Jorge Maumer and Augustine
Real estate investor Jorge Maumer had long wanted a family but couldn’t get started, or so he thought, because he hadn’t found the right man to spend his life with. Several years ago, the San Franciscan, now 52, stopped waiting and took action. He went to Panama, to an agency that pairs prospective parents with a gestational carrier. In that procedure, a woman carries and delivers a baby for someone else, using the intended father’s sperm and another female donor’s egg with the help of in-vitro fertilization. As misfortune would have it, two attempts resulted in two miscarriages, and Maumer lost hope. “It’s indescribable how you feel — it’s a roller coaster of emotion,” he said. “You know your life is going to change, and boom. After two miscarriages, I had closed the door. I wasn’t going to do it anymore.”
Then during a trip to New York City in March of 2015, his heart heavy, Maumer stepped into a church. Praying in the pews, he found the faith to try one more time. He called the doctor in Panama, and four days later, was on a nonstop flight. He left New York at 9 a.m., arrived at the clinic in the early afternoon and was back in New York by 10 p.m. This time it worked. In December, Augustine, the son he had always hoped for, was born. Maumer had gone to Panama on the recommendations of friends, whose experiences there were good. It was also less expensive, at $70,000 per try, than agencies in the U.S. that charge $100,000 or more. More importantly, he said, the gestational carrier’s salary — $28,000 to $30,000 — would go further in Panama than in the U.S., and as a result, would have a bigger impact on her future. “They change my life,” he said, “I change their life.”
Before the baby, Maumer rose at 9 a.m., saw his trainer at the gym, took business meetings over coffee and worked from home in the afternoons. At night, he’d go to dinner with friends and think nothing of staying up until midnight. Now, as a single parent — albeit one with a nanny — Maumer is up at 5 a.m. and throws in the towel at 9 p.m. The nanny has the weekend off, leaving Maumer alone with a toddler who, like other 18month-olds, seems to have unlimited energy and a penchant for digging into fireplace ashes and grabbing at fragile tchotchkes (most of them moved out of reach).
It’s a challenge for someone who had never before even held a baby, but Maumer has learned patience, humility and unconditional love. He has a new appreciation for single parents, knowing that when problems arise, they alone shoulder the responsibility for their children. And he has a message to other men who want children: Don’t wait.
“My bottom line is: Say yes to the joy they bring to your life,” Maumer said. “They open up your heart in ways you can never imagine. He’s my little soul mate.”
“My bottom line is: Say yes to the joy they bring to your life.” Jorge Maumer