Introduction
Can you be a surrogate after menopause? Older ladies can be surrogates even though most people think they cannot. The requirements for becoming surrogates are so strict, though. That is why most people assume surrogacy is a younger woman’s affair. Those who have reached menopause and plan to become surrogate mothers should not worry.
While they have naturally stopped menstruating, doctors can use modern technologies to make them surrogates in old age. Remember a surrogate chooses to carry a pregnancy for someone unable to get pregnant. Why would an older woman want surrogacy? Let us discover this below.
Understanding Surrogacy Requirements?
Can you be a surrogate after menopause? Women who wish to become surrogates must meet the eligibility criteria of the US Surrogacy Law. These women’s reproductive ages matter, as they cannot go beyond 43 years. The youngest surrogate in the USA should be 21 years old. Thus, anyone outside the 21 to 43 age bracket cannot become a baby carrier legally.
Another crucial requirement is having a previous full-term pregnancy of 37 weeks or over. You must prove that this pregnancy was healthy and the childbirth was safe. If you have had six babies before, you cannot qualify to become a surrogate. It is so because the sixth delivery should be your last healthy and safe pregnancy.
So, can you be a surrogate after menopause if you have had C-section deliveries? After fulfilling these two major eligibility requirements, you should have only three previous C-Sections. If yours are more than this, consider yourself unable to become a surrogate. The next requirement is about your BMI. It must be thirty-five or below.
Many IVF hospitals go for a BMI of 32. Next, you must live in any USA state that supports surrogacy. Being financially stable is crucial because you cannot expect to survive on compensation money. Gestational surrogacy has even stricter requirements besides age. The woman should be healthy to be safe during pregnancy and to ensure the baby makes it.
She should not have a record of gestational diabetes that required medication usage. The woman should be psychologically healthy with no psychiatrist diagnosis. There should be no report showing they were on drugs or alcohol previously. She should be ready to carry two fetuses or abort the pregnancy if necessary. Most IVF clinics will want you to get pregnant by forty-four years old or younger to increase your success rates.
How Menopause Affects Reproductive Health?
Can you be a surrogate after menopause? Menopause marks the end of your reproductive age. Most women experience menopause between 45 and 55 years old. If you are over 45 years old, your body may be undergoing menopause already. It will be harder to get pregnant naturally and to carry a baby to term at your age.
Menopause ends your periods. Once you wait for your period for twelve months, you will start the postmenopausal stage. Menopause lowers your reproductive hormones so low that it causes sickness in some victims. After menopause, you cannot bleed or get pregnant naturally.
Low estrogen levels will instead cause you to gain belly weight, lose hair, and suffer from vaginal atrophy and related conditions.
Your ovaries will stop generating an ovum every month. That means you cannot ovulate and conceive if you have sexual intercourse with your partner. You cannot have premenstrual syndrome or other hormonal changes that most women within the reproductive age encounter. Can you be a surrogate after menopause then? You cannot carry a couple’s child naturally because you are infertile.
Menopause makes you infertile and unable to conceive naturally. The only way out is to start hormone replacement therapy. HRT will prepare your uterine wall for the implantation of the ovum. Can you be a surrogate after menopause with IVF? While doctors have demonstrated this complicated process successfully; it may not work for every postmenopausal woman. Thus, have your surrogacy doctor examine you and tell you if you make a good IVF candidate.
Is Surrogacy Possible After Menopause?
Can you be a surrogate after menopause? How possible is that? Many surrogacy agencies will not accept you because of your age. The agency that will accept doing IVF on you will first listen to your reasons for conceiving a child after menopause. Surrogacy is a complicated procedure by nature and even more when during post menopause.
At her age, she is way past her fertile years and could still be facing some menopause symptoms. She is at risk of developing age-related degenerative diseases and her body is no longer that fit. She may be overweight after gaining fat involuntarily due to menopause or post-menopause.
In her case, having a baby is dangerous and will often lead to a C-section. If she had her children by surgery, and they are more than three, she gets another reason to disqualify her. If healing a Caesarian Section wound at a younger age is difficult, how many times more at an older age?
Can you be a surrogate after menopause?
Legally, you cannot because you will break every surrogacy law and requirement to have a baby for someone else. That would be immeasurable love you would have for them. However, some families agree a mother or a mother-in-law to help her son or daughter who cannot give birth have a baby.
Even while considering that your safety and that of the unborn child are at risk, the IVF doctor might agree to grant your family’s wish. You will act as an independent surrogate who faces no laws. But can you be a surrogate after menopause? Nevertheless, their decision would also depend on your health condition and ability to carry a baby for nine months.
If it is harder to get a younger surrogate pregnant, how much harder would it be for a post-menopausal woman? She can still get pregnant, but the process is more expensive, longer, and dangerous. Her natural estrogen and progesterone levels already decreased, and she may have to do hormone replacement therapy to prepare her womb for a pregnancy.
She is infertile, and it is impossible to conceive a baby through sexual intercourse. An older woman who wishes to get pregnant for someone else will undergo IVF treatments. These might be hard on her aging body even if she is a healthy woman with a BMI below 35%. The doctor might use her eggs if she had frozen them while young or got some from a donor.
Can you be a surrogate after menopause? As each surrogacy journey varies, first talk to your surrogacy professional. They will request to know your medical background, check your drug and alcohol use record, and ask if you have a supportive family member like a husband who can care for you. Is this caregiver a criminal or a drug abuser?
Can you be a surrogate after menopause? Even if you are willing to assist a couple in your life, your surrogacy professional might refuse you to carry a pregnancy after menopause because of the health risks you would pose to yourself or the baby.
Pros and Cons of Post-Menopausal Surrogacy
Can you become a surrogate after menopause? It is a tough decision to make. A woman in her late fifties offering to give birth again sounds astonishing. The advantage of becoming a surrogate mother at her age is that she will put a smile on somebody’s face. Couples who cannot have kids naturally or with IVF endure extreme stress.
Choosing to have a child for them without considering the damage you would cause to your postmenopausal body would be a memorable sacrifice. They would hold a baby just because you did not mind the pain and the discomfort that come with pregnancy and childbirth. Surrogacy at an older age would prove that you are still strong enough to bear children.
However, it has its disadvantages. Imagine how awful the would-be baby parents would feel if you lost your life or the baby was stillbirth. Pregnancy comes with many issues during the first trimester. You would not know if you would have a miscarriage or bed rest all through the pregnancy.
Can you become a surrogate after menopause? This pregnancy would interfere with your ability to move around and do things that please you at your age. Besides the early pregnancy signs, you might still have menopausal symptoms at your post-menopausal stage.
These symptoms can make you feel sick. Your advanced age makes you susceptible to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, insulin resistance, etc. The baby needs you to be healthy to get nourishment for its growth. Your aging body also needs calcium and vitamin D to avoid bone loss.
Offering to be a surrogate mother despite facing a postmenopausal challenge is such a brave decision because you can have surgery or a difficult labor. Apart from helping someone and receiving compensation, there are no direct benefits.
Conclusion
Can you become a surrogate after menopause? The procedure is too risky and hard for a postmenopausal woman. However, you can make this sacrifice for the people you love if they cannot have a child. If your surrogacy expert agrees to the plan and exempts from fatal risks, you can become a surrogate.
The journey will be difficult indeed, as pregnancy and childbirth are painful and uncomfortable processes. If childbirth takes you to the theatre, the healing and recovery process can be harder at your age. But, if you can tolerate everything, you can hand over a baby to a hopeless couple or single parent.