IVF DADDIES

Most people start this journey knowing the cost. Nobody warns them about everything else.

Katy Encalade has been a surrogate herself. Now she runs one of the most respected egg donation and surrogacy agencies in the US. This conversation is the one most intended parents wish they had before they started.

What you will actually hear in this episode:

Why two years is the real timeline and why anyone who tells you less is setting you up to fail.
Why an agency that says they have plenty of surrogates available should make you stop and ask harder questions.
Why obsessing over genetics in your egg donor search might mean you are missing the question that actually determines your outcome.
Why the match matters more than the speed. Every time.
Why the families who struggle most are the ones who were told what they wanted to hear.

This is not a hope conversation. This is a preparation conversation.

If you are at the beginning of this journey or stuck somewhere in the middle, this episode gives you language for what you are actually going through.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
02:58 Understanding the Egg Donation Process
05:38 Navigating the Surrogacy Journey
08:33 The Importance of Patience
11:29 Matching with Egg Donors and Surrogates
14:15 Financial Aspects of Surrogacy
16:50 Red Flags and Green Flags in Agencies
19:21 Feeling Alone in the Journey
22:01 Simplifying the Process

CONNECT WITH KATY ENCALADE
Website: https://createahappyfamily.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/createahappyfamily
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/katyencalade

Listening in a browser? Open this in the Spotify app and hit follow. That is the only way Spotify tells you when new episodes land. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. IVF Daddies is the independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.

The legal ground under surrogacy is shifting. For once it is shifting in your favor.

If you are LGBTQ+ and you have been quietly terrified about what this administration means for your family, this is the episode that answers it directly. No vague reassurances. No spin. Just a fertility attorney with 15 years in reproductive law telling you exactly where you stand.

What this episode covers:

Michigan just passed surrogacy legislation. Here is what it actually does.
Why a court ordered judgment protects your parental rights in ways a birth record cannot.
Why California is about to raise the standard for every other state.
Can you get a California court order and use it in Arizona. The answer will surprise you.
Once you have a judgment, nobody can take it away. Here is the constitutional reason why.
Why LGBTQ+ parents specifically need a judgment not just a birth record.
Whether the federal government can roll back your parental rights. Brian explains why the answer is no.

This is the episode you forward to the person who just asked you: is this still safe to do?

The answer is yes. After this episode you will know exactly why.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The Headlines Are Wrong: The Positive Legal Changes Nobody Is Talking About
02:08 Michigan Just Changed Everything: What the New Law Actually Does
02:59 Meet Brian: 15 Years in Fertility Law
04:36 Can You Get a California Court Order and Use It in Arizona
06:04 Why LGBTQ+ Parents Need a Judgment Not Just a Birth Record
07:02 Will the Federal Government Roll Back Your Parental Rights
07:51 Once You Have a Judgment Nobody Can Take It Away
08:12 The Constitutional Principle That Protects You Across State Lines
09:30 Is the Surrogate Ever on the Birth Certificate
10:37 What California Collects and Why It Never Appears on Your Child's Record
11:55 Michigan Birth Certificates: What Comes Next

Listening in a browser? Open this in the Spotify app and hit follow. That is the only way Spotify tells you when new episodes land. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. IVF Daddies is the independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.

Your embryo grade is not what you think it is.

Embryologist Emanuela Molinari has spent her career inside the lab watching families make critical decisions based on information they do not fully understand. This episode fixes that.

What you will actually learn:

Why two clinics can look at the same embryo and give you completely different grades.
Why a perfect grade does not guarantee a pregnancy and a low grade does not mean failure.
Why sperm is half of this equation and why almost nobody is testing it properly.
What DNA fragmentation is, why it matters, and when to test for it.
Why some clinics still transfer on day 3 and what that decision is really based on.
What blastocyst development actually tells you versus what clinics imply it tells you.
What PGT genetic testing is genuinely useful for and what it cannot do.
How age affects chromosome errors in ways that grading will never show you.

If you are going through IVF, just starting, or trying to understand results that don't make sense, this episode gives you the questions your clinic is not asking you to ask.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Why embryo grading confuses people
02:30 What you are actually seeing in an embryo
05:30 Why grading is subjective
09:00 The role of sperm in IVF
13:00 DNA fragmentation explained
17:00 What blastocyst development really means
21:00 Day 3 vs Day 5 transfer
25:00 Genetic testing without the hype
30:00 Age and embryo viability
35:00 What patients should actually focus on

CONNECT WITH EMANUELA MOLINARI
Website: https://eggstraordinaryembryo.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eggstraordinary_embryo

Listening in a browser? Open this in the Spotify app and hit follow. That is the only way Spotify tells you when new episodes land. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. IVF Daddies is the independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.

Everyone talks about the embryos. Nobody talks about what happens to the relationship.

IVF puts a number on your family. Success rates. Grades. Transfer windows. And somewhere inside all of that data, the relationship that started this entire journey is quietly breaking under the pressure nobody warned you about.

Julio and Richard go there in this episode. Fully.

What this episode covers:

Why IVF clinics are excellent at the medical side and almost useless on the emotional side.
Why frozen embryos create a decision that no couple is ever prepared to make together.
Why the moment you realize biology is not cooperating with the life you planned is one of the loneliest moments a person can experience.
Why younger LGBTQ couples are becoming parents earlier while straight couples are starting later and what that tension reveals about modern family building.
Why having a baby does not fix a relationship. And why IVF pressure can expose everything that was already fragile.
When to keep trying. When to change the plan. And how you know the difference.

This is not the glossy brochure version of IVF.

This is what it actually does to the people going through it.

TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE
IVF success rates and embryo reality
Surrogacy and donor egg decisions
LGBTQ family building
The emotional impact of IVF on relationships
Why IVF clinics rarely address relationship psychology
Older parents versus younger parents
The grief of the family you imagined
Why having a baby does not fix a relationship

Listening in a browser? Open this in the Spotify app and hit follow. That is the only way Spotify tells you when new episodes land. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. IVF Daddies is the independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.

He spent years reporting on how families are built around the world. Then he had to build his own.

Pedro Andrade is a journalist and television host who has documented cultures across six continents. But nothing prepared him for the system of decisions, patience, and uncertainty that is IVF and surrogacy.

In this episode Pedro tells the full story. Finding an egg donor. Matching with a surrogate. Signing contracts he did not fully understand at first. Facing the moments where everything could fall apart. And what it actually felt like to hold his daughter Isabel for the first time after years of trying.

What this episode covers:

Why parenthood through surrogacy is not a moment. It is a system you have to survive first.
The emotional paradox nobody warns you about: overwhelming love arriving simultaneously with exhaustion, fear, and the weight of total responsibility.
Why age changes how you experience becoming a parent and why that is not a weakness.
What Pedro's documentary series Somewhat Familiar on Max revealed about how many ways there are to define a family across cultures.
Why the definition of family is shifting faster than any institution is ready for.
The one thing Pedro says every prospective parent needs to hear before they start.

Parents are the people who show up.

If you are navigating IVF, surrogacy, or simply trying to understand what modern family building actually costs emotionally, not just financially, this conversation will stay with you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Parenthood and Identity
05:37 The Emotional Toll of Surrogacy
11:00 The Role of Age in Parenting
16:24 The Impact of Surrogacy on Family Dynamics
21:50 Empowering Women and Challenging Norms
27:16 Advice for Prospective Parents

PEDRO ANDRADE
Documentary series Somewhat Familiar streaming now on Max / HBO Max.

Listening in a browser? Open this in the Spotify app and hit follow. That is the only way Spotify tells you when new episodes land. No clinic deals. No referral fees. No false hope. IVF Daddies is the independent reference system for IVF, surrogacy and egg donation.