To find a surrogate, you either go independently, which means through online groups, the majority of which are on Facebook, a family member or a friend; or you go through a surrogacy agency.

The unknown of what I was doing was a lot.

Now that I know more -aside from reputation-, my top five criteria for agency selection are:

1. Matching time to find a surrogate. The timeframe to be matched with a surrogate should be one of the first filters in deciding which agencies to talk to. There will always be more people looking for surrogates than surrogates available. And within agencies, there is a big difference in waiting times. If time to match is of importance, then you can work with an agency that will have surrogates with a higher base compensation than other options available. So timeframe directly correlates to costs involved within the process.

2. Costs. Make sure that you have a clear and comprehensive picture from the agency on all the expenses related to the journey and when payments are due, you. They can't give you a fixed price due to variables outside of the agency's control. Meaning the price could increase.

My agency gave me an estimated budget for the entire process of around 200,000 us dollars, which enabled me to budget accordingly. For example. They broke their fee of $28,000 into three parts. Which were paid. Upon signing the agency contract. Upon matching with a surrogate and the final installment when the surrogate was medically cleared. This helped me to spread out the total amount into bite sized chunks. As explained in episode six, you will need an escrow account into which the whole amount must be deposited before your surrogate gets pregnant.

3. Do you want twins or a single baby? 12 years ago, due to lower success rates. Agencies, we're happy for Surrogates to carry twins as clinics would transfer two embryos with the aim of getting to one baby. Since I always dreamed of having two children. And I couldn't afford to do this more than once. I opted for twins.

Nowadays. Agencies we'll aim to avoid twins. And we'll suggest one surrogate per embryo transfer. Which makes sense. As I didn't realise the more babies a surrogate is carrying in one pregnancy, the higher, the risk.

4. How much of the process can the agency do? Some smaller agencies will only match you with a surrogate. Well, some larger agencies can offer you additional services. Always looking at ways to provide peace of mind. I chose an agency that provided additional services, such as travel, logistics, payments, and psychological evaluations. All to minimise the amount of people involved. And to make it easier and smoother.

5. What are the agency's thoughts on termination? Another reason I felt comfortable with my agency. Was that they included surrogates that were open to the option of termination. This for me was very important as I did not want my surrogate to be in a situation where her health was at risk. Keep in mind, there are agencies that do not support termination.

Four questions to ask:

1) Do you want to use an agency or to go independently?

2) Is waiting time of importance to you.

3) Have you compared the costs between agencies?

4) Have you discussed termination?