Mariah & Thomas

Medical Information:

General Health:

We are both generally well and healthy.

Fertility Information:

We have 2 PGS tested embryos made with Mariah’s eggs and Thomas’ sperm.

Fertility Clinic:

Anova + Halton Fertility

Why are you looking for a Surrogate?

After 4 years of fertility treatments, research, and processing our journey, we have arrived at Fearless. Mariah has had 5 losses - one ectopic, one blighted ovum, and 3 early losses. She has done 2 embryo transfers. Unfortunately, Mariah's endometrial lining is just too persistently thin to support an embryo. Through Mariah's work as a Midwife, she has seen families of many different types and configurations. Mariah has supported Gestational Surrogates through their pregnancies as a care provider, and has been witness to the amazing way that families can come together through this journey. While infertility can be hard, we have wonderful support networks and have found love and strength through this journey together. We are searching for a Surrogate with excitement and hope in our hearts.

Tell us about your family & loved ones.

Both our parents are supportive, but neither have pressured us to have children. Mariah's mother Rhonda is the one that directed us towards Fearless, Her father Eamonn is along for the ride, whatever we decide. Thomas' parents Marie-Pierre and Jean-Luc live in France, but they have been a constant support through the last few years. Thomas is an only child. Mariah has a younger brother that lives in Toronto. He is excited at the prospect of being the "cool uncle". (We don't feel the need to let him know that he would have that distinction by default as the only uncle.) Mariah is lucky to work at a clinic that is full of supportive colleagues. They have been there every step of the way - covering early clinic or on-call time for Mariah to go to fertility appointments, to stop by for bloodwork when Mariah got Covid-19 and had a positive pregnancy test on the same day, and for hugs when things didn't turn out the way we had hoped. Thomas' friends while not as clinically useful as Mariah's, have been kind and helpful.

Would you like to attend appointments with your Surrogate?

We would love to attend a few, at the comfort of our Surrogate. Things like listening to the fetal heart rate or attending an ultrasound would be wonderful. We want to connect with the baby through the pregnancy (Mariah would really love to palpate the baby if our Surrogate is comfortable with this in the third trimester!). However, the care provider-client relationship is an important boundary for Mariah. As she is an obstetrical care provider, she understands the importance of bodily autonomy. We believe that our Surrogate should have time alone with their care provider to make clinical choices that impact their bodies and to talk about how they feel through the surrogacy process. It is also important to Mariah that if she attends clinical appointments, that she is there in the role of the intended parent, and does not blur the lines between parent and care provider. We wish to be collaborators in decision making with our Surrogate.

What are your thoughts on termination of a pregnancy due to genetic abnormalities or complications related to the pregnancy?

We would wish to terminate the pregnancy if the Surrogate's health was significantly at risk and it was determined by her care providers to be the best course of action. We would wish to terminate the pregnancy if the baby was found to have a condition that was not compatible with life.

If the Surrogate becomes pregnant with multiples, how would you feel? How do you feel about the possibility of selective reduction being recommended due to a multiple pregnancy?

Mariah's father is a fraternal twin. He also has older fraternal twin sisters. So twins would be cool, but not something that we are aiming for. If the recommended course of action for the health of the babies and/or the Surrogate is to selectively reduce the number of fetuses, and our Surrogate wishes for the same, we would follow the recommended course of action from our Surrogate's care providers.

Are you vaccinated for Covid-19? Do you have a preference for a Surrogate to have been vaccinated for Covid-19?

We are vaccinated, it was a requirement of Mariah's job during the height of the pandemic. We do not require our Surrogate to be vaccinated, but would request that they take precaution and limit exposures or use PPE if in contact with people who are known to be sick while they are pregnant.

What kind of relationship do you want to have with your Surrogate during the pregnancy?

We would love to get to know our Surrogate, and to form a caring relationship. We don't need constant communication, we know that some times will be more eventful than others, and sometimes our Surrogate will be busier than others! We believe that this relationship must be built on mutual trust and respect. We would love to hear about the exciting things, the ups and downs of pregnancy, but don' want communication to feel like a timed "job" for our Surrogate, or intrusive into their lives. We want to be a part of this process, while respecting our Surrogate's time and life!

Do you want to be in the delivery room when your child is born?

Yes please. Mariah would like to be. She is super good at labour support! Thomas isn't sure. He would prefer to get to know our Surrogate, and get a feel for the relationship that forms.

What kind of relationship do you hope to have with your Surrogate after the birth of your child?

Mariah grew up in a big family with lots of cousins, but only has one brother, and he and his wife are childless by choice. Thomas is an only child and grew up in Thailand away from his family who were all back in France. We would love to have an Aunty for our child, and some cousins!

Would you be open to a home birth?

100%. Homebirths are so chill. But hospital births can also be wonderful.

Are you open to midwifery care?

We think that as Mariah is a Midwife, this question should be reworded for us to "Would you be open to Obstetric care instead of Midwifery care". We firmly believe in informed choice. Midwifery care and Obstetric care are both wonderful, and each person has different needs in their pregnancy and birth. Mariah works with many amazing Midwifery and OB colleagues, and is happy to support our Surrogate to receive care from the person they feel best meets their needs.

Would you like your Surrogate to provide breastmilk?

If they are open to it! That would be wonderful. It is not an expectation that we would hold our Surrogate to. There are breast-milk donation programs through the hospital network that Mariah works at, and she would aim to get in touch with.

What will you tell the child about the Surrogate, and the circumstances of their birth? If your child asks to meet the Surrogate, how will you feel?

We would celebrate it! There are so many different ways to build a family. Our story will be special and full of love and hope. We would love to maintain a relationship with our Surrogate if it works out, so hopefully this would be a non-issue. But if they did ask, and our Surrogate was up for it, we would encourage and support them meeting.

If the transfer is unsuccessful, will you want to try again? If so, how soon after?

We would like to try again. Timing would depend on our Surrogate's life, comfort level, and health requirements.

If this surrogacy journey is successful, would you want to complete a sibling journey? What do you envision that looking like? (timeline, same Surrogate etc.)

This question almost seems too good to be true! At this time we are focusing on one child, but we would make this choice based on the number of embryos we have, the relationship with our Surrogate, and how our lives look.

What are your plans for childcare once the child is born?

We both have access to parental leave programs, and we have great family support.

What does a typical weekend look like for you?

We love to be active. A weekend in our life often looks like taking Gidget (our pug) to the dog park, going for runs together (Thomas has convinced Mariah to run a couple half marathons), relaxing on our balcony when the weather is nice. We often see our friends or family on the weekends as well. Mariah purchased her Grandmother's 1985 Dodge 600 Convertible a few years ago, and we love going for drives around town or going to the drive in theatre! We also sometimes take the car to Fergus to take Mariah's Grandmother out on drives.

What are some of your interests/ activities?

Mariah loves to read, and did ballet for over 20 years. every so often she returns to ballet for a relaxed adult class. One time she tried to branch out to tap dancing. That only lasted one year. Mariah also loves to bake cookies. Especially when she feels like eating the cookie dough.
Thomas played soccer and rugby growing up, and still loves soccer. He also runs, and plays video games. (mostly super nerdy ones, like train simulator).
We also both love to hike. Thomas grew up hiking with his family in the French Pyrenees, Mariah worked for a summer in Banff, and has climbed peaks in Banff, the Pyrenees, and the White Mountains of the Appalachian trail.

We have a pug named Gidget. She is silly, loving, and the best snuggler ever!

We love to eat, Thomas is of course partial to French food, but growing up in Thailand- he knows how to handle his spice. Interestingly, Thomas as a Frenchman, does not like cheese, or coffee. Mariah eats enough cheese and drinks enough coffee for both of us. Mariah tries to keep up with Thomas' spicy food levels to varying success. We love trying new things, and will travel for a good meal.

Thomas got his Canadian citizenship in 2023. He has lived in France, Taiwan, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Spain and Canada. He speaks English, French, Spanish, some Italian, and some Thai. Mariah grew up in Ontario. She has lived in Quebec, Switzerland, and Australia. She speaks English, passable French, and some Elvish from Lord of the Rings. Mariah can do the dance from the Backstreet Boy's music video for Backstreet's Back. This has nothing to do with surrogacy, but she is very proud of it.

“We are generally happy and kind people. We value our family and our friends, and believe that it is important to show up for the people in our lives, in whatever way we can. We are curious, and we love to adventure, whether that is finding new trails in our community, or travelling to a new country. A bit of our story- We met in 2016 online (and true to our story- we are going to meet our Surrogate online!) Thomas proposed over a pizza dinner at home, and we got married in 2019. We got married in Toronto and in France to be with both of our families. It was a blast. We are very much in love, and we look forward to having a family.”