America Angel International Process

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Completing the application carefully and comprehensively will greatly enable our team to review it thoroughly. We will contact you to discuss our program and to verify your application information if you qualify for our VIP egg donor program. You will need to provide us with 10+ pictures of yourself including a few of you as a child, and a few of any children you have had. The pictures you include with your application are very important to our intended parents and will help them in their decision process. Pictures should show you at your best.

PSYCHOSOCIAL EVALUATION

Each donor will be screened by a psychologist and will talk with a genetic counselor before starting a cycle.

First, you will meet with a PhD Psychologist to discuss the emotional impact of egg donation. Then you will take an MMPI-2 Personality Inventory which will give us a more thorough psychosocial evaluation.

LEGAL DOCUMENTATION

You will consult with a reproductive attorney for review of the agreement once all is understood and agreed upon.

MEDICAL TESTING/PHYSICAN CONSULT

The medical testing is done with the recipients’ doctor and will include a general consult with a full blood workup and pelvic ultrasound. If all the results are within normal limits, then you will continue on as a donor.

OVULATION SUPPRESSION

You will be placed on birth control pills if not already on them to prevent you from ovulating.

OVULATION STIMULATION IN THE USA

While you are on the first medication, you will begin the “stimulation” medication in the USA. Fertility physicians tend to want as many mature eggs as possible for their patients, in the range of 10-20 to start with. Each donor will respond individually to this medication so the exact day of retrieval isn't established until 2-3 days before.

While you are on stimulation injections, there will be several appointments to go to. These last few days of the cycle are critical for your health and the pregnancy outcome so you must not miss ANY of these appointments. You will have blood drawn and pelvic ultrasounds and when your follicles are mature, the IVF Center will schedule your retrieval.

EGG RETRIEVAL

About 36 hours prior to your egg retrieval you will take your "trigger" injection. In most cases this is another small needle injection but timing must be exact. You will be asked to arrive at the fertility center (or surgi-center) about an hour before the procedure with a friend to drive you home. An IV will be placed and you will fall asleep quickly once you are given the sedation. You should not feel or even remember a thing. You will wake up, rest for an hour and take it easy at home for the rest of the day. Most donors complain of bloating – remember ovaries do get larger and will need some time and rest to shrink. You will be given discharge instructions and information on how to acquire a pain medication prescription if needed. Please follow all doctors orders post procedure.

COMPLETE PROGRAM AND RETURN HOME

We want our donors to be enriched by their experience and therefore part of the program will include a cultural program with visits to selected places of interest. After you have competed the donation procedure you will complete your program and return to home.

EGG FREEZING

Once the donors eggs have been successfully retrieved they will be frozen for use with future intended parents. The freezing process or Vitrification enables the eggs to be stored for a number of years without substantial harm. After completing the educational and cultural program the donor will return to home.

MATCHING

Intended parents will review profiles of suitable donors to find the one that best matches their wishes. The eggs will be thawed and used to create happy additions to families.

＋SURROGATE recruitment PROCESS

Phone interview

We will address the following:

• Your legal status in the United States

• Marital status

• Age

• Body Mass Index

• Number of live births

• Type of deliveries

• Complications with pregnancy / delivery

• Physical and mental health

• Health insurance

• Questions you may have

• You must be compliant/reliable and available with you appointments

• Right after the phone interview, which takes about 30 to 45 minutes, we will be sending you the Agency documentation for you to
read and complete by the time we schedule the home visit.

Home assessment

One of our team members will schedule a home assessment with you. The purpose of a home assessment is for us to get to know you in your own home environment and for you to get to meet your case coordinator in person. During the home visit we will inform you of all the important aspects you need to know about the surrogacy process. After we have explained the surrogacy process we will be more than happy to answer any further questions you might have. Also, it is important for us to meet your circle of support, which will play an important role throughout your surrogacy process (e.g. husband/partner, family member, children), feel free to have them with you during the home visit. The maximum time of the home visit will be 2 hours. After the home visit, we will complete the initial surrogacy paperwork and documentation.

Application and Medical Records

The initial surrogacy paperwork and documentation is meant to gather your demographics, personal informations, medical informations including details on previous pregnancies, traits and characteristics, employment and education and medical insurance. Also, you must request your medical records (pregnancies records from your OBGYN and deliveries records from the hospital you delivered)

Background and Credit Screen: Through a background report we check candidates for felony offenses on their record (some of the most common felony offenses include drug abuse, burglary, larceny, arson, theft, driving while intoxicated, assault, disorderly conduct). The credit report gives us an idea of the level of financial responsibility for the candidate.

Psychological Evaluation

Your case coordinator will schedule a time for you to meet with a psychologist who will conduct your psychological evaluation, which should take approximately 1 hour.

＋During the surrogate process

Guidance

With our agency, you will have one point of contact, which will be your case coordinator from the beginning to the end of your surrogacy process. Having one point of contact guarantees that your coordinator will be aware of everything related to your case. The case coordinator is highly trained and committed to being there for you, helping you to have the best experience during your surrogacy process.

Follow Up & Updates

We conduct a weekly follow up to make sure everything is on track with your process and you will be informed of any changes to your schedule.

Wellness Package

Here at America Angel International we are aware of the emotional and physical demands you will experience during the surrogacy process. For us, it is important that you maintain balance throughout your surrogacy process, which is why we provide you with a wellness package that includes: psychological support, which starts after the 6th week of pregnancy until one month after delivery; prenatal yoga classes or prenatal massage, which starts at the 13th week of pregnancy; monthly manicure/pedicure, which starts after the 6th week of pregnancy until one month after delivery; and fitness and nutrition support, which starts after you have been medically cleared by the IVF clinic, ending 3 months after your delivery.

Matching

The matching process between a surrogate mother and future parents is determined by the answers you provide during your interview, as well as other factors our agency believe to be the best indicators to achieve a successful match. We make sure to balance personalities and identify common objectives with the future parents even before presenting their profile to you.

IVF Screening

Once you have been matched with the future parents, you will go for a medical screening at the IVF clinic your future parents are working with. Depending upon where this clinic is located, some travel may be required. Screening appointments usually take half a day, so overnight travel may be necessary, and you will not be expected to travel by yourself. Travel is only required for the medical screening and for the embryo transfer. Medical clearance can come as minimum of 15 days to up to a month from the date of the screening. Travel arrangements will be done by our Agency.

Legal Contract

Once you have been medically cleared by the IVF clinic you will be moving to the Legal Stage, which will be the Gestational Agreement. The time frame for the contract to be fully executed from start to finish ranges from 1 to 2 months, and depends upon the availability of all parties to get the agreement executed. For your representation our Agency will provide you with a list of Attorneys. Please note that Gestational Agreements must be notarized.

Injectable Medication and Monitoring

Once the Gestational Agreement is fully executed by the parties and the IVF clinical has received confirmation, you will receive your IVF cycle schedule. Your IVF cycle schedule contains, among other things: your injectable medication start date and embryo transfer estimated date. Once you start your injectable medication you will also begin your monitoring period; in case the IVF clinic being used is far away, our Agency will find a monitoring clinic closer to where you live. Monitoring appointments takes place early in the morning, as IVF clinics request same day results. The time line from when you begin the injectable medication to the embryo transfer is approximately a week and a half to two weeks (blood work and ultrasounds). Monitoring can take place once or twice per week from the time you begin your injectable medication until 12 weeks into the pregnancy.

Embryo Transfer

Once your uterus lining is ready for the embryo transfer (which the IVF clinic will determine from the monitoring process) the IVF clinic will schedule the embryo transfer. When the cycle schedule is determined, a tentative embryo transfer date will be set. Please note that the actual embryo transfer date may vary from the tentative date. For your embryo transfer you must bring a companion with you, if you can’t bring a companion, your case coordinator will be there with you. You will need complete bed rest for the next 2 to 3 nights. Travel arrangements will be done by our Agency.

Confirmation of Pregnancy

It takes around 2 week after your embryo transfer for the clinic to find out via blood test results if you are pregnant. We advise that you not share any home pregnancy test results with future parents before the blood results. Our Agency advises future parents to wait for the blood results, which will be provided to them by the clinic they are working with. The confirmation of pregnancy comes with the heart beat confirmation, which is done approximately 4 weeks after your embryo transfer date; at that time you will be around 6 weeks pregnant.

Living Expenses Reimbursement

You will start receiving your living expense reimbursement after our Agency receives the heart beat confirmation notice from the IVF clinic.

Obstetrician

After you “graduate” from the IVF clinic, which will be around the 12th week of pregnancy, you will be moving to your OBGYN. If you don’t have an OBGYN our agency will recommend an OBGYN for you. At this point you will be signing a medical release, which will allow the future parents and our Agency to contact the OBGYN and follow up with the pregnancy process.

Delivering Hospital

Your delivering hospital will assign a social worker to your case. The social worker is the person who lets the delivering hospital know that you are a surrogate. The social worker also connects the future parents and the Agency with the hospital staff. The social worker is also the person responsible for making sure your needs are being met while you are in the hospital. It is common practice for the delivering hospital to withhold information regarding the child just delivered. Please do not take this personal, as this is merely a protocol that follows the legal parameters of the delivering hospital. Our Agency will strive to keep you updated.

＋Post Surrogacy Process

＋The process for Future Parents

When is the best time to contact AAI for information on egg donors?

The best time to contact AAI is at the beginning of this process. You will have a number of questions that can be answered which may provide comfort and in turn, enable you to move forward with this decision.

Egg donation is a detailed process and there may be questions you aren’t even aware of to ask. Many IP’s (Intended Parents) are not completely comfortable working with a donor to achieve a pregnancy and talking to us either by phone or in person, seems to help a great deal. Often, all you need is someone to listen to you and we understand that.

If you aren’t able to talk during the day, simply let us know and we will call you in the evening or on a weekend.

There is no fee for a consultation and to view donor profiles. Many clients contact us via email, choose their donor online, and send us the agreement and fee’s without meeting. We welcome you to come in and meet in person. You’ll see the difference in working with AAI from the first time you contact us.

Featured services for egg donation

• Full time professional staff to organize all aspects of your program.

• We offer professional referrals for all egg donors and intended parents needed to complete a successful cycle, i.e., fertility physician
(if requested) and/or reproductive attorney to review legal agreements.

• We provide donor applications (excluding identity) along with several childhood and recent pictures.

• We allow clients to review many profiles at a time with no fee until a candidate is chosen.

• Implementation of psychological screening and genetic consultation with reports.

• Arrangement of mandatory insurance for the egg donor to provide coverage if complications arise from the egg retrieval and to
protect you, our client.

• Coordination and scheduling of travel and accommodation arrangements for the egg donor at no additional cost.

• Coordination of fertility treatments for the donor.

• We serve as a liaison between the medical facility and the donor.

• We are an advocate to all donors and intended parents involved as they progress through each step of the program

Why is the best choice to contact AAI for information on surrogacy?

If you’re considering surrogacy to build your family, then you probably feel overwhelmed by the options and have a lot of questions.

Some intended parents opt to create their own surrogacy arrangement by seeking out a gestational surrogate and personally coordinating all the travel, medical, financial, and legal details. This can be quite daunting, especially since you will be coping with the emotional aspects of the surrogacy process all the while.

Alternatively, working with a surrogacy agency such as AAI, will often result in the least amount of stress, the greatest amount of emotional and psychological support, access to the most thoroughly-screened surrogates, and even assistance with financial and legal agreements.

First and foremost, you want to find the best surrogate for your individual situation. AAI screens gestational surrogate candidates for medical and psychological issues and conducts intensive background checks. Our gestational surrogate requirements are taken very seriously in order to find the best possible candidate. Our surrogacy agency often has a more formalized and thorough screening process.

After your ideal gestational surrogate is chosen, you will begin a process that includes appointments and possible travel arrangements that need to be scheduled. AAI will facilitate all administrative details, help you find legal counsel, and assist with financial agreements including trust or escrow services. While a fertility practice might be busy juggling a number of responsibilities, a surrogacy agency makes your case a priority.

The surrogacy process can be potentially stressful and emotionally overwhelming, but the primary goal of AAI is to make the arrangement as enjoyable as possible. At AAI, your personal case manager is available 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. Our support groups and friendly faces are ready to offer you encouragement and understanding.

More than anything else, an agency’s reputation is completely dependent on how well the staff executes its services. AAI has cultivated its reputation one new parent at a time. Contact us today and we will help you begin your journey!

Featured services for surrogacy?

AAI Companies are here to provide you with the highest level of professionalism and experience. We are dedicated to handling your surrogate journey with compassion and personal care. We will first match you with a suitable gestational surrogate to carry your baby, then guide you through all steps you need to get to parenthood. Our goal is to make this the happiest time of your life.

Our services include, but are not limited to:

• Interviewing / Approving each Surrogate.

• Screening each surrogate BEFORE she is accepted into our program, based on extensive surrogate requirements.

• Matching you with the most suitable surrogate based on your preferences.

• Assisting both parties with obtaining medical and life insurance.

• Detailed medical histories.

• Physical exam.

• Referring you and your surrogate to attorneys for legal contracts / parental rights.

• Coordinating all medical appointments with you, your surrogate and IVF clinic.

• Managing and disbursing payments through an insured trust or escrow company.

• Attending selected medical appointments upon request.

• Attending your embryo transfer upon request.

• Providing emotional support to both you and your surrogate through medications, pregnancy,

• labor and delivery.

• Monitor your surrogate through mandatory monthly support group meetings.

• Making sure all parties involved are handled with grace and integrity.

• Returning any un-used funds to parent within 6 months of delivery.

• Assisting your surrogate with any travel arrangements if travel is required.