It took two years, a lot of planning and four visits halfway across the world for this American couple’s dream to start a family to come true. And now, Rhonda and Gerry Wile just can’t get enough of their pink bundle of joy, Blaze, all of 13 days old.
Blaze was delivered by a surrogate mother in Mumbai. “I had a miscarriage in January 2006. After that, a series of tests revealed complications that would have made pregnancy extremely high-risk for me,” said Rhonda.
So the couple considered surrogacy as an option. But they had to reckon with the costs: $80,000-120,000 for the entire procedure in the US. “We found it unaffordable. A single in-vitro fertilisation procedure costs $25,000. Between $50,000 and 75,000 goes to the surrogate mother,” Rhonda said.
Then she heard about SurrogacyIndia, a Mumbai-based organisation. “Here it cost us $40,000 — one-third of what we would have had to pay in the US. Nevertheless, we saved up every single penny for the procedure,” she said.
But the road to reach Blaze was not easy. “It took us four tries with four surrogate mothers to succeed,” said Gerry, a fire-fighter. The woman who delivered Blaze is a 23-year-old. “We selected her after looking at her photograph and medical background. We also liked an answer she had given in a questionnaire, in which she said that she liked being pregnant,” said Rhonda.
The Wiles bonded with the woman over nine months, speaking to her frequently on Skype. “This time around, we brought gifts and toys for her children and clothes for her husband. As for her, all she wanted was a blanket with a leopard print to keep her warm,” said Rhonda.
The couple has a 10-year visa to “retain our Indian connection”. “We would like to bring Blaze back to India so that he can see where he was born,” said Gerry. The Wiles found awareness about surrogacy to be low when they opted for the procedure two years ago. So they started a blog ourjourneytosurrogacyinindia.blogspot.com, detailing every little fact about surrogacy. The site has seen 28,000 hits till date.
