrogate, is an arrangement where a woman carries and delivers a child to intended parents. The eggs used to produce the embryos by using a GC do not belong to the carrier. The procedure involves the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) as the eggs must be extracted from one individual and inserted into another.

More topics on surrogacy terminologies for intended parents:

 How does surrogacy work?

What is the actual surrogacy cost with a breakdown?

Top 4 cheap surrogacy countries that intended parents should know

#10. CD (Cycle Days)

CD refers to the cycle days. The cycle here is the menstrual cycle. CD1, CD2, etc means the first day of your cycle or the second day of your cycle. CDs are tracked to ensure that corrective measures are taken at the right time for a successful pregnancy. For example, some hormone needs to be injected into the woman on particular cycle days to ensure a successful pregnancy.

Conclusion

Therefore, the surrogacy terminologies for intended parents will help them to seek and understand the surrogacy journey.

If you’d like to learn more about IVF, Egg Donation, or surrogacy services globally, check out the rest of our website at  IVF Conceptions. We offer legally secure and affordable surrogacy consulting services for FREE.