On Sunday fathers Joshua and Dean welcomed a baby girl – Riley Eloise – with the assistance of Joshua’s parents Todd and Louise Davis, who was their surrogate and a midwife at South West Healthcare’s Women’s Health Service.
“The boys wanted to start a family and I was under the age threshold and able to help – we just wanted them to experience how amazing it is to be a parent, they will do a great job and if this is what they need, then we are happy to do it,” says Louise.
“Being a midwife, an impending grandmother and a surrogate has given me a really unique insight into the process. It’s been amazing, we really just want to get the word out there about surrogacy as we know there is a lot of interest from couples locally,” she says.
“We are on forums and we know that people are keen to know more and to understand how it works, and we just want people to know that our experience birthing here and having the pregnancy go through South West Healthcare has been really positive,” adding “but there is also a lot that we’ve learned and the rules vary from state-to-state,” says Todd. “We want to shine a light on surrogacy, so that other families can benefit.”
Currently all surrogacy arrangements in Australia must be altruistic (where the surrogate does not get paid for acting as a surrogate, other than being reimbursed for medical and other reasonable expenses). Currently in Victoria, the intended parents must be either infertile, have a medical condition which poses a risk to the mother or baby or unable to carry a baby to explore surrogacy. The surrogate must be at least 25 years old, must have previously been pregnant and given birth to a live child, and must not use her eggs in the surrogacy arrangement. It is preferred that the surrogate has already completed her family, but this is not a legal requirement. All parties must have received counselling and legal advice.
“I am grateful to my partner Todd, I wouldn’t be able to do this without his help.”
Riley Eloise was born at 36 weeks – her middle name a nod to her egg donor ‘Emily’ and her grandmother and surrogate Louise, with which she will have a special bond.
“We are really grateful to mum for being our surrogate, surrogates need to come forward, because intended parents such as ourselves can’t approach anyone legally to ask about surrogacy,” says Joshua.
With both parents living in Melbourne, Joshua and Dean travelled to Warrnambool to attend ante-natal appointments and the birth.
“Everyone we have encountered throughout our journey has been really great to help us, they were willing to review their policies and procedures to accommodate surrogacy, which can be incredibly individualised to each family,” says Dean.
“We recognise that the path to becoming a parent is different for everyone, and there are so many more avenues available to parents and same-sex couples than what we have worked with historically. We want the community to know that we are here to support all people and to help them fulfill their dream of becoming parents which isn’t always easy. Congratulations to Joshua and Dean, the loving parents of Riley. We’re really pleased our team could be involved in such an important time of their life,” says South West Healthcare CEO, Craig Fraser.