My baby has been our dream come true. Now I want it to come true for other couples too
Host helps others go through surrogacy
Entertainment reporter Laura Boyd said her experience of surrogacy has inspired her to help others going down the same path.
The STV presenter, who lives with chronic myeloid leukaemia, only became a mother last year after her husband Steven’s sister Jayne carried the couple’s precious IVF baby Penelope.
And as she returns to work after nine months, Laura is hoping that a YouTube channel she is launching and an Instagram page will help others to go through surrogacy.
Laura said: “Our journey to become parents was not straightforward and, in many ways, it feels like a movie that on our last chance of trying – and with the help of Penelope’s amazing auntie Jayne – our dream came true.
“We knew very little about surrogacy before going down this path ourselves. It was all really daunting.
“We were googling a lot of things – there was so much information but also misinformation. And there were so many steps to go through.
“We could have done with speaking to someone who had been through the process, who could have talked to us about what they went through and given us a steer.
“Since Penelope has been born, I’ve set up an Instagram page – The Penny That Dropped – which gives a snapshot of our life and shares our surrogacy story.
“But it’s my plan to make a series of YouTube videos, interviewing lots of people eople about their di f ferent rent experiences of fertility. ty.
“I plan to speak to cancer patients about bout the different ways they have had their children. ren.
“I want to speak to fertility doctors.
“And I want to talk k about the surrogacy cy process and hopefully lly give a simplified version on of how you go through gh it.”
Laura says that, since ince sharing their story, shehe and Steven have been f looded with messages from people wanting to know more about surrogacy.
She said: “For most people, surrogacy is still not an everyday, regular gular thing that happens. Lots of people have told us they had never heard of it before or, if they had, it was only because of the character Phoebe in Friends, who carried triplets for her brother. “But since speaking out, we have had so many messages from people considering the same thing.
“I’ve had a number of messages from other women living with cancer who say we have given them a bit of hope for the future. “I’ve had one lady in touch who is about to go through surrogacy. And I’ve had messages from a gay couple – two guys – who are going through surrogacy.
“Some of the stories we’ve been told are heartbreaking. There are stories from people who haven’t been able to start a family. But there is also so much hope.”
Laura returned to work at STV, after maternity leave, on Tuesday – 11 years to the day since she was diagnosed with cancer.
The presenter and her husband have been granted full parental custody of Penelope. She was born in November last year after being conceived with the help of IVF through the Assisted Conception Service at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
She is the biological daughter of Laura, 39, and Steven, 38. But the embryo they created was carried by Jayne after cancer prevented Laura carrying a baby herself.
Under Scots law, it was Jayne Ford-Anderson and her husband Danny who had to have their names recorded as Penelope’s mother and father on her birth certificate.
A parental order hearing held at Glasgow Sheriff Court has now recognised Laura and Steven as her parents and a new birth certificate will be issued.
She said: “We feel like we have been on a long and sometimes complicated journey to get to this point. Now I want to use what we learned to help simplify that journey for others.”
Plans for a party to celebrate being legal ly recognised as Penelope’s parents have been put on hold due to coronavirus restrictions. But they plan to mark the occasion every year.
Laura said: “Without the order, we couldn’t have applied for a passport for Penelope. And if she had fallen seriously ill, we would have had to go through Jayne for approval for any operation.
“We are obsessed with her and feel so lucky to have her in our lives.”