What I Really Want for Christmas: How to Tell Your Family You're Having Kids!

As seen in The HuffPost Gay Voices.

By: Dr. Guy Ringler, California Fertility Partners, Los Angeles CA

Board certified fertility physician in both Obstetrics and Gynecology
& Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

The holidays are a great time for celebration with family. Whether it's with candles or a Christmas tree, turkey or roast beef, long sessions around the dining-room table or the fireplace seem to be in order.

All the emphasis on family can make many of us in the LGBT community feel a little isolated for not having kids of our own, something many hadn't even considered until recent years. It can also instill a longing to start our own family. I've seen it with plenty of my gay patients and same-sex couples over the last two decades. Having the love and support of family and friends can be very helpful to all people pursuing fertility treatment.

But the decision regarding whether or not to share your dreams and plans with family members -- particularly over the holidays -- can bring up lots of issues and invite everyone to share their opinions on how things should be done. "How will it happen?" "Who will carry the pregnancy?" "Why would she do it that way?" "How much will it cost?" You'll get lots of questions from family members who haven't been down a surrogacy road before, but hopefully all from a perspective of caring.

The good news is that there are many treatment options today for gay and lesbian family building, and sharing your plans with loved ones during the holidays can help muster their support and engage them in the process.

Whatever your situation, here are some suggestions for those first conversations that I've shared with my gay patients over the past 20 years:

• Do focus on your family members becoming grandparents, aunts, and uncles. That's probably what your parents have been looking forward to since you were born: to spoil a grandchild. That's part of their bond with you, their legacy. Focus on the growth of your family and their role in it. That will bring you all closer.
• Don't review all the protocols and procedures at first, unless they ask. You wouldn't tell them about the details of your attempts to get pregnant if you were straight, so there's no need to go over the details of the conception. As they become engaged in the process and want to know more, you can share the parts that are comfortable for you.
• Do make them feel like they're the first to know. Let them know...

Read the full story here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-guy-ringler/what-i-really-want-for-ch_b_6264814.html

West Coast Surrogacy, Inc (WCS) and West Coast Egg Donation Inc. (WCED) is an all-inclusive surrogate and egg donation agency located in Southern California. Working with intended parent(s) both straight and gay together with gestational surrogates and egg donors nationwide, WCS and WCED uses a team-oriented approach that encompasses the highest level of integrity, support, and compassion. It is our pledge to guide you through every step of this life-changing process, acting as both a resource for information and an unparalleled support system.  

To find out more about our surrogate mother and egg donor programs,  please visit us on the web at:

http://www.westcoastsurrogacy.com and http://www.westcoasteggdonation.com or call us at (toll free) 877.492.7411.

WELCOME, BABY! Creative Birth Announcements

These beautiful images, gorgeous graphics and adorable works of art are examples of birth announcements we found on Pinterest.  How wonderful to be able to welcome a baby to the world and introduce them to their new family with these creative cards. 

TWINS: Twice As Nice

Britain's First Gay Dads to Marry This Weekend When Law Changes to Allow Gay Marriage

Britain’s first gay dads are to marry on Saturday, when the law changes to allow gay couples to officially marry.

Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow at their civil partnership in 2006

Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow, will marry at Greenwoods Hotel and Spa in Stock.
The Danbury couple, who run the British Surrogacy Centre in Chandlers Quay, Maldon, previously told the Standard they had invited Elton John and singer Ricky Martin.
The Drewitt-Barlows, who have been together for 27 years, entered a civil partnership in 2006.
Tony said: “It’s really uplifting to know that we are making progress in our campaign for equal rights. I consider this to be a massive leap."

Read the whole article here:
http://www.maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/news/localnews/11099719.Britain_s_first_gay_dads_to_marry_when_law_changes_on_Saturday/?ref=nt

West Coast Surrogacy Announces New OC Offices

We packed up and moved but we're still in the neighborhood!

 

We're delighted to say that we have a lovely new location and we couldn't be happier!

 You can find us here:

6 Venture

Suite 395

Irvine, CA 92618

949-861-4100

 www.westcoastsurrogacy.com

 

Vintage Baby Smiles

West Coast Surrogacy Celebrates at the Beach

 

Creating families, changing lives, fulfilling dreams and empowering women--it's pretty big stuff.  At West Coast Surrogacy, the staff and surrogates are engaged in work that is transformative and so important every day but this past weekend, they took time to hit the beach and just enjoy each other's company and celebrate their successful partnership.

 

With nearly 100 people attending, the surrogates, staff and their families mingled and mixed on the sands of San Diego with the beautiful Pacific Ocean in the background. 

 

One of our surrogate mothers wrote a thank you note, already:

 “THANK YOU!  Thank you all so much for putting on such a fun beach party!  The boys and I had a blast.  It was great to meet so many of the other surrogates and their families.  You run an amazing company that does amazing things and you should all be proud.

 Thanks again for such a fun time.”

 

Thank YOU!  And many thanks to all our wonderful surrogates. 

Working with you makes every day, a day at the beach!

 

WATCH: Ten-Year Old Alegra Wants Workplace Protection for her Gay Dads

 

 

FROM HUFFINGTON POST:

In a video released last week, a precocious 10-year-old's plea for workplace protections for her two gay dads is touchingly simple.
"What I want my dads to get for this Father's Day would be job security," Florida fifth-grader Alegra says in the short clip posted to YouTube on June 14. "Please President Obama. It could help so many families like mine."
Alegra's dads, Jarrod Scarbrough and Les Sewell, are longtime LGBT advocates. The family recently made local headlines after a failed attempt to secure a marriage license in Tampa Bay in 2012. Florida does not permit same-sex marriage.

FULL STORY HERE:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/alegra-lgbt-workplace-protection-fathers-day_n_3455069.html?ref=topbar

WATCH: Hear from a Surrogate Mother and Her Husband on the Joys of Surrogacy

Zach Wahls on Being the Son of Two Moms

You may remember this video that went viral over a year ago.  This young man, Zach Wahls, talks about being the son of two moms. After this much-circulated video, he went on to appear on television, on talk shows, at the DNC Convention and he remains a touch-stone in the debate on gay marriage.

WATCH: National Infertility Awareness Week

Watch the 2013 National Infertility Awareness Week video

Since 1989 RESOLVE has organized National Infertility Awareness Week®. Now we ask you to help us and join the movement to...

• Bring infertility support groups to every community.
• Increase and protect access to all family building options.
• Help change the conversation about infertility.

A Calling to Surrogacy



JOHN HART-State Journal



French nationals Thomas Clochon, left, and Nicolas Beslin, right, hold their newborn twin boys, Hugo and Valentin Clochon, born through surrogate Taylor Torcaso, center.

In this lovely story from the Wisconsin Journal, gestational surrogate Taylor Torcaso puts into words what so many women who act as surrogates say they also feel.

Taylor Torcaso has this thing about pregnancy.
"When I'm pregnant I feel whole," said the 28-year-old married mother of two who lives on Madison's East Side. "When I'm not pregnant, I'm longing to be pregnant."
So, with what she termed a "calling" to become pregnant again, coupled with the desire to help two gay Frenchmen have a family of their own, Torcaso agreed to carry a baby for 9 months that was not her own.


Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/health_med_fit/a-tale-of-love-and-surrogacy/article_c0fc9edc-8765-11e2-bbd5-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz2My05xnWY

A Bake Sale for Surrogacy

Daniel Dan and William Will Neville-Rehbehn bake a lemon meringue pie at their home in Washington, D.C., on Friday, February 1, 2013. The couple who married in 2011 have been creative about raising money for starting a family by doing what the love to do - baking. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

 An inspiring story from the Washington Post.  Read, enjoy, be inspired and buy some brownies:

First comes love.
Then comes marriage.
Then comes an online bake sale to pay for an egg donor, a surrogate and in vitro fertilization.
In the kitchen of their snug, rented loft off U Street, Will and Dan Neville-Rehbehn, a married gay couple, are “baking for babies,” as their Web site calls their efforts to raise the money they need to start a family .
Tonight, they’re baking a Margarita Layer Cake that will sell for $70.
“I need 12 cups of powered sugar!” Will, 30, calls out to Dan, 29, who is watching their red Kitchen­Aid mixer whip tequila-lime buttercream frosting on high.
“Got it,” responds Dan, double-checking the recipe on the couple’s iPad.
The multilayered vanilla cake also calls for “margarita liquid cheesecake” — a filling made with agave-based 1800 Tequila Reserva Silver — and “roasted corn tortilla-chip crunch,” which are alternated in an 11-step assembly process.

Their fundraising campaign illustrates the desire of gay couples to start families and underscores the fact that — like straight couples who face fertility challenges — they are willing to do just about anything to make it happen, said Carrie L. Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland, an advocacy group. 

read the full story http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-08/lifestyle/36993791_1_bake-sale-web-site-egg-donor

Happy Friday, Baby

The masterful Anne Geddes took this shot.  Of course she did.  Happy Friday!

Gay Future Dads: Surrogacy Made Simple(r):

Our Director, Amy Kaplan, will be speaking in November at

Our Family Coalition, the gay and lesbian family and parenting support

for the San Francisco Bay Area, on 

 "Surrogacy Made Simple(r)".

Amy has been a surrogate, herself, and has helped many families navigate the intricacies of a surrogacy arrangement to the

final, happy conclusion.

If interested in knowing more and to sign up, contact Julia at julia@ourfamily.org