Friday, February 22, 2013

Riley is 19 months old now & getting smarter & prettier every day. She is a true joy & a blessing. Terry & I would love to give her a little brother or sister someday.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Riley's Christening

On Sunday March 4th 2012 we Christened Riley into the Christian faith. It was a beautiful day with the full support of both family & friends. I was so overcome with emotion that I forgot to ask anyone to take pictures of the actual event, but we did take some pictures of Riley in her dress before hand.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Baby's birth

Our beautiful healthy baby girl was born at 10am, July 18th 2011 local time. We quickly flew to India to greet our little bundle of joy and although there were certain unavoidable delays, that had nothing to do with the Kiran Fertility Center, it was all well worth it. Our biggest delay was waiting for the DNA test to come back, but we didn't need a DNA test, you could see me all in her little adorable face. My mother says she looks just like me when I was a baby. At times we thought we would never be able to leave India with her, but Dr. Samit, Anjani, Sanji & Sali of the Kiran Fertility Center all took excellent care of us.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Our baby at 30 weeks!!

Well its getting close to that time, we are sooo excited to be parents, what with thinking of baby names & a neutral color for the baby's room. Can't wait to hold our little one in my arms.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Our baby at 12 weeks

Just the 2 of us

You know how you go through your entire life missing something and you don't know its missing?  That how I was going along a few years back.  I never knew I wanted to be a dad, it was never even on my radar.  People who know me a little would probably say I'm a little self absorbed & a little impulsive, people who know me a lot know I'm nurturing and kind.  A few years back my partner & I met a young woman and during a discussion we kind of came to a conclusion of trying to parent a child together.  After a few months of planning & getting used to the idea the young lady backed out, but started something in me that I never knew was there.  A desire to be a father.  My partner, Terry, supported this desire, & already had a love for children of his own.  Being a disabled veteran, with a lot of free time, I started doing a lot of research on how I could become a parent in the most healthy & economical fashion.  I met a few young ladies who had agreed to help us in our quest to become parents but nothing ever became of it, I began to lose hope, but my desire to become a biological father did not go away.  Friends & family suggested adoption & foster care, which are great institutions, but I didn't just want A child, I wanted MY child. With time & the vast resources of the internet I continue to research surrogacy and started looking into the more legitimate ways of doing it.

The Invitro process alone in the U.S. is so expensive, not to mention the exorbitant fees the U.S. surrogates charge & then when they have your child, up until they sign away parental rights they still have a legal claim to YOUR child regardless of biological relation (or so I found). I decided to start looking abroad, when I came across 2 agencies that put people together with Fertility Centers in India.  I found a friendly gay couple in Kentucky (Mike & Brad) who had already been through the process & were now the proud parents of a beautiful little girl.  Terry & I talked extensively with Mike & Brad, and Mike suggested we go directly through the Kiran Fertility Center and cut out the middle man, who (& I won't mention any names) I NOW find were trying to add additional cost that would not be paid to the clinic.  I started an email conversation with Dr. Samit Sekhar the director of the Kiran Fertility Center, he was friendly, helpful & very reassuring.

I  traveled to Hyderabad, India on the day after Thanksgiving 2010 (Black Friday) to make my "deposits".  I was very nervous to travel because Terry & I had become joined at the hip in our time together & this was my 1st time traveling without him, due to his work, but when I got to Hyderabad, Anjani Kumar, of the Kiran Fertility Center made my stay in Hyderabad a very pleasant one.   I met the entire staff, saw where our surrogate would be staying and where our baby would be born & was on my journey to parenthood.  Any doubts (there were VERY few) were put to ease by their professionalism & attitude.  2 weeks later long after my return to the states I was informed of the embryo implantation & on New Years Eve I was informed that our surrogate had indeed become pregnant.  We are now early in our 2nd trimester & are making plans to throw a baby shower in July for our baby who is due in late August or early September.