Surrogacy stories that will warm your heart

Cambria struggled with infertility issues from the moment the couple decided they wanted to become parents. After four years of infertility treatments, the couple became parents to twin girls. Then in 2021, with the help of IVF once more, they welcomed twin boys into their family.

She developed placenta increta, a condition where the placenta stays in the uterus, and she had to make the difficult decision to have a hysterectomy. That hysterectomy meant that even though she and Jeff had hoped to continue growing their family by using the fertilized embryos they still had left from IVF, Cambria would not be able to go through a pregnancy again.

In October 2021, Nancy felt called to offer to carry a baby for her son and his wife. “'Carry me!' said the soft sweet voice that reached into my soul. ‘Carry who?’ I wondered, as I considered the many people in my life who were going through various struggles,” Nancy shared on Instagram. “Then I felt the presence of innocence, that of an angel’s spirit next to me. ‘This is an unborn child,’ I thought to myself. Suddenly, I thought of my son, Jeff, and his family. I had a recognition from the core of my being, a spirit of wisdom and knowing that spoke to my mind. 'Yes, this is your granddaughter. You are meant to carry her and give her life.'”

Even though she’s in her 50s, doctors decided that Nancy could indeed be a gestational carrier. An embryo transfer was performed and Nancy got pregnant. On November 2, 2022, Hannah Cambria Hauck was born weighing in at over 7 pounds. “11/2/22 is a sacred day for me now. It’s not only Hannah’s birthday but also the last day of the 'day of the dead' which is a holiday that celebrates ancestors that have passed on And her ancestors on both sides had a HUGE part in getting her here,” Cambria wrote on Instagram.

Kaitlyn Munoz, Chalise's daughter, already had a son when she was told that she wouldn't be able to carry any more babies because of health issues, including endometriosis and an autoimmune disorder called Sjögren's syndrome. The thing was that Kaitlyn still had two frozen embryos from the IVF cycle had resulted in the birth of her son Callahan. That's when Chalise stepped in without even being asked. Here's what Kaitlyn wrote about the situation in a birthday tribute that she posted for her mom on February 19, 2022:

My mom did a lot of things for me when I was a little girl that I couldn’t do for myself here I am 24 years later and again she’s doing something that I can’t do for myself, she is carrying my child. A year ago I found out that due to some health issues I would not be able to carry our last 2 frozen embryos from the IVF cycle that resulted in our son, Callahan. After a lot of thought and prayer my mom came to me and offered to be our surrogate.

The baby was born a healthy 7 lbs., 13 oz., and measured 21 inches long. "What an amazing experience the last 24 hours have been. I am at a loss of words. My mom is a living angel and brought us another blessing earth side and we are in LOVE," Kaitlyn wrote on Instagram. This is such a sweet story, but wait! I have more to share.

Kelsi Pierce struggled with infertility for years, and was eventually told that the only options she had left were adoption or finding a surrogate who could carry one of her embryos obtained via in vitro fertilization. Kelsi and her husband Kyle really didn’t think surrogacy, which can cost more than $100,000, was an option because they had spent all their money and then some trying to get pregnant with the help of surgeries and via IVF. "We had already poured more than our savings and gone into debt incredibly just for what we had done before, so it wasn't an option," said Kelsi. "It was a very depressing time."

Kelsi's mom, Lisa Rutherford, really wanted to help her daughter and son-in-law, so she offered to be their surrogate. "When you have kids you want their life to be better, easier, more fulfilling than your life," said Lisa. "I just thought I don’t have $100,000 to hand you, but this is what I can do to make your dream come true. It wasn’t even a question." Lisa underwent an embryo transfer on February 7, 2020, and a week later she was pregnant.

Five weeks after Kelsi's mother got pregnant, Kelsi found out she was pregnant, too! Kelsi wrote on Facebook:

Well fast forward 5 weeks after that blessing, and I got the biggest shock of my life..I was pregnant! This literally wasn’t supposed to be able to happen. I frantically called my fertility doctor and he was extremely shocked. He said this was a true miracle because scientifically, this shouldn’t have been able to happen. God truly works in mysterious ways!

Kelsi's mom, Lisa, delivered baby Everly on October 1, 2020, and Kelsi gave birth to baby girl Ava on November 23, 2020. "Every time something is hard or I’m tired, I remind myself that this is my dream finally coming true," said Kelsi. "I appreciate it so much more because of how long it took and how much struggle it took."

Breanna and Aaron Lockwood got married in 2016 and started trying to have a baby pretty soon afterwards because Breanna’s grandfather was terminally ill and she was hoping she could have a baby before he passed away so that he could meet the baby. The couple tried unsuccessfully for a year to get pregnant before going to see a fertility expert. For the next couple of years, they underwent multiple rounds of in vitro fertilization, multiple surgeries, and multiple miscarriages. Then came the news from doctors that Breanna’s uterus wouldn’t be able to sustain a pregnancy and that the couple should consider using a surrogate.

"I started to talk to her about it. She was not on board and thought I was crazy, but I just kept pursuing it," Julie Loving shared with GMA. "I've run 19 marathons and done many triathlons. I felt like health-wise I could do it and I had really easy pregnancies with my two kids."

Breanna wasn’t convinced that using her mom as a surrogate was a good idea, but she brought her mom along to a doctor’s visit and the doctor made it seem like maybe it wasn’t a bad idea.

"My mom came with me as my support person and she brought up that she wanted to carry," Breanna told GMA. "When he met her I could tell that he was really starting to think about it as a possibility, but he didn't tell us yes right away. There were a lot of hoops we had to jump through to make it possible."

Julie was 51 years old at the time, which might not make her seem like the ideal surrogacy candidate, but she was also extremely fit. She underwent tests by five specialists and “got past all of us with flying colors,” said fertility specialist Dr. Brian Kaplan of Fertility Centers of Illinois. In February, Julie received an embryo transfer and in March her pregnancy was confirmed. She is due in November. Oh, and in case you are wondering, it’s a girl!

Julie gave birth to her granddaughter in early November 2020 via C-section. The C-section was not planned, but due to some complications, everyone agreed that it was necessary. In the end, all is well and beautiful baby Briar was happily received by all.

"I think it's very important for me as a physician and for this field for people to know this is not routine and not everybody can use their mom," said Kaplan. "It has to be a unique situation." Even though it’s not routine to have your mom be your surrogate, this isn’t the only time it’s ever happened. There are other cases of moms stepping up to be there kid’s surrogate just like there are cases where sisters and even sisters-in-law have stepped up as you will see.

When Cecile Eledge of Nebraska found out that her son Matthew Eledge and his husband Elliot Dougherty wanted to start a family, she offered to be their surrogate. At first her offer was met with a lot of laughter probably because she was 59 at the time. She says, "Of course, they all laughed." But they didn’t laugh for long.

The doctor told Matthew and Elliot that Cecile’s offer could be an option for them. Cecile underwent a series of tests and all signs pointed to her being a viable surrogacy candidate. What happened next is that Elliot’s sister became their egg donor, that egg was fertilized with Matthew’s sperm, and the Cecile was implanted with the embryo. In early 2019, Cecile gave birth to her granddaughter Uma and made Matthew and Elliot to very happy papas.

When Tracey Smith was 16 years old, she found out that carrying and delivering a baby would never be possible for her because she was born without a uterus. Years passed, Tracy got married and her husband Adam Smith suggested they begin start IVF treatment. She agreed and basically an egg was taken from Tracey and fertilized with her husband’s sperm in a lab. The idea being that if all went well, they could implant the embryo in a gestational carrier’s womb. Well, all went well in the lab and the couple found themselves in need of a surrogate. That’s when Emma Miles, Tracey’s mother stepped in.

Emma offered to carry the baby for her daughter, but was told that she would have to lose 84 pounds first. That’s not an easy thing to do, but Emma did it. She lost the weight and became her daughter’s surrogate. On January 16, 2019, Emma gave birth to her granddaughter Evie Siân Emma Smith. When asked if she would do it again, Emma is quick to say that she would.

When Tracey Thompson’s daughter Kelley was a little girl, she asked Tracey for something most little girls don’t ask their mother’s for at any age. “When she was 13 years old, she said ‘Mom if I can’t have a baby, would you have one for me?’ At 13! And I said, ‘Sure, absolutely!’” recounted Tracey in an interview. Little did Tracey or Kelley know that this was all some kind of divine foreshadowing.

Kelley and her husband Aaron McKissack, tried to have children three times and three times Kelley miscarried. That’s when they decided to use a surrogate to have a baby. That’s when Tracey made good on the promise she had made to her daughter all those years ago and offered to be her surrogate. On January 6, 2016, Tracey delivered her granddaughter Kelcey. BTW, Kelcey is a combination of Kelley and Tracey.

Lisa Fitzgerald’s older sister tried to have a baby via IVF seven times and she would either not get pregnant or miscarry. “My heart bled for my sister,” Lisa Fitzgerald said. “I had good, uneventful pregnancies. I wanted to make the offer, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want it to sound like, ‘I’ll help you out because you’ll never be able to do it yourself.’ Finally, I said, ‘If you ever get to the point you decide you’re not going to be able to carry your own, I’d be happy to do it for you.’ She said she’d always had that feeling, but would never ask.”

In April 2005, Lisa gave birth to her older sister’s baby. The experience was so wonderful, that Lisa offered to do it again and again. The second time around, Lisa found out that she was carrying twins. There were far more complications with the twins and it took a serious toll on the sisters’ relationship, but fortunately the babies were born healthy and the sisters were able to put their troubles behind them.

Jessica Cooper of Georgia has had three babies of her own. Her pregnancies weren’t complicated. But her brother and sister-in-law, Matthew and Betsy, had a different experience when it came to becoming parents. “They had struggled with infertility for about 8 years and a few years back had decided to freeze some embryos to have for later, just in case, or to try IVF again,” said Jessica. But Betsey has Type 1 diabetes and her doctor told her that pregnancy was not an option for her.

On November 4, 2019, Jessica gave birth to her nephew, Cooper. “Everyone in the delivery room was crying; nurses, doctors, we were all in tears when he was born," said Jessica. "The doctors gave him straight over to my sister-in-law, she was able to do skin-to- skin. This was their baby, I was just blessed to be able to carry him for them, but it was never my baby so seeing the joy that he brought to them was enough—and he’s my nephew, too, so I love him on that level as well.”