You’ve done the research. You know what surrogacy is.
What you need now is a clear picture of what it actually looks like, start to finish. Here’s how a surrogacy journey unfolds, and what a well-run surrogacy agency is managing behind each step.
What Is Gestational Surrogacy for Intended Parents?
Gestational surrogacy is a process where a surrogate carries a pregnancy created through IVF using an embryo that is not biologically related to her. Intended parents maintain full legal and parental rights once established through contracts and court orders.
Step 1: Prepare Your Embryos for Gestational Surrogacy (IVF Readiness)
Surrogacy doesn’t start with an agency. It starts with your reproductive endocrinologist.
Reproductive Options facilitates gestational surrogacy — meaning the embryo transferred has no biological connection to the carrier.
Before you can match with a surrogate, you need embryos (or a clear plan for creating them). That means confirming you have viable frozen embryos already, ideally with PGT testing done, or are in the process of completing an upcoming IVF cycle. PGT (preimplantation genetic testing) screens embryos for chromosomal abnormalities before transfer. Most REs recommend it, and, increasingly, many surrogacy agencies and surrogates will request it. PGT testing gives you more information earlier on in the process, and reduces the likelihood of a failed transfer.
This step has its own timeline. If you’re starting IVF from scratch, budget 2-4 months before you’re embryo-ready. If you already have tested embryos frozen, you can move to surrogacy agency matching immediately.
You don’t have to wait until your embryos are ready to start talking to surrogacy agencies — but do know that most, ours included, will want embryos available before moving a match forward.
Step 2: Choose the Right Surrogacy Agency for Intended Parents
We know you know this is paramount, not because surrogacy agencies do wildly different things, but because how they do those things determines what your experience looks like for the next 18-24 months.
The questions worth asking:
- What’s the match timeline, and what drives it? At larger surrogacy agencies, waitlists of 6-18 months are common. Reproductive Options doesn’t run one. Caseloads are capped at 20 active cases — a deliberate decision that keeps our surrogate pool and intended parent demand aligned. When you come to us, you’re not joining a queue.
- How are surrogates recruited and screened? Do they perform home visits and psych screenings, and on what timeline?
- Who manages your case day-to-day — a coordinator, a case manager, a team? How many cases are they carrying? Who oversees case management? How involved is the executive team?
- What does access to leadership look like, and what does it cost? At some surrogacy agencies, direct involvement from the founding or executive team is a premium tier. At Reproductive Options, leadership is directly involved in every case. There is no tier where you get less attention. Meet our team!
- Who handles escrow? We don’t hold escrow in-house — and we built that in from the start. A third-party escrow account protects both you and the surrogate, regardless of what happens at the surrogacy agency level.
- What’s their repeat surrogate rate? Surrogates who come back are surrogates who had a good experience. Ask any surrogacy agency you’re considering for this number.
There’s a longer version of this conversation in our post on what to look for in a surrogacy agency. The short version: look for operational specificity, not just warmth. Any surrogacy agency can tell you they care. Fewer can tell you exactly how your case gets managed, by whom, and how they designed it for your experience in mind.
Reproductive Options holds membership in both the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS) — the two primary professional bodies concerned with ethical standards in third-party reproduction in the United States.
For us, these aren’t just policies; they’re foundational to our operational ethos.
Kayla Reveal founded Reproductive Options in 2020. She’s been a gestational surrogate, an egg donor, and an IVF patient — which means she has sat on every side of third-party reproduction as a participant, not an observer. When she built this surrogacy agency, she wasn’t theorizing about what good support looks like for surrogates or intended parents. She knew.
Step 3: Create Your Intended Parent Surrogacy Profile
Before moving on to match, you’ll create an intended parent profile — a document that introduces you to prospective surrogates. Surrogates are making a significant decision about whose pregnancy they’ll carry. Your profile is how they get a sense of who you are, what your family is like, what matters to you, and what kind of relationship you’re hoping for. Your family is special, and this is an opportunity to share how and why.
You’ll also document your preferences around contact during the pregnancy, delivery room presence, preference for pumped breast milk, post-birth relationship, and your thoughts on decisions like termination and selective reduction with the surrogacy agency team at this stage. We know that these are very wanted pregnancies, and it matters that you and your surrogate are aligned on these subjects. Better to surface that early than to discover a mismatch later in the process.
Step 4: Match With a Gestational Surrogate
Matching is where the process gets personal. We’ll present you with surrogate candidates whose background, preferences, and circumstances align with yours. You’ll exchange profiles. If there’s mutual interest, her records go to your clinic for medical review — a process that can take anywhere from 48 hours to eight weeks, depending on the clinic. We track that timeline and keep you updated.
Once records are approved, you’ll have a match meeting — typically a video call — to get to know each other before anything is formalized.
A good match isn’t just logistical compatibility. It aligns expectations about communication, contact, and what the relationship looks like after delivery. It’s best to come into that conversation prepared to cover all of the things that are most important to you. We’ll help you get there, and we’ll help bridge the conversation to the more sensitive subjects, too.
One thing that affects this timeline more than most intended parents expect: whether your surrogacy agency is managing a waitlist. If they are, you may wait months before you see a single candidate. At Reproductive Options, you won’t — because we don’t take on more intended parents than our surrogate pool can support. By the time you’re ready to match, we’re ready too.
Step 5: Transition Into Surrogacy Case Management and Coordination
Once your match with a surrogate is confirmed, you’ll be formally introduced to your case coordination team. At Reproductive Options, that’s not a handoff to someone new — our executive team maintains oversight of every case from your first meeting with us through delivery. What changes is the rhythm: this next stage of the journey will involve more frequent check-ins, a clear communication cadence, and a single point of contact who handles it all.
Step 6: Complete Medical Clearance for Surrogacy
Before contracts are drafted, your surrogate will travel to your fertility clinic for a medical clearance appointment. We coordinate that — scheduling, travel logistics, and communication between your surrogate and the clinic. Clearance confirms she’s physically ready to move forward with a surrogacy.
This step typically takes 2-4 weeks, depending on clinic availability. Your case manager handles the scheduling on both ends, so you’re not playing telephone tag between your surrogate and your doctor.
Step 7: Surrogacy Legal Contracts and Parental Rights Establishment
Before any medical procedures begin, both parties need independent legal representation and a gestational surrogacy agreement in place. As with escrow, it is best practice for these not to be in-house with your surrogacy agency.
This step is non-negotiable, and it’s not a formality. The contract governs everything: payments, medical decision-making authority, contact expectations, what happens in the event of a multiple pregnancy, and the process for establishing your parental rights. Budget 4-8 weeks for contracts, sometimes longer if there’s negotiation.
Each state handles surrogacy law differently — some issue pre-birth orders (which establish you as the legal parents before delivery), others require post-birth steps. This will be handled by your attorney.
At Reproductive Options, we coordinate on overhead with both parties’ legal counsel — tracking timelines, flagging delays, and making sure nothing stalls between signatures. We maintain relationships with experienced reproductive attorneys across the country and can provide referrals if you need them.
Step 8: Begin the Embryo Transfer Cycle With Your Surrogate
Once contracts are signed, your surrogate begins the medical protocol with your fertility clinic. This typically involves several weeks of hormone preparation before the transfer itself. Your RE manages this process — we coordinate communication between the clinic and your surrogate.
Step 9: Embryo Transfer and Early Pregnancy Monitoring
The transfer is a relatively quick procedure. The waiting — the two-week period before a pregnancy test confirms results — is not.
If the first transfer doesn’t result in a confirmed pregnancy, you’ll typically attempt transfer again. Transfer success rates vary by clinic, embryo, and a number of other factors. Your RE is the right person to give you a realistic picture of outcomes based on your specific circumstances.
Step 10: Confirmed Pregnancy Through Delivery in Gestational Surrogacy
A confirmed pregnancy doesn’t mean the surrogacy agency relationship ends. Your coordinator moves into a support and monitoring role: regular check-ins with your surrogate, coordination with the OB, flagging anything that needs your attention, and assisting you with any necessary communications as things carry forward.
Most surrogacy pregnancies are straightforward. But your surrogate is carrying your child, and you’re not physically present for most of that, which we know can be nerve-wracking. A good agency keeps you feeling connected without intruding or requiring you to chase information down.
Delivery typically happens at a hospital local to your surrogate. You’ll be there. Your parental rights will already be established — or the process will be in motion. We’ll have walked you through what to expect before that day arrives.
How Long Does Gestational Surrogacy Take for Intended Parents?
From “we have embryos ready” to “baby is home”: most surrogacy journeys take 18-24 months. From “we’re starting IVF” to the same endpoint, add 3-6 months. There are variables that compress this (a fast match, a successful first transfer, a straightforward legal process) and variables that extend it (a waitlist, multiple transfer attempts, state-specific legal timelines).
What doesn’t have to be a variable is who’s capably managing it. That’s what we’re here for.
If you’re ready to move forward now, here’s where to start.
Continue Your Surrogacy Research: Expert Guides for Intended Parents
If you’re still researching, the posts below go deeper on costs, matching, and legal — the three areas where most intended parents tell us they wished they’d had better information earlier.
How Much Does Surrogacy Cost in the United States? A Realistic Breakdown for Intended Parents
What to Look for in a Surrogacy Agency
About Reproductive Options: A Surrogacy Agency for Intended Parents
Reproductive Options is a gestational surrogacy agency founded in 2020 by Kayla Reveal, based in Illinois. The surrogacy agency facilitates gestational surrogacy only — traditional surrogacy is not offered. Caseloads are capped at 20 active cases. Reproductive Options does not operate a waitlist for intended parents. The surrogacy agency uses mandatory third-party escrow and does not hold funds in-house. Reproductive Options holds membership in the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS). As of 2025, the surrogacy agency has facilitated 30 births. 100% of surrogates who have been able to journey again have returned to Reproductive Options. Founder Kayla Reveal has personal experience as a gestational surrogate, egg donor, and IVF patient. Intended parents work directly with surrogacy agency leadership on every case.
