Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian open up about difficult journey to surrogacy 

The couple, who married in 2015 first revealed that they were expecting in a video posted to social media

Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian spoke to Amy Huberman about their journey to surrogacy after announcing that they are expecting their first child.

Irish reality-show star Brian Dowling and his partner, dancer Arthur Gourounlian have opened up about their journey to surrogacy after announcing that they are expecting their first child later this year.

The couple, who married in 2015 first revealed the happy news in a video posted to social media this week.

Speaking to Amy Huberman on her podcast, Mamia & Me, they revealed more details and said they are already feeling all of the worries that come with parenthood.

The pair said they always knew they wanted to have a child and now, it is finally happening, with the baby due later this year.

“There is a bun in someone’s oven, and we own that bun,” said Brian cheerily.

They said they first began the journey in 2018 and after Brian’s mother passed away, they realised it was time to start building their own family.

“We were like ok, this is it, this is the time. We have to build a family,” Arthur said.

However, their journey was not easy or straightforward for the couple. Brian told listeners that they were “shut down straight away” by some places when looking for information on what their options were as a same-sex couple.

“Just because we’re gay, who decides, who decides oh, you can’t have a family because we don’t do that here? It’s just ridiculous,” he said.

As he comes from a refugee background, Arthur said they were originally looking at adoption before going back to surrogacy. 

Baby Dowling Gourounlian is Coming Soon 👶🏻 pic.twitter.com/hf8urMKfV5

— Brian Dowling (@brianofficial) May 5, 2022

They first started the journey in the States but Brian said he always wanted to have their family at home, with the support of his family.

Before lockdown hit, they had been planning to return to LA to carry on all of the adoption paperwork after spending some time in Europe. But the pandemic changed everything, and they returned to Ireland, where they were living in Brian's childhood bedroom.

After getting “a base” and their own home together in Kildare, surrounded by the support of friends and family, they decided to “really go for it” and adopt in Ireland, which was a very different process to the US.

As a gay couple in their 40s, they were told the adoption process would be “very hard”.

“You feel then, we’ve no other options. What do we do?” said Brian.

It was after this that they decided to look at surrogacy which they thought was more feasible. However, following the long and frustrating process, they are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of their baby through surrogacy.

The pair said they already have a crib in their room and are excited to start shopping for their baby bits, now that the news is out.

“Something that you really, really want, sometimes the hustle and the fight makes it even more worthwhile,” Brian said.