Sacrifices in the Long Run

It's common today for the intended mother to have about twenty ova harvested. Before each implant attempt, four or five are fertilized and incubated for several days before implant. It's possible through a process called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to place the maturing embryo under a microscope and remove a cell or two from the cluster and have its DNA checked for genetic disorders, blood type (to eliminate the risk of the carrier and fetus from suffering potential issues if blood types are incompatible), and even to select gender.

So, back then, fraternal twins were common. Nowadays, not so much. Identical twins occur in surrogate pregnancies at about the same rate as any other.

If you're still reading, thank you for humoring us the scientific jag. We'll end by saying that our friends maintain an incredibly close friendship with their surrogate mother and her husband. They never kept any secrets from their children who are happy referring to their birth mother as exactly that, just to see the looks of confusion show in conversations. Surrogacy is truly a selfless gift, and women who help other families in that way deserve to be revered.

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