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Everywhere Bobby goes at work he places or hands a photocopy of a newspaper article of us and our plea. Hoping that word of mouth will pay off. We even gave a copy to our local chip shop!
Putting the ad in the rear window of our car may have just contributed to the accident that Bobby had happened lately ...

Now 2 years on, we had a newspaper journalist and photographer from a local paper interview us and take pics of us standing besides our car. Apparently, they noticed our ad in the car's window asking for surrogates and wanted to hear our story. Crikey, has it really been years since we were last headlines news...

Not a good likeness of us in the Ilford Recorder and the image is so dark. (perhaps we are dark!)

Nikki with Purple Lipstick! and "No baby Onboard" car sign.

Been awhile since we were on radio, must get our publicity department a good ol' kick up.
BBC Radio Northampton gave Nikki a nice chat about IVF funding in UK. Could've summed it up in one line really ... just go abroad and do it.

Lately we've been getting journalists every few days wanting to interview us. No problem, only too happy to vent, er i mean talk.

The more interaction we get with the media the more we can help others in our situation. please mention www.oneinsix.com Thank you.

We have been trying to get the below message across on these radio talk shows:

NHS putting age limit on helping couples. not helpful.

What they are forgetting is that these couples have reached that age limit already not by selfishness of putting their careers first but by perhaps marrying late like we did.

Then what of the doctor who proposed endless preliminary tests during the early years which all proved negative, only to find out by the time the doctor recommends IVF, one has reached that cruel age limit.

Do they wish us to start the expensive NHS IVF treatment without investigating other forms of cures? Maybe cheaper cures but due to that age deadline we're choosing to crack the nut with a sledgehammer!

Age threshold needs to be raised, people are living longer. offering one free IVF go on the NHS maybe not worth it if we're limiting the number of embryos that is permissable to grow to two or one.

This and many other reasons is why we and many couples who have approached us are opting to go abroad for IVF treatment.

Medical tourism is like business outsourcing. No different. Britain is expensive and saddled with choking restrictions,
They can carry on arranging the deckchairs as much as they like. We have booked our ticket elsewhere.

Nikki talked on radio Bobby didnt get his chance to put his saliant points across!

Here they are

I'm on the female side. He has signed on the dotted line, I'm sorry but life has already begun.

I'm not against abortion. This case is unique, there was no going back from the woman's point of view. There's more to this than meets the eye. perhaps a little spitefulness because we don't know why their marraige failed.

Talking about withdrawing his consent to use his sperm but I'm sorry there is no sperm. It's used already and it's a baby-in-waiting.

It's like going out shopping for a product, you purchase in good faith and it's fit for the purpose then a month later the shopkeeper comes knocking on your door to ask for his refridgerator back! It's crazy.

The chances of having a pregnancy is around 25%, couldn't this fella waited to see what transpires out of the embryos?

They could give up the embryos to deserving childless couples.

Who knows the child may grow up to be lovely like yourself and my wife nikki and could support the father in his hour of need which will come oneday.

How would he feel if the shoe was on the other foot? There's no guarantee that he will not suffer conception problems himself. He might just rue the day. Once life has started there should be no turning back. I feel sorry for the mother and she is a mother kept away from her family.

We dont use the terms like perish and destroy when it comes to switching off peoples life support. It's called death, and it's no different here.

Does our government listen to nodody?
We have clowns in high office. Our laws a joke.
Thats why we and hundreds others are seeking treatment abroad.

We can't go banging our own drums about this especially since we haven't achieved any successes so far. But one things for sure, you will get further along the line in clinics abroad than hanging around on a wet afternoon in Romford.

Hi,
I am working on a story on couples who have had children through Indian surrogates (or are in the process of doing so) and am looking for subjects, both parents and surrogates, who would be willing to share their stories. I would ideally like to hear from American couples, as this is for a US-based publication and am heading to India on May 24th and would like to interview surrogates there.

I am an award-winning journalist with credits in several magazines including National Geographic, The Washingtonian, In Style and the New York Daily News. If you're interested in speaking with me, please email me back at larmstro2@yahoo.com

Thanks,
Lisa Armstrong

Looks like we'll be in the UK Womens magazine called 'Red' soon.
Gave their biker a whole bunch of material to collect.
We'll try to get hold of an edition.

Some corrections in the article!


We've tried six attempts at IVF all of which failed.
Wrong, Five.

The (first surrogacy) treatment however failed. We then tried with that same surrogate the following year but that didn't work either. Two further attempts failed.
Just the two attempts with her, no further.

Last month they travelled to Mumbai again for fifth attempt this time using a different surrogate.
That was the third attempt.

I'd tell anyone considering going to India to think long and hard said a spokesperson from a Surrogacy Organisation set out to 'help' couples.
Perhaps crying over a loss of GBP1,000 membership fee for each British couple going abroad for surrogacy!

A baby is not a commodity and it makes me feel very uncomfortable that people are renting wombs and effectively treating having a child as they would buying a puppy. I have grave concerns about the moral side of this as well as the risk to the surrogate's health.
A bit rich coming from a former surrogate after 'renting' out her own womb five times! Not nice to compare babies with dogs for those couples. Their emotions, their braveness, their financial hardship and their not-so-light decision process that outsiders will never know that took years to come for ... for... a puppy?!

And if their baby is genetically the surrogate's then it's important to consider remaining in touch with the surrogate.
Easy. The surrogate is never the genetic parent. No bond, no obligations. Just financial as recommended and written in all surrogacy contracts in the west and the UK.

It can also be difficult to get a baby out of India. I've heard of one british couple faced a year-long battle to have the child recognised as legally theirs.
Probably referring to the baby being born using the womb of their grandmother hence the problem of whose baby it really was or whether somebody else's child be it a neice, cousin etc is being fobbed off with view to settling illegally in the UK. It's a one off. Scare mongering.

The India council of medical research does not have any guidelines to deal with foreign clients using Indian surrogates.
Nor does it in any other country I would think.

Others are concerned about the exploitation of poor women and the risks in a land where 100,000 women die every year as a result of pregnancy and childbirth.
I tell you what exploitation is, paying GBP1,000 for joining these surrogacy groups with no hope of ever finding a surrogate in the UK. Out-sourcing business to third world for pittance pay. Underage workers making FIFA footballs, Walmart, Tesco, Asda etc.
Our pay to our surrogate is 6-8 years worth of salary. Now compare that to the sweatshops of Bangladesh. Incidently the UK equivalent of the surrogate's pay would be GBP100,000. Are you seriously telling me that a British woman thinking of becoming a surro for that pay is being exploited?
Thousands die of childbirth? India is huge, most deaths are rural. Why blame surrogacy for lack of health and social security in India? I'm sure surro's reward will filter down to the benefit of families and relatives rather than gobbled by council taxes and governmental wastages.

There are stories of women being pressed into surrogacy by their husbands in order to make money not to mention the thousands of children living in orphanages.
Our surrogate and a majority would be divorced mothers, some come with mothers and family of their own for support.
Unlike the oblivious majority, childless couples are not blind to orphanages and will make their charitable support felt in some fashion or another.
Incidently, we were blackmailed for money by a British surrogate who was press-ganged into becoming our surrogate by her boyfriend. It happens in England, the poorer third world could be considered a safer bet because it is just that, poor.

But the UK's HFEA's key concern is one of safety in India for example upto five embryos can be implanted into a surrogate mother or a woman undergoing IVF. In the UK women can have no more than two embryos implanted at a time. Five embryo transfers is dangerous.
Not too long ago 4-5 embryo implant was normal practice. What right does HFEA has dictating procedures in other countries?
I'm pretty sure those draconian rules are not adhered to in some Harley Street clinics!

You need to check for instance that they check the surrogates (and egg donor) properly for diseases and inherited disorders.
Exactly. Our clinic does a thorough screening test. Tests unheard of in the west, practices and paperwork to such exact standards. Some Indian clinics have ISO acredation and they're not all in the middle-ages as one might be led to believe.
Genetic disorders? Our clinic diagnosed Thalassemia on the surrogate and suggested we check our blood here in the UK for the same. Now that is proper.

There is no governing body to regulate these things so it's up to you to be sure your clinic meets certain standards.
Sometimes that could be a blessing!

Moreover, in India the surrogate mother's right to the child is the same as in the west. Here a surrogate mother who has provided an egg can claim the baby as her own at any time during the first two years of the child's life.
Same as the west? Not exactly, as financial reward is such a big incentive for the poor more than it would be for a western surrogate. At most it's horrors of horrors like the west!
Surro's don't provide eggs anyhow.

In India she 'simply' signs her rights away as soon as the child is born.
Yes just like the west once the baby is out she signs to get her reward. 'Simple' is the operative word alright, more the reason to go abroad.

Should she find herself in emotional distress she has nowhere to turn.
In the molly-coddled west perhaps. In India the real struggles are the hardships of the weather, nature, floods, earthquakes, lack of health support etc. Give them credit, Indians are hardy people and emotional stress laughably just would not register.

What is missing here is protecting the rights of a surrogate said another UK infertility 'help' group.
There's no better way of looking after the surrogate than insuring her life and of those around her.
'Rights' belong to yobs, hoodlums, criminals and rapists of little girls.

Dear Nikki and Bobby,
I am a journalist for the Mail on Sunday currently working on a piece about
the Kaivla clinic in Anand, Gujurat, run by Dr Nanya Patel.
I read your website with great interest and wondered if you could possibly
assist me with my piece. Have you now been successful in your attempts to
find a surrogate mother for your child? I read an article in Newsweek in
which your names were linked to the Malpani clinic in Bombay - did you have
treatment there?
I would love to talk to any British couple who have gone to India for
surrogacy. I understand how difficult the situation regarding surrogacy is
in Britain and I would be fascinated to hear from anybody who has
experienced it abroad. Do you know of anyone who has been treated in Anand?
Or perhaps you could speak to me about your own experiences?
Any thoughts or help you could possibly give me in locating a British
couple who have been helped to have a baby in India would be incredibly
gratefully received. I have no intention of writing a negative piece - the
work at the clinic in Anand seems to be beneficial to everyone concerned
and I would simply love to hear someone's experience.
I noticed a couple of postings on your message board mentioning Anand. I
will try to post a message but if I can't, could you possibly post one for
me giving my details and requesting people to talk to me? It would be
fantastic if you could.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
Polly.

Polly Dunbar
Reporter
Mail on Sunday
07789924592

Just had our interview, both interviewed separately, nikki during her lunch break from work which was close by, video shots taken of neices playing, wedding albumns, walking about outside, close-ups of various bits of paperwork, the fake sonagram negative and our car with the surro advert on rear windscreen. The usual stuff!
Viewers in India can catch it on TIMES NOW news channel. Don't know when though!