A Gestational Surrogate is a woman who carries a pregnancy for another couple. Generally the baby is genetically related to one or both of the parents and the baby is not genetically related to the Gestational Surrogate. She is doing this as a service to help the couple to carry a pregnancy to term. This happens in cases where the mother for some reason because of her own health or perhaps she had surgery to remove her uterus or for some other reason, cannot carry a pregnancy healthily to term. And it’s also use in cases where two fathers are having a baby. Generally the Gestational Surrogate already had her own children and she may or may not live in the same city, state or even country as the parents who are having the child. A Gestational Surrogate does her prenatal care most often with her own doctor and if she lives in the same city as the parents, the parents often come to prenatal visits with her. Of course the parents are at the birth of the child if they can be. Sometimes a Gestational Surrogate will deliver early or there will be something unforeseen that occurs and the parents cannot be at the birth, and they get there as soon as they possibly can. The Gestational Surrogate has her own support system with her when she is delivering the baby. Her husband or partner and any members of her family that she thinks that would be supportive to her in addition to the parents. After the baby is born, the baby goes to the nursery and some hospitals will allow the parents to actually pay for hospital room on the same floor. The Gestational Surrogate stays in the hospital for the usual amount of recovery time and is discharged when she is ready following up with her Obstetrician 6 weeks after the baby is born as would be the custom. The baby goes home after he or she is being discharged by his or her pediatrician and again goes home with his or her parents. Sometimes the Gestational Surrogate will have worked an arrangement with the parents where she will actually nurse the baby to give the baby colostrum's while she is in the hospital or pump milk for the baby either in the hospital or for a specific amount of time after the baby has delivered. A gestational Surrogate may seem like a very unique arrangement for having a baby. But it’s the way that parents who may not be able to have a baby otherwise have their own genetic child and it can really be a wonderful option for those parents.