Surrogacy shock: “My mum had a baby for me – then I gave birth eight weeks later”
Kelsi Pierce’s mum offered to be her surrogate – but in a remarkable twist, she fell pregnant too…
When Kelsi Pierce told her mum, Lisa Rutherford, that she was struggling to start a family, she was desperate to help. And despite being 52, Lisa offered to be a surrogate for Kelsi and her husband, Kyle. But in an incredible twist, just a month after Lisa confirmed her pregnancy, Kelsi also fell pregnant naturally. The mum and daughter duo gave birth to healthy baby girls just seven weeks apart, and now Kelsi is a proud mum of two.
AMAZING SURPRISE
Kelsi, 31, says, “I can never thank Mum enough for what she did for us, and to fall pregnant myself was such an amazing surprise. I can’t wait to tell my girls their special story.”
When Kelsi married Kyle in 2016, they planned to have a baby as soon as possible. So when Kyle ended a ninemonth stint with the army in Iraq in 2017, they began trying.
Kelsi, who lives in Minnesota, USA, says, “Every month, we got excited, but nothing happened.
“So, after ten months, we had some tests at a fertility clinic. Every result was bad. My oestrogen was low, the quality of my eggs was of a much older woman, and my fallopian tubes were blocked.
“So, Kyle and I had embryos created, and we pinned our hopes on IVF. But during the egg retrieval, medics noticed the lining of my womb was too thin to support a pregnancy.”
In the following months,
Kelsi underwent various gruelling procedures in an attempt to prepare her womb to carry a child, as well as an operation to unblock one of her fallopian tubes. Kelsi’s mum Lisa, who is married to Paul, both 54, and also has Jessica,
33, would often accompany her youngest daughter to hospital.
It was during one such appointment, when the pair sat in the waiting room, that Lisa read a magazine article about surrogacy. Kelsi explains, “The story was about a 50-year-old mum who’d had a baby for her daughter. She showed it to me and said she wanted to do the same.
“I just laughed at her – even though it was a kind and lovely offer, there was no way I’d let her go through pregnancy for us, especially at her age.
“Kyle and I were still hopeful that the doctors would find something that would work, but Mum would often mention surrogacy, reminding us that she was willing to do it.”
Finally, in December 2019, doctors told Kelsi that they had run out of options, and said it was impossible for her to carry a child of her own.
Kelsi explains, “It was soul-destroying. I’d been willing to try anything to become a parent.
“Over the following weeks, I started thinking about my mum’s offer to be a surrogate. I felt like it was the only way
I’d have a baby of my own, but I was worried about the impact it could have on her health. I’d never have forgiven myself if something happened to her.”
Eventually, Kelsi called her mum to discuss her generous offer. She says, “It turned out that Mum had been doing her own research and had even found a doctor willing to help us through the process.
“Kyle and I were worried, and so was my dad, but Mum is very strong-willed. She was determined to go ahead.”
HAPPY TEARS
Within weeks, Lisa began hormone treatment to restart her menstrual cycle and prepare her body to carry a child. In February 2020, the embryos Kelsi and Kyle had already had created were implanted into her womb. Just eight days later, Lisa was pregnant.
Kelsi says, “She sent me a picture of the positive test and I just freaked out. It was the strangest thing, realising my mum was pregnant with her own grandchild. Five weeks later, we all went to her first scan. When I saw the heartbeat, there were so many happy tears. I was so overwhelmed, but a part of me was jealous, too, because I’d never get to carry a baby myself.”
And while Kelsi had given up all hope of ever having a child, she confesses that every month she still took a pregnancy test.
She says, “I know it sounds mad, because I really didn’t think I’d ever conceive. But I’d bulk-bought all these tests, and it kind of became a habit to do one every month.
“Then in March – five weeks after my mum fell pregnant
– it showed a positive result. I just screamed; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I immediately texted a picture to my Mum, who was just as thrilled as me.”
But Kelsi admits that the first months of her pregnancy were nerve-racking.
She says, “The doctors were dumbfounded – they couldn’t explain how I fell pregnant naturally, and they warned that I was likely to miscarry.
“I was considered high-risk and had lots of detailed scans but, each week, the baby grew bigger and stronger. Slowly, I allowed myself to believe I might actually give birth.”
And Kelsi had the support of her mum throughout.
She says, “We were in touch constantly. We’d compare every twinge or kick, and Mum kept me calm, as she’d been through it all before. When we found out we were both having girls, it was so special. We even had a joint baby shower!
“Mum actually said this pregnancy was her easiest
SHE SENT ME A PICTURE OF THE POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST AND I FREAKED OUT
yet – she’d had really bad morning sickness when she had me and my sister.”
But in October 2020 at 36 weeks, Lisa developed pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure, and her baby had to be delivered by C-section urgently.
A FIGHTER
Kelsi says, “When Everly was born, she wasn’t making a sound, and we had to leave the delivery room while she was being treated. Thankfully, Mum was OK, but it was a day before we were finally able to see Everly properly. Her lungs weren’t quite developed, so she had a feeding tube and a breathing machine. But she was a fighter, and after six days, she was discharged. Back at home, I’d hold her and just stare at her for hours. I couldn’t believe she was finally here.
“Being heavily pregnant and juggling a newborn was tough, but Mum helped us so much.”
Then, seven weeks later, on 23 November, Kelsi gave birth to Ava. She says, “When I first held Everly and Ava together, it felt like a dream.
“Our journey to have a family had sometimes felt impossible. But seeing them together, and feeling so much love, was incredible.”
Now, Kelsi is relishing life as a mum of two. She says, “People often assume the girls are twins – but I love sharing our unusual story.
“I feel so incredibly lucky to have two beautiful, healthy daughters. And I can never thank Mum enough. She’s given me the most amazing gift.”
Lisa says, “When you have kids, you want their life to be better, easier and more fulfilling than your life. I just thought, being a surrogate is what I could do to make Kelsi’s dream come true. It wasn’t even a question. The odds of her having her own child were very slim, so I was just elated when I found out they were going to have two.
It’s amazing to see what great parents they are.”