Huffington Post features Brilliant Beginnings dads through surrogacy

“Brilliant Beginnings introduced us to Anna, our lovely surrogate in Bournemouth in January 2014. They had decided we would work well together. We had a telephone conversation and then a face-to-face meeting with her and Helen, Brilliant Beginnings representative in Bournemouth. “It was nerve-wracking meeting each other for the first time, but we all got on so well.” The two families met up three times and then agreed they wanted to go ahead with their surrogacy journey.

Michael had already given sperm to a clinic and the couple were on a waiting list for donor eggs. When this came through, the transfer happened in July 2014.

During Anna’s pregnancy, Michael and Jerome attended every scan appointment. They had a Whatsapp group to keep in contact daily and spent one evening a week on a Skype call. “We went to Bournemouth about 25 times in nine months,” Michael said. “Towards the end we were going every week. It was important to be part of the pregnancy and bond with our unborn baby. “The plan was, if she went into labour we’d drop everything and go.”

It just so happened that Anna went into labour shortly after the couple had left Bournemouth following a visit for a routine scan. So they turned around and came back. “We thought we would be well on time,” said Jerome. “But we got there and an hour later he popped out. “We had two rooms in the hospital – one for our family and one for Anna and her partner. We were very lucky. “After 20 hours we left and the second we got home, the whole fact we had a baby through surrogacy was irrelevant. “We just had a baby. The only time we were reminded of the fact this was a surrogacy process was when we applied for parental order, three months after the birth.”

Speaking about challenges, Michael called the legal framework around surrogacy “outdated”, as the parental order can only be granted three months after birth. Up until then, Anna was their son’s legal parent along with Michael because his sperm was used. Jerome was not.

The couple remain good friends with Anna, who has had another baby herself since, and still meet up as friends. “We call her Auntie Anna at the moment,” Jerome explained. “We’ll be honest with Rupert when he is old enough and say Anna carried you in her tummy, when it is age appropriate.” The couple said becoming parents has been “life changing”. “You can’t imagine how amazing it is until it happens,” said Michael. “I still can’t believe I live in a time when it’s possible to do this.”