A Different World: Uzi’s International Surrogacy Journey

Uzi is a proud new Family Source Consultants parent of a sweet little baby girl. And I am so excited for you. Congratulations on your new little girl! Tell us a little bit about Libby.

Hi, good morning from Tulsa, Oklahoma. And thank you very much for the congratulations.

And Libby she’s doing very well. She’s awesome. And she born on 24th, June. Today, she celebrates five weeks in this world and she’s doing very well, and she eats very good. We give her breast milk at birth from our surrogate. So, all good. We are very happy here and we are very enjoyed, but there is no place like home.

Yes, I’m sure you’re so excited to get back home and get settled with your new little baby. Is fatherhood everything that you hope for?

Yes. Except for not sleeping that night. But, yes, this will go probably to a month that she would sleep very well at night. That’s all good. I’m very excited. We are very, very happy.

Did you always want children or was this something relatively recently that you decided you wanted to do?

Actually, I was thinking about that for the last 10 years, the last decade. And three years ago I started to really work on that very long journey.

I was here in 2018 in Parkland, Oregon, at our clinic ORM. I started to work with them. It was a long process, very emotional. Lots of things to do. And then also the COVID-19. So, we needed to open again also there and contract. It was not so easy, but yes, I really wanted children.

I really wanted to be a father. And to take all that the world can offer.

Being from Israel. How did you learn about Family Source Consultants, since you’re across the world?

Actually, I checked two or three agencies, and then there was FSC. It was so comfortable. The thing is, I decided to work with FSC agency because at every moment and every time, it was a really professional way of thinking and behaving. Then the case manager, Nicole, I really appreciate all that she has done for us because she was all the time on top of things. And all the time by mail, by WhatsApp, by video call, everything was really, really professional.

Then I decide if everyone is like this, and every person is professional in other things, I feel very comfortable. So, I decided that this is my agency and I start to work with them.

It was also a long process to find a surrogate, but then when we find the one, I knew exactly that she’s the one for me.

What was the point that you knew that the surrogate was the one that she wanted to work with?

We did a match meeting with Ashley and her husband and Ashley, my surrogate, asked me (because I’m Jewish) she asked me if she needed to do a kosher diet during the pregnancy. And that was a very emotional and very touching question for me. And from that question that she would go through that, at this point, I knew that she is the one.

Then we hang out and then I send exactly on the, on the spot. I send an email and I said, “She is the one. Please connect with her and be in touch with her. She is the one for me because of the diet culture.” She thought that she needed to eat differently and not mix milk with meat. And that was very emotional.

Before meeting Ashley, did you have any fears about working with the surrogate in general?

Yes, before Ashley, I had like maybe two or three different surrogates and, and it didn’t work with them. It was really a different way of thinking from Ashley. But at the end we find, we find the one. At the beginning you don’t know who she will be, how to deal with her, what can be with the surrogate. And even if we sign the contract with her, it’s a person that across the world from where I am. And it’s not easy to communicate with the different language, way of thinking, culture. But at the end it works very nicely.

Let me switch gears just a little bit. We have recently learned that Israel has changed their surrogacy law to make surrogacy available for same-sex couples and single fathers. How are you feeling about that?

Yes, we fight for that for the last few years in Israel, the opportunity to fight for that law to come out in Israel. It was also long journey also with the gay community and our government to be equal for the all the genders and all the people in Israel to be a parent. It doesn’t mean that you need to be only straight on only a white or black doesn’t matter.

Everyone can have this option in the world to be a father or to be a parent. So that works very nice. And when we had the delivery this week, we heard from the parts of Israel and the news that in 6 months [surrogacy] will be allowed in Israel. I don’t know actually how it will work in Israel because we are like 8 million people in the country.

I don’t know how many surrogates you can sign out of 8 million, but the option is opened up and that’s good. That means that people start to think that gay community are equal to other people. So that’s very important. And I don’t know, maybe I will do the next child or the sister or brother for Libby I will do in Israel, or maybe I will come back again to the United States, but time will tell.

What advice would you give to someone who was just getting started with their surrogacy journey?

Actually, I want to say that they need to be very open and take a big breath and to count to three or even maybe 10, but this journey at the end, you get what you want.. You get your dream come true.

It’s nice to have at the end, in my arms, my little girl.

And to continue, even if there are like the hard days and the hard feelings sometimes. At the end you get what you want and your dream come true. So it’s nice to have it.

I love that advice. Just take a deep breath and trust the process.

Trust the crew of FSC. They know exactly what they are doing. Nicole, as I told before, Nicole was incredible. She was SO awesome. She was so professional on top of things. I felt like I have like a manager in the United States and she coordinated and dealt with all the things that we need.

It was a very, very, very, professional way of thinking from her and from the agency.

Over the last 15 years, my [dance company] is working very well in Israel. I’ve met so many girls and boys dancing and have a good time at our events. Now I have my own child that I can raise to be maybe a dancer. She will be at the end what she wants, but it’s nice that she will join the party and the events.

Now I have my own child, so this is a different world for me now.