My story of being a mother by surrogacy in India
Written by Olivia martins   
January 08, 2008
I am Olivia Martins from U.S, life had not been so kind to me since my child hood as I lost my parents in a car accident. Moreover I got a gynecological problem after my marriage getting ineligible to deliver a baby and it was the worst shock to me and my husband Kris who dearly loved me and desired to have kids. Never in my dreams I had imagined that a lady from India would become a surrogate to deliver a child to me one year before.But this is true now after I had got a beautiful baby girl I had named her as Annie-Rita actually the name Rita was suggested by Rupa the Indian surrogate mother of my child.

My trouble began when we were without any issue even after 2 years of marriage and me as well as my husband Kris often got disappointed at our condition when ever we saw any happy couple enjoying their time with kids in a garden or a restaurant. I often felt guilty but Kris who was a highly sensible person and devoted husband told me to seek a doctor for a solution. And we sought the advice of a gynecological surgeon and he told us that hiring a surrogate mother for an invitro fertilization as well as delivery would be the most simple and easy way to solve our problem. We agreed to execute the plan and gave ads in the local news papers for hiring a surrogate mother under the guidance of our doctor. We got a good response at the very beginning as healthy women from twenty one to thirty three years responded to the ad and met us however they demanded a high charge of 12000$-15000$ U.S for giving the foetus a space to accumulate in their wombs and moreover some critical cases of the city also came into light in which the surrogate mother refused to handover the baby to the parents due to emotional and financial causes. Our doctor told that surrogacy has become a commercial business in the country creating trouble for childless couples so we should better find a reliable agency who could arrange a trustworthy lady for surrogacy, he further added that hiring a surrogate mother in countries like India is more beneficial as Indian people give importance to ethical values and the prices for the delivery solution is also less as compared to other places nearly 6000$ and the best medical care facilities are also available at hospitals of India. I and Kris after reflecting on the doctor’s suggestion for a moment asked him how could we get our job done in India. The doctor replied medical tourism organizations can be of great help to arrange a surrogate mother in India.


After eleven days of the appointment with our doctor Kris got a phone call from a company Indian Med Guru after having a phone talk for 5 minutes Kris told me that he had discovered the company’s name at an online medical services directory on the internet and submitted my case details on its website, and the company has told on the phone that a surrogate arrangement could be done at a hospital in Mumbai at an affordable cost the hospital authorities would provide excellent boarding and food facilities so the stay at India could be a comfortable one. The medical tourism company also told that after hiring a surrogate woman in India and getting the fertilized egg implanted in her womb we could stay in India as a paying guest in a good family’s resident or else we could go back from India after implantation of the egg and come to claim the child during the delivery period. I was anxious to hold my baby in my lap so I told my husband to arrange for a flight to India and Kris said smilingly that the medical tourism company has made all the arrangements of the journey and we would have to reach India after eight days to Mumbai.

Following the schedule of the journey we reached the Indian city and were received by a member of the associated hospital whom the medical tourism company had referred. He brought a white mini car with him and after having a formal introduction with us he made us to sit in the car and we were in the hospital premises within fifteen minutes. Two nurses came to receive us dressed in white coloured garments known as “Saree” in India. They guided us to the room of the dean of the hospital, he was a middle aged male of forty one years having a cheerful temper and he greeted us in a warm manner. After enquiring about our journey he told that a woman of twenty six years of age has agreed for getting the implantation of the foetus and we could meet her in the evening but we should make all the legal formalities before the contract to avoid discords for the baby in future, the dean also offered to arrange a lawyer for the legal procedure of the contract and the contract documents could be submitted to the lawyer of the native country. We were made to stay in a comfortable guest room and a nurse came to our place with a pretty Indian girl, Kris guessed that she is the one arranged for surrogacy and his intuition was right the nurse introduced the young lady to us her name was ‘RUPA’ it means “beautiful lady” in Hindi language I asked her whether she is acting like that as a profession, she replied that she was married her husband was doing well in business and they had no financial issues they had a son, however she had agreed to do the job because her husband was a favorite patient of the hospital dean and he had requested them to help us. However the hospital was paying the charge due to professional ethics. I realized the fact that Indian people are so kind and cautious to help those who had helped them in bad times. After talking for an hour that Indian lady left the room, the next morning we had a call from the dean that we would have to come to the medical lab for executing the implant of the fertilized egg into the surrogates womb after lunch at noon, we reached the lab and the process was completed successfully. Now after having the implanted the fertilized egg Rupa remained at home and a nurse was sent to her place to take care of her I regularily visited her mean while Kris returned to U.S to complete some of his pending work for two months It was on 12 December 2006 we received a good news from the hospital authorities that Rupa had delivered a healthy and beautiful baby girl and the she herself was also safe. We had stayed at the guest room of the hospital as a paying guest at a less charge so we did not find our medical trip to India as an expensive one as regarding the medical fee it was just 6200$ U.S nearly half of the charge being charged at other places. After 10 days of the delivery we adopted our baby through the proceedings of an Indian lawyer and sent a copy and the medical reports of the delivery to the U.S high commission for approval. We returned to U.S on 23 December 2006 with our baby I was especially grateful to Rupa who acted on my behalf for the delivery to remove the dark misfortune in our lives, during our departure the hospital staff and two members of the medical tourism company came to congratulate us. Before our departure we met Rupa and she expressed a wish to add an Indian name to the new born baby along with an English one, the suggested name was ‘Rita’ and we liked the name so we imparted the name Annie-Rita to the baby to make us remember that a kind woman from India had given us joy to be the parents of a kid.

Olivia Martins
U.S
About the Press Release
I had never dreamt that a lady from India would become a surrogate mother of my child.


 
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