Rihana is a second time surrogate mother. First time she gave birth to twins whose parents were from Calcutta. She breast-fed them for about a week in the presence of the parents. She is still in touch with them and sometimes when they call she can hear children’s voices in the background. Rihana is able to see their photos at Doctor Patel’s office and imagines they might come to visit her someday.

With the money earned she bought a house for her family.

Rihana has two children: girl is 16 and boy is 17. They know what she is doing but are not allowed to visit her at the clinic. Her family is Muslim.

Rihana is now one month pregnant and the parents, as far as she knows, are from London. This time she is earning for her daughter’s marriage and her son’s education.

It was her neighbor who had told her about surrogacy, and it didn’t take Rihana long to make up her mind.

Surrogate mothers in India, dr.Patel clinic
Pallyi is 31, she is here for the second time.

Two years ago she gave birth to a girl, the parents were from Canada. They gave her a couple chances to play with the new-born girl, but as soon as as the papers were in order they split and Pallyi has not heard from them since. She got compensated three and a half lac rupees and was able to pay all her bills as well as depositing some money to a bank.

Now she is on the second month pregnancy again for the local Gudjarat parents. If everything goes fine she will buy a house for her family.

Pallyi is Hindu, she has two daughters and they come to visit her sometimes.

dr.Patel clinic. Surrogacy in India.
Umravati is 27, she is from Uttar Pradesh and her family are Hindu. She has three children, but she does not know their dates of birth. Her elder daughter is about 9, son about 7, and younger daughter 5 years old.

None of her neighbors or friends know that she is a surrogate mother.

In January 2011 Umravati gave birth to a boy for a couple from the USA. They are Hindus but moved away from India many years ago. She has no contact with them. The money that they had paid were spent on building the new house.

Now Umravati is pregnant again and she is planning to put the promised sum aside for her daughters’ weddings.

Umravati is feeling OK but not too happy to be locked in a surrogate house.

Indian surrogate mothers. Portraits.
Nazira is 32 years old and this is her first time being a surrogate mother. It was Naziraz’s mother who brought her to the surrogate clinic. She has two sons of five and eight.

She gave birth to them naturally and she has never had any injections before in her life. This is why she fells nervous whenever she has to give blood for tests or have an injection.

She feels that the child inside her is her own and fears it will be difficult to give him away. She was very nervous before but has learned to trust doctors and believe that everything will be fine. Nazira is willing to do everything she possibly can for her family, she will save money for a house and ensure a fair future for her sons.

Nazira told her neighbors that she was going to Africa to work as a babysitter for a Christian family. If the truth ever comes out she will turn to mullah for guidance.

In the future Nazira might reveal to her children that she has been a surrogate mother, but she will do so only if it will be not possible to keep it secret. She is also considering informing some of her friends in need about surrogacy.

Now she is five months pregnant, the parents are from the USA, and she has seen them once. She hopes surrogacy will be good for them and for her.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mothers.
Mutmaz is 35, married and has two children from her first husband who died a few years ago. Her new husband does not want any more children. They live in a shed and hope to buy a house with the compensation, maybe even put some money aside for a rainy day.

No one in the village knows what Mutmaz is doing, not even the closest relatives, for otherwise she would be banished from the village.

Mutmaz pays the parents of her late husband to look after her children. Her present husband works as a ricksha, he misses her and comes every summer for a visit. She misses him also and feels uneasy without her children.

At this time Mutmaz is one month pregnant. The parents to be are in the USA, she did not even see them – they sent a frozen embryo.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mothers.
Jayesh is 42 years old. First time she and her husband heard about surrogacy on TV, and then an agent came to their village. They considered his offer for a month and then made the decision. Yes, they do need the money and they wish to buy their own house instead of renting. But aside from the money matters it is very important for them to partake in someone else’s wellbeing. They talked over these matters a lot, and came to conclusion that surrogacy is a good thing.

Jayesh is carrying twins for a Japanese family. They came here and wished very much to communicate but the language barrier has turned to be a big problem. Jayesh and her husband are getting ready to part with the newborns but they know it would be difficult. Jayesh would like to breast-feed them but she realizes it would make it even more difficult to give them away.

They have decided to keep everything secret because people in their village might accuse them of selling their child. Jayesh and her husband are Hindus and they have one son of their own who is 11.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mothers.
Jaya is 29, she is a Christian.

She was brought here by her friend who works at the hospital as a nurse. She is four month pregnant now, parents are from Japan, but she has not seen them.

Jaya is very much interested in meeting them and rather intrigued about giving birth to a Japanese child. She has three children of her own and her mother in law is now taking care of them. Every one in her family, as well as her friends and neighbors know where she is now. She is planing to bring some of her lady friends to Doctor Patel’s clinic.

Jaya is fine here, she got a lot of new friends and hasn’t got time for feeling bored.

She plans to spend the money on a major renovation of her house and put some aside for the education of her children.

Surrogacy in India. Dr. Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mothers.
Hansaben, 42, works in Doctor Patel’s clinic as a nurse and she has been a surrogate mother twice already. It took her a year to make this decision. Her husband was very much against it in the beginning but after some time his attitude changed.

Hansaben has not lived in the surrogate house as the doctor let her stay home. First time she bore twins in 2007 – a boy and a girl – for the US parents. She breast fed them for a long time, and she felt very good when she surrendered them to the couple for she knew for sure they will be loved there. Hansaben keeps in touch with the couple and receives photos of the children regularly. The second time she gave birth to a Japanese girl whom she breast-fed for a month.

She is a Christian, her native son is 18 now. In the beginning she was trying to keep all this secret but eventually the truth came out and she’s had a share of hard times with fellow villagers calling her names and putting her down. Hard feelings have subsided since then.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mothers.
Apna is 28. One of her friends has told her about surrogacy and she did not even believe him at first. Then she investigated further herself, figured out the details and after three month’s considering decided to give it a try.

Her husband works as a motor-ricksha driver but he does not own the vehicle he drives. Apna decided to earn money for their own ricksha. It costs 1 lac 25 thousand rupees. If they manage to buy it her husband will be likely making 500 rupees a day and it will be enough to pay for education. Apna is six months pregnant at this time, expecting to deliver in June.

Her husband has to care for their children (six and 10 years of age), and it is very hard for him. Sometimes he finds time to visit her.

Apna told everybody that she has gone away to take care of her old wet nurse.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mother.
Premila is 34 her religion is Jain she is from Rajastan, she have 2 daughters ( 9 and 11 years old ). Now her daughters are coming to visit her but soon she will forbid to bring them here, because there is no way children can keep a secret.

If anybody from her neighbors will figure out that she is a surrogate mother she will be not able any more to live in her village. The were thinking about a year with her husband before they made a decision to try a surrogacy. She is 3 month pregnant right now the parents are from Srinagar , Kashmir. They often call her and worry about her health.

It was twins in the beginning but 15 days ago she lost one child. She was crying a lot when it happens.

She would like to stay in contact with this couple after the child will be born, she hopes to get news and photos.Premils thinks that surrogate mothers must get more money for their job.

General surrogacy is a good chance for poor woman to change her life. She was thinking to do it twice. She is comfortable here, but sometimes she is dreaming about a separate room to rest from her neighbors.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mothers.
First time she was a surrogate mother 3 years ago for the couple from Bombay.

She Gave birth for a boy, breast feed him 10 days, they they gone and since that time she heard nothing from them, no letters, no phone calls. Now she is again pregnant for the couple from New Zealand. She have seen then only once.

She hope to buy a house for her family. Her husband is taking care of 2 children, he have to cook and take them to school. Here in surrogate house Sumitra have a lot of friends, but she misses her family and she don’t like the fact that she could not cook herself and not allowed to walk around.

Sumitra have know about surrogacy from her neighbor and it took her and her husband 3 month to make a decision.

Surrogacy in India. Dr.Patel clinic. Indian surrogate mother.