Surrogacy and Egg Donation. Why Ukraine?

By choosing Ukraine as the destination country for your egg donation or surrogacy program you take an important step and you need to be sure you are making the right decision. Ukraine is the European country. This is true not only when you think of geographical position and comfortable travel options, but what is the most important is that mentality of people is very similar and easily understandable for most of European and American patients. In the BioTexCom you will be given clear answers to your questions, fast feedback on all your enquiries and transparent payments schedule with no hidden costs.

Entering Ukraine does not require visa for EU countries, America and Canada, most of CIS and Scandinavian countries. Ukrainian legislation concerning assisted methods of reproductive medicine is extremely favorable and loyal to the surrogate motherhood and egg donation. Both procedures are legal here and consolidated in the number of legislative acts.

Intended parents (infertile couple) are legal parents of the baby born by the surrogate mother. Only names of intended parents are written in the baby’s birth certificate. Surrogate mother has no right to keep the baby after delivery according to the contract concluded between intended parents and her.

Gender selection is allowed by the Ukrainian legislation as well.

Due to the bans in the most European countries it is very difficult to find European type egg donor who will meet all your requirements and expectations. BioTexCom is the country where you can find needed egg donor, as about 95% of Ukrainian population is European light-skinned type.

Slavic ladies are famous for beautifully regular and slim complexion, and you will be able to find your best egg donor with the help of our great base. Generally patients prefer to choose a good-looking and intelligent egg donor with features the strong and healthy family roots to ensure good genes for the future baby.

BioTexCom is the best choice in order to fulfill IVF, egg donation or surrogacy program. You will find here good prices which are chipper than the European ones. Good price, high level of services, professional doctors with solid experience of work and of course beautiful country with a welcoming friendly people. Welcome to Ukraine and Ukrainian Center for Human Reproduction BioTexCom.     

True facts about pregnancy

Any mother can affirm the fact that being pregnant and having a baby is not an easy work. Morning sickness, terrible back pain – and this is only beginning! During 9 months of pregnancy women became super heroines due to the fact that they can go through all the pain and difficulties. Of course, it is well worth the effort when you see a tiny amazing face and feel his touch. Anyway women who give birth are worthy of respect and proud:

1.      Today, one out of three women in labor goes through caesarean section. 10 years ago this number was three times less;

2.      During the second half of pregnancy child produces more than a liter of urine per day and then drink it;

3.      During the whole period of pregnancy the uterus size which is like a peach at the beginning stretches to the size of half a watermelon, that is 500 times bigger;

4.      When pregnancy come to an end placenta of a pregnant woman produces more estrogen per day than non-pregnant female gonads during three years;

5.      Over fluid and water retention in the body of a pregnant woman can cause foot size increase;

6.      It is possible to bear a child for a year. Record long pregnancy term lasted for 375 days;

7.      High or crummy women have more chances of having twins or triplets;

8.      Pregnant women have sharpen sense of smell. It is a protective mechanism that prevents them to eat something that will be harmful for the baby;

9.      Slight discoloration of the skin during pregnancy and childbirth can be seen in more than 90% of cases;

10.  Fingerprints of the child are formed during the first three months of pregnancy;

11.  From year to year weight of children increases according to the statistics. Babies are born heavier and heavier;

12.  During pregnancy blood flow is increased, so sometimes nosebleeds and bleeding gums can occur;

13.  Studies have shown that fetus can feel a taste of what mother eats. Strong aromas (such as garlic) can seep through the amniotic fluid;

14.  Over the past two decades boys were born more than girls. However, there are still more women than men;

15.  The only scientifically proven way to induce labor is massage of nipples, known as “the comfort technique”;

16.  Babies cry in the womb not because they are upset but to prepare better for their great day;

17.  Mammary glands of pregnant women and new mothers may reflexively produce milk when woman hear sound of any crying child.

Penny wise and pound foolish

Surrogate mothers like cartoon characters Chip and Dale race to rescue. But not with the aim to save the whole world and only infertile couples. It is a natural desire of any person to have children, and especially if it is a long-established family. Infertility diagnosis does not deprive of this desire. Surrogate mothers are a kind of women who have chosen carrying children for other people as a well-paid job. "Looking for a surrogate mother", "Will become a surrogate mother for you", "Surrogacy with guarantee" etc. Today this procedure is so widespread that you can easily find a great number of information you need in the Internet, mass media, and even on the street advertisement board. But as it happens - the greater demand the lower quality. So how to find a good surrogate mother with whom you will not have problems?

The first and fundamental rule for those who want to use services of surrogate mother is to visit only specialized accredited clinics which operate in accordance with relevant rules and regulations of the country in which they function. But it happens so that infertile couples mistakenly think that they can solve this problem on their own and start looking for surrogate mother with the help of internet resources and various ads (http://mother-surrogate.info/beware-of-cheating/). Just such people are the best targets for swindlers! If you think that you can negotiate with surrogate mother and pay for this service the true price it will not always turn out as you want.

Legal clinics check surrogate mothers in details, in particular their physical and psychological health. Carrying out these procedures by yourself you risk missing out on important medical tests or to be had that the surrogate mother had passed all inspections. She cannot pass them at all or just forge the results. The following aspect is an agreement between all sides (in a perfect world these are clinic, surrogate mother and biological parents). In medical centers professional lawyers constitute an appropriate contract which contains all the obligations and rights of all parties. It is all but impossible to do it without specialist’s participation. 

Thus, not taking these items into account you become a perfect victim for the fraudulent surrogate mothers. During pregnancy they can dream up various non-existent problems that will require more money. And after the child’s birth such surrogate mothers may refuse to give the baby until you fulfill all their terms. And these requirements can continue indefinitely while your biological child will grow in someone else's family getting used to other parents. In this case you will not be able to prove your rightness because you have no necessary documents and evidences.

Using the help of a surrogate mother you always have to remember that it is a matter of life and death for you but just a business for some women. And do not think that organizing surrogacy program by yourself you save some money or do it more efficiently. The right and best decision is to choose a clinic with a good reputation and high quality of work. As of quality-price ratio Ukraine, for example, is one of the best countries in which you will find a good service, positive result of the program and an affordable price. In this case, clinic is held fully liable for all stages of the program. Therefore, workers of medical institution are also interested in good result. In addition, going to the center of reproductive medicine you pay a fixed sum and do not run the risk to overpay or pay for nothing, as it happens in the case of an independent search for a surrogate mother.

If you are not a doctor you will not know details of the surrogacy procedure. As a result outside the clinic you can be said that, for example, embryo replanting was made, although in fact it will not be so. Surrogate mother even cannot be pregnant at all, but urging otherwise upon you. In general, as you can see, there are a lot of ways to be hippoed by surrogate mothers. So do not put everything on the line and visit only proven centers of reproductive medicine and do not seek help where there is none of it.

Egg Freezing: 5 Things You Need to Know

The announcement that Apple and Facebook will cover the steep cost of egg freezing for their employees has many people talking about the risks and benefits of the procedure.

Last week, Facebook said it has already started covering egg freezing, and Apple plans to add the benefit next year. Both companies said they would cover up to $20,000 of the cost of the procedure, which can range from $5,000 to more than $15,000, not including the cost of the required medications, which can be thousands of dollars more.

Egg freezing is viewed as a way to thwart a "ticking biological clock" — as women grow older, it becomes more likely that their eggs will have chromosomal abnormalities, which increases the risk of miscarriage and certain disorders, and can make it harder or impossible for women to conceive.
But egg freezing is not a perfect fix. Here are five important facts to know about egg freezing.

Egg freezing is better now than it used to be

Egg cells contain a lot of water, and so when they are frozen, crystals can form that damage their structure. For this reason, the egg-freezing techniques of the past were not as successful as current ones, and were used mainly by women with cancer or other conditions who faced a high risk of losing their fertility from chemotherapy.

A new technique has come around in the last five years, which freezes egg cells so quickly that the crystals do not form. Studies have found that eggs frozen with this new technique, called vitrification, are similar to fresh eggs in their ability to lead to pregnancy (if the eggs are taken from a woman still at a young age). Because of these findings, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) declared egg freezing no longer experimental in 2012.

But it's still not recommended for delaying childbearing

The ASRM now recommends egg freezing for several groups of people, including women who may lose their fertility during chemotherapy. The procedure is also recommended for couples who are undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and are not able to fertilize eggs the same day that they are collected (because sperm from the male partner is not available on that day), and for couples undergoing IVF who have surplus eggs and do not wish for those eggs to be fertilized and frozen as embryos.

However, there is not enough data to recommend that women freeze their eggs for the sole purpose of delaying childbearing, according to the ASRM. Studies are needed on the safety, efficacy, cost effectiveness and emotional risks of the procedure for this purpose, the ASRM said.

"Marketing this technology for the purpose of deferring childbearing may give women false hope and encourage women to delay childbearing," a 2012 report from the ASRM said. "Patients who wish to pursue this technology should be carefully counseled about age and clinic-specific success rates of oocyte cryopreservation vs. conceiving on her own, and risks, costs, and alternatives to using this approach."

Freezing your eggs means a lot of trips to the doctor

There are three main steps to egg freezing: stimulation of the ovaries, retrieval of the eggs and egg freezing.

For the first step, women are given hormones to stimulate their ovaries to produce multiple eggs in one cycle. During this phase, women visit the doctor frequently — sometimes five or six times over a two-week period — to monitor how well the treatment is working. At these visits, doctors view the ovaries with a vaginal ultrasound to look at the maturing eggs, and take blood samples.

In general, it takes about eight to 14 days of hormone treatment before the eggs can be retrieved, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Eggs are retrieved from the ovaries with a suction device that is connected to a needle. Ultrasound is used to guide the needle through the vagina to the egg follicle, according to the Mayo Clinic. The procedure is done under sedation.

During the actual egg freezing, eggs are cooled to subzero temperatures, the Mayo Clinic says.

Egg freezing at younger ages is best

Frozen eggs can later be thawed, fertilized and implanted using IVF.

But the chances for success (pregnancy) are greater if a woman uses "younger" eggs — meaning either eggs she froze in her 20s or early 30s, rather than later on, Dr. Wendy Vitek, a fertility expert at the University of Rochester Medical Center, told Live Science in an interview in June.

"The power in egg banking is that it allows women to have the freedom to keep looking for the right partner, and alleviates that stress that occurs when a woman is in her late 30s and early 40s and hasn't quite found the right person," Vitek said.

Egg freezing is not a not a guarantee for pregnancy

However, a woman who freezes her eggs, even at an early age, still does not have a guarantee for pregnancy later in life. Studies conducted in Europe on frozen (vitrified) eggs from donors under age 30 found that women's pregnancy rates ranged from 36 to 61 percent.

And an online fertility calculator developed by researchers at New York Medical College and the University of California Davis estimates that a woman who freezes 15 eggs at age 30 has about a 30 percent chance of giving birth to a child if she uses these eggs. A woman who freezes 25 eggs at age 30 has about a 40 percent chance of giving birth to a child, the calculator estimates.

Natural pregnancy rates are not 100 percent, either; among couples without fertility problems, 60 percent will become pregnant within three months of trying.
http://www.livescience.com/

Is It Ethical to Choose a Baby's Sex?

Celebrity couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West might not have simply wished for a boy when they found out they were expecting their second child — some sources claim the couple chose their baby’s sex during an in vitro fertilization procedure. The couple is denying the claim, but in any case, is such sex selection ethical, or is it a slippery slope toward designer babies?

Earlier this year, Kardashian and West underwent an IVF procedure in which an egg was fertilized in a lab dish and was then implanted in the uterus, after the couple had trouble conceiving. During this type of procedure, it’s possible for a fertility clinic to screen the embryos and determine their sex, and in the case of Kardashian and West, an unnamed source told US Weekly that the couple had only male embryos implanted. The couple already has a 2-year-old daughter named North.

“Kanye loves [North] more than anything, but to make his world complete, he wanted a little boy, an heir,” the source said. The couple announced this week that they are having a boy, but a spokesperson for the couple said the report of sex selection is false, according to the Daily Mail.

The issue of selecting a baby’s sex is controversial.

Most organizations agree that if the goal of the parents is to avoid certain diseases linked to a child’s sex — such as hemophilia, which occurs mostly in boys — then sex selection is acceptable. But sex selection for nonmedical reasons is dicier, because there are concerns that the practice supports sexism, and that some parents would request a certain sex simply because they want only boys or only girls.

“When you just have preference for one sex over the other, you’re kind of a sexist, as a parent,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. “That seems unacceptable.”

But some parents already have a child and want their next child to be the opposite sex. This is known as “family balancing,” and some experts view it as ethically acceptable.

“What we’re really opposed to in gender selection is sexism, but there, the motive [with family balancing] is almost the opposite — it’s to try to experience parenting both genders,” Caplan said. “I think that probably would pass ethical muster because it’s really trying to respect and celebrate both genders.”

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine does not take a firm stance either way on sex selection, but instead encourages doctors to develop policies for their own practices about whether — and under what circumstances — they will conduct sex selection.

“Practitioners offering assisted reproductive services are under no ethical obligation to provide or refuse to provide nonmedically indicated methods of sex selection,” the ASRM said in a recently released report from the society’s ethics committee.

However, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposes sex selection for the purpose of family balancing. “Although [family balancing] is, in principle, consistent with the principle of equality between the sexes, it nonetheless raises ethical concerns,” a statement from ACOG says.

For starters, it may be hard to ascertain parents’ real motives when they request the sex of their child, because parents are unlikely to tell their doctor explicitly that they prefer one sex to another, ACOG says.

In addition, “even when sex selection is requested for nonsexist reasons, the very idea of preferring a child of a particular sex may be interpreted as condoning sexist values and, hence, create a climate in which sex discrimination can more easily flourish,” ACOG says.

ASRM notes that there are other concerns about nonmedical sex selection, including that the long-term effects of the procedure that is done to determine an embryo’s sex — known as preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) — are unknown.

Some people are concerned that sex selection might represent a “slippery slope” toward choosing other traits in children, like their eye color, height or intelligence. Because sex selection is already practiced, that line has been crossed, Caplan said. But in the future, he added, “I think we are going to have an enormous debate in how far to go” in selecting traits in embryos.

Regardless of the ethics of the procedure, doctors say they are getting more requests for sex selection.

Dr. Tomer Singer, a reproductive endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said he is seeing more and more patients requesting PGS, including for family-balancing reasons. In the last year, Singer saw about 150 patients who used PGS, he said. Most used the procedure to screen for certain diseases or conditions, but a smaller fraction used it for sex selection alone, Singer said.

Currently, couples who want to screen their embryos to determine their sex must pay for the procedure themselves.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that once preimplantation genetic screening will be covered by insurance companies, this will become a much more popular procedure,” Singer said.

But right now, PGS is not the norm — only about 6 percent of IVF cycles done in 2013 involved the technique, Singer said.
www.yahoo.com

First live birth after transplantation of ovarian tissue removed and frozen during childhood

A young woman has become the first in the world to give birth to a healthy child after doctors restored her fertility by transplanting ovarian tissue that had been removed and frozen while she was a child.

A report of the case is published today (Wednesday) in Human Reproduction [1], one of the world’s leading reproductive medicine journals. While there have been reports of successful pregnancies after ovarian transplantation using tissue that had been removed from patients when they were adults, there have been none using tissue taken from girls before puberty and the ability of such immature ovarian tissue to develop to produce mature eggs is unclear.

The patient, who was born in the Republic of Congo, was diagnosed with sickle-cell anaemia when she was five. After emigrating to Belgium at the age of 11, doctors decided that her disease was so severe that she should be treated with a bone marrow transplant, and her brother was able to provide the matching tissue. The procedure requires that the patient’s immune system should be disabled before transplantation to prevent rejection of the bone marrow and this is usually done using chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which can destroy the functioning of the ovaries permanently.

Therefore, before treating her with chemotherapy, the Belgian doctors removed the patient’s right ovary when she was 13 years and 11 months old and froze tissue fragments. She had not started her periods, although there were signs that she had started puberty with breast development when she was 10.

The bone marrow transplant was successful, although the patient developed graft-versus-host disease and had to continue with immuno-suppressive drugs for 18 months after the transplant. Her remaining ovary failed and when she was 15, doctors gave her hormone replacement therapy to induce the onset of menstruation.

Ten years later the patient received counselling after expressing a desire to become pregnant. In order to restore her fertility, doctors led by Dr Isabelle Demeestere, a gynaecologist and research associate in the Fertility Clinic and Research Laboratory on Human Reproduction at Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels, Belgium), stopped the hormone replacement therapy, thawed some, but not all, of the frozen ovarian tissue and grafted four fragments on to the remaining left ovary, and 11 other fragments at other sites in the body.

The transplanted tissue started to respond to her hormones and successfully started growing follicles that contain the maturing eggs. The patient started menstruating five months later and continued having regular menstrual cycles thereafter. Due to the infertility of her partner, she tried assisted reproduction but stopped when the relationship failed. More than two years after the transplantation she became pregnant naturally with a new partner at the age of 27 and delivered a healthy boy in November 2014, weighing 3140 grams (6.9 pounds).

Dr Demeestere said: “This is an important breakthrough in the field because children are the patients who are most likely to benefit from the procedure in the future. When they are diagnosed with diseases that require treatment that can destroy ovarian function, freezing ovarian tissue is the only available option for preserving their fertility.

“However, the success of this procedure requires further investigation in very young, pre-pubertal girls, as our patient had already started puberty even although she had not started menstruating. In addition, the procedure also raises some controversial issues. For instance, because it is an invasive procedure and because the lifespan of the graft is limited, should it be used to induce puberty and menstruation, rather than to restore fertility, when hormone replacement therapy is an efficient, standard, and non-invasive alternative for inducing puberty? Should the procedure only be proposed for patients with a high risk of ovarian failure or for those at low risk as well? We think, at present, that cryopreserved ovarian tissue should be used only for fertility restoration in patients at high risk of ovarian failure, and not for puberty induction or for restoring menstrual cycles in adults.”

The patient’s ovary continues to function normally and her doctors say there is no reason why she could not have more babies if she wants to. “She also has the possibility of undergoing a second transplantation with the remaining frozen tissue if the graft stops working, as we didn't transplant all the ovarian tissue the first time. We have another patient who became pregnant after ovarian transplantation, and she had two babies born after two graft procedures,” said Dr Demeestere.

http://www.eshre.eu/

Ukraine does not know how to build roads but has the best reproductive medicine in the world!

Surrogate motherhood, which is so popular around the world, does not come by Great Britain. Law and legality are the main components of this issue. Because born child, regardless of the method, is to be registered. In 1985 British law stated that legal mother of the child is considered to be a woman who carried and gave birth to him. But in those days practice of surrogate motherhood was not as popular and developed as it can be seen today and laws of the last century did not consider method of reproductive medicine development. In this regard in 1990 this issue was resolved and now child born by a surrogate mother can be recognized as the legitimate child of genetic parents without a court order. 

In fact, only non-commercial surrogacy is permitted in Great Britain (unlike, for example, in Russia and Ukraine, where such programs are legalized and can be conducted both free of charge and for money). In Great Britain biological parents and surrogate mother can enter into an agreement that is made on a legal basis but nevertheless has no legal force. Because of this it is impossible to form a real statistics of surrogate pregnancies in Britain since a lot of such agreements are made without any legal documentation.

Despite the fact that surrogacy can be freely carried out on the territory of the United Kingdom the majority of our residents travel to Ukraine to visit clinic of Reproductive Medicine BioTexCom. Third world country that falls behind European states entices thousands of foreign infertile couples who travel to Ukraine from all over the world. Since the topic of infertility is close to me in fact rather than in word (I've had three miscarriages and reaching the age of 47 years I can not get pregnant) I decided to carry out a journalistic investigation to find out what is this a  mysterious clinic that so fiercely attracts foreign residents.

In one's sleep I found all the necessary information about the BioTexCom center (http://mother-surrogate.info/) and started a chat with the clinic manager (employee who answers all the questions of English-speaking clients and helps to pass the selected program). I retold her story of my own infertility. Lady asked me a few questions concerning medical part, and told me that in my case, clinic can offer me a program of surrogacy with donor eggs. After that she informed me in details about this program. 

When I expressed a desire to come directly to the clinic the manager asked me to send her results of medical tests that I have and conclusion of doctor that I really can not conceive and bear a child in a natural way and for what reason. BioTexCom worker explained me that she will translate all these documents, center’s doctor will examine them and only than I will be said the date of the first consultation.

I did everything that was required and soon I received an invitation to visit a doctor. My husband and I bought a plane tickets, on the appointed date, and with a genuine interest flew in the little-known to us Ukraine. In the capital's airport we were met by the driver of the clinic, he kindly helped us to carry our luggage to the bus and said that we can sit down and wait for an hour because he needs to meet some more patients. In the car we saw another couple who also waited. It was a comfortable car interior with TV set and chairs. Having gathered all patients together the driver carried us. We had to be brought in one of clinic’s accommodation (special hostels for center’s clients). 

On the way there we curiously looked at the views from the window: somewhere it was beautiful, somewhere seedy but it was extremely green everywhere (Kiev is really a city of parks, as it is wrote everywhere) and very "turbulent "! Roads are probably the worst problem of the state of Ukraine. Only after driving from the airport a terrible things began: all the way we were thrown up inside the car, it seemed that we were not on the metropolitan highway but over a plowed field. And despite the fact that both car and driver were very good we came out of it with a "green" faces and rocking a little after such a trip.

Having come to the hotel (Petropavlavskaya Borshchagovka district) we saw not really fresh room in which other clients of clinic lived. Some of them already had newborn children. My husband and I were said that we can settle down and have a rest and the next day we will be taken by the driver to the clinic. In our accommodation we talked to couples who have already become happy parents. They told me that of course conditions and service are not at the appropriate level here nevertheless BioTexCom works wonders in reproductive medicine. 

From the first, second attempt doctor achieves a positive result and parents get so long-awaited children. And the cost of similar services in Ukraine is lower than in Europe where such programs as surrogacy and egg donation are legalized. Therefore, people from all over the world travel to BioTexCom and turn a blind eye to the underdeveloped infrastructure of the country and certain disadvantages in the level of clinic’s service.

So, let's return to our investigation. We were not able to have a normal night's sleep in the hotel. Because there were couples with newborn children, they cried all night and parents went from room to room talking emotionally. Early in the morning we went to the clinic.

In the clinic we were met by the manager with whom I charted online. A pleasant, well - dressed lady, about 27 years old, invited us to sit down and wait. Turning around we did not find free place where we could sit down as clinic is relatively small building and there were a great number of patients! Someone sat on a small couch in the lobby, someone on the stairs near the entrance. 

People spoke different languages: English, German, French, Italian etc. Among them managers could be seen who fluently spoke these languages. We waited for about 1.5 hours until we were invited to see a doctor. During the waiting time we had an opportunity to communicate with some patients and found that specialists of BioTexCom work wonders in the field of reproductive medicine and that’s why foreigners are willing to turn a blind eye to the imperfect service in order to get the status of happy parents of healthy baby (genetically native).

In 1.5 hours our manager finally invited us to the doctor’s cabinet. Communication with him was not so long. The doctor asked questions regarding my and husband’s health. Then doctor reaffirmed a decision that we are recommended surrogacy with donor eggs and wrote out the form on the standard medical tests for my husband (since my genetic material will not be used).

Next our English speaking manager took us to the manipulation room for passing all necessary analyzes. In addition my husband’s sperm was also tested. To get to the manipulation room we also had to wait about 20 minutes because there was a waiting list and nurse all the time was running here and there.

It took us about 3 hours to complete all these elementary procedures whereas in European hospitals all these take about 20 minutes. Oh well. As it is said it gets worse and worse as it goes on. Our consultant explained to us that since this surrogacy program with donor eggs we can immediately sign the contract. Because only after the contract signing and first disbursement (6 thousand Euros), our program will be activated: doctors will start selection of appropriate donor, surrogate mother and their stimulation (using special medicines). Our participation in this process is not required. My husband just has to come to the clinic on the day of puncture (taking eggs from a donor). Since my husband's sperm fertilizes an embryologist donor eggs and within five days of mature embryo transfers performed a surrogate mother.

The fact that BioTexCom produces embryo transfer on the fifth day also speaks volumes. In many clinics such practice are not used and as a result we have many failed IVF attempts. A lot of people are not aware of the fact that the fifth day is the perfect period of embryo and thus more chances for a successful pregnancy.

But, let’s back to our story. Result of my husband’s spermogram was ready in a moment. And we were surprised because he is 54 years old nevertheless his sperm is in a very good condition and fertilize can be made very easily and efficiently.

After our question concerning how fast our program will start manager replied that due to the great number of patients, women who are willing to bear a child is off. So we must wait for about half a year. My husband and I referring to the long- term period of expectation refused and said that maybe we we'll back a little later. The driver took us to the airport at the appointed time and we successfully flew home.

Communicating with people who have already gone through such a serious and complex program as a surrogate motherhood and basing on our own experience it's safe to say that Ukraine really wins in the field of reproductive medicine. And numerous articles in the internet that BioTexCom is a leader using assisted methods of reproductive medicine are justified. In addition Ukrainian prices for such procedures surprise. For example, the surrogacy program will cost you nearly 30,000 Euros. And this price includes everything you might need as a foreigner in a foreign country: driver, translator, accommodation, meal and so on. 

And the most important aspect is that BioTexCom clinic can provide patient with an unlimited number of attempts until successful pregnancy. And let us suppose Ukraine is considered to be a third world country that lags behind other European countries in development by all indicators and has roads as ploughed land but it does not prevent Ukrainian doctors give happiness to people all over the world and help them in such an important issue of a global importance as continuation of human genus.

Freelance journalist

Kerry Chak

IVF for women over 50: pros and cons

In Ukraine, the topical issue of acceptable maximum age of women who want use in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure came up. After the case, when 66-year-old Swiss woman used IVF procedure in Ukraine, and gave birth to twins media war broke out in the world community. According to the Ukrainian law, it is absolutely legal to use assisted methods of reproductive medicine (such as egg donation and surrogacy). 

Because of this, a great number of infertile foreigners come to Ukraine, as in most European countries this sphere is not open enough. In addition, Ukraine has no age limit for the carrying out of such programs. Because of this, the country has become a Mecca for aged Europeans. High level of reproductive technologies, comparatively low prices and loyalty legislation contribute a lot to the medical tourism in Ukraine. 

French legislation, for example, prohibits surrogacy, in Norway and Sweden, use of donor eggs is punishable by law and the German "Act on the Protection of embryos" in general prohibits the transfer of genetically foreign embryos. And all fine and dandy, but 66-year-old mother from Switzerland caused fierce debate in the community. Many experts argue that a woman should not only give birth, but also to raise a child. How could she do this fine, if she is, I'm sorry, Grandma! 

A number of such cases have pushed people's deputies of Ukraine to amend a bill on reproductive technologies and limit the age of women, who will be available for in vitro fertilization, up to 51 years. Ukrainian doctors, in order, assure that these changes will stop the positive development of new technologies, and make thousands of infertile women unhappy. The ex-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, did not support the proposed law, explaining his decision in such way: “proposed consideration of the draft law is not full enough”. Thus, the age of the woman for the in vitro fertilization program remains unlimited in Ukraine. 

Many NGO representatives complain that crowds of women over 50 leave Ukraine with their newborn babies. This is not normal! Thus, for example, Kyiv clinic BioTexCom, one of the leaders in the field of reproductive medicine, annually helps about 200 women over the age of 50 years to have a baby out of the tube. But after the incident with a Swiss woman, authorities threatened clinic direction to deny a license, claiming that its work is immoral: aged clients participant in IVF programs, embryo reduction, etc. 

Yes, all these can be seen in clinic, but due to these, as a result, children are born perfectly healthy, even in the most hopeless cases. Maybe society just needs to look at the situation from the other side. In Europe, there is a common style of life firstly to get a decent education, profession, earn capital, to enjoy your life and only then give birth to successors. 

But we must be in mind that female body, after 51 years can not do this without the help of assisted reproductive techniques. And it is a great fortune that today they have been existing and successfully developing. Such technologies help a lot of desperate couples go through the happiness of fatherhood and motherhood. 

Community just needs to look at this issue from the other side and slant on the question more modern, considering all trends of the 21st century. Also do not forget the fact that if woman decides to take such a step, it means that she has a serious reason for it and it would be better to consider the state of her health, financial situation and other factors in each individual case, but not her age. 

Why, for example, a weak half of humanity must work for the country’s benefit (meaning the retirement age), but have no right to give birth? In a word, the issue of reproductive medicine, as all others, has both pros and cons. But let's not forget the fact that humanity is evolving and the world changes over time. And it is important to take into account these changes.

  

Money has no smell. Reality of Turkish Medicine

(Story from victim's own lips)

One woman, resident of Turkey, used methods of reproductive medicine. She told us her harrowing story of how she and 13 ill-fated women fell into hands of unscrupulous doctor who raises high money making families unhappy.

“Our family had faced with the challenge of child’s conception therefore my husband and I decided that IVF procedure is our unique and probably the last chance to become a parents. Theretofore, we tried hard; in particular we had been visiting doctors and used different methods but all our attempts were unsuccessful. During our attempts (these are 7 years of fruitless efforts) we spent a good deal of money, went to the both physical and psychological efforts. IVF procedure is rather expensive and we are simple, average family. Therefore, before contacting a doctor we had to save in our everyday life in order to accumulate the required sum. But, we did it with the thought of our future child.  Because bright advertising of reproductive medicine clinics confidently promise positive result. And finally collecting needed sum we went for consultation being in a good mood and waiting for a certain miracle. 

In the medical institution we passed all the necessary examinations, tests and we were told that in a couple of days clinic’s worker will contact us and invite to visit a doctor. Frankly speaking during these days we were so excited that could not work, eat and sleep normally. In some days we had the second meeting with our doctor and he said us all the results are normal and we can participate in the IVF program. When I asked him about the chances and guarantees he briefly replied that everything will be o.k. and we will certainly have positive result. After that there was a procedure of stimulation. I also went through it under doctor’s control. During stimulation I took a strong hormonal drug "Progenova". 

And then I was sent to Greece for the IVF procedure. As a result it turned out that there were 14 women (after stimulation as I was) who were gathered in one group and sent to Greece. There we lived in one hotel. On the one hand we were pleased that we had an opportunity to support each other and it was a little easier that in a foreign country you had your fellow citizens next to you. Passing the IVF procedure (It was rather difficult physically and morally and only thought about the future child helped) I came back home. 

Being in the hotel we all exchanged phone numbers and agreed to get in touch by phone, share results and in general continue our communication. But later it turned out that all of us (14 patients!) had the same negative result... At first I was just in shock and felt tremendous confusion but when I got to know that no one of us got pregnant my thoughts were about doctor. I phoned him in tears asking how and why such a thing could happen. But he answered calmly that it happens so and there is no his guilt. He also added that frozen donor eggs are not always of a high quality and as for the fresh material it is not easy to get it as there are no donors in Greece.

I started to look for information about the frozen oocytes in the internet and realized that the doctor tactfully concealed the fact that frozen eggs is almost a guarantee of failure procedure. Many countries use such method earning money but without positive result for patient. Among a number of articles I also find this one (http://newseurope.info/?p=12513)

But it was too late ... we spent all our money, health and psychological state were in awful condition. I cried day and night, in secret from my husband not to upset him more. When I saw on the streets small children my heart just broke. And one day my friend invited me to go shopping. I thought it will be useful for me and I will be able to forget about troubles but when friend started to visit children's shops and choose things for her year-old daughter I went off into hysterics. I just imagined that if not quackery of the doctor now I could also choose clothes and toys for our baby...

Getting back to normal emotional state and gathering money for another one attempt we decided to try once more. My husband found in the Internet Ukrainian clinic that works exclusively on fresh oocytes and guarantees 100 % success. We also found people who have already used services of this center and they told us that doctors of this clinic just work wonders and use unique methods of treatment. I had already sent them my information and Ukrainian specialists answered they could help me. I look forward to a personal meeting with the doctors of the Ukrainian center”.

       

Judge calls on NSW Police to investigate commercial surrogacy case where baby was left in India

MARK COLVIN: One of Australia's most senior judges says New South Wales police should investigate a case where a twin boy born via a commercial surrogacy deal was left in India.

This evening the ABCs Foreign Correspondent program will air further revelations about the case, including details about the identity of the Western Sydney-based couple who left the healthy boy while returning to Australia with just his sister.

The case unfolded with the full knowledge of Australian High Commission staff in New Delhi and Government officials in Canberra.

South East Asia correspondent Samantha Hawley reports.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The twins were born the November the 27th, 2012 at one of the most expensive women's hospitals in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

An in-depth investigation by the Foreign Correspondent program will reveal the healthy babies were separated after the Western Sydney-based Australian parents returned to home with just the baby girl, leaving the boy behind.

It's a case that's shocked some of Australia's most senior judicial figures, including the Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court, John Pascoe.

JOHN PASCOE: I would have thought also that Australia has some obligation to track down and look after the welfare of the child that has been left behind.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The couple told High Commission staff they couldn't afford both children and wanted a girl, and that close family friends would adopt the boy.

Although Australian officials later discovered the Indian couple who took the boy were not close family friends as they'd been told.

The biological father of the children is a corporate accountant with a multinational firm.

Until recently his wife also ran her own child care business.

Judge Pascoe says they broke the law in New South Wales where it's illegal to enter into commercial surrogacy arrangements.

JOHN PASCOE: And I would imagine there'd be a number of reasons why the police should be involved and obviously the welfare authorities as well.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: In India too senior legal figures are concerned.

Senior counsel in India's Supreme Court, Shekhar Naphade tells the program he wants the couple to be charged with child abandonment in India.

It's an offence in India he says punishable up to seven years in prison.

The Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says the child was formally adopted in India.

The Indian surrogacy doctor for the Australian couple has told Foreign Correspondent up to four embryos may have been implanted in the surrogate mother and the Australians never made clear that they wanted just one child.

The Chief Justice of the Family Court Diana Bryant says she was told by distraught High Commission staff in New Delhi that money had allegedly changed hands between the Australians and the Indian couple who took the child, which if true amounts to child trafficking.

She's among those calling for an inquiry into the surrogacy industry.

DIANA BRYANT: I think there are a number of different things that we could do.

I have suggested that legalising commercial surrogacy in Australia is one of them, but there are other things that could be done as well.

I know not everybody supports that but an inquiry enables all the views to be put forward and discussed.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The twin boy left in India is entitled to Australian citizenship but it has never been applied for.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says his welfare is a matter for India.

The Australian Federal Police say they have never been asked to look into the case.

A spokesman for the Attorney-General George Brandis says an inquiry into surrogacy is being considered.

This is Samantha Hawley reporting for PM.
http://www.abc.net.au/

'When I got pregnant at 44, I felt so grateful but also guilty over my good luck'

As her new novel hits shelves, actress and writer Meera Syal tells Hannah Stephenson about becoming a parent again in her forties and how humour helped her beat the childhood bullies.

The subject of older mothers inevitably arises in conversation with Meera Syal, who had her son Shaan at 44, and whose latest novel features an older woman and her younger husband going to great lengths to have a child.

Yet, The House Of Hidden Mothers is not autobiographical. The main theme is surrogacy - the route the fictional couple follow to India - and the relationship that develops between them and the surrogate. The idea was inspired when The Kumars At No 42 star watched a documentary about an Indian surrogacy clinic.

"I had no idea at that point that the Indian surrogacy industry was the biggest in the world and unregulated. It was the image of this row of Indian women in saris in a dormitory, all heavily pregnant and waiting to give their babies away, that really moved me," she says.

Syal's own situation was very different to that of her characters. She married her Goodness Gracious Me co-star Sanjeev Bhaskar in 2005 and fell pregnant soon afterwards.

"I was very lucky. I just got pregnant immediately," says the 53-year-old writer and actress, who already had a daughter, Chameli, from her first marriage to journalist Shekhar Bhatia.

"And that actually wasn't easy, because I had a couple of close friends who were going through infertility problems. I remember not being able to tell either of them for some time because I felt grateful for my own good luck, but so desperately guilty."

During her research, she spent a lot of time with a couple she found who'd had two children via Indian surrogates - "That was the most valuable part for the emotional journey" - and admits she now has mixed feelings about the process.

"I'm really quite divided about it. I can sit here with my two children and say, 'It's wrong, it's exploitative, no one beyond 45 should even think about it', but then I'm not that woman, or that man," she says.

There are pros and cons to being an older mother, she reflects. "It's tougher in some ways and easier in others. Tougher because you just don't have the energy you once had. The sleepless nights are torture. You feel like you're in some kind of seventh level of hell that no one else can understand.

"I had a son who didn't sleep through the night for two years, whereas my first child slept through from six weeks. Go figure. It's just the luck of the draw.

"But, on the other hand, you are more solvent. I could afford the kind of childcare that kept me sane that I couldn't afford the first time around. You're a bit more relaxed about things, you don't feel obliged to join in with every mother's group that you do on your first one.

"Where it becomes darker is thinking, 'I'm not sure if I'm going to see grandkids from this child' and that makes me really sad. My children have had both sets of grandparents for a long time and it's been a really brilliant thing in their lives. Those are the long-term things that get you a bit."

In the novel, the woman's older daughter, who's 19, does not take kindly to her mother using a surrogate to have another baby.

Chameli was 13 when Syal fell pregnant with Shaan. "She found it quite difficult at first, because she'd had me all to herself. There's also that thought, 'Er, my mother's been having sex!' But that didn't last long, because once babies arrive, they're gorgeous and it all changes. I'm really glad that my children have each other," she says.

Her daughter still lives at home, as do most graduates, Syal observes. "Everyone I know is digging out their basement, or their loft. Everyone is becoming Indian and doing the joint family thing now. We're just feeling a bit smug, going, 'Yep, told you - that's the way it works'."

It's one thing being an older mother, but playing Bhaskar's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars was a joy, she recalls, although there are currently no plans to bring back the spoof chat show featuring a fictional British-Indian family.

"We loved that show," she says, nostalgically. "I love it when you get parts where you don't have to worry about whether your stomach's hanging out, or if you've got a wrinkle. Pile it on. Just make me look as bad as I can possibly look!"

She and Bhaskar will be creating more laughs together, however, as they collaborate on a Goodness Gracious Me special to be shown in September, during the BBC's India season. She's unsure whether it will return as a series.

"There's always interest hovering around, but it has to be the right thing. I think there'll probably be some hybrid of Goodness Gracious Me before The Kumars. There are certainly plans afoot to do something with the Goodness Gracious Me team," she says.

Born in Wolverhampton to Punjabi parents, who left Delhi for a brighter future in the UK, Syal used her humour as a defence mechanism to appease the bullies. "If you ask a lot of comedians, they say they developed a quick tongue because if you make someone laugh, they're not going to punch you in the face."

She says everyone encountered racism in that generation. "It was just part and parcel of daily life, but we hid a lot of it from our parents, because we knew they were going through their own stuff and we didn't want to worry them.

"When I was growing up, people hadn't seen anybody that looked like us. People tried to bully me, but I was too tough. I was a right old Midland wench."

She graduated in drama and English from Manchester University and found acting roles during the 1980s, as well as presenting the magazine show Sunday East for the British-Asian community.

Her career took off in the 1990s, as she starred in the radio series of Goodness Gracious Me, which later transferred to TV, and then The Kumars.

Awarded a CBE in May for services to drama and literature, Syal says: "I was surprised, but the reaction of my parents made me realise how much it meant to them. For them, their children's future and success is the reason they came to this country. It's some sort of symbol that the sacrifice was worth it."

She used her experiences growing up in the West Midlands for her first book, Anita And Me, which was later adapted for the screen and is now on the English literature GCSE syllabus, and found further acclaim with her second book , Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee.

Having recently finished a nine-month run at the National Theatre in Behind The Beautiful Forevers, it's now her husband's turn to pursue his career, as he goes off to rehearsals for an Anthony Horowitz play, Dinner With Saddam. That's how they manage family life - when one works, the other stays at home.

"We tag-team it a bit. We don't do theatre at the same time, because both of you being out of the house six nights a week is not fair. When one of us is doing theatre, the other will try and get screen work.

"It doesn't always work that way - I've just turned down two really lovely theatre jobs because Sanjeev's doing a play soon and it's his turn. Much as I grit my teeth, that's what we agreed."

So, is there as much laughter at home as the couple have created on screen?

"Bitter, hollow laughter," Syal says, dryly. "No, really, I think a sense of humour is one of the great glues of any relationship. Frankly, life is so absurd, you've got to laugh, or you'd cry."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/

Want more babies? Give us homes - and the right men!

Are you sitting comfortably? Then’ll I’ll begin. Aaaargh. Just aaaargh. Please stop all the lectures about declining fertility. They are about as relevant to today’s women as an old episode of Listen With Mother.

It’s a fertility apocalypse out there, says last week’s annual meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Lisbon. Women are leaving it too late to try for a baby and then being shocked when either Mother Nature or science fails to deliver.
The British Fertility Society has waded in by claiming middle-aged celebrities who produce ‘miracle’ babies without confessing to IVF, surrogacy or a donor egg are misleading fans into thinking they, too, can start a family in their 40s.

I’m not sure I agree. I don’t know any sane woman who looks at Laura Linney (a son at 49), Geena Davis (twins at 48), Holly Hunter (twins at 47) or Cheryl Tiegs (twins at 52) and thinks: ‘Now there’s a plan.’

For that would suggest the two best educated, most emancipated generations of women in history, the Gen Xs and their younger sisters the Millennials, don’t understand you can have a baby in your teens, 20s and 30s but your 40s are a bit of a gamble. And actually, I think they do.

There’s a lot to say about why women are postponing motherhood but a lack of biological nous, as claimed by the medical community, is not the killer issue.

We should talk instead about the eye-watering cost of getting on the property ladder and the near impossibility of doing so in London.

Women can’t buy a home in which to nest until they have saved up a big enough nest egg.
We should also talk about the crushing expense of childcare, some of it offered by people with fewer qualifications than if they’d gone into animal husbandry.

How can the average woman afford to have a family if she can’t cover the cost of going back to work afterwards?

And then there’s hardcore corporate culture still found in the British workplace.
Blue-chip employers still tend towards presentee-ism (the old jacket over the back of the office chair job) and not output as a measure of performance.

Maternity leave and the family-friendly option of working flexibly from home remain a bar to motherhood for the truly ambitious.

Add to this list the fact that not every woman who’d like to become a mum meets a man who’s dad material, and that even if she does, male sperm counts are flatlining.

The ESHRE conference heard that only one in four men today has good quality sperm.
Fifteen per cent have such poor sperm they’d need assisted reproduction to become fathers.

So it’s not all about Eve. Listen With Mother died of old age in 1982. It’s time these finger-wagging fertility lectures were switched off, too.

Today’s women watch TED talks, run multinational corporations and bits of the Free World, and are looking for a cure for cancer. They know how to have a baby in time. They get the biology, so don’t nag.

Make it easier for Gen Xs and the Millennials to buy a house, take a career break and find affordable childcare and I promise they’ll breed like rabbits.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Surrogacy today

At a purely spiritual level, how very messed-up and complicated must be the Karma between the adoptive parents and the surrogate mother and the baby, asks RUBY LILAOWALA.

I recently saw a documentary film, titled, ‘Womb On Rent’, which portrayed the emotional journey of a surrogate mother from India. Right from the day she signs a bond that puts her womb on rent, through her nine months of bonded labour. The film shows the travails of a woman from the economically weaker section of society who obviously agrees to become a surrogate mother for money; the risks she takes and her travails through the nine months. Let me make it clear that though she signs some bonds, the law in our country is not at all clear on various aspects of surrogacy.

Dr. Gautam Allahbadia, a medical director specializing in IVF, says: “One in five couples globally have difficulty in conceding a baby, and the number of couples seeking medical help to have a family has risen dramatically.” Our lifestyle, stress levels and diet all play a role in couples not being able to have a baby. More women, than ever work in offices and factories than ever before, and for economic reasons choose to delay starting a family until established in their careers. This leads to fertility problems. However advances in medical treatments make it possible for many more couples with fertility problem to conceive a baby.

Over the last few years, surrogacy has become a viable option, with a lot of people including Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan and others using surrogates to complete their families. Yet, surrogacy remains one of the least talked-about tools in the struggle with infertility. Some people do not understand what exactly surrogacy is and come out with ridiculous comments. Like the recent controversy involving international designer duo of Dolce and Gabbana, where one of them used the terms: “chemical children” and “synthetic babies” sparked a debate in many countries.

Celebrities took to social media to express their displeasure at the comment. People from across the world raised their voices in protest at the comment and the most telling one was one from the international film-star and performer, Madonna, who wrote: “All babies contain a soul however they come to this earth and their families. There is nothing synthetic about a soul! So, how can we dismiss IVF and surrogacy?”

There are a lot of people in this world who want to be parents, and today, technology can make it happen, whether through IVF or surrogacy. Many years back, people who could not have children would have to come to terms with it and move on or go in for adoption. The question is do you really want to experience the joys of parenthood? If you are really keen, the little soul will find its way to you – either through your womb, or someone else’s. But what if after carrying the child for nine months, the surrogate mother gets emotionally attached to it and refuses to part with the baby? Or what if the baby is born with a terrible physical or mental defect and the adoptive parents refuse to accept the child? The surrogate mother will be in a terrible dilemma. What are the legal rights of such a child?

Also, it is illegal to sell a man’s kidney as a source of income but a woman’s womb can be rented. Why? Just because it belongs to a woman? At a purely spiritual level, how very messed-up and complicated must be the Karma between the adoptive parents and the surrogate mother and the baby? Who does the baby really belong to? The giver of life or the parents who buy a baby to satisfy their parental-instincts? And if the baby has a defect at birth, how can adoptive parents refuse it and ask for another healthy surrogate mother?

Finally, how much money exchanges hands when a surrogate mother is chosen? It is very obvious from the documentary film I saw that the major share is taken by the agencies who fix this whole thing and the poor woman who delivers the child is the least paid and that too after a delay and several reminders. It is really a sad state of affairs. Of course all surrogate mothers do not necessarily go through a bad experience but unless there is a proper law and compulsory legal agreement, vetted by the State or some Medical Council, the chances of surrogate mothers receiving a poor deal are definitely high.
http://www.freepressjournal.in/