Thirteen years wait for surrogacy success

 British couple spent around £150,000 for their two children’s

British-Indian couple who had surrogacy success after 13 years have recently returned from India with their second child, and are helping other people with fertility problems through a voluntary-run website.

Bobby and Nikki Bains now have two beautiful children; Daisy aged two and a half years and Dhillon who is five months old. However it has not been such an easy ride for the couple.

Mr Bains,46, who lives in Ilford, said: "When we found out we were expecting our first child we were just in complete shock and were absolutely numb. We'd been waiting for this moment for such a long time."

Their struggle to have a family began in 1995 with the first of a series of IVF treatments in Britain costing between £4,000 and £7,000 each time. During this time they had done everything in their power from taking part in religious Sikh rituals, to having a sign on their car offering £10,000 to a potential surrogate – but nothing seemed to work.

So in 2005 they decided to go to India and approached the Rotunda clinic in Mumbai. Here doctors successfully implanted a surrogate mother (after a number of tries) with a donor egg fertilised by Mr Bains's sperm, and in July 2008 their daughter Daisy was delivered by the 11th surrogate mother and brought back home after three months.

Mr Bains estimates they spent around £125,000 on their first child and a further £25,000 on their second child Dhillon who was born at the Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Gujarat on August 5th 2010.

He added: "Bringing back Dhillon was tough with all the laws in place. It takes about three months to get a passport after which you can apply for a visa. Why can't they make it easier?"

Mrs Bains, 45, works in the admin department for a hospital while Mr Bains, who gave up his full time job as an engineer to concentrate on fathering a baby, now devotes his time to working on their voluntary-run website www.oneinsix.com which helps other couples with fertility problems.

They currently have three to four couples a week contacting them for help.

Mr Bains added: "I would encourage everyone to take their money and go to India, there are no waiting lists and it is professional."

Dr Nayana Patel who runs the Akanksha Infertility Clinic, in Anand (Gujarat) believes a lot of couples from all over the world are going to India because it is much more affordable.

Since 2004 the clinic has delivered between 360-365 babies through surrogate mothers.

Dr Patel said: "These surrogate mothers usually have children of their own and so there is less chance of them being attached with the baby. All the women willingly approach us and through becoming a surrogate they are able to earn a better standard of living for their family whether it be buying a house, or educating their own children."