A New Jersey couple has finally brought their baby home after a drawn-out legal battle.
Sam and Laura Kaitz experienced legal issues when it came time to bringing home their newborn son, Simon George Kaitz. The couple welcomed their child via a surrogate and surrogacy agency in Mexico, PEOPLE reported.
“Gosh, I’m just excited about being a family,” Laura told PEOPLE. “I’ve been there already. My two older sons are adults now, and I really enjoyed being a parent. Sam has been my sons’ stepfather since they were 6 and 7 years old. Now, we get to experience it together, from the beginning.”
The couple searched for a cost-effective surrogate and decided on going with a Mexican agency that promised them both that Sam’s sperm would be used with a donor egg so that he could be listed on the baby’s birth certificate.
Baby Simon was born on Tuesday, April 18, and was met by his dad in Mexico City. Sam had rented a place to stay and planned on bringing the infant home two days after their June 7 passport appointment at the U.S. Embassy.
But that process took longer than expected.
“At the very beginning, it felt like we had nothing. It was a real downward spiral,” Sam explains. “I had gone to the federal courthouse in Mexico a couple of times because of the case, which the embassy said had to be finished before we’d be able to come home. My lawyers had said, ‘Oh yeah, it’ll be done June 30th.’ Well, June 30th came and then they said July 31st, and at the federal courthouse. They said, oh, no three to six months, at least, it might be over a year.”
“That’s when Laura started reaching out to reporters. We felt desperate and we couldn’t find anyone to help.”
“For me, it was a living nightmare. I would be down there in Mexico and missing my kids back home and my younger son, who’s on the spectrum, and really needs extra attention, found it difficult to be apart. And when I was home with him, it was really difficult to be without Sam and Simon. Because Kyle didn’t fully understand, he felt abandoned, for lack of a better word, by Sam when that wasn’t really the case. It was that he was stuck. So Kyle was without a father basically and it was very difficult for all of us.”
Thanks to the help of Dr. Brian Levine, Founder of Nodal and head of a prominent Manhattan fertility practice, who used his contacts to help the family out.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Dr. Levine shares, “Sam and Laura Kaitz’s situation is a heartbreaking example of why surrogacy needs to be safe, accessible, and affordable for intended parents.”
“Growing a family is expensive no matter what avenue parents choose to take. The risk with some surrogacy agencies abroad is that some may give false promises by downplaying costs or by being careless, negligent, or even malicious when it comes to following the proper laws, regulations, and policies surrounding surrogacy,” he continues.
“Vetted, domestically based surrogacy agencies and platforms such as Nodal have the transparency, experience, and knowledge to help intended parents and surrogates ensure that they are operating within the law. We also are able to provide parents, surrogates, and babies with genuine emotional and medical support and financial and legal advice throughout the process to avoid legal headaches and emotional heartache.”
Baby Simon was born seven weeks premature but is recovering well and is “very healthy” and thriving at home with his family.
“He’s about nine and a half pounds now, eating very well. There’s no lingering health problems that we can see. He’s going to be going to his American pediatrician for the first time in a few days,” Laura shares.
“He did see a pediatrician in Mexico City and she was wonderful, she really came through for us. She was very knowledgeable, she took care of him, and she would text us and ask how he’s doing. I have to say, the doctors down there were wonderful.”
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