The first gay couple to get access to fertility treatment on the Scottish NHS have spoken of their joy ahead of welcoming their new arrival.
Ross and Chris Muller say they and their families can’t wait to meet their baby boy, who is due to be born to a surrogate mum in early August.
Ross, 33, a primary school teacher, said: “We knew we were doing the right thing and we just know the joy children can bring and we wanted to have some of that and to be part of it.
“I think a lot of same-sex couples, male and female, don’t know that this exists, like we didn’t until we found out about it.
“Adoption, as amazing as it is, shouldn’t always be the way that same-sex couples go and the NHS does have an open door because we’ve gone through it.”
Chris, 38, said: “We just can’t wait for it to happen after so long of waiting and fighting for it.
“The nursery is now finished, we’ve just moved house and had a blank canvas, so got to work on that.
“Both our families have been over the moon – it is my mum and dad’s first grandchild so they can’t wait.”
Ross added: “Our parents have been really good because they’ve bought us a lot of gifts. I think everyone is getting more and more excited, we just can’t wait now.
“It’ll be my parents’ third grandchild but the first boy so they are really delighted. I know our lives will change but it will be for the better.”
Ross and Chris, from Edinburgh, met in 2009 and married in 2017.
A year after tying the knot, they began to think about children and looked at the options.
Initially, they looked at adopting a child but as time wore on, they thought of other methods to have their own child.
They considered private IVF treatment but were put off by the hefty price tag.
It was then they consulted medics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, who they say wouldn’t look into their case to start with until the intervention of their MSP, Ash Denham.
Ross said: “First, we looked at adoption and liked the idea of adopting from a local authority but that just encouraged us to look at surrogacy because we knew we could have our own.
After we contacted the NHS, they initially said they wouldn’t look at us because we were a male same-sex couple.
We had to keep pushing on that door and it was new to the hospital so they hadn’t done
this before.
“That’s when they told us that we would be the first in Scotland to go through this.”
A surrogate mother, from Cambridge, was hired from a private company.
Eight embryos were created from Ross’s friend's eggs and his sperm before one was transferred into the surrogate in November.
Ross said: “Before we knew we could get this on the NHS we looked privately and the surrogacy journey is about £45,000 if we did it all privately.
“That is start-to-finish, semen analysis, retrieving the eggs etc but we have not paid a penny.
"The NHS has done everything from start to finish pretty much. We were prepared (to go private) but then we thought, ‘Actually we pay in like everyone else, why wouldn’t we get something out?’.”
Auditor Chris added: “Once the embryo had been transferred into our surrogate she took a pregnancy test 10 days after and it was positive.
“We Facetimed and she sent a picture of the test – we were over moon.
"We were there for the embryo transfer and six weeks later we saw the first heartbeat, which was just incredible and a bit surreal to think it was actually happening.”
Chris added that he hoped more same-sex couples would know the process is open.
He said: “A lot has changed since what we went through – the forms don’t say mother and father, they say parent A and B – it’s little things like that. I think it will be a lot easier for people to go down this path if they want to.”
Denham said: “This is wonderful news to hear Ross and Chris will be welcoming a baby boy this summer.
“Supporting my constituents is what I’m here to do and I offer my congratulations to them both.”
The NHS was approached for comment.
