10th September 2012 | by MFC Team
“The gift of life” – heartwarming stories of surrogate motherhood
Several articles have made the news of late, as family members and friends share their heartwarming stories of creating their families through gestational surrogacy.
A recent article in the Daily Mail Online outlines the heartwarming story of 49 year old Leslie Sirois’ experience of acting as a surrogate mother for her daughter, Angel. Last summer, Angel, a 25 year old woman living in Presque Isle, received medical advice against getting pregnant because she has a heart condition. Soon after receiving the news, Angel and her husband, Brian, asked Angel’s mother to carry their child as a surrogate mother. Leslie readily agreed, saying “it was all pretty simple as far as I was concerned”. She saw carrying and birthing her grandson as “just babysitting” for a few months.
Given Leslie’s age, most of the fertility clinics turned down the family’s request. Eventually the Reproductive Science Center in Lexington, Massachusetts, accepted Leslie as a patient on strict conditions. Angel’s eggs were fertilized with her husband’s sperm, and one of the resulting embryos was transferred to, and successfully implanted in Leslie’s womb during the first round of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Having three children of her own, Leslie described this pregnancy as the easiest one she had experienced. With careful medical monitoring, she made it through the pregnancy and birth in good health.
Angel and Brian were present in the delivery room for their son’s birth, which was described by Brian as “an awesome experience”. Born August 13, Angel and Brian’s son, Madden, weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces. He is reportedly “eating like a champ” and “doesn’t fuss too much”. The family says they are receiving a lot of support from their communities.
Another woman – 53 year old Cindy Reutzel – recently gave her daughter “the gift of life” by carrying and birthing her grandchild. Cindy became a surrogate mother for her daughter, Emily Jordan, who was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer and resultantly received a radical hysterectomy (removal of her uterus), which left her unable to carry a child. Emily’s egg was fertilized with her husband, Mike’s, sperm, and was successfully implanted into Cindy’s uterus. Baby Elle Cynthia Jordan was recently delivered by C-section, and Cindy is reportedly recovering well. Cindy says she “knows [she] gave a gift” but feels she “is getting so much in return”. She also noted that seeing Emily and Mike with their baby was “like everything [she] could have imagined wanting for them – better than [she] could have imagined”.
Read the full articles outlining the stories of these families here:
‘I just saw it as babysitting’: Woman, 49, gives birth to her grandson after being surrogate for daughter with heart condition [Daily Mail Online]
The gift of life: Grandmother, 53, gives birth to her own grandchild after cervical cancer left her daughter infertile [Daily Mail Online]
A recently published book outlines the story of another mother’s experience of carrying her daughter’s child. Read more about this family’s story here:
Our extraordinary surrogacy story: The moving photo album telling how mother, 61, carried baby to term for her daughter [Daily Mail Online]
Read about another woman’s altruistic act – carrying her best friend’s child as a surrogate mother here:
A tale of true friendship: Woman who volunteered to be a surrogate mother for her best friend gave her ‘the greatest gift’ [Daily Mail Online]
Wow, all of these stories made me feel pretty emotional. I have to admit that when I first heard of surrogacy I thought it was pretty unnatural and was going against the “master plan” but when I read stories like these and of people wanting so desperately to have children, I can understand why people may be willing to go this route. Thanks for sharing these stories.