Breaking Surrogacy Myths: My Sister-In-Law Is The Surrogate Mother Of My Daughter

Surrogacy and surrogate mothers are often targets of society's judgments and cruel behaviour when it is completely normal for couples to choose different options for childbirth. Shilpa Amogh Masur is one such advocate of surrogacy who received support from her sister-in-law to embrace motherhood.

Amogh and Shilpa were not ready to be parents right after their marriage in 2010. Hence, they decided to delay till they felt it was the correct time. However, when three years later they decided to embrace parenthood, but they did not get the results easily. Complications of getting pregnant troubled them both and when nothing seemed to work out, Shilpa's sister-in-law stepped in and volunteered to become the surrogate mother of their child.

Initially, the couple had to explain a lot of things about how surrogacy worked to their relatives but it was good as it only raised awareness among them. In 2019, Shilpa and Amogh became parents of a beautiful daughter Trishika and since then, Shilpa has been raising awareness and breaking myths about surrogacy whenever she gets a chance. Read her story below.

Surrogacy Worked For Us Thanks To The Support Of My Sister-In-Law

“I got married to Amogh in 2010 & we wanted to travel and explore the world. Hence we didn't try for babies right away. After 3 years when I was 27 our parents suggested we try for kids, but who knew it wouldn't be the same as other couples out there," Shilpa said.

She added, "I didn’t get pregnant naturally after trying for a few months. So we decided to consult a fertility specialist who prescribed certain injections. After 6 months of trying that we still didn’t get any results. Then we did 7 rounds of IUI & it failed too. I was dejected as I had lost more than a year trying for a baby with no signs of hope. After a year we decided to go for IVF."

Recalling her pregnancies, Shilpa said, "In December 2017 I tried my first round of IVF & I got pregnant for the first time with twins but within 8 weeks I had a miscarriage. It broke our hearts, I wanted to just run away somewhere. So again in June 2018, I tried for my second IVF & I got pregnant again but this time it lasted for just 6 weeks. Our whole life shattered & I almost gave up hopes of becoming a mom. I used to hold my nephew and cry, my SIL used to say you’ll be a great mom someday. Amogh asked if I wanted to try again but I was done."

"During this time my sister-in-law had given birth to a boy & he has been my only hope through these dark days," Shilpa said speaking about her first miscarriage.

"The doctor then suggested that we think about surrogacy and we discussed it with the family & right on day one my SIL said, “I will do it for you.” That was such a surprise for us but she assured us, “I would be honoured to do this for you.” I didn’t know how to express my joy. We took her to the doctor for all kinds of check-ups."

"Since then everything was a breeze - from IVF to getting pregnant to the three trimesters. I took care of my nephew completely & my SIL till the day of the delivery. Our family threw both of us a baby shower. Our relatives were unclear about how surrogacy works but we tried to explain. My parents and my brother have been the most supportive of all," she continued.

"In December 2019, Trishika was born making our family complete. I can't thank my sister-in-law for gifting me the best gift. The two kids in the family have two sets of parents making us one of the luckiest families ever. One doesn’t need an umbilical connection to be a mother."

Suggested Reading: When Ekta Kapoor Embraced Motherhood And Normalised Surrogacy For Others