Family Building for Gay Men
Why Should You and Your Partner Work with a Fertility Center?
Before fertility treatments became widely available, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals had very limited options: never have children or apply for adoption. Today, LGBT families can enjoy:
Unlimited Treatment Options
Every couple is unique, and each partner has their own set of concerns, desires, and expectations when it comes to having children. Our Houston clinic offers virtually every type of fertility treatment available, so we can design a custom treatment plan that takes your very personal circumstances into account.
Trusted Partnerships
The Houston Fertility Center provides complete family building services for gay couples, including the arrangement of surrogacy. Our clinic collaborates with Prime Genetics and other leading organizations that follow the strictest Food and Drug Administration guidelines in selecting surrogates. Once surrogacy is arranged, we can also provide egg donation, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and other services.
High Chance of Success
Houston Fertility Center was founded by board-certified Reproductive Endocrinologist Infertility (REI) specialist Dr. Sonja B. Kristiansen. Dr. Kristiansen uses the latest reproductive medicine techniques and practices in a state-of-the-art laboratory to maintain outstanding success rates.
Thanks to advancements in assisted reproductive technologies and processes, gay couples today have more options than ever before. Reach out to our practice online for more information on our LGBT family building services. You can also call our Houston office at (713) 225-5375.
We Welcome LGBTQ+ Individuals & Families
Dr. Kristiansen has been helping members of the LGBT community achieve their goals of parenthood for over 20 years by combining state-of-the-art treatments with a welcoming, compassionate approach to care.
We proudly welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming couples and individuals. To better serve families from all communities, we also have multilingual staff members who are fluent in five languages.
Compassionate Care for Hopeful Parents
What Patients Are Saying about Our Practice
Winston Blakely
2019
Dr Kristiansen changed our lives and everything is as it should be. Other doctors told us that it wouldn't happen, but we found success on our first round. We are truly blessed.
Carla Anguiano
2019
I was very pleased with this office. Prior to coming here I visited other fertility locations in Houston and I never felt welcomed. It was as if I was just a number to them and that was it. I got the run around about why i could not get a quote. When I came to Dr. Kristiansen it was different...
View On GoogleGrow Your Family With Houston Fertility Center
LGBT patients can trust Houston Fertility Center to guide them through all the options for growing their family. We're proud to work with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming patients.
Though creating an embryo and finding a surrogate may seem overwhelming, our compassionate staff will keep you grounded and informed.
With options like egg donation and surrogacy, there are many different ways for you to expand your family — and we're honored that you would consider us on this journey.
Want to explore the possibilities?
Contact Dr. Kristiansen and our Houston team or call (713) 225-5375.
What to Expect at Every Step of Your Journey
First Consultation
The purpose of the first consultation is to get to know you and learn about your goals. We try to help all patients feel at home by maintaining a modern, inviting, and private office.
Determining Your Treatment Plan
A fertility treatment plan for a gay couple involves fertilizing donated eggs and implanting the embryos into a surrogate’s uterus. Gay men have many important decisions to make in this process. First, they must decide who will donate the eggs. When choosing an egg donor, you can decide between a friend, a family member, or an agency donor. Next, you must decide who will serve as the gestational surrogate. Once a surrogate has been selected, gay men can also choose to use sperm samples from one or both partners. Finally, they will need to decide whether the embryos should undergo genetic screening before they are implanted into the uterus.
Selecting the Surrogate
A surrogate is responsible for carrying your child through nine months of pregnancy to a healthy delivery. It is imperative that this person is in outstanding overall health, and has a low risk for complications in pregnancy and birth. This woman should also be psychologically capable of undergoing the challenging process of carrying and giving birth to a child, and then giving the baby to the intended parents. Intended parents may want to choose someone they know and trust. Then again, a couple may decide that having a family member or friend carry the baby could create unnecessary hardships. In either case, we have the resources and experience to recommend a solution with which you feel comfortable.
Choosing the Egg Donor
Traditional surrogacy, in which the surrogate uses her own eggs, is not legal in Texas, so you will also need to find an egg donor. Some couples choose to have a female family member donate the egg, and the other partner's sperm is used for fertilization. Using this approach, both partners can have an established genetic relationship with their child. Other couples may not have a female relative who is able or willing to donate an egg, while other couples want to avoid potential family complications associated with a known donor's egg. In these instances, couples may instead select a donor through an agency.
IVF
Your egg donor’s eggs will be retrieved after an ovulation stimulation cycle. These eggs will then be combined with the sperm from either one or both partners. During an IVF procedure, the eggs are fertilized and incubated in a lab, and the most viable embryos are selected for implantation in the surrogate’s uterus. Our center maintains outstanding success rates, and we have helped many patients become parents through IVF.
Genetic Screening for Your Peace of Mind
Once you have found an egg to fertilize from an anonymous egg donor or a trusted family member or friend, you can move on to the next exciting step: creating your embryo.
Egg donors give a truly amazing gift of life. However, it's possible that you may not know their full genetic history.
Prior to implementation, you have to option to choose genetic screening if you wish to evaluate an embryo for genetic abnormalities.
While we cannot guarantee your results, we will give you the best care and medical service we can.
We Welcome Out-of-Town Patients
"I don't think there could be a more compassionate and caring clinic" Kind Words From Our Houston Patients
Emma Karko
2016
I don't think there could be a more compassionate and caring clinic than Dr Kristiansen's! Because of her and her fabulous team, I have 3 beautiful children. Her nurse, Mayra Lopez, has been with me through every step of this journey and has simply been an amazing and constant source of support.
View on GoogleKarina Gonzalez
2020
Fue un excelente servicio de la doctora Kristiansen resolvió todas mis dudas respecto al todo el procedimiento que recibí y al igual Mayra Lopez, estuvo siempre al pendiente de todo el proceso que lleve fueron muy amables siempre ahora estoy en la dulce espera de mis bebés son gemelos
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