Michael and Jonas

Medical Information:

General Health:

We are both in good health and live active lives. We go to the gym several times a week, spend a lot of time outdoors, and really enjoy being in nature. Long walks, fresh air, and staying active are just a natural part of our everyday life together.

Fertility Information:

We are using donor eggs from an amazing woman in Australia. She is a known donor, and we are in contact with her. We feel very lucky to have found her. With her help, we have 5 PGS-tested embryos ready to go.

Fertility Clinic:

Create, Toronto, ON.

Why are you looking for a Surrogate?

We live in Sweden, where adoption is in practice almost impossible for gay couples, and surrogacy is not allowed either. For us, as a male couple, this means our path to having a family has to be abroad. We were also inspired by friends who went through a beautiful surrogacy journey in Canada and became lifelong friends with their Surrogate.

Tell us about your family & loved ones.

Our parents are excited for us. They know this is something we have wanted and talked about for many years, so we think it will mean a lot to them too. They are very engaged and supportive of us. We imagine there will be happy tears the day we tell them we have found our Surro-hero and are on the path to creating a family. Our siblings are also excited for us, very supportive, and cheering us on every step of the way. Some of them are already hoping for another cousin to join the gang!

All of our friends know how much we want this (we have probably talked their ears off about it at times, hehe!). They will all be cheering when we get to share good news one day, both the ones without children and the ones with kids of their own. We often hear that we will be great parents and one of our friends’ daughters has more than once asked when Michael and Jonas are finally going to have a baby.

Would you like to attend appointments with your Surrogate?

Yes, absolutely. We would love to travel to Canada and be there in person at some point during the pregnancy. If possible, it would be very special to attend the routine ultrasound around weeks 18–22, when you really get to see the baby for the first time. Other than that, we would love to stay closely involved and follow each step through phone calls and video calls — whatever feels best for the Surrogate.

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

We are generally open to termination if doctors believe the child would face very severe medical problems or a very difficult quality of life. The same applies if the pregnancy would involve serious risks or major complications for the Surrogate. At the same time, we would want every situation to be discussed carefully with both the Surrogate and the medical team, and we would approach those decisions with a lot of thought, respect, and care.

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?

We would be very happy if it turned out to be twins. If it were triplets or more, we would listen very carefully to the doctor’s recommendations. We are open to selective reduction if it is medically recommended, and the Surrogate’s health would come first in that situation. At the same time, we would never want to force the Surrogate into a selective reduction against her will.

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

Yes, we are vaccinated. As for the Surrogate, we do not have a preference when it comes to Covid-19 vaccination.

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

We imagine a close and natural relationship, shaped by both her everyday life and ours. We would want her to feel deeply cared for, supported, and appreciated throughout the pregnancy. We want to be the kind of intended parents she can truly rely on — there for her no matter what comes up, big or small. We would want to stay in close contact throughout the journey, and if she ever needed us there in person, we would be ready to come. For us, this would be a shared journey built on trust, warmth, and respect, and we would want her to know that we are in this together every step of the way.

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

Yes, absolutely. It would feel very special to be there when our child comes into the world, but only in a way that feels comfortable and right for her.

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

We hope to stay in touch with our Surrogate after the birth and keep her updated on how our little one is doing. She will always have a special place in our story, because she is such an important part of our journey to becoming parents. If it feels right for her, we would be very happy to visit her in Canada in the future, and she would always be welcome in our home as well. Just as she was there for us, we would always want her to know that we are here for her too.

Would you be open to a home birth?

Yes.

Are you open to midwifery care?

Yes.

Would you like your Surrogate to provide breastmilk?

Only if she would like to. We have no expectations around that at all.

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

We plan to be completely open about it and tell the story just as it happened. Of course, we would do that little by little in a way that fits their age and maturity. We want our child to feel proud of how they came into the world and to know that their Surro-hero was the very special person who made it all possible. We would be very positive about our child wanting to meet the Surrogate.

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

Yes, absolutely. We would be open to trying again, while following the doctors’ recommendations and, of course, what feels right for the Surrogate too.

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.)

We would be very happy and grateful to have one child, so we have not planned that far ahead yet. Right now, our focus is simply on hopefully starting our family.

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

In Sweden, we are lucky to have a very good childcare system and generous parental leave, which makes it possible to be home with a child for quite a long time. We both plan to take time off work and be home during the early years. Later on, there is a preschool just a short walk from our home, and the child’s grandparents also live within walking distance.

What does a typical weekend look like for you?

We love being at home and having calm, cozy weekends. We enjoy cooking, taking things slow, and just being in the moment together. In the winter, we love lighting a fire or going for a walk around the lake, and in the summer we spend as much time outdoors as possible — swimming, grilling, and having friends over in the evening. Our favorite weekends are usually the ones with not too much planned, even if they often also include dinners, birthdays, or time with family and friends.

What are some of your interests/ activities?

We both put a lot of time and energy into our careers, and we are both very happy in our jobs. Through work, we get to experience a lot — meeting people, seeing new places, traveling, and growing all the time. That is probably also why we really love a calm life at home. A little over five years ago, we moved out of the city and built our house in a quiet and beautiful place that has become our favorite place on earth. It is where we can slow down, breathe out, and just enjoy being together.
We love slow weekends at home — cooking, working in the garden, planting things, or just relaxing. Sometimes that means a swim in the lake or a walk in the forest. We enjoy inviting friends over for dinner, and we love a cozy movie night with family too.
We also love to travel. In the winter, we love skiing, and in the summer we usually spend time with relatives on the coast of Italy or visit close friends on a small island in Croatia.
Our work is also a big part of who we are. Michael loves reading and diving deep into historical research that can later turn into an investigative story. Jonas loves interior design and is a very helpful person by nature, so if he is not planning new improvements to our own home, he is usually helping close friends or family with theirs.

We do not have pets of our own right now, but Michael’s parents, who live just a few minutes away, have the sweetest Bedlington dog named Juno, and we often look after her. We would love to get a dog or a cat of our own in the future, when our child is a little older. We both love animals and have always had them around us — everything from dogs, cats, and horses to geese, chickens, and guinea pigs.

We love all kinds of food! Michael, with his Italian background, grew up on his father’s pasta and Italian dishes full of rosemary, basil, and lots of parmesan. His favorite dish, though, is Jonas’s homemade Swedish pancakes (really crispy at the edges!) with strawberry jam — but please don’t tell Michael’s dad...
Jonas enjoys pretty much everything, but he definitely has a soft spot for desserts — especially when his older sister, who works at a café, drops by with her amazing sticky caramel chocolate cake.

Jonas loves the sea and loves swimming. He also loves music and could never go a day without listening to it. He is incredibly talented when it comes to interior design, has been featured in interior magazines, and is often asked to help friends decorate their homes.
Michael is a real daydreamer and a child at heart. He loves reading, playing video games now and then (Nintendo!), coming up with stories, and writing books of his own. He is also a big fan of Harry Potter and cozy fantasy worlds like The Lord of the Rings and Narnia. One of his big dreams is to one day live in an old house and maybe create a secret entrance to one of the rooms through a big Narnia wardrobe. Children also tend to gravitate toward Michael, so we can easily picture him becoming a very playful — and probably very tired — dad one day. He is also the youngest journalist in Sweden to have won “The Golden Spade”, the country’s most prestigious award for investigative journalism.

“We met through a dating site and wrote to each other for several months before we finally met in person at a nightclub in Gothenburg. That was 13 years ago, and we have hardly left each other’s side since. Today we feel like we are in a really good place in life — we live in a cozy house close to our families and have built a life filled with laughter, friendships, and a lot of love.
The only thing missing now is our third little teammate — someone we have talked and dreamed about since the day we met. It may sound a little silly, but we have for years jokingly called our future child “Lucy”. It started as a joke, but it has almost become part of our everyday conversations: “Imagine when Lucy does this,” or “Imagine when Lucy gets to come with us there.” We cannot wait for the day we finally get to meet her — or him — for real.
We also look forward to welcoming our Surro-hero into our lives and hope to create many beautiful memories together with you along the way.”