Nick and John are proud dads to Emerson born via domestic gestational surrogacy in New Zealand. Their surrogacy journey started in 2019 when John’s sister offered to be an egg donor, embryos were created just before the pandemic in 2020. They met with a number of potential surrogates that did not work out. They matched with the surrogate in 2022 and after a few transfer attempts they became pregnant. At the 20 week anatomy scan a congenital heart defect was detected. Emerson was born in May 2023, he underwent two surgeries including open heart surgery at six days old to repair the defect. He has received the all clear with annual cardiac checkup. Emerson is a healthy baby boy.