Belgian woman gives birth to a baby, after transplanting frozen ovary from her childhood !!

A Belgian woman has delivered a baby using transplanted ovarian tissue, which was removed when she was a child.

The woman, who is 29 year old, had severe sickle cell aenemia from childhood and was treated using chemotherapy. Before commencing chemotherapy, the doctors had removed her right ovary and surrounding ovary tissue. Subsequently, the left ovary failed due to the side effects of the  treatment.

After many years, the doctors restored the frozen ovary into the woman. Five months later, the woman started menstruating  and without any ART procedures she became naturally pregnant at the age of 27 and delivered a healthy baby boy.

This brings hope to other women with ovarian problems. But the procedure has risks like. damaging the removed ovary or reintroducing malignant cells at the time of transplant.

Dr. Mani

Surrogacy specialist

GIFT IVF Centre (Director)

drmanisurrogacy@gmail.com    

surrogatemothersinindia.com

Courtesy – BioEdge, Xavier Symons

Cost of Surrogacy in India

                                                

The cost of surrogacy involves many factors. One of the most important factor which determines cost of surrogacy is the availability of human resource. The number of potential surrogates in India is very high compared  to the European and developed countries and comparatively, their remuneration is  low in India. Another  determinant of the cost of surrogacy is  the cost of living, which is also considerably low in India. In India, Kerala is a much sought after place for surrogacy because women are healthy and educated. The maternal and neonatal mortality rate in Kerala  is very low and comparable to UK and USA. The success rate of surrogacy is also quite high in Kerala.

The cost of surrogacy can be further reduced by doing single embryo transfer to surrogates which will avoid  multiple pregnancy( twins or triplets) which is  30 % more expensive. NICU charges are also less for single babies.

Following costs are involved in  Surrogacy :

1.   Recruitment of surrogate mother and donor (if needed)

2.   All legal agreements.

3.   Keeping of  Medical records.

4.   Blood test, scanning and medical check-up for surrogate mother and donor.     

5.   Counseling of surrogate mother, donor and surrogate mother’s husband.

6    Injections and medicines for surrogate mother and donor.

7.   OR  (Ovum pick-up; Oocyte retrieval) & General Anesthesia.

8.   IVF / ICSI Lab charges.

9.   Surgeon’s fee, Embryologist’s fee, Nursing charges, Post / OP ICU charges.

10. Embryo transfer.

11. Food accommodation and travel for surrogate mothers.

12. Regular scanning, blood test in pregnancy.

13. Anti-natal screening for genetic abnormalities - nuchal translucency 

      scan, double marker/triple marker test, 3D/4D anomaly scan, Doppler

      scans, CTG monitoring.    

14. Delivery / Caesarean

15.  Post-natal care of surrogate mother.

16.  Remuneration to the surrogate mother.

Additional costs (which might occur in some cases)

1.   Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET)

2.   NICU Charges

3.   DNA Testing

4.   Multiple pregnancies

5.   Fees for Passport, Citizenship, Visa, Birth Certificate, Exit Visa.

6.   Accommodation and living expenses of biological parents when they are in  

      India

Dr. Mani

Surrogacy specialist

GIFT IVF Centre (Director)

drmanisurrogacy@gmail.com    

surrogatemothersinindia.com

Surrogacy is booming in Nepal, but where are the ethics and moral codes?

                                              

We were all shocked to hear about the natural disaster which happened in Nepal, but another unexpected and devastating news came out amidst this tragedy. Rescue operators saved 26 new born surrogate babies and hundreds of surrogate mothers from the mishap. This incident opened a Pandora's box of what is happening in Nepal in the name of surrogacy. It was revealed that most of these babies belong to Israeli gay couples and the pregnant surrogates were as well carrying their babies. For comprehending this phenomenon, we need to understand the surrogacy laws in Israel and Nepal.

Israel give permission for gay civil unions and surrogacy. But in Israel, only heterosexual couples can  opt for surrogacy. But strangely, the law gives citizenship to babies born to gay couples through surrogacy outside the country. This has prompted a large number of gay couples to look for surrogacy outside Israel. 

Till 2012 India was a haven for the gay couples to get a child through surrogacy. Compared to the European countries, India was a cheap destination for surrogacy. But when the new Indian law which banned surrogacy for gay couples was introduced in  2012, the scenario changed. The focus was shifted to Thailand till the Baby “Gamy” episode and subsequent ban on surrogacy for foreign couples in Thailand.

This changed Nepal into the most sought after destination for surrogacy. But Nepal has some rather strange laws for surrogacy. Surrogacy is allowed for foreign couples, whether heterosexual or gay, it doesn’t make any difference. But for the citizens of Nepal, surrogacy is banned. They cannot be intended parents nor surrogates. Now this is a strange situation, which has been cashed by middlemen in India. Girls from India are transported to Nepal to act as surrogates. After birth, the child gets Israeli citizenship without any difficulty.

But after the devastating quake in Nepal, the rescue flights carried the Israeli babies, but the pregnant mothers carrying the Israeli babies were left in the lurch. The hapless mothers were left to fend for themselves. This caused a word wide uproar and the incident was termed as “Global Shame”

Dr. Mani

Surrogacy specialist

GIFT IVF Centre (Director)

drmanisurrogacy@gmail.com    

surrogatemothersinindia.com

Maternal love does not care “whose EGG” “whose SPERM” !!

                              

This is the story of my patient  Rebecca, (name changed) whose journey to motherhood has enlightened me that motherly love knows no restrictions. She was suffering from severe vaginismus, a physical or psychological condition that makes it almost impossible for a woman to have vaginal penetration, sexual intercourse,  gynecological examinations requiring penetration.

In spite of her medical condition, she got married at the age of 26. Luckily, she had a loving, kind and understanding husband and hence they were coping along very well. He was very co-operative and was compromising his needs and desires for the sake of their  marriage. After 8 years of being together, their craving for a child increased. After a lot of counseling,  IUI  was attempted on Rebecca  through general anesthesia, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Her uterus was also small in size and hence chances of threatened abortion were high.

She was adamant that she wanted to have her own baby, but when the situation was explained to her she realized that the only option left was surrogacy. She agreed to surrogacy on the condition that she wanted to use her own egg  along with her husband’s sperm for the procedure. She was aware of the trauma she will have to undergo for egg collection during OR (oocyte retrieval) with her condition of vaginism. Here also 3 unsuccessful attempts were made as the response to stimulation of eggs was poor. Finally, she relented for donor egg IVF with husband’s sperm and they were blessed with twin babies through surrogacy.

This had happened three years back, recently I was invited to the kids third birthday party. I was dumbstruck at the change in Rebecca. She was all involved and always doting on the children. Her husband told me that she would not allow any servants or nurses to take care of the babies and made it a point to singlehandedly look after the children. Initially, I had apprehensions as to how she would respond to the children since surrogacy was done  with donor egg, knowing how particular she had been of using her own eggs. All my suspicions vanished into thin air, seeing how wonderfully she was taking care of the children.

I distinctly remembered how talkative she was when she first came to me and many a time I would have to strongly bring her to a halt so that I could continue. But now she was not even bothered about anything else and was completely immersed in the activities of her children. I recognized the value of the maternal instinct – once children are born, mothers makes no distinction between own egg or donor egg.

Dr. Mani

Surrogacy specialist

GIFT IVF Centre (Director)

drmanisurrogacy@gmail.com    

surrogatemothersinindia.com

Testimony of a contented father after he got his baby through surrogacy!

S. Sajeev

We got married nine years ago and as with any family we wanted a baby and had been trying desperately with various clinics and methods. Since nothing worked we had to go for surrogacy as all other options were closed for us. After thorough search of surrogacy clinics, we chose Gyno Gift Centre and now we have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy. Though surrogacy does not require much involvement of the intended parents, we were anxious about the surrogate and the mental and physical situation during the pregnancy period. The most interesting thing was we had complete access to communicate with the surrogate mother and full information regarding the tests and scan reports  was updated on a regular basis, that we had no apprehensions and was free during the whole pregnancy period as the surrogate was taken care in the hospital itself. We used to visit the surrogate mother and see her in person -  her health and living conditions. She was staying in the hospital with her two year old child and she was very comfortable as she had no worries or tensions about everyday life since her child’s and her everyday food and nutrition, physical exercise and other needs were taken care of, and she had nothing to worry about. Also she had the company of other surrogates and all in all they were having a merry time. This I was very particular as I know this would affect the mental  situation of my unborn baby and fortunately, I was lucky enough to find Gyno Gift Centre providing all these and I could see for myself anytime the status of my baby and the surrogate.

I would like to thank Dr. Mani and the staff  who were always very helpful I answering all my queries and as I found out from my surrogate -  hospital staff was very friendly and  always available at a beck and call from surrogates in helping them out in anyway. I don’t think I have enough words to thank  you so much for helping us out with a healthy and a happy beautiful baby.

S. Sajeev

Normal baby through surrogacy after a case of Downs Syndrome

On a bleak Monday afternoon, I had an appointment and hence was forced out of bed to the clinic. Here I met 51 year old Rajan, 45 year old Rema and their 15 year old son Rohit. They were silent for a long time after entering my chamber, it was very awkward. I saw the expression of despair on their faces and it was then that I observed that something is wrong with Raju and immediately it struck me – he was a affected with the Down Syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS or DNS), also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is typically associated with physical growth delays, characteristic facial features, and mild to moderate intellectual disability. The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental age of an 8 or 9 year old child, but this varies widely. Down syndrome is the most common chromosome abnormality in humans, occurring in about one per 1000 babies born each year.

Raju and Rema were in tears as they explained their situation. Even though they loved their son dearly, they badly wanted another healthy child. But this was not an easy task, as risk of having a baby with Down syndrome is higher if you already had another baby with Down syndrome. Moreover, their age added to the risk factors.  Researchers have proved that the risk of delivering a downs baby increases for women from the age of 35. Seeing their desperation I sincerely wanted to help them, but I knew it would be a great challenge.

I agreed to help them, but on certain conditions – first being - will try with a healthy donor egg as this will reduce the chance of downs by 50%.  But using the Fathers sperm, there is still another 50% chance that the next baby could also be born with down syndrome. With the modern technology and latest scientific breakthroughs, I decided to go ahead.

Down syndrome can be identified during pregnancy by prenatal screening followed by diagnostic testing, or after birth by direct observation and genetic testing. In this case as we were performing an IVF, there are tests like PGD (Pre-Implantation Genetic Disorders) which can be done even before the embryo is transferred and we can transfer healthy embryos. Prior to this we had also conducted a sperm DNA Fragmentation test to check the quality of sperms and this came out normal, but since we did not want to take any chance PGD was also done. Even after transferring the embryo to the surrogate mother we continued with other tests such as the non-invasive Maternity trisomy 21 test, where a blood sample from the surrogate mother would give the genetic composition of the baby. All tests gave normal results, but still I was more apprehensive than the parents, for I had  assured them a healthy baby.

All through the gestation period (Pregnancy), I was anxious, I had to make sure nothing went wrong and hence regular checkups and tests were done. Ultrasound imaging can be used to screen for Down syndrome. Findings that indicate increased risk when seen at 14 to 24 weeks of gestation include a small or no nasal bone, large ventricles, nuchal fold thickness and an abnormal right subclavian artery, among others. The presence or absence of many markers is more accurate. Increased fetal nuchal translucency (NT) indicates an increased risk of Down syndrome. 

After the delivery, pediatrician checked and conducted tests and scans for the baby to rule out Down’s syndrome. Completely satisfied I handed over a perfectly healthy baby to the happy family.

Since it was a special baby to me I kept checking every 2 weeks, if she was fine. Two months later, I was invited to their palatial mansion in the heart of Bangalore city. It was immensely gratifying to look at the overjoyed parents.  Rohit  had a special gleam on his face when he tried to entertain his little sister Rohini. I felt so proud and contented, while holding little Rohini. 

Dr. Mani

Surrogacy specialist

GIFT IVF Centre (Director)

drmanisurrogacy@gmail.com    

surrogatemothersinindia.com

Letter of appreciation from my Australian patient after surrogacy

Dear Dr Mani,

I take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation, thanks and gratitude, for the genuine hospitality and service you have provided for my family.

You have given our family the most precious, priceless gift in the World a beautiful baby girl.

I was very impressed with your passion, expertise and out most professionalism in the manner you and your wife operate your clinic.  At all times you have demonstrated to me, that you  are not driven by money and greed, because you have a sincere passion, genuine empathy in helping prospective parents becoming parents.

My family experience with you and your clinic has been a very pleasant, memorable and pleasurable experience, which we will remember for the rest of our lives.

I was taken back on how you take extreme care of all your patients, as if they were your own family.  Your staffs have been very generous, professional and very helpful at all times.

Many westerners are dubious in dealing with Indians society, because they are afraid of being swindled with their money, cheated and frustrated dealing with the complicated Bureaucracy governed by India.  This definitely is not the case with you, because at all times you have demonstrated to me your professionalism, integrity, loyalty, honesty and sincere empathy in helping prospective parents, achieve the ultimate gift on earth, which is a child of course.

I am more than happy to discuss with your prospective parents, who are contemplating treatment at your clinic, the pleasant experience we had at your clinic. Also’ I am pleased to highly recommend your clinic to prospective patients and I am hoping that the many other IVF clinics throughout India, will emulate your protocols, high morale’s and principles and sound transparent business practices, in operating their clinics the way you operate your clinic.

Once again, my whole family thank you and lovely wife Anita, down the bottom of our hearts, for taking good care of us while in India and giving us a beautiful gift of life.

Regards

Gerard Sansico

From Victoria - Australia