One of Australia’s leading fashion designers is now a dad.
Jayson Brunsdon, 50, and partner Aaron Elias, 42, finally got the baby they have spent three years hoping for. Earlier this month they “held hands and wept…as they waited for a Thai surrogate mother to deliver their son,” The Daily Telegraph reports.
They named him Roman Elias Brunsdon, and he is a genetic mix of both men as a cousin donated her egg.
Jayson told The Daily Telegraph, “It was a beautiful thing because we can both enjoy that he is genetically part of us– but it wouldn’t have mattered if the egg came from somewhere else.”
“Roman is a little character, full of personality. He is a very good sleeper and feeding well”.
Roman is going to grow up immersed in the Australian fashion scene. His godmothers’ include designer Leona Edmiston, Nicole Naccarella from Myer, and model Kristy Hinze.
It has been tough year for Australian couples to use Thai surrogates since the high-profile baby Gammy case brought the industry under significant scrutiny. Draft legislation to ban commercial surrogacy is currently being debated in the Thai parliament. However, pregnancies in progress by April 1, 2015, have largely been allowed to continue normally.
Jayson and Aaron, who have been together for 16 years now, are currently in Thailand working on getting Roman a passport so he can come home.
“Apart from the three of us now, nothing matters,” Elias said. “He is priority in everything we do from now on.
“When we are both together with him we have something to live for. Knowing there will be someone there at the end of our journey to carry on our legacy is wonderful. I just hope that he carries all our creative genes.”
Congratulations, to new dads, Jayson and Aaron.