Becoming a dad means you will have lots of decisions to make, and that’s before your baby even arrives! For LGBTQ dads to be, there are many paths to parenthood, including adoption, foster-to-adopt, and biological parenthood. Here at RMA of Connecticut, we are happy to support a biologically-related path to parenthood, but you can also learn more about adoption & fostering at our companion site Gay Parents To Be®.
The first step is to schedule your consultation, chat with Dr. Leondires, and start your story today.
You may have heard other dads or dads-to-be talk about their “surrogacy journey”. Surrogacy for gay men actually involves an IVF cycle, with egg donation and the help of a gestational carrier to carry and deliver the pregnancy. Here at RMA of Connecticut, our dedicated third party team of doctors, nurses, and administrative staff is experienced helping people become parents through surrogacy.
Both you and your partner (if applicable) may choose to be genetic-intended fathers – that means that you will contribute genetic material to your future child. In addition to the two of you, you will also need the help of an egg donor and a gestational carrier, as well as a whole team of experienced professionals to make sure you and your future child are protected.
Finding an egg donor can be a challenging choice, as your donor will be contributing 50% of your future child’s genes! Your team here at RMA of Connecticut will help you choose your egg donor from either our in house donor pool, an agency, or an egg bank. Egg donors are screened for reproductive health, genetic conditions and diseases, and psychological health and infectious disease.
When it comes to your surrogate (also known as a gestational carrier), this person will have no genetic link to the baby that they carry. Still, they will need to be screened for reproductive health, infectious diseases, and complete a set of mental health testing and background checks. You will build a relationship with this person for nine months – and probably longer—so we want it to have a solid foundation. The team at Gay Parents To Be and RMA of Connecticut will help guide you to select a surrogacy agency, who will facilitate that testing and your surrogate match.
Once you are matched with a donor, the eggs have been successfully retrieved and an embryo has been grown in the lab, it will then be transferred into the carrier’s uterus. Learn more about this process here.
Pregnancy can be detected 11 to 12 days after transfer, and then you and your surrogate will continue to bond up to – and after – your baby is born
At RMA of Connecticut, we offer fertility treatment financial counseling to our patients, as well as a wide array of financial packages. We can’t lie to you, surrogacy can be an expensive process, but we’re here to help you navigate it.
RMA of CT created Gay Parents To Be as a resource and a starting point, where you can find answers to any question about LGBTQ family building. Gay Parents To Be was specifically created for your family, by our family, and has articles, videos, guides, and events to help you learn more and feel empowered to start your own journey.
Visit our events page to learn more about our LGBTQ+ groups and programs. Our virtual LGBTQ support group is free of charge and welcomes patients in all stages of the process—from thinking about moving forward using an egg or sperm donor to beginning your cycle and, finally, parenting.