Elaine and William

About Us

Hello! We’re the Ratner’s! My name is Elaine, I am 34 years old. My husband William just turned 41. We were born and raised here in Orange County, California. Currently living in Newport Coast. We have a beautiful 2 year old daughter name Reign which we were lucky enough to receive through surrogacy. So I guess you can say we are experience when it comes to this process 🙂 With luck & prayer we hope to expand our family and give our daughter a sibling because we hope to have a big family one day. My husband and I own a Yacht rental company called Newport Yachts located in Newport Beach. As well as rental homes, apartment buildings, strip malls and land around the world. So we are lucky enough to both work from home so we are able to spend every moment with our daughter.

I was misdiagnosed by a doctor that resulted in me losing both of my fallopian tubes. I will never be able to get pregnant naturally & would have a very low chance getting pregnant through IVF. It made me feel less of a woman for quite some time but that didn’t stop me from trying. We went through 3 IUI, 5 IVF and 3 surgeries with no luck. Each failed trial crushed our hearts more and more. My husband was with me through every step and gave me every shot. By the 5th round of IVF, my body was bruised from all of the injections. He started crying and said “he can’t watch me do this to my self anymore” because he knew how much I was struggling by then. So we both decided it was time to stop & it took me a long time to accept that I wasn’t going to be able to carry. We reached out to an agency which matched us with a surrogate, and it was a wonderful experience. She changed our lives forever and gave us a family. There are no words on earth that would be able to describe my appreciation for her. Our daughter has been the biggest joy of our lives and we can not wait to expand our family with more love. To whoever that may be reading this… thank you for considering us. Thank you for doing what you do. You are an Angel on earth & so selfless to be able to do this for someone. Whether you pick us or not, you are truly special & will make a family so happy & complete 🤍

Our Interests

My husband and I love the water. We take regular yacht trips and spend as much time as we can in the ocean or on the beach. We also do daily activities and try to get out of the house with our daughter at least once a day to experience something new together!

What we are looking for in a surrogate

Embarking on this incredible journey, we prioritize meeting our surrogate in a space where she feels most comfortable. We’re flexible with arrangements and hope to be present for major appointments and the delivery room. Beyond the birth, we’d be grateful if our surrogate considers pumping breast milk for our baby. This is a shared experience, and we look forward to navigating it together with understanding and respect.

Extra Information

Names: Elaine & William
Location: Orange County, California
Number of embryos: 6 PGT tested embryos
Agency/Management Team: The Biggest Ask
Fertility Clinic: Dr. Lin at the Reproductive Fertility Center
Surrogate Compensation: High
Requirements: ASRM Guidelines

The Biggest Ask Says

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine provides the following recommendations for evaluation of gestational carriers (i.e., many fertility clinics will require the following for their gestational carriers) :

Carried at least 1 child without complications
Fewer than 3 deliveries via c-section
Body mass index in between 19 and 32
No smoking, abusing drugs, alcohol or prescription medications
Not receiving welfare, public housing or cash assistance from the government
Has a stable home life with emotional and child care support
No mental health conditions requiring the use of medications within the last 6 months (including depression)
No criminal record

Watch the following video to review the Medical and Psychological Clearance procedures that surrogates must complete.

No one likes to talk about surrogate compensation, but it is an important factor in any surrogacy agreement. The following is how we classify high, medium and low compensation (excluding the value of any benefits). Many factors affect surrogate compensation including surrogate experience (e.g., has the woman been a surrogate before?), whether the surrogate is signed up with an agency and surrogate preferences.