It can be awfully frustrating when a couple goes through trial after trial after miserable failure when trying to get pregnant. Some give up and adopt, which is a great thing to do. But others keep trying and start considering alternative options.
In Chicago, Breanna Lockwood was a young wife struggling through infertility. It was draining on her and her husband, Aaron. Over some 4 years, she had dealt with four failed embryo transfers, two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, where an egg grows outside the woman’s uterus. And Breanna was left with scar tissue in her uterus after a D and C.
Finally, the couple decided on having a gestational carrier, which is a woman who carries and delivers the biological child of someone else without using her own eggs or DNA. Now this is something most would not consider because of it being somewhat cost prohibitive at about $100,000.
Breanna’s mom, Julie Loving, had often offered herself to carry her daughter’s baby, but Breanna kept saying no. Said Breanna: “I was really in a sad place. I knew she wanted to be helpful, but I just kept kind of saying no.”
But even at the age of 51, Julie was in terrific shape. She was a Boston marathoner twice and had participated in triathlons. Julia accompanied her daughter to her doctor about the gestational carrier and Breanna pleaded with her mom beforehand NOT to say anything about carrying the baby for them. Julie agreed, but before the appointment was over, she couldn’t help herself, and blurted out that she wanted to carry her daughter’s baby.
The doctor was not really keen on the idea, because a carrier normally should be under 40 years old but he spoke with his colleagues about it and had Julie undergo some rigerous testing while making no promises.
Says the doctor: “We made her go through all these hoops to make sure she was as healthy as possible (and) as educated as possible about the risks involved. We took it very seriously. Each of the physicians that saw her agreed this was unique. This is not something we would do regularly or advise people to do. This was absolutely exceptional.”
In the end, Julie proved to the doctor and everyone else that she was a great candidate for the job. And she got pregnant the very first time with the very first embryo.
During this whole time, Breanna was sharing her pregnancy issues over Instagram. She was a nervous wreck when she started posting about those issues, but sharing it with strangers gave her a sense of security.
She and her mom were thrilled to make an announcement of a different kind when the time was right. A portion of that post read: “Made with lots of love, and a little bit of science… Baby Lockwood will be brought into this world via GESTATIONAL CARRIER, and this little miracle’s carrier is quite a special one. MY MOM.”
Breanna said 90 percent of the responses to that post were very upbeat and positive, while the other 10 percent had some pretty rough things to say about it.
Now the family just has to be patient and wait it out, just like any other expecting mom and dad…. and grandma.
We are sure you enjoyed the above story… watch for more: https://youtu.be/uNTRhsQbroE?t=120
