If Being a Parent is Important to You, There Are Many Ways to Build a Family
Most people who want to build a family eventually have a family. It isn’t always exactly the way they were planning or on their original timeline. But, if their intentions are there to become a parent, they will become one eventually. When people think about family building, they think about the family they came from and how it was formed. Most families are formed the “natural” way. That is, when the woman gives birth to a child she conceived naturally with her male partner.
The people who come from less traditional families think about two different ways to build a family – naturally and adoption. A high percentage of people who have adoption in their family history end up adopting at least one of their children. However, this doesn’t mean they are looking only at adoption when they want to build a family. If a couple has been trying to conceive the “traditional” way for over a year and haven’t been successful, there are some alternate methods the couple can explore to build their dream family. Some of the more popular methods are:
Fertility Drugs
The most common alternative to reproduction is fertility drugs. These medications help regulate the woman’s reproductive hormones. They trigger the release of one or more eggs in each ovulation cycle. Since ovulation problems are one of the most common reasons for infertility, this is a good first treatment. Fertility drugs are relatively inexpensive and non-invasive.
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
The IUI process is a non-invasive treatment that places the sperm in the uterus, at the base of the fallopian tube. Thus, the sperm has a better chance of meeting the egg. Fertility specialists often use IUI in conjunction with fertility drugs. This assures a woman that there are eggs available for the procedure.
The fertility clinic will wash the sperm before using it for insemination. Only healthy sperm is inserted. Success rates for IUI are between 5% and 20%. Although, It primarily depends on the age of the woman and the condition of her eggs.
Learn more about IUI with RSMC fertility clinic San Diego & Irvine.
In-vitro Fertilization (IVF)
IVF is the next step in fertility treatment process when IUI isn’t successful. IVF treatment process also uses the same fertility drugs. Whereas, instead of trying to fertilize the egg in the woman’s body, the fertilization occurs in a test tube. The woman takes fertility drugs to produce more than one egg at a time.
The washed eggs are then harvested and combined with sperm. Implantation of the produced embryos into the mother’s uterus takes place a couple of days later. Between the time of the egg retrieval and implantation, the woman often takes progesterone. Progesterone helps prepare the uterus for implantation. The chances of success from IVF treatment process depends greatly on the age of the mother. Statistics at RSMC fertility clinic San Diego shows that it ranges from 40% for women 34 and under to 5% for women 43 and over.
Donor Eggs and Embryos
Egg Donation
Donor eggs are eggs that another woman has donated for IVF treatment process. These eggs are healthy, because they come from women under 30. These eggs are mixed with the male partner’s sperm to produce an embryo. The resulting embryo is genetically related to him. The embryo is then implanted into the intended mother’s uterus or that of a gestational surrogate.
Donor Embryos
Donor embryos are embryos that other couples had created while going through fertility treatments. But now that other couple is no longer in need of the spared embryos as their families are complete. Success rates with fresh donor eggs are around 50%, slightly lower for frozen eggs. The success rates for frozen embryos (donor or from a previous cycle) are around 37%.
Find more about frozen eggs and frozen embryos with RSMC fertility clinic San Diego.
Gestational Surrogacy
Gestational surrogacy is when a woman carries a pregnancy for another family. She is impregnated with an embryo that the intended parents produced. It is usually the mother’s egg, or a donor egg, and the father’s sperm or donor sperm. Later she turns the baby over to the intended parents at birth. The gestational surrogate has no genetic link to the baby since the embryo creation did not use her eggs. Gestational surrogacy does not solve egg problems, it solves carrying problems.
However, the age of the egg does determine the chances of pregnancy to continue long enough to lead to a live birth. If the intended mother is using her own eggs, the chances of a live birth range from 50% for women age 34. Whereas, it is under to 11% for women 43 and over. If using donor eggs, the success rate will be around 50% because the eggs come from a woman under 30.
Adoption
There are several ways to approach adoption, from foster care to private adoption to international adoption.
Foster Care
is a good way to meet a child you may want to have join your family. Every county has a foster care system where they match intended parents with a child which they have said they want to adopt. These children are in foster-to-adopt programs. So, they are often not available for adoption immediately but the social workers in charge feel they will be shortly.
Children in these programs range from infants to teens and can also be in sibling groups. One of the major benefits to this type of adoption is that you are provided with a lot of information about the child. You will find every medical report and report on the birth family that the county has collected and they will share it with you.
Private Adoption
when the adoptive parents adopt the child directly from the birth family, is another domestic program that can work well. Since the birth mother selects the family to adopt her child, these adoptions work particularly well for families that look like the kind of family a birth mother wants for her child.
These families are usually 2 heterosexual parents who are middle class and, if they have children, only have 1 or 2. Most families completing a private adoption locate their child through an agency that the child’s birth mother has signed up with. The agency not only matches parents with children, but also makes sure to take all the steps to ensure legal adoption.
International adoption
is when a family adopts a child from another country. Most of these children are wards of the state and adopted out of an orphanage or foster home. These children might have a living parent, but that parent has either had their parental rights terminated or gave them up voluntarily because they can’t take care of their child. International adoption can take a long time because regulations regarding orphaned children in the foreign countries change frequently.
It requires a good amount of time for processing the paperwork in both U.S.A and the sending country. This is why very few internationally adopted children are under one year, however, many are toddlers. An international adoption requires a home study, like any adoption in the US, but also requires a country specific dossier filed in the country they hope to adopt from and a dossier filed with USCIS.
International adoptions are almost all run through a specially accredited adoption agency. One of the advantages of international adoption is that social workers match children with families, the birth mothers do not select the adoptive parents. This makes international adoption a wonderful option for single women, married couples who are older and families with several children.
Conclusion
As mentioned, there are different paths to parenthood, importance of parents. The important thing is to be proactive, especially when you’re dealing with infertility issues. It’s always good to remember that if fertility procedures don’t work for you, there are always other ways to become a parent.
RSMC fertility clinic, San Diego & Irvine, California has helped over 1,000 families start a successful family. As experts in the field of surrogacy, IUI & IVF treatment process, we are armed with more than 100 years of combined experience of infertility treatment. Our team dedicates itself provide you with a fully integrated solution. We stand by your side during your entire surrogacy journey. Visit us at today or call at 858-436-7186 to learn more.
