Andreas and Andreas

Medical Information:

General Health:

We both are fit, sporty and generally in very good health.

Fertility Information:

Our 9 embryos are all PGS-tested. The eggs used to create the embryos are from a known donor which we are in contact with.

Fertility Clinic:

VRC (Victory Reproductive Care), Windsor Ontario

Why are you looking for a Surrogate?

We would love to get pregnant by ourselves, but as a male gay couple, in the course of time we figured out that we really need some help :-)

Tell us about your family & loved ones.

Our parents love their grandchildren, are very playful and supportive. It will come as a surprise for them to even have grandchildren from their gay son’s family too and we expect them to be thrilled to support us, maybe even more than usual. Our siblings already have 4 children ages 2 to 14 by now and will be very happy for us. They also live close by and as they helped each other during pregnancy and after this will happen with us too for sure. We grew up with 2 siblings each. We hope for two children with a small age gap of 1-2 years. We love how our two godchildren Oscar and Jakob both adore their younger brothers and older sister. We are looking forward to bringing together our future children and our nephews and nieces so they can spend great times together.

By now it is only around 10 very close friends, one brother and two other gay couples that had their first children through surrogacy in the US and Canada that we shared our journey with so far. All are very supportive and we talk about our journey with them every time we meet. We are planning to announce the happy news to friends and co-workers once we reach the first trimester screening around the 12th week of pregnancy. Those who know already are very excited and happy for us and we expect everyone to be. The two befriended couples mentioned before both experienced lots of support from their friends, family and co-workers too, we expect it to be no different for us.

Would you like to attend appointments with your Surrogate?

We know that each pregnancy is a unique journey and it will be very exciting to know that our little ones are growing in the Surrogate’s womb in Canada. We are totally fine with the Surrogate sharing results like ultrasound pictures and other information about the progress after the appointments.
That being said, everything else again depends on what the Surrogate wants and how she feels about involving us in the details of the pregnancy. If it happens to become important to our Surrogate to have us involved in certain appointments, we can arrange to join in virtually.
If she would like to meet us in person during the pregnancy, we would be happy to arrange a visit.

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

This is not an easy question and we have thought about it a lot. Of course we want our children to grow up happy and healthy and to be able to live their lives independently.
We feel that we need to look at each situation very carefully with the doctors and make individual decisions together with our Surrogate. It is important that our children do not suffer and it is equally important that there are no risks for the Surrogate.

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?

You never know what might happen on this journey, and that's part of the adventure. Having twins or more children would certainly be a special challenge for the Surrogate and for us as parents. We would also discuss this with the Surrogate and the doctors and carefully weigh out options together. But as long as the children can grow up healthy in the Surrogate's womb and she is ok with the risks, we would not want to carry out a selective reduction.

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

We've both been vaccinated for Covid-19, and we'd like our Surrogate to be vaccinated as well. But we understand that it's not absolutely necessary, since the coronavirus is not as widespread as it once was.

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

We want to make sure that our Surrogate is not missing a thing. We'd love to grow a close relationship with our Surrogate during pregnancy because there’s so much to learn from her for us, so we will be curious about the baby's progress and how our Surrogate feels. Being open about the highs and the lows of the journey on both ends seems right to us.
We would like to receive regular updates, not every day, but if we don't hear from her for more than two weeks, we would certainly ask if everything is okay :-) However, a woman's good intention to become a Surrogate on an altruistic basis is reason enough for us to trust her a lot. We have a strong feeling that she will do the right thing or ask the right person if something needs to be discussed (e.g. with us) or advice is needed.

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

The moment of birth is very special - for everyone involved. We believe that childbirth is complex and that a woman's body is able to somehow grow an embryo into a baby is a miracle in itself. In our humble opinion the Surrogate’s needs have the highest priority in the delivery room. Our presence in the delivery room is a topic that we’d like to talk about with the Surrogate in regard to what she feels comfortable with. We are open to supporting the Surrogate directly live in the delivery room during the birth (holding hands, verbally supporting) or waiting in the next room if the Surrogate is more comfortable with it for privacy reasons.
Holding our child in our arms and welcoming it into this world very soon after it is born has a special meaning for us, but this does not necessarily have to take place in the delivery room.

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

All of our friends that built a family with the help of a Surrogate grew a reasonable relationship with their Surrogate. As we will walk the nine months of pregnancy together we hope to grow such a relationship with our Surrogate too. While we stay in Canada after birth with the newborn, we’d like to be in touch personally with her if possible. Back in Germany we would continue sharing updates by sending pictures and doing video calls.

Would you be open to a home birth?

Safety for the Surrogate and baby is of paramount importance at birth. Safety also means feeling safe. If a home birth gives the Surrogate security, then this wish of the Surrogate should have high priority, because this means an important foundation for her and the baby's safety at birth. Since not all risks to the lives of both baby and Surrogate can be completely ruled out during the birth, we believe -just in case- it is important that a clinic is within easy reach in the event of a home birth.

Are you open to midwifery care?

Yes, but if a risk becomes apparent during pregnancy or a c-section is necessary, switching to obstetric care at an early stage should be considered.

Would you like your Surrogate to provide breastmilk?

Yes, that would be great.

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 want to be completely transparent about our journey, both in terms of our desire to start a family and in terms of all the people with whom we will have achieved it together. We feel very good about it. We want to keep all options open for our children so that they have the opportunity to make contact as soon as they wish. Of course, we would also check this again with the Surrogate in due course.

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

The growth of a new life has great significance for us and is associated with feelings and hopes. Much has been and is being done in advance from a medical point of view to rule out avoidable risks - but we also know very well that Mother Nature is still at play and that not everything can be controlled and managed. That being said, we believe that we would like to try again after an unsuccessful transfer as soon as the Surrogate feels comfortable with it.

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.)

As we are aiming for a Family of four we think an age gap of 1 year would be great for the kids. Our embryos are created with the eggs of the same donor so they are going to be biological siblings. In two different rainbow-families that are friends of ours, the Surrogates offered to be the surrogate for their second children too. If the Surrogate feels the same we’d love to develop a relationship like theirs with her.

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

Within the first weeks after birth we’ll stay in Canada till the paperwork is done. With the support of the German “parental leave” (“Elternzeit”) we are planning to take care of the children by ourselves within the first year, working part-time to share as much time with the children as possible. Two same-sex couples, who are good friends of ours and live close by, both had their first child born in 2024 with the help of Surrogates and we have accompanied them for more than 2 years now. Their plans for childcare are very similar to ours and as we are in close contact with all of them we also know the obstacles and how to navigate the Canadian part of the journey until traveling to Germany as well as parental leave and the kindergarten phase. As both couples are aiming for their second child we are looking forward to sharing childcare not only with our families, who also live close by, but also with them. As we think it is important for a child's development to be amongst other kids, we also want them to be in kindergarten part time after a year - even though it might be emotionally challenging for us to let go of the little cutie patooties for some hours every day ;-)

What does a typical weekend look like for you?

We keep our weekends free of the typical recurring tasks like shopping, sports, paperwork, washing clothes etc. by a very structured schedule that allows us to do all these “daily duties” from Monday-Friday. This enables us to start the weekend on Friday night already, usually friends come over or we visit friends for dinner, good talks, playing board games, going out for dinner, to the theater or cinema. If at home a typical Saturday and Sunday includes sleeping a bit longer than usual, followed by brunch with friends or just the two of us. Depending on the weather conditions we go hiking, do bike tours for example to one of the nearby lakes or along rivers or if the weather is not so welcoming we like to visit a spa or watch a movie. Weekend is for leisure and meeting friends. We plan in advance, because we also love day and weekend trips to other cities like Frankfurt, Mainz, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich etc. to explore their cultural offerings like exhibitions, theater or architecture mostly with friends living in these cities.

What are some of your interests/ activities?

We take accordion and piano lessons on a weekly basis, and one of us is also playing guitar. Singing is not our greatest talent, but that does not stop us :-)
We love to do sports in general and on vacations, like tours with one of our tandems, go hiking or canoeing, sailing, kitesurfing, snowboarding and skiing. On a weekly basis we take swim training, go for running and do Crossfit.
Years ago, we started a cooking series with two close friends. Every episode is themed, like "a meal from a movie," "vegan," or "around the globe." Each of us has to prepare a meal once a year for everyone. That’s always a lot of fun. We love to meet friends for dinner in general, watch movies, give themed parties, play card games, bake, and cook together.
Recently, we completely remodeled our bathroom and as we are both quite handy, we like to improve our own property from time to time or work with hired craftsmen, depending on the task.
Oh and we love Escape Rooms! :-)

Other fun facts:

We both grew up with cats, but nowadays the animals that visit us are grasshoppers, spiders, moths and other creatures that have a better life outside, so we set them free as quickly as possible ;-) Oh and Dinosaurs! Our nephew has gained extensive knowledge about dinosaurs and is a great dinosaur impersonator that takes us on his adventures.

To us, eating is more than just consuming food – it’s a social ritual that brings people together. It creates opportunities for meaningful conversations, sharing thoughts and emotions, and strengthening relationships.
For sushi we usually go out, but as we cook most of the time there's a great variety of food and meals that we like and also cook together. We have a slight preference for Italian food. When it comes to creating our own pizzas we love doing that with guests: Everyone creates a pizza by their choice and presents and shares it with all. Same with Raclette and Fondue - we love all of the meals that you can easily prepare together as a group and include communication when eating.

Having the same surname and family name can lead to some interesting moments in our daily lives. We sometimes get asked if we're brothers, which is funny because who would give their kids the same name? It's also made us consider naming our kids Andrea or Andreas - just kidding ;-).
Here's another interesting thing about us: we walk at different speeds, and for a while, we had no idea why. We're about the same height, but our legs are different lengths, so one of us needs three steps and the other just needs two. It took us a while to figure this out, and during that time, we thought of each other as being either way faster or way slower than average. That might also be one of the reasons why we started riding tandems: so we don't have to wait for each other.
We love to throw themed parties. One of our favorites was the Rubik's Cube party, where everyone had to switch clothes until one person was only wearing one color. Another one was the "Incognito" party, where for a long time we did not recognize some of the guests.
One of us is pretty good with technology and is pretty handy around the house, but he burns the milk when trying to make pudding. The other one can cook like a hero, but when working around the house, he cuts things about 10 times, and they stay too short... ;-)

“We met 19 years ago through friends and got married 10 years ago. For us, life has many colors, and that's why we're committed to the queer community in our city. We create and organize inclusive sports activities like running, swimming, bike tours, and fitness training that address the special needs of LSBTIQ* persons. It's awesome to see queer folks having a safe space to play sports, even if it's their first time in years. We're all about using our strengths to support the community and make our city a better place for many.
We've started the journey to build our family and we knew that this time it won't become reality without the help of others. For us, this support is incredible because it's about bringing life into the world and making our dream of building a family a reality. It's hard to express how amazing it is that our egg donor helped us grow embryos, and that someone out there might be reading this and thinking about carrying a baby for us. It would mean the world to us.”