Growing your family through surrogacy

Our goal is to have both parents present at the delivery. However, this is dependent on multiple factors, including the surrogate’s agreement. It is also dependent on current county visitation guidelines that can be found on sharp.com.

If the surrogate has a cesarean section, only one person is allowed to be present and often that is their own support person. In that case, the parents can stay in the waiting area and will be brought to the recovery room nursery as soon as possible after the delivery.

If there is an available room, the legal parents will have the opportunity to stay in the hospital with their newborn. An additional fee may apply.

We cannot guarantee a room. If one is not available, the baby will be cared for in the newborn nursery and the legal parents will be allowed to visit as much as possible. Unfortunately, in this case, they will not be able to stay the night.

We offer full support to surrogates providing breastmilk. If the surrogate is willing to pump, the hospital provides pumps in each room and bottles to store the breastmilk. Lactation specialists are also available to assist the surrogate.

Sharp promotes feeding your baby, your way. That includes providing support to non-birthing mothers to build their milk supply and prepare their bodies to breastfeed once baby arrives. Make sure to connect with our lactation support team as soon as possible to build a plan for breastfeeding your baby.

The hospital will supply everything baby needs while in the hospital, including diapers, wipes, formula and more. Parents are required to bring a set of clothes for baby to wear when leaving the hospital, as well as a properly installed car seat for the ride home.

Newborns are required to stay in the hospital for a minimum of 24 hours for proper testing and monitoring. Hospital discharge will be determined by the pediatrician.

If a Sharp-affiliated pediatrician is chosen before delivery, we can coordinate with that doctor to check on the newborn in the hospital. If no doctor is assigned before birth, our Sharp-affiliated pediatricians do daily hospital rounds to check on the well-being and health of our newborns.

For parents and surrogates opting to save cord blood, Sharp has a public partnership with StemCyte, the nation's leader in collection and banking. If parents and surrogates have a private company, we are happy to collect on their behalf.