becoming babyREADY with Sam Leeson - All About Queer Family Planning & Creation

What does it really look like to build a family through fertility treatments — from the inside? In this deeply personal episode, we sit down with Emily and Sarah, a couple whose path to parenthood began just after their September 2024 wedding. Their story is one of hope, patience, and the kind of love that finds a way.

Our host has known Emily since she was a little girl, which makes this conversation all the more meaningful. After Emily's mom reached out about the couple's plans to start a family, what followed was a year of check-ins, conversations, and a front-row seat to one of life's most profound journeys.

In Part One, we cover:

• Life after egg retrieval and the emotional waiting period before the first transfer
• The moment they found out they were pregnant
• What the final stretch of pregnancy really felt like - including a frank conversation about Lactation Induction

Emily and Sarah chose to work with Pollin Fertility — a clinic our host wholeheartedly recommended — and their experience there is woven throughout the conversation.

Don't miss Part Two next week, when we get to hear the story of their baby's arrival.

Resources mentioned:

• Polin Fertility Clinic: www.pollinfertility.com

Let's be real — when you're dreaming of building your family and things aren't going the way you hoped, it doesn't matter how many times someone says "you're not alone in this." It doesn't matter that others have walked this road before you. The pain is yours. It's in your body. It's in your bones. And it is completely valid.

You grieve. You feel the loss. You feel like your body isn't on your side, like the system was built for literally everyone except you. And yeah — sometimes you just feel completely, utterly lost.

This week, Catherine and Ana are getting into all of it. They're talking about a program they've developed specifically for queer individuals and couples who are navigating the very real, very heavy emotions that can come with an unsuccessful journey toward creating the family they've been dreaming of. The program runs through Birthmark in Toronto, and honestly? It sounds like exactly the kind of affirming, community-centred support so many of us didn't know existed — but absolutely deserve.

This one is tender. This one is important. Come sit with us.

🔗 Resources mentioned in this episode: Symposium info & Family Building Canada: familybuildingcanada.com/symposium Birthmark LGBTQ+ programs: birthmarksupport.com/lgbtq Reach out directly: [email protected] Instagram: @birthmarksupport

Ontario Arts Council: arts.on.ca | @ontarioartscouncil

Imagine wanting to give your eight-year-old child a sibling, only to discover that door after door slams in your face. For many prospective parents over a certain age—especially single ones—the path to surrogacy can feel like navigating a maze designed to keep you out.

This is the reality Oded faces. As a single parent by choice, he's encountered obstacle after obstacle in his quest to expand his family. Age restrictions? Check. Single parent status? Double check. It seems like every criterion works against him, every agency politely declining his application before even getting to know his story.

But here's where the journey takes an unexpected turn—halfway across the world in Armenia.

While many countries restrict surrogacy access based on marital status, age, or sexual orientation, Armenian surrogacy agencies have carved out a unique niche. They're willing to work with and support 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals who are building their families, offering hope where other doors have closed. There's just one requirement: you can't be married. For Oded, a proud single parent by choice, this isn't a barrier—it's finally a pathway forward.

Now, with determination and hope guiding him, Oded is looking toward a future where his family grows by one more. If everything goes according to plan, by this time next year, there will be a new baby bringing joy and chaos into their lives. It's a testament to persistence, the evolving landscape of family creation, and the unexpected places where dreams can still come true.

Summary

Oded, a single parent with an eight-year-old child, faces significant barriers in finding surrogacy agencies willing to work with him due to his age and single parent status. However, Armenian surrogacy agencies offer a solution by welcoming LGBTQ+ and single individuals—with the sole requirement being that clients aren't married. As a single parent by choice, Oded meets this criterion and is now on track to potentially welcome a second child within the next year, demonstrating how international surrogacy options are creating possibilities for non-traditional families.

Learn more about Oded's journey by following him on IG @dadlkg4surr

We are living in a time where headlines feel heavier than ever — rising hate, political division, threats to bodily autonomy, attacks on Queer and marginalized communities, and the quiet but persistent fear that nowhere is truly immune.

Even here in Canada, many of us feel the ripple effects of what is happening beyond our borders. The pain is real. The fear is real. And for parents and caregivers, the question becomes unavoidable: How do we raise emotionally safe, resilient children in a world that feels increasingly unsafe?

In this deeply honest and compassionate episode, we explore:

• What it means to parent through collective trauma and constant crisis

• The emotional toll of consuming relentless news cycles

• Why stepping away from the headlines may actually be a courageous act of protection — not avoidance

• How to stay informed without becoming emotionally flooded

• Practical ways to create safer emotional ecosystems inside our homes

• Supporting kids while also tending to our own nervous systems and mental health

This conversation isn’t about denial. It’s about discernment. It’s about protecting our capacity to show up as grounded, present caregivers — even when the world feels like it’s on fire.

If this episode stirs up difficult emotions or you find yourself struggling, you are not alone. Support exists. Consider connecting with:

• Postpartum Support International — postpartum.net

• Postpartum Support Canada — postpartum.org

Please reach out for help wherever you feel safest. Community care is real care.

As always, you and your family are being held in light and love.

At first glance, it looked like a postcard moment: two moms cuddled up on the couch, a newborn wrapped in blankets, love absolutely everywhere. And that’s exactly how my conversation with Reme and Jess began.

Their five-year-old daughter Jade was off at school, while three-week-old Jude soaked up quiet newborn time with her moms. But behind this picture-perfect scene is a story full of intention, resilience, and the many different ways queer families grow.

Reme and Jess have been together for twelve years, and it didn’t take long for them to know that parenthood was part of their future. When it came time to start their family, Jess—being older—carried first. Using an app to connect with a local sperm donor, they conceived quickly, enjoyed a smooth pregnancy, and welcomed Jade via a straightforward birth-centre birth. Easy. Empowering. Dreamy.

So naturally, when it was time for baby number two, they expected more of the same—especially with Reme being younger.

Reality had other plans.

This time, conception took longer, pregnancy was far tougher, and the peaceful home birth they’d envisioned didn’t happen. And yet—Reme wouldn’t change a single thing. Because Jude arrived exactly how she needed to, bringing with her a depth of gratitude, love, and perspective that reshaped their family in the most beautiful way.

This episode is a tender, honest look at queer conception journeys, shifting expectations, and holding joy alongside challenge. It’s a reminder that there is no “right” way to grow a family—only your way.

✨ Follow Reme and Jess on TikTok @alphabetmafiamoms to see more of the magic that is their family.

Content Note / Trigger Warning:
This episode includes discussion of fertility challenges, medical complications, pregnancy loss, and barriers to family expansion. Please listen in the way that feels safest and most supportive for you.

Today, I had the honour of sitting down with Michelle and Lisa Cast, a couple whose love story spans nearly 25 years and whose family-building journey has been anything but simple.

Michelle and Lisa first met in 2001, when they were just 18 years old and sophomores in college. What followed can only be described as a knowing. After only a few weeks of talking, Michelle shared, “If you were a guy, I’d marry you tomorrow,” to which Lisa replied, “Yeah… we need to talk about that. I think I’m falling in love with you.” They’ve been together ever since.

Over the years, Michelle and Lisa have navigated profound and intersecting challenges: significant weight-loss journeys, living with and managing PCOS, pregnancy and birth following serious medical complications, and the stress of not conceiving their second child in a timely manner. And still — their story is not finished.

What stands out most in this conversation is their honesty, their refusal to romanticize hardship, and their unwavering belief that their family may yet continue to grow. They speak openly about grief, resilience, love, and the complexity of holding hope after loss.

Michelle and Lisa also share their lived experiences on their own podcast, creating space for truth-telling, connection, and solidarity for others walking similar paths. This episode is a reminder that Queer family creation is rarely linear — and that persistence, love, and care can coexist with uncertainty.

🎧 Be sure to check out their podcast: The Cast Compass Podcast and follow them on social media @Castof2Moms to continue learning from their journey.

Website - https://thecastcompass.com/ (has been revised and has a blurb about our podcast here: https://thecastcompass.com/#podcast)

Podcast Links - Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cast-compass-podcast/id1812208043, Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3mqkhiFYmENxbYP94u0ckU, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCastCompass

Sometimes family begins with timing, courage, and a leap into the unknown.

Nearly 15 years ago, fate brought Heitor and Wayne together when Heitor relocated to Ireland for work. From early on, they shared a quiet but steady knowing: they both wanted to become parents someday. What they didn’t yet know was how that dream would take shape.

With openness, intention, and a deep commitment to understanding what was involved, Heitor and Wayne embarked on a surrogacy journey. Working with an agency based in Cyprus — alongside a consultant who answered every question and supported them through each step — they found both their egg donors and surrogates through the same organization.

Their path was anything but simple. Choosing to keep their journey private, they didn’t share it with friends or family, and when they experienced the devastating loss of their first pregnancy at 11 weeks, they leaned solely on one another for support and healing.

Their contract was signed just before guidelines shifted to limit embryo transfers to one at a time. Because of this timing — and the significant financial realities of surrogacy — their care continued under previous protocols through a grandfathered agreement.

In 2024, after years of hope, grief, resilience, and trust, Heitor and Wayne finally welcomed their children, Blake and Blaire, into their family.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that Queer family creation is rarely linear — and always deeply human.

✨ Learn more and connect with Queer parenting advocacy in Ireland:
📲 @IrishGayDads | @LGBTIreland | @equalityforchildren
🔗 www.irishgaydads.ie | www.equalityforchildren.ie

🎥 Follow Heitor and Wayne’s family journey on YouTube or Instagram: @twindadlife_official

Today on the podcast, we’re joined once again by Christina Alicea — a familiar and deeply valued voice in conversations around fertility, donation, and ethical family creation.

When Christina first joined us a few years ago, she was working within a fertility clinic and sharing her experiences primarily as an egg donor. Since then, her professional journey has evolved in powerful ways. Today, Christina joins us in her current role as a Program Analyst with Everie, where her work centers on examining who is being well served by existing systems — and, just as importantly, where gaps remain that require thoughtful change.

Drawing from her lived experience as a multi-time egg donor and her current work with Everie, Christina reflects on the critical importance of open, ethical, and identity-affirming donation. This approach isn’t a “nice to have” — it’s foundational. Christina and the team at Everie believe deeply that everyone deserves the right to know their origins, and that transparency and respect must be built into the very framework of third-party reproduction.

Before we wrapped our conversation, Christina shared a practical and essential reminder for all hopeful parents: review your insurance policies carefully before beginning your family-building journey. Coverage, eligibility criteria, and requirements can vary widely by state, province, and country — and knowing what’s covered (and what isn’t) can help avoid unexpected financial stress along the way.

✨ To learn more about Everie and the services they offer, visit everiedonation.com
📲 Follow them on Instagram @everie.donation

In this special reflective episode of becoming babyREADY, Sam looks back on the conversations that shaped 2025 — a year defined by courage, complexity, and connection.

This season brought together Queer parents, hopeful parents, professionals, artists, advocates, and storytellers from around the world.

From filmmakers and authors to midwives, lawyers, coaches, and everyday families, each guest shared deeply personal stories of how their families came to be.

Across continents — from Canada and the U.S. to Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Australia, and beyond — one truth echoed again and again: there is no single way to build a Queer family.

Listeners are invited into conversations about surrogacy, IVF, reciprocal IVF, adoption, fostering, donor conception, solo parenting, co-parenting, poly-parenting, and more.

This episode also names a reality that often sits quietly in the background: the rising cost of Queer family creation.

Fertility care, medications, legal protections, adoption pathways, and surrogacy have become increasingly expensive — and increasingly out of reach for many.

Insurance coverage is often partial or inaccessible, leaving families to navigate systems that can feel deeply elitist and exclusionary.

Throughout the year, guests shared how financial barriers shaped their choices — forcing pauses, pivots, relocations, and, at times, heartbreaking decisions.

Alongside these realities, there was joy.

There was resilience.

There was laughter, healing, grief, advocacy, and hope.

This episode honours not only the families who were able to build — but also those still waiting, wondering, or redefining what family means for them.

As becoming babyREADY enters a new year, this reflection reaffirms the podcast’s commitment to honest storytelling, Queer affirmation, and holding space for both joy and truth.

Whether you’re dreaming, trying, parenting, grieving, or simply listening — you belong here.

Welcome to another year of ecoming babyREADY.

There are many ways to build a family with the support of a surrogate. Some people work with agencies; others move forward independently. Some are supported by gestational carriers or egg donors they know or are related to, while others aren’t. The possibilities are wide and deeply personal.

What is always true is this: this path is not fast. It is not inexpensive. And it is never without profound emotional highs and lows.

Today, we pause with heavy hearts and immense gratitude as we share a conversation with Bret Shuford (@bretshuford). Bret—who passed today—was an extraordinary human. Alongside his husband, Stephen, he navigated this complex and courageous journey with honesty, love, and intention, ultimately leading them to their beloved son, Maverick.

It is an honour to hold space for his story, his voice, and the legacy of love he leaves behind.