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.