Shaun Resnik talks about his path to parenthood as a "journey", and it's a journey no other father in his home state has previously experienced.
The 44-year-old Melbourne naturopath is believed to be the first single man in Victoria to be given approval to have a child through a surrogate.
"When I hit about 40 I thought, you know, 'I'm going to give this a go. I'm going to do this alone'," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
Shaun said he came out as a gay man when he was 24, and always knew having a family "was always going to be a bit more complex".
"Roundabout my thirties, I realised guys can have kids but I was waiting for Mr Right to come along," he said.
"But, you know, nothing scares a guy off more on a first date than saying, 'Hey, do you want to have kids?'"
Shaun's single status did not deter him from pursuing his dream of becoming a parent.
He even went as far as buying a four-bedroom house years before he even entered the surrogacy program.
Paid surrogacy is illegal in Australia and Shaun did not want to pursue international surrogacy options.
The process has been long, and not without setbacks.
After several years in the surrogacy program, he met Carla, who is now carrying his son.
The child was conceived using an egg donated by another friend, Bree, who already has two boys of her own.
"My boy is going to have half-brothers already," said Shaun.
He is determined that his son will meet both of the women.
"We met through the journey when I first joined the surrogacy community to reach out and, hopefully, attract an amazing human being to carry a baby for me, and that was two and a half years ago.
Shaun is intent on being in the delivery room when his baby son is born in April next year.
"If I'm allowed to, I might even catch the baby," he said.
