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.

When you move thousands of miles away, start over in a new city, and finally find friends who feel like home, life starts to click into place. For Jess Walker, that journey took an unexpected and beautiful turn when she met a new roommate — who would soon become the love of her life.

In this heartfelt episode, Jess shares her story of self-discovery, embracing her sexual identity, and building a Queer family through RIVF — with Jess carrying their child. It’s a story about love, courage, and the magic of creating family, your way.

The fertility clinic in Vancouver that Jess mentioned is: https://www.olivefertility.com

Follow Jess on Instagram: @jessica_alexis 💜

(PS - the two businesses that Jess mentioned to add to the show notes are: Olive Fertility = https://www.olivefertility.com/ and Rowena's Inn on the River (now called Sandpiper Resort) = https://sandpiperresort.ca/stay/ )

What happens when three adults choose to build and raise a family together—under one roof, sharing every joy, challenge, and decision equally?

This week, we’re joined by Dr. Markus Harwood-Jones, who co-parents alongside his husband, Andrew, and their co-parent, Hannah, in a small Ontario city. Together, they’re raising their children in a home that celebrates collaboration, love, and the many ways families can take shape.

Markus brings deep reflection and warmth to our conversation. He’s a writer, public speaker, and now a PhD graduate in Gender Studies—and, of course, a devoted dad.

Join us as we explore what it means to parent as a trio, how decisions get made, what community looks like in their home, and why their story helps expand our understanding of what family can be.

Learn more about Markus and his work at mharwoodjones.com (on social media as @markusbones)

Many things in life can be true at the same time.
You can have a uterus and know you never want to use it to give birth.
You can know deep in your soul that you were meant to be a parent.
You can also know that the sex you were assigned at birth doesn’t reflect who you truly are.

How do you bring all of that truth into your life — especially after you’ve fallen in love with your person?

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Logan Blackburn-Issitt, a trans dad, husband, and father of six. Our conversation explores identity, parenthood, love, and the beautiful, messy realities that come with being human. The joy radiating from Logan is undeniable, and his openness is sure to resonate.

You can find Logan on TikTok @dad.business, on Facebook, or on Reddit where he runs the Transdads community.