Meet Yves + Kristina
Our Story
Yves and I (Kristina) live in a small town in upstate New York near the Baseball Hall of Fame, where I grew up. It’s an idyllic setting perfect for raising a family with lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins around, as well as lifelong friends.
Yves is French Canadian and lived in Montreal when we first met. I was in grad school at the time and Yves saw a poem of mine that I left on a website and sent me an email saying how much he enjoyed it. We started chatting and we agreed early on that neither of us were looking for a romantic relationship. We built a strong friendship first and later decided there was an unmistakable attraction between us. I went to visit him in Montreal and we got along well enough that we agreed we wanted to see where this “thing” was going, so we started dating. About six months later we got engaged and we had to sort out how and where we were going to come together. Since I didn’t speak French, but Yves spoke English, we decided it would be best for Yves to join me in the United States. We then started the long process of getting Yves naturalized.
We’ve lived in a few different cities in the US since then, but recently we moved back to my hometown. We live a quiet life, but we recognize that there’s still time for us to achieve our dream of having a family together, so we’re going after it!
Meet Kristina
About Kristina in Yves’ words— I met Kristina by chance because I was so impressed by her writing talent that I felt the need to send her an email. From that initial email we formed a friendship that later blossomed into love. We are happily married now for many years, and my admiration for her has only grown exponentially. She is kind and generous, a great stepmother to my daughter, and a person anyone would be lucky to have in their life. I want her to be able to experience motherhood in a way she hasn’t been able to before and I’m looking forward to the joys of fatherhood again.
Meet Yves
About Yves in Kristina’s words)— Yves is the kindest, gentlest soul I’ve ever known. He keeps me grounded in a way no one else can. He’s totally calm and I just love being around his energy. His calmness spills over to all those around him. He’s a great dad that always tries to be equitable while still setting boundaries. He is also quite the joker, always trying to get me to smile and laugh--which he usually can, even if it’s just to snort and roll my eyes at his “dad jokes.” But I’d never want him to change–he’s perfect just as he is, dad jokes and all. I can’t wait to experience full-time parenthood with him.
Why Surrogacy?
We’ve been trying to build our family for over fifteen years. We wanted to start when I (Kristina) was in my early thirties, but I was having problems walking. My hip hurt constantly and I was concerned about carrying a pregnancy. After several years of PT, we finally discovered that I had hip dysplasia. To correct this, I had major reconstructive surgery that took two years to fully recuperate from and be able to walk again.
Not long thereafter, we started TTC. When we hadn’t conceived within 6 months, my doctor referred us to a fertility doctor. We finally conceived naturally while “on a break” from fertility treatments a few months later. Around seven weeks into my first pregnancy, I had a major medical crisis, almost dying from sepsis from a burst bowel. I survived; I healed; and the following year I conceived again through IVF, but lost that pregnancy around 10 weeks. We doggedly kept trying for another 13 years. Over those years, we underwent over 8 rounds of IVF, including one round of donor IVF, as well as innumerous transfers, but I was not able to conceive again. (I have however, fully recuperated from my bowel issues and have a clean bill of health.)
While our fertility doctor suggested using a surrogate, we never thought we would be able to afford it. So we started to explore other ways of building our family. We became licensed foster parents in 2021 and have had several short-term placements over the last few years including our latest baby boy just this past December. While being foster parents has made us incredibly happy to be able to provide a loving home for a child in need, every time our fosters are sent back home, it breaks our hearts to have to say goodbye, and it makes us more determined than ever to build our own family.
After the sale of our home in 2022 and our move to a more affordable area, we realized that we may actually be able to achieve our dream of having a family through adoption or surrogacy. We researched both over the past year and determined surrogacy was the right path for us. And so here we are - SO excited and ready to move forward!
Our Message to Potential Surrogates:
Whether you choose us or another family, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to make someone’s dream of having a family come true. You have no idea what a blessing you are and how you are helping to make a family whole. Our hope is that the surrogate we work with will want to remain in our child(ren)’s life in some capacity so that they can share in the beautiful life they help to create.
Fun Facts
Kristina got her undergraduate degree in engineering and then did a 180-degree turn to study English and writing in grad school.
Yves has written a young adult, coming-of-age, action novel and is now getting ready to write a historically-inspired novel.
We are taking our first European trip together to Italy in the spring. We plan to explore the areas in Italy where Kristina’s grandparents are from in Bari, Bucciano, and Naples -- as well as enjoy some great food, art, and history!
Favorite Activities:
While we both have individual hobbies, we love being in nature and doing photography together, finding new and interesting places to take photos. We also enjoy going to auctions and estate sales, as well as interior design and doing home improvement projects. We both enjoy being creative and pretty much work in all mediums including painting, music, writing, culinary, needlecraft, and woodworking.
We also know how important being physically active is for kids. We love going swimming, walking, hiking in nature, and hitting golf balls (we’re not quite at the level of playing a round of golf…we need some lessons). Kristina enjoys doing yoga and Pilates, and played volleyball and softball in high school and college, while Yves played handball, football, and hockey. We hope to encourage our child(ren) to choose an activity of their own liking to participate in.