If I were able, which I am not, I’d consider doing it for my brother if he and his (imaginary at this point) wife were having problems. I wouldn’t do it for non-close-family or anybody who wasn’t a very very close friend, though.
good god, NO!
i’ve never wanted kids of my own and have ZERO desire for pregnancy. (hell, if just having periods can be this bad, i’d never survive childbirth.)
and there are more than enough people spreading everywhere as it is, thankyouverymuch.
Ditto for me. Noway, nohow, never.
[hijack]Ironically, periods are often easier after childbirth. [/hijack]
I’d surrogate in a second, for any responsible, mature person who asked. I’d rather do it for those who would be refused adoption (ie, single parents, gay parents) because I do think adoption should be encouraged. But I’d have no problem being a “pregnancy babysitter.” I loved being pregnant, I loved childbirth, but neither of those made me a mother. Sticking it out through chicken pox and homework and the death of a hamster is what makes a “real” parent, and I’d be happy to help someone else achieve that.
I couldn’t do it.
One of my greatest desires is to have a baby but I know that I could never then turn around and hand that baby over to it’s rightful parents. Perhaps I would feel differently if I had children of my own. But as it stands, divorced, 35, and no children, any babies coming from me are mine.
(wow, that sounds really selfish of me. I’m not normally a selfish person).
I nearly did it for my eldest sister when I was around twenty. She and her husband had been on the infertility merry-go-round for three years by then, with multiple pregnancies that never ‘took’ for various reasons. We talked with her team of doctors about the pros and cons, since they were able to concieve fairly reliably and all I’d be doing was cooking it for the 9 months the docs were optimistic about success. They weren’t real pleased with my youth, or the fact I hadn’t had one of my own yet so potentially would have the same issues as Sis, however. Just as we began the prelim stages of wading thru the legalities, Sis was pregnant again and my eldest nephew was born a few months later.
Now that I’m a mother, I’d still do it. I loved being pregnant, had a mercifully short delivery and although it probably wouldn’t be as easy in my mid-thirties as it was in my early twenties, small price to pay for allowing deserving parents a chance. It would totally be easier to carry someone else’s complete genetic batch, but I think I could handle giving the baby up even if it were biologically mine as well.
You monster! 
Actually, shamrock, I think that’s a very reasonable position. (Maybe because it’s identical to my own.) If I had children already, I might consider it for a family member. But I want the first couple of babies I have to be mine!
Whether a child is genetically mine or not, I don’t think I could give up something that’s been living in me for nine months.
I’m pregnant with my first right now. So far it’s easy compaired to what I’ve heard others go through. But it hasn’t been easy to give up everything. I’m a former smoker, loved my Dr Pepper, hardly ate right. While I can give that up for my child, I’m not sure I could do it when I knew I’d have to give the child away.
I think I would, for a close friend or a relative. I imagine it would be incredibly difficult, what with the emotional bond formed with the child, but I think the happiness brought to the parents would be its own reward. Having said that, I have no kids of my own, so maybe having children would change my opinion somewhat.
Like a couple of other people have said, I think if I had problems myself conceiving I would be happy to adopt.
There have been comments in a few of the posts, but the OP didn’t make it clear whether the surogacy included donating my genetic material or not. That would make a big difference for me. (Well, would have - too old to be a good surrogate now and don’t have all the bits.)
I know I’d get attached to a baby that wasn’t related to me, but I think I could get past that. Not sure that I could give up my own child. I’d even have difficulty donating eggs.
Technically speaking I did it once, my oldest child was placed for adoption. I know surrogate means that the child is the fathers biologicaly child but still! I carried it and gave it to someone else.
I offered for a gay cousin who wanted a child “of the family genes” but he declined politely.
Well, I haven’t seen any guys chime in here, so might as well.
Currently single, but I can speculate (knowing myself).
If I was married, and my wife was infertile (don’t like the term barren, sorry), and we both wanted children, I would first think about adoption, but surrogacy would be considered. I do agree that pregnancy is a special time, and frankly, if I ever meet someone special, and again if we both wanted children, I’d prefer to share that with her.
Currently, I don’t want children (other peoples’s kids are great though - take 'em to a movie, and drop 'em off). I have thought about donating sperm, but worry about what a future partner would think.
One more thought. If my partner was asked to be a surrogate, I would hope she’d discuss it with me, but ultimately it would be her choice.
Sorry to intrude on what is quite an informative thread.
I’m a single guy, with scant chance of that changing, but were I sufficiently wealthy, I’d certainly pay a woman to bear a child of mine. And then I’d employ a wetnurse and nannies.
I would be more then happy to do egg donation but I couldn’t do surrogacy, for the same reason I had an abortion. I couldn’t carry a child full term and give it away.
No way. I have an absolute horror of being pregnant. I love children and hope to eventually be a parent through adoption. I would probably not use surrogacy, though, it seems selfish to ask someone to have a baby specifically for me when there are already plenty of kids in the world who need a loving parent.
A gay friend of mine asked me if I’d ever, theoretically, be a surrogate mother. I wouldn’t, for many of the reasons listed here: I am in my 30s, and any baby I bear would have to be mine; because I am afraid that my pregnancy will be difficult and painful, and I don’t think I’d be able to go through it with as much positivity if the child were not mine; because I think people should adopt rather than using extraordinary means to create more babies. He actually got offended and said that was selfish. Please. It’s my body, and I’d have to deal with all of the complications of body and life, while he’d just watch and wait. Based on this thread, there are clearly enough women out there who would do this, but I’m not one of them.