Canada has become a hot destination for parents-to-be looking for “altruistic surrogates” – women who give birth to babies they are not genetically related to and only charge pregnancy-related expenses in return.

Marissa Muzzell spent 16 hours in labour to deliver a baby girl.

She suffered from acute morning sickness during her pregnancy and had to be hospitalised twice. She underwent months of daily hormone injections and previously endured four failed embryo transfers.

She did all of this for a baby that is not hers.

Marissa, 32, is a surrogate in Canada, where hundreds of women like her volunteer to give birth to children that will then go home with somebody else.

“I’ve just created [a] family… someone else’s family,” says Marissa laughing, still recovering in the delivery room after handing over the newborn to the baby’s parents – a same-sex couple from Spain.