Love should never be taken for granted, and we should celebrate love every day in the best way we can. Here is the heartwarming story of the love Joseph and Dale brought to VCRM, the care VCRM gave them, and the joy awaiting their baby girl.
How They Met
“Joseph and I met in a Washington, D.C. coffee shop in 2012 during my lunch break. After first seeing him, it took a couple of lunch breaks to finally work up enough courage to give him my number. After our first date, we became inseparable. We have been together ever since and got married on June 22, 2019.”
“Joseph was born and raised in Beckley, WV, and I was born and raised in Roanoke, VA, about 2 ½ hours away from each other. While we are different in many ways, we value family and spending time together. Prior to meeting Joseph, I was a terrible cook and ate out 90% of the time. After making one particularly bad meal, Joseph made it a mission for me to improve my cooking skills and realize that meals at home are better than anything from eating out. Without us knowing, we were building our relationship and learning the skills we would need to become parents.”
The Decision to Start a Family
Growing up and coming to the realization that I was gay, I began to think having a family would never happen. After graduating from Roanoke College in 2008, I started my career as a contract auditor for governmental clients in D.C. During those first couple of years, having a child was something I looked into, but it felt unrealistic while starting my career and getting used to living in D.C.
After meeting Joseph, having a child remained on my mind, but for the next six years, we focused on our relationship and respective careers. However, just before Thanksgiving 2018, something in me couldn’t stay silent anymore. One night coming back from dinner, Joseph was talking, but I couldn’t hear anything he was saying because a voice inside told me: 'If not now, when?'
So as we pulled into our parking spot, I just blurted out: 'I want us to have a baby.' This caught him totally off guard, and we sat in silence while he digested the statement. After talking it through, I confessed that I had been researching for months and had already booked an initial consultation at VCRM.
Partnering with Dr. Sharara & Building Trust
During our first appointment with Dr. Sharara in December 2018, we received comprehensive information on embryo creation, surrogacy, and financial expectations. It was immediately clear that Dr. Sharara was there for us and had no doubt that growing our family was feasible and that we would be in good hands.
While interviewing surrogacy agencies, we took Dr. Sharara’s recommendation and are so happy we did. Even during stressful moments, we reminded ourselves that we got this far by trusting Dr. Sharara, so there was no reason to doubt him now!
That trust brought us to where we are today. We welcomed our healthy, beautiful baby girl in June 2020!
