Katja Heinemann

MULTIMEDIA: – our family: made in india

A 10 minute short documentary and multimedia feature, created for The Collection iPad Magazine: 

It takes two to start a family – or three, or even four. Take Rhonda and Gerry from Mesa, Arizona. The American couple tried conceiving a child for years – unsuccessfully. So they hired a surrogate mother in India. And they bought a donor egg. Their son Blaze has a father, a social mother, a surrogate mother and a biological mother. Now another surrogate in Mumbai is pregnant with twins – Blaze’s siblings. 

  • SurrogacyIndia
  • Gerry Wile with his son Blaze. His tattoo shows the god Ganesha, and a rendering of Blaze's baby footprints.
  • Blaze, 18 months old, Mesa, Arizona.
  • Blaze meets his unborn twin siblings' surrogate (at left) during a skype chat.
  • The Surrogacy India offices in Bhandup, a northeastern suburb of Mumbai.
  • Weekly yoga classes are meant to help surrogate mothers relax and reduce stress and anxiety, which are thought to be bad for the unborn children.
  • Fatima undergoes a sonogram while she is pregnant with the Wile family's twins.
  • Khatija's one-room plus bathroom home was constructed with earnings from Blaze's surrogacy.
  • The Surrogacy India offices in Bhandup, a northeastern suburb of Mumbai.
  • Khatija near her family's home in the Malad West suburb of Mumbai.
  • Khatija sends her two boys off to school.
  • Rhonda and Gerry Wile's son Blaze.
  • Rhonda with Blaze, 18 months old.
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