Love makes people do incredible things. That was the case for Cecile Eledge, a 61-year-old woman from Omaha, Nebraska, who recently gave birth to her own granddaughter. Cecile volunteered to be a surrogate for her son, Matthew Eledge and his husband, Elliot Dougherty, so the couple could become parents. Their story became viral because of the woman's age and for her willingness to help her son. Thankfully, it has all been a great success.
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Because of her age, the process took over two years because there were procedures and tests that she had to go through to make sure that her body was able and healthy enough to be a gestational carrier. After the long waiting period, she was cleared to go through with the pregnancy and on March 25 she gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl named Uma Louise Dougherty-Eledge, who weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces.
–Additional reporting and photos in the story with help from Alfonso Duro.
The 61-year-old had a natural birth to welcome her granddaughter.
After her son and his husband expressed their interest in expanding their family, Cecile quickly volunteered. "There was no moment of hesitation. It was natural instinct," she told Fox42. The woman was in such great shape that she got pregnant after her first embryo transfer, which helped with costs because the couple spent about $40,000 on IVF and each egg retrieval costs around $12,000.
Elliot's sister, Lea, donated one of her eggs and Matthew donated the sperm.
The baby is a combined effort from both sides of the family. Cecile carried the child in her womb, while Elliot's sister was the one who donated the egg. The couple chose Matthew's sperm to be used to fertilize the egg, which led to the creation of their first child.
Uma Louise Dougherty-Eledge came into the world on March 25.
The baby arrived with little to no complications weighing 5 pounds 13 ounces, with no C-section needed. “We are thankful with how the whole process worked,” Matthew told Fox42 of the birth of his child. “We are really grateful that both Uma and her grandma are here, happy and healthy. For the time being, we’re just going to relax and enjoy this moment.”
Cecile surprised everyone with how healthy she was.
Cecile had to undergo several tests to make sure she was healthy enough to carry the child to full term. The reproductive health specialists at Methodist Women’s Hospital in Omaha had her have a Pap smear, a blood test, a cholesterol test, a stress test, a mammogram, and an ultrasound and the findings showed that she was in good shape to go through with the plans.
This is quite a rare occurrence but it's not the first time a woman gave birth to her own grandchild.
This is an extremely rare case but it's not the first time the world has seen a grandparent birth their grandchild. Pat Anthony gave birth to triplets who were her biological grandchildren at age 47 and a woman in Greece is the oldest known surrogate in the world after she welcomed her daughter's child in 2016 at age 67.
