Surrogacy advertorial - what happened to the surrogate?

[InvisibleDragon]

Saw this advertorial linked on twitter as a feel good story about gay dads ...
www.thefertilitypartnership.com/blog/fathers-day-case-study-jon-and-dans-surrogacy-story/

I was initially pleasantly surprised that so much detail was given about "the surrogate" and how the two men spent time getting to know her and building a relationship.

And then it described the birth:
Jon and Dan’s surrogate had to be induced on 8 July 2020 and the couple were delighted that they could be at the birth. “Poole hospital said that they were happy for us to be at the birth and were so accommodating. Nothing much seemed to happen for such a long time and then suddenly everything moved so quickly.” Jon remembers. “When he was born he wasn’t breathing at first but we didn’t really understand what was going on. It was very scary, but the Doctors were strangely calm, like a sense of calm, efficient urgency. Once he was breathing again we cut the cord (although the Doctor had already done a very quick job of it when they whisked him away we wanted to do it properly). We had some precious skin-to-skin time and then stayed for 2 days in hospital so that they could make sure he was well enough to go home.”

That sounds like a horrifically traumatic birth: induction followed by a cascade of interventions and the baby was born not breathing and had to stay in hospital for 2 days???

And what happened to "the surrogate"? She isn't mentioned again after being induced. It's really horrible that she went through such a brutal labour and they don't even bother to say whether she was ok. Did they ask? Did they even care?

I'm so upset by the contrast between how solicitous the men were when they wanted something from her; and how they just discarded her from the narrative when they didn't need her any more. It's gross.

Absolutely makes me feel sick with anger. The whole issue, not just men using women this way. Absolutely disgusting IMO.

& is there any point of skin to skin time with the ‘dads’?

They don’t care about her

The lack of care for the mother and for the child is just staggering (just got the shopping then!?) - the utter selfishness. This is the next battle - I truly fear for the human race when human beings are a commodity. Women are creators and there’s money to be made from them ~ again. :(

Agreed her absence in the post birth narrative is jarring.

That poor woman

Horrendous

This is a NHS hospital? In a pandemic? And the two “intended parents” stayed on the maternity ward for two days? I hope the mum had someone to support her.

I agreed.

And how could they cut the cord twice?

She had to be induced. Interesting choice of word. Sounds a lot like "was coerced into a medical pathway likely to cause her harm"

I was also a bit surprised she was induced. That's more likely to happen if it's someone's first pregnancy and I thought surrogates were supposed to have had children before being a surrogate?

The whole thing is very upsetting. I'm not as totally opposed to altruistic surrogacy as some people here - I think it could work like altruistic organ donation, which is rare and well regulated. But thr whole idea of commercial surrogacy and fertility rights is unsettling and a worrying push towards women as breeding vessels.