becoming babyREADY with Sam Leeson - All About Queer Family Planning & Creation

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, Chr...

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 s...

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...

When you move thousands of miles away, start over in a new city, and finally find friends who feel like home, life starts to click into place. For Jess Walker, that journey took an unexpected and beautiful turn when she met a new roommate — who would soon become the love of her life. In this heartfelt episode, Jess shares her story of self-discovery, embracing her sexual identity, and building a Q...

What happens when three adults choose to build and raise a family together—under one roof, sharing every joy, challenge, and decision equally? This week, we’re joined by Dr. Markus Harwood-Jones , who co-parents alongside his husband, Andrew , and their co-parent, Hannah , in a small Ontario city. Together, they’re raising their children in a home that celebrates collaboration, love, and the many...

Many things in life can be true at the same time. You can have a uterus and know you never want to use it to give birth. You can know deep in your soul that you were meant to be a parent. You can also know that the sex you were assigned at birth doesn’t reflect who you truly are. How do you bring all of that truth into your life — especially after you’ve fallen in love with your person? In this we...

🎙️ After Seamus and his husband got married, they set out on a journey familiar to so many queer couples — figuring out how to build their family. What began as a hopeful research project quickly became a crash course in the complexities of Irish law, parental rights, and the many barriers faced by LGBTQ+ parents. From comparing routes to parenthood to navigating the emotional and financial realit...

When it comes to family creation, the legal side can feel overwhelming — but Toronto-based fertility lawyer Sara Cohen has made it her mission to change that. Sara works with intended parents, donors, surrogates, and agencies to help make family-building possible — and she’s also one of the most respected voices advocating for modern, inclusive updates to reproductive law in Canada and beyond. In...

A Divine Future — Stef Vachon’s Journey to Fatherhood ✨ Sometimes, you hold onto the dream of becoming a parent… until the years pass and you gently let that dream go. That was true for Stef Vachon and his husband — until one unexpected moment changed everything. After years focused on their careers and relationship, one movie night set a new path in motion. Within 24 hours, they made the life-ch...

Meet Jameel—a dad, podcaster, author, and all-around powerhouse. He and his husband Nicholas have been together for 22 years, and eight years ago, they began their foster-to-adopt journey, welcoming their now 12-year-old son into their lives. In our chat, Jameel opens up about the raw vulnerability of navigating the foster care system in Arizona, and what it really meant to open their hearts and h...

✨ Chances are Rowan Jette Knox + Dani Gaede have already touched your Queer life — through their words, their work, or their fierce advocacy. I had the honour of sitting down with them to talk life, love, family, and the BIG dreams they’re cooking up next. Between the two of them, they’ve written powerful books, driven DEI initiatives, slayed in marketing, and fought for equity across so many spa...

✨ What happens when you’re both an adoptee and an adoptive parent? You gain a powerful perspective — one that can challenge, reshape, and rewrite the narratives we’ve all been told about adoption. Today I’m sitting down with Allison Olsen , who never set out to become an author. But when she couldn’t find children’s books that told the adoption story with honesty, compassion, and balance… she wro...

✨ Life has a way of sparking the most wonderful things. ✨ Take Kirsty Loehr for example 👇 A chance to study creative writing abroad inspired her first book, A Short History of Queer Women — a brilliant tribute to the Queer women who came before us and walk alongside us today. 🌈📚 Then, choosing to grow her family with her (now) ex-wife opened up even more questions: How exactly do Queer women...

✨ The journey to parenthood is rarely simple — and for single/solo parents by choice, it’s often a whole other level of complex. While there are beautiful overlaps with Queer family-building, solo parenting comes with its own unique set of emotional, financial, and logistical challenges. 🍼💸💪 Carrying, birthing, and raising a child on your own? That’s no small feat. And then come the big questi...

✨ Today I’m so excited to share the brilliance of editor Gail Schwarz and two of her powerful contributors, Lalita and Katherine — just a few of the many voices behind the groundbreaking new book, “Boyhood Reimagined.” 📖💫 Co-edited by Gail and Ada Malone , this collection brings together stories and reflections from Queer parents — cis, trans, and non-binary mothers — who are raising sons in a...

🌍✈️ If you love Queer joy, globe-trotting adventures, and heartwarming family vibes — you need to follow @loveislovearoundtheworld 💕✨ Cristina & Adriana have known each other for over 20 years (most of that time as a couple!), but it’s only been in the past decade that they’ve finally shared the same city, the same home — and now, the same passport stamps. 🌎💌 These two fierce mamas are no...

Becoming a gay parent can feel incredibly isolating. How do you find other gay dads? Where’s the sense of community? And why does it often feel like nothing in the parenting world was designed with you in mind? That’s where David Morgenstern comes in. A gay dad to a 4-year-old with a background in marketing, David set out to build something more than just a brand—he built a movement. Gaddies is fu...

Midwifery care looks vastly different depending on where you are in the world—and even from one region to another. Today, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Ness Dixon, a passionate and multi-talented professional who, among many roles, serves as a Registered Midwife in Ontario, Canada. In our conversation, Ness shares insights into the traditional roots of midwifery and how the profession has evolv...

When you ask someone on a first date, “Do you want kids?”—you likely have a clear vision of the future you're hoping to build. For Kim and Aldo, that vision took a full decade, countless challenges, and unwavering commitment to bring to life. After exploring every possible path to parenthood, they’re now living the dream they once imagined. In today’s episode, I speak with them from their home...

What do you do when you’ve got young kids, thriving careers, and life already feels full? If you're Lisa and Jaimee , you add twins to the mix—and start a podcast to capture it all. Today, I’m chatting with the dynamic duo behind The Two Mom Edit , a podcast that’s honest, funny, and deeply relatable. From how they found each other, to building their beautiful family, to sharing the messy, mag...

Growing up during the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic meant living with a deep, often paralyzing fear. So much was unknown, and the narrative at the time made it feel like a life sentence—especially for those of us who were Queer. The idea of creating a family, let alone using your own genetic material, felt impossibly out of reach. But oh, how far we've come. Today, I’m deeply honoured to...

The last thing any hopeful parent wants to hear is, “You can’t move forward until you’ve had a counselling session.” But in Canada, Implications Counselling is a required step for anyone using donor eggs or sperm to grow their family — and that includes all individuals and couples, not just Queer folks. While it might sound like a barrier, for Dara Roth-Edney, it's actually an opportunity: a c...

When you finally pluck up the courage to come out to your parents, you cross your fingers and hope that, for the most part, nothing really changes. You want to feel that love and support. Sometimes you don’t think about the questions and concerns that your own parents may have. Do you give them space for that? Do they give you space to ask your questions and feel your feelings?  Angela Briones is...

It’s not uncommon for people to say they didn’t grow up with a strong, deep-seated desire to become a parent. For some, that longing doesn’t emerge until later in life—once they’ve found their footing professionally, or after hearing the powerful, personal stories of others who’ve built their families in different ways. Today, I’m excited to introduce you to Jay Chapman. He and his partner are the...

This episode airs with a trigger warning. Cassie and Marissa, as a two-uterus household, made a decision familiar to many lesbian couples—they agreed that the eldest, Marissa, would be the first to carry a pregnancy. By her own account, Marissa experienced a relatively smooth and uncomplicated pregnancy. It was the labour, birth, and recovery that proved to be the most difficult and traumatic part...