Welcome Brent Love!

We’re thrilled to introduce you to our newest team member, Brent Love! Brent will be sharing stories right here on our blog about parenting through surrogacy. Today is his birthday – a perfect reason to celebrate welcoming Brent onto our team!

When we first met Intended Parents Brent and Charlie, we were absolutely taken by their last name, Love.

“We chose it,” Brent Love told us. “When we married, neither wanted to give up our last name and lose that connection to our families. For gay couples, there are few roadmaps for marriage or for starting a family. We decided to make our own choice that felt right to us.”

“Love is an English family name,” Charlie Love said. “We both have English heritage. We looked at a list, and ‘Love’ appears in English history for the first time around 1050.”

“And really,” Brent said. “What’s better than love?”

We agreed, and we immediately could tell that Brent and Charlie were full of love for each other and the family they hoped to build.

Fast forward, and now, thanks to an incredible woman who joined their family journey as their surrogate, Brent and Charlie are dads to a beautiful baby girl!

Brent has been writing about his journey on his blog at heybrentlove.com, and after crying happy tears through his posts (check this one out about their baby’s delivery day!), we asked him to spend some time writing with us!

To kick things off, one of our co-founders, Amy, called Brent to talk about surrogacy – the highs, the lows, and now … the diapers!

One of Hope Surrogacy’s Co-Founders, Amy Kothe: Brent! I’m so excited you’re joining us and sharing more surrogacy stories. But first – I cannot believe your baby girl is almost five months old! I feel like we were standing outside your car, helping you pack up before you took your newborn home.

Brent Love: I know. It honestly feels crazy. Those two weeks in Madison – waiting for her to be born, then waiting for the parentage hearing – were the most magical days of my life. I will never forget holding her, sitting on the couch in our rented apartment, my husband making coffee, and the sun rising over the lake and into our windows. It feels like yesterday when we left.

Amy: That was November. What’s been the biggest surprise so far?

Brent: That she’s here. She’s here! Sometimes we’ll all be in bed, Phoebe will be asleep in her dock-a-tot between us, and I’ll look over at Charlie and whisper, ‘I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT.’”

Amy: That is so sweet…

Brent: When you start on this journey, you have no idea what’s coming. All the fears are there – all the people you have to meet, how you will meet your surrogate, what bills will come, how will we be treated at the hospital. The details sometimes distract you from the dream – a baby, a family. And now she’s here. Now we have Saturday morning playdates with friends she’s making at daycare. Now we have board books before bedtime. Now we have texts to our family about what incredible milestone she’s just met. So yeah, after the incredible journey of surrogacy, we sometimes stop and soak up the fact that it happened. Our baby girl is here.

Amy: Beautiful… that is totally what it’s about. Parents dream about a baby, go on this journey, and then hold that baby in their arms.

Brent: Absolutely. And it happened for us.

Amy: So, any good milestones lately?

Brent: It’s all raspberries now! She is so busy blowing raspberries at everyone she sees. She’ll even do it on FaceTime with her grandparents. It’s hysterical.

Amy: I love it.

Brent: And it feels like these are her first conversations. She’s not even five months old, and she’s already catching on that when she blows a raspberry, and then I blow one back, it’s a response to her. She totally smiles when she gets it.

Amy: So cute. I love it. Is parenting all so great? Any tough spots?

Brent: Nothing so far that we didn’t expect. We’re learning to tackle diapers, even the really bad ones. Sleep is … transformed. [laughs]

Amy: [laughs]

Brent: I’ve had high highs and low lows, but honestly, I’d sit up at 3 am every night with her if I had to. It is just the coolest thing I’ve ever done – being a parent. It’s the coolest thing in the world to see a person becoming a person.

Amy: And that so many people wanted that for you. I know your family has been so supportive of Charlie and you and your baby. And I know you have an incredible surrogate. And you’re still in touch, right?

Brent: Oh, yes. Oh, definitely. I know it isn’t exactly like this for everyone, but our surrogate is now one of our very best friends. We send texts throughout the week. We get updates about her kids, and we’ll send her photos of our girl. She’s actually coming to visit us and some of her friends in the city, and we’re going to a show together!

Amy: That is so great. Every relationship is different between surrogates and intended parents (IPs), but the thing that is always the same is how much the surrogates want their IPs to have their dreams come true, to hold their baby in their arms and watch them grow.

Brent: I tell people all the time, I have no idea how we would have met our surrogate, this angel of a woman, without meeting Mary and the team first. It has been the most incredible journey.

Amy: Well, I’m so, so glad you’re going to be sharing more stories from your surrogacy journey. I know there are many more stories to share, but let’s save them for the blog! I’m excited to welcome you to the team, Brent!

Brent: I can’t wait to get started!

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Brent Love has officially joined the team at Hope Surrogacy. If you have a story to share, you can email him at info@hopesurrogacy.com.