Egg Donor Patient Video: Ian and Olaf
Ian and Olaf are an example of what the Shady Grove Fertility Egg Donation Programme can offer and how the process of using a gestational carrier works.
Video Transcription (Show)
Olaf: It’s really like meeting old friends.
Ian: Dr. Levy, great man. Very calm, very soothing.
Olaf: It was amazing to see him again. I think he’s an incredible doctor.
Ian: We were a bit bruised from a couple of unsuccessful cycles. So this is what brought us to Shady Grove.
Olaf: The initial sort of consultation, with Dr. Levy in the clinic is very thorough, very good. We felt really reassured that we were heard and our needs were addressed. In the United States, you are from the very outside, very clear legally where you are heading whose child it will be and I think this is really a very, very important point. Going through the process of surrogacy in the UK is more complicated especially when it comes to the birth and shortly after, and I don’t think I would personally would want to do that because there is a good chance you might not get the baby in the end.
In America, we are on the birth certificate, so from the very first day of birth you are on the birth certificate, as parents. I think that says everything.
Going to Shady Grove helps on many levels, I think you get the full clinical back up which you need, you get an amazing team and you feel at home.
Ian: There is an enormous amount of information made available about your egg donor.
Olaf: What the donor is interested in, what the family background is.
Ian: We’ve had the same egg donor for both boys, they share the same genetic mother.
Olaf: We wanted both our sperm to be used in the process. We used the best fertilized egg. It was successful the first time, and of course it’s a very nervous time. Your baby is growing in America while you are in the UK.
Ian: We were in such regular contact with out surrogate that we knew everything about his development. We were regularly informed of routine appointments, we knew what was happening every step of the way. He was nine pounds too and our surrogate did the most remarkable, remarkable job.
Olaf: Ian was holding Hugo first and I was cutting the cords.
Ian: There was just so much happiness in the room.
Olaf: We ended up with an amazing little boy.
Ian: Huge smiler, he wakes with a smile.
Olaf: I am papa, coming from the German side. Ian is daddy, makes it quite easy. I’ve actually seen a book recently called “Daddy and Papa”
Ian: I’ve always, always wanted to be a parent, and to be a parent twice is twice the charm I thought I’d ever have.
Olaf: It’s a very deep bond between all four of us.
Ian: Shady Grove Fertility, in my experience, have infinite experience on levels more than I can describe. And I think if you think you want to be a parent, if you think it’s the choice that you want to explore, it’s worth pinging an email, it’s worth making a phone call, it’s worth going to a fertility exhibition if they are there. To start the dialogue, because I think within minutes of speaking to the fabulous team at Shady Grove Fertility, you’ll begin to make that decision for yourself if being a parent is right for you, and if you think it is, in my experience, they are the people to do it with.