Twins with
Thanks to the wonder of fertility treatment this little pair are the first British twins fathered by different men.
They were born to London couple Simon and Graeme Berney-edwards via a surrogate mum they met in Canada after a €29,000 quest for the perfect family.
Graeme is the father of Calder and Simon is the father to Alexandra.
An anonymous donor provided her eggs before the embryos were implanted into the womb of Meg Stone.
Simon, 43, said: “It is amazing that Graeme and I have been able to father one of our twins each.
“Meg did an amazing job – and it meant she was actually pregnant by two men at the same time. It’s thanks to the wonder of IVF that we have been able to achieve our dream.
“Graeme and I have always wanted to have a family and now we have our lovely twins.”
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The groundbreaking treatment – where two embryos fertilised by different fathers are implanted at the same time – is not practised in the UK.
So they extended their search for a surrogate to Canada and met Meg, 32, who has two sons – Jeffrey, 12, and Max, five.
Meg said: “I saw Simon and Graeme’s profile on a surrogacy website and I thought they had lovely smiles. I had recently split with my partner and I wasn’t ready for another baby, so I wanted to help someone.”
The couple chose an anonymous egg donor, then flew out to a fertility clinic in Los Angeles to fertilise the embryos.
Simon added: “We couldn’t decide on who would be the biological father. Graeme said it should be me, but I said that he had just as much right as I did.
“Then the clinic told us it could be both of us. They said that we could have half the embryos fertilised with my sperm and then half with Graeme’s sperm.”
The couple then tied the knot and honeymooned in Canada – meeting Meg in person.
Simon added: “We were nervous at first, but meeting Meg was like being reunited with a long-lost sister. She wrapped us both in a hug before introducing us to her adorable boys.
“We told her we were so grateful – she was changing our lives.”
The two embryos – frozen since being fertilised – were Calder & Graeme, Simon & Alexandra Thrilled pair hold babies
Holding them that first time was so amazing... we couldn’t believe we were both daddies SIMON BERNEY-EDWARDS ON HIS JOY AFTER TWINS WERE BORN
Surrogate Meg holds newborns put into Meg’s womb six months later. After a fortnight she confirmed she was pregnant. But what if only one of the embryos had worked? Graeme and Simon would get a baby but only one of them would be the biological father. Simon said: “We decided if it happened, we would just go back and have another go again, so that we would end up fathering one baby each.” But there were no such problems and