Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian have revealed they hope to welcome their first child later this year.
The couple, who tied the knot at the lavish Powerscourt Hotel back in 2015, discussed their plans for a family on The Late Late Show Valentine’s Day Special.
Brian told host Ryan Tubridy: “The baby train has left the station. We thought at this point we would have been blessed already. We’re on the surrogacy journey, but there are no regulations regarding this.”
He explained: “It just doesn’t affect people like us, it affects everyone in Ireland… children, parents and families. I think you shouldn’t tell people when they can or can’t have families so I’d like to think this year we will be blessed, but how do you know?”
Brian added that his husband has started “throwing holy water all around the house” as they pray to welcome a baby.
The couple have been open about their struggle to start a family in the past.
Back in 2020, Arthur told the Irish Mirror: “It is our dream to start a family. I wanted three kids and we started meetings in America.”
“We were looking at adoption but with Covid everything stopped. We are trying to start looking at adoption here in Ireland but honestly, it is heartbreaking how difficult it is.”
“First of all we are getting too old. Second of all, there are hardly any kids to adopt so we are struggling on that front too. It is breaking our hearts because I know that Brian and I would give the best life to these children.”
“We are exploring every area now… The reason I don’t want to go down the surrogacy route is that I don’t want to spend $150,000 because of my background as a refugee.”
“I simply cannot justify spending that kind of money. It doesn’t matter how much I earn in life, when I was growing up I didn’t have any money so for me to spend that amount of money on a kid, I physically feel sick,” the DWTS judge confessed.
“It may come to the point where it is our only option and Brian has told me I may have to swallow our pride and just go with it. But having children is something we want to do.”
Goss.ie has partnered with leading fertility clinic Sims IVF to host and broadcast a special panel show focused on all things fertility.
After issuing a call out for questions on social media, we put our readers questions to experts from Sims IVF and busted some common myths and misconceptions about fertility.
Discussing everything from what to expect from an AMH test, to the process of freezing your eggs and so much more, we were also joined by influencers Holly Carpenter and Thalia Heffernan who candidly discussed their own fertility journeys, and the pressure women face to start a family at a young age.
Watch the full show below:
