What happens when the baby is born varies in cach country (and each state in the U.S.). You may want to check with the hospital whether they routinely do the following, and if not, decide whether you want it done.
Antibiotics during labor:
Group B Strep (GBS) is a common bacteria that lives in mucous membranes including the bowel, bladder and vagina. Estimates indicate that between 10 and 30 percent of western pregnant women carry GBS bacteria, and Indian doctors suggest the figures are likely higher for Indian surrogates. Without treatment, 1% of babies born to GBS positive mothers can become infected and develop early-onset GBS disease which can cause sepsis (a blood infection), pneumonia or meningitis. The two main preventative measures are to (a) have the surrogate screened between 35 and 37 weeks of pregnancy (much earlier if you have multiples as they often deliver closer to 34 weeks), and, if the surrogate tests positive, provide antibiotic treatment during labor or (b) to have/schedule a caesarean delivery which then avoids exposure to bacteria in the vagina. Because of the higher prevalence of GBS among Indian women, some Indian doctors give the antibiotics routinely.
Eye Drops
Babies are typically given medicated drops or antibiotic ointment in their eyes when they are born. This protects their eyes from bacterial infections that can be contracted during delivery.
Vitamin K Shot
Immediately after birth, babies cannot produce their own vitamin K, which assists in blood clotting. A Vitamin K shot will help prevent bleeding problems that can sometimes occur.
Hepatitis B vaccine
In the U.S., this is often given before discharge. It is a series of three shots, with the first given in the hospital.
Screening Tests
A newborn often receives a blood test to screen for disorders. A few drops of blood are obtained by pricking the baby's heal. In the U.S. most states screen for 21 life-threatening disorders, although some screen for more. These include phenylketonuria (PKU) and hypothyroidism, both which are treatable but can cause mental retardation if left untreated.
Hiranandani Hospital, where most babies from Rotunda are delivered, does offer optional newborn screening tests. These are currently done through Preventine Life Care in Mumbai. Comments from Dr. Shetty (suvin.shetty (at) hiranandanihospital.org) about these screening tests indicated:
Hearing Test
This is typically done in U.S. hospitals as well. The test measures how the baby responds to sounds by putting a small earphone/microphone in the baby's ear. Without testing, hearing loss may not be diagnosed until the baby is 3 years old. Diagnosing hearing loss earlier can help prevent speech development problems.
Circumcision
If you have a boy, you'll have to decide whether you want him circumcised. If so, check to confirm the hospital has facilities to support this.
Cord blood banking
Cord blood can help treat a number of diseases, including leukemia and lymphoma. Studies seem to show that the odds of requiring a stem cell transplant to treat such a disease during ones lifetime is 1 in 217. India has private cord banking services available including from private companies like Cord Life India.
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These days husbandry of a different sort draws visitors here, and it takes place just a kilometre or so away from the Amul complex, in the salmon-coloured stucco building where Pandye gave birth. The woman who delivered the baby and presides over the hospital is an obstetrics and infertility specialist named Dr. Nayana Patel. Nayana-ben, as she's known in this region(ben means sister, a term of respect), vaulted to fame and into the reproductive tourism business a few years ago,microsoft 70-640 after she facilitated a rather unorthodox surrogacy arrangement. She was contacted by a U.K.-based couple on behalf of their son and daughter-in-law, Aakash and Lata Nagla, who were desperate for a child. Infertility threatened to break up the marriage, and the parents begged Dr. Patel to do something. She did. The problem was with Lata's uterus -- she didn't have one. But her eggs and ovaries were perfectly functional. So Dr. Patel removed some eggs, fertilized them in a petri dish with the husband's sperm, and transplanted the resulting embryo into another woman's womb: Lata's mother's. In February 2004, 44-year-old Vidhya Valand gave birth to her grandchildren, a twin boy and girl, to great media hoopla, and some social outrage.microsoft certification examsWithin months, Dr. Patel had overseen her first commercial surrogate birth, and had inquiries for others. Grandmothers-in-waiting are not always a reliable option, and Dr. Patel began seeking out paid surrogates. She has since arranged more than 70 surrogates for couples from India and from as far away as Japan, Finland, Germany, the U.S. and Canada. She has created a gainful if not exactly desirable career niche for dozens of impoverished women in neighbouring villages and towns and indeed across India. And she has helped launch a national boom estimated at $200 million around a process that raises a tangle of ethical questions: is it moral to pay the world's poor to have our children? Have we opened the door to shady practitioners who are exploiting women? Does surrogacy, as critics suggest, turn the parent-child relationship into a matter of property rights?microsoft exam 70-536In the three years since Vidhya Valand carried her daughter's twins, the number of IVF clinics in India has doubled. There are now an estimated 600; of these, 200 are thought to offer surrogacy(numbers are hard to track because clinics don't have to be accredited). Nonetheless, the phenomenon dubbed "rent-a-womb" or "outsourcing pregnancy" is so controversial many of the women who volunteer for it don't tell their families or friends. Of course, Dr. Patel has a catchphrase of her own, a positive spin on the arrangement. "This is the globalization of reproduction," she told a roomful of Indian reporters at a February press conference to mark her latest hand-off: a Korean-American baby, born in Anand to a surrogate from Kolkata. One doesn't become an international medical superstar without some media savvy.
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