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Illinois Surrogate Mothers
Search from among the best surrogate mothers in Illinois, including Chicago, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield and the Quad Cities.
Donor Concierge works with an extensive network of surrogacy agencies who specialize in matching surrogate mothers and gestational carriers in Illinois. Donor Concierge has helped hundreds of hopeful parents find gestational carriers, and has helped many hopeful parents find surrogates in Illinois.
Illinois is home to many top companies, accredited universities and colleges, and is full of parents and young families. Illinois is a popular place for many surrogacy agencies to work with gestational carriers. We can help you find surrogates who are willing to work with you, whether you are based in Chicago, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield, or the Quad Cities. The surrogate search is tough, especially in 2022, and Donor Concierge can help by connecting with the best surrogacy agencies across the United States, so you know that you’ve found the best possible Illinois surrogate mother candidate for your family.
Donor Concierge has cultivated an extensive list of trusted providers and resources for your surrogacy journey in Illinois.
Illinois Locations
- Chicago
- Bloomington
- Springfield
- Rockford
The Surrogacy Process in Illinois
Hopeful parents pursuing surrogacy often work with surrogacy agencies to find a surrogate candidate. These agencies work directly with potential surrogates to conduct screenings and match them with hopeful parents. Agencies typically have a waitlist of hopeful parents who are waiting to be matched as more surrogates become available. This wait at a typical agency can last from six months to years. Luckily, Donor Concierge works with a large network of surrogacy agencies across the country. Our team has access to more available surrogate candidates and is able to help clients much faster than if you went to just one agency..
After matching with a surrogate candidate, your fertility clinic will review her medical records to ensure she is medically cleared and help ensure the surrogacy process goes smoothly. Afterward, a meeting between both parties will be facilitated by the surrogacy agency.
The surrogate candidate will visit your fertility clinic for an initial medical screening, which may include her psychological evaluation, uterine lining examination and any other tests required by the fertility specialist. Once given medical clearance, attorneys for both parties will work to draft the surrogacy agreement contract. The hopeful parents will also set up the escrow account that will fund the surrogacy journey prior to next steps.
After setting up the escrow account, the surrogate will take part in a more in-depth medical screening. She will take injectable hormones to prevent rejection, and undergo a mock cycle of the hormonal medications involved in IVF to ensure her body responds correctly. She will also be taking medications and prenatal vitamins to ensure she has a healthy uterine environment, which will be evaluated via uterine lining biopsy. After the successful mock cycle, she will undergo IVF and prepare for the embryo transfer.
Preparing for an embryo transfer can look different pending on the type of treatment preparation your doctor has picked and if it is a fresh or frozen embryo transfer.
A fresh embryo transfer is when the woman carrying the pregnancy and woman providing eggs synchronize cycles. The egg donor will be taking stimulation medications to recruit as many follicles (eggs) as possible for retrieval. Once the follicles have been stimulated to the ideal size, then the doctor will instruct her to take a medication, often referred to as a trigger shot, to prepare the egg retrieval. During the stimulation, the woman carrying the pregnancy will be having appointments to check the endometrium. In a fresh transfer, the estrogen is made by the ovarian follicles and helps to prepare the endometrium. When the retrieval day has been determined, the woman carrying the pregnancy will start to prepare the endometrium for embryo implantation by starting medication, usually estrogen and progesterone, to create the ideal implantation environment. The embryo transfer is performed usually either three or five days after the retrieval.
A frozen embryo transfer is when the woman carrying the pregnancy is given estrogen and progesterone medication, known as endometrial priming. The medications used may be estrogen patches, pills, or shots pending on what the doctor thinks is best. These medications help artificially prime the endometrium until it has reached the ideal measurement for embryo implantation. Since the embryos have already been created, are frozen and stored, they will not be thawed until the morning of the embryo transfer.
Once embryos are ready, the embryo transfer will begin. Hopeful parents usually join their surrogate to be present for this exciting moment. The surrogate will undergo blood tests 10-12 days later to monitor her hormones. If the procedure was a success, the doctor should detect a heartbeat at 5-6 weeks. The surrogate will continue to be monitored by the specialist fertility team during the first trimester and by an OB/GYN for the second and third trimester.
Surrogacy Laws in Illinois
Illinois is considered a fertility-friendly state, and is a progressive state for surrogacy laws. Illinois also has laws providing processes for parentage via surrogacy. In Illinois, there is a legal process for establishing a parent-child relationship between a child born via surrogacy and parents. When gestational surrogacy is involved, some states default to the surrogate as the parent listed on the birth certificate, which makes surrogacy-friendly laws valuable.
Navigating Surrogacy Costs in Illinois
There are a variety of pieces that can affect the cost of a surrogacy journey in Illinois. In Illinois, working with a gestational carrier to build your family may cost between $100,000 and $200,000. This is flexible based on many factors, including: your location, the surrogate candidate you choose, your fertility clinic, and any insurance coverage or fertility grants you may have access to.
The cost of surrogacy is more than just your gestational carrier’s compensation. The total cost includes many other expenses, including medical bills and procedures, surrogacy agency fees, legal fees, health insurance and more. Surrogacy is a financial investment for anyone who chooses to build their family via gestational carrier, because it is a complex process that involves help and work from many fertility professionals. If you are considering surrogacy and not sure if it is a financially viable option, surrogacy loans and grants may help you pursue surrogacy.
Finding a Surrogacy Agency in Illinois
As home to one of the largest cities in the United States, Chicago, Illinois is a wonderful place for intended parents searching for a surrogate mother. Donor Concierge works with surrogacy agencies across the state, including those surrogate mothers from the larger cities of Chicago and Springfield to the smaller areas of Bloomington-Normal and the Quad Cities. Additionally, we will work with all of our partnered agencies in the United States to find a surrogate mother that’s right for you, and to facilitate the surrogate’s travel to your Illinois fertility clinic.
Surrogacy FAQs
Our Donor Concierge Surrogacy case managers work with over 70+ surrogacy agencies to find you a qualified surrogate candidate as quickly as possible. Many surrogacy agencies have waitlists, and typically hopeful parents don’t have the time or resources to vet many different agencies at once. By communicating with our network of surrogacy partners, we are able to help Donor Concierge clients match with qualified surrogates without waiting months to years on a waitlist.
Hopeful parents pursue surrogacy for many different reasons. Often, infertility or medical conditions are the reason a couple may need a surrogate to carry a pregnancy. Same-sex male couples also often use surrogates to carry their child. There are a wide range of reasons parents will welcome a child with the help of a surrogate.
Each surrogacy arrangement and relationship between surrogate and hopeful parents is different. These considerations will be discussed between both parties and outlined in your surrogacy agreement contract. Many hopeful parents feel very close to their surrogate, and stay in touch to share updates. Others may communicate less frequently with their surrogate. Whatever the parties involved are most comfortable with is best.
Find local fertility resources in Illinois:
Fertility Clinics
Practice Director: Vishvanath C. Karande, M.D.
1585 North Barrington Road Doctors Building Two, Suite 406 Hoffman Estates, IL 60169
(847) 884-8884Practice Director: Ralph R. Kazer, M.D., Medical Director: Edmond Confino, M.D.
NMH/Arkes Family Pavilion Suite 1845 676 N Saint Clair Chicago IL 60611
(312) 908-8244Practice Director: Charles E. Miller, M.D
1900 E. Golf Rd Suite L125 Schaumburg, IL 60173
(630) 428-2229Dr. Brian Kaplan, Dr. Allison K. Rodgers, Dr. Elie Hobeika, Jennifer Hirshfeld-Cytron, MD
900 N. Kingsbury Suite RW6 Chicago , IL 60610
(312) 222-8230Practice Director: W. Paul Dmowski, M.D., Ph.D.
2425 W 22nd St Ste 200 Oak Brook, IL 60523
(630) 954-0054Practice Director: John Rapisarda, M.D.
Highland Park Hospital 767 Park Avenue West, Suite B400 Highland Park, Illinois 60035
(847) 266-3535
Reproductive Attorneys
Julie M. Tavoso, Esq.
123 E. Ogden Ave., Ste. 101A Hinsdale, Illinois 60521
Mental Health Professionals
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