Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra shared the news about the birth of their second child, Samisha, after eight years on Instagram, via surrogacy in February 2020.
The Kundra couple has a son, Viaan Raj, together in the year 2012. After her son, the actress wanted to have another child for so long. She didn’t want her son to grow up as the only child as she knew how important it was to have a sibling. In an interview, she mentioned that she had an autoimmune disease, APLA (antiphospholipid antibodies), associated with the anti-phospholipid syndrome. It is a disorder in which there is a dysfunction in the immune system of the body. It attacks proteins in the blood resulting in causing blood clots within veins, arteries and organs. Because of this condition, she had a couple of miscarriages. The couple has also tried adoption, but it didn’t turn out to work. After four years, when she gave up on the thought of having another child, they have decided to try surrogacy as their last hope.
The couple has expressed their happiness for having a baby girl after three attempts through surrogacy and gratitude for all the support and blessings they have received.
Surrogacy is one of the best options for women who cannot have children for any reason, such as not being able to conceive because of fertility issues or having difficulty with In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and single men and women to start their families. Surrogacy helps to have a biological connection with their child and carry on the genetics of the family.
As the process of surrogacy is different from the traditional pregnancy, there was a need for additional mental health support for both the couple and the surrogate mother than in the case of conventional pregnancy. To make the couple feel like a part of the whole pregnancy process, they were allowed to attend the surrogate mother’s doctor appointments and be a part of the delivery process.
To conclude, psychotherapy would add to the welfare of the couple opting for surrogacy and surrogate’s mental health in terms of understanding the process better and dealing with their emotional needs.
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Sreyashi is a psychologist at MindTribe.in. You can learn more about her by clicking here
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