Surrogacy is a marathon with a map. Every stage below has a defined purpose, a typical timeline, and — importantly — payments that begin long before delivery. Here is the full journey, exactly as our surrogates experience it.
Total timeline: typically 14–18 months from first application to delivery.
You complete a short application and have a phone conversation with an intake coordinator, who confirms you meet the core requirements — age, prior pregnancy, state eligibility, health basics. If anything needs clarifying (a prior C-section, your state’s laws), this is where it gets answered.
Your commitment at this stage: about an hour. Your cost: nothing — ever, at any stage.
Screening confirms surrogacy is safe for you:
Everything is scheduled around your life and paid by the intended parents.
This is where your journey gets a face. We present you with intended parents whose situation, expectations, and communication style fit yours — and you always have a choice. You’ll review their profile; they’ll review yours; and if both sides feel right, you meet by video call.
Things worth deciding before matching (your coordinator will walk you through all of them):
You receive your own independent attorney — paid by the intended parents, representing only you. Together you review the Gestational Surrogacy Agreement: compensation schedule, medical decisions, expectations, and protections for every scenario. Nothing medical happens until contracts are signed and your full compensation package is funded into escrow.
Your cycle is synchronized and your uterine lining prepared with medications — typically injections and/or oral medications over several weeks, with monitoring appointments that can often be done at a clinic near you.
The transfer itself is remarkably gentle: a brief outpatient procedure, similar in feel to a Pap smear, with no anesthesia needed. Then, about ten days later, a blood test — and if it’s positive, an ultrasound a few weeks after that to confirm a heartbeat. At confirmed heartbeat, your base compensation installments begin.
If a transfer doesn’t succeed — it happens, and it is never your fault — you keep all payments to date and can proceed to another transfer when you’re ready.
Around 10–12 weeks, your care transfers from the IVF clinic to your own OB, and the pregnancy proceeds much like your own did — with more people cheering for you than ever before. Throughout:
You deliver at your hospital with a birth plan established in advance — who’s in the room, how the moment is handled — all decided by you and the intended parents months earlier. The intended parents take their baby home; you take home the profound knowledge of what you made possible, your final compensation release, and postpartum support including recovery-period payments and, where needed, counseling. If you choose to pump breast milk, that is compensated separately per your agreement.
Many surrogates stay in touch with their families for years. Many also do it again — and as an experienced surrogate, your compensation for a second journey is higher. Some even earn while they wait by referring friends: $1,000 per referred surrogate, payable once she is pregnant.
A. It varies with your preferences and location — from a few weeks to a few months. Flexibility on intended-parent type shortens the wait.
A. Usually once or twice for screening and transfer if the IVF clinic isn’t local. All travel is booked and paid for you, companion included where applicable.
A. Nearly all our surrogates work throughout. Medically required time off is reimbursed as lost wages.
A. That’s up to you and your match agreement — some intended parents attend key ultrasounds, others receive updates. You’ll have decided together in Stage 3.
A. You can withdraw at any point before contracts are signed, no questions asked.
Call 1-212-661-7177 , email in**@***********ll.com , or apply now. Check the full requirements and your state’s eligibility first if you’d like — or just ask us.
Egg donation is a process where a woman (the egg donor) provides one or several eggs (also known as oocytes) for purposes of assisted reproduction, with the eggs being fertilized in the laboratory. Once fertilized, the resulting embryos are transferred to the recipient’s uterus to initiate a pregnancy, or they can be cryopreserved (frozen) for future use.