Julie Loving is giving a whole new meaning to a mother doing anything for her child. The 51-year-old offered to become a surrograndma and serve as the gestational carrier for her 29-year-old daughters baby.
Its been a textbook pregnancy, Loving, who is 35 weeks along, toldTODAY Parents. Everythings been perfect.
Lovings daughter, Breanna Lockwood, had struggled withinfertilityfor years, experiencing four failed embryo transfers, twomiscarriagesand anectopic pregnancy. After adilation and curettage (D&C)procedure left Lockwood with problematic scar tissue in her uterus, she and her husband Aaron turned to the idea of using agestational carrier.
Agestational carrieris a woman who carries and delivers the biological child of someone else without using any of her own eggs or DNA.
Most Americans cannot afford a gestational carrier, said Lockwoods fertility specialist, Dr. Brian Kaplan ofFertility Centers of Illinois. Its over $100,000.
Lockwood shared that her mom had come to her multiple times wanting to carry, but she refused.
I was really in a sad place, explained Lockwood, who lives in the Chicago area. I knew she wanted to be helpful, but I just kept kind of saying no.
Despite her daughters hesitations, Loving, a two-time Boston marathoner and triathlon participant, was persistent. She accompanied her daughter to a fertility appointment that her husband was unable to attend.
In the car before the appointment I had said, Dont say anything about it. Dont make it weird, Lockwood said.
As the appointment came to a close, Loving voiced her desire to be her daughters gestational carrier to Dr. Kaplan.
My immediate reaction was, This is not a good thing, said Kaplan, who has done more than 20,000in vitro fertilizationprocedures in the span of his 29-year career. Normally a gestational carrier should be under 40 years, but in medicine you have to look at an individual and personalize it.
Kaplan agreed to talk with his colleagues. He had Loving undergo rigorous testing while making no promises.
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, Kaplan said. 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.
After Loving passed each test, she was given the green light to be her daughter and son-in-laws gestational carrier.
Fortunately she got pregnant the very first time with the very first embryo, Kaplan said. Ive been with Breanna for years with so much trauma and intensity the resilience was mind-boggling. If she did not have her mom, she wouldn't have a baby.
Lockwood had chronicled her nearly four-year journey with infertility on herInstagram accountbefore making the big announcement this summer.
I shared my fertility journey publicly with strangers, but I hadnt shared it with personal acquaintances in my life, she said. I had that Instagram account where I connected with strangers I knew Id never meet. The morning I was putting it up with my personal story for everyone to know, I was a nervous wreck.
In true mom fashion, Loving urged her daughter to just hit the button and post the news.
View this post on Instagram
They say, It takes a village to raise a child, but for some it can take a village to HAVE a child... We are happy to announce, finally, ... BABY LOCKWOOD IS ON THE WAY! Made with a lot of love, and a little bit of science... Baby Lockwood will be brought into this world via GESTATIONAL CARRIER, and this little miracles carrier is quite a special one. MY MOM. My mom will be carrying and delivering our baby! The biggest supporter in my life is giving us our biggest blessing. My beautiful mama is carrying her first grandchild, Aaron and my biological child, as a gestational carrier! Aaron and I had our reproductive DNA taken, fertilized, tested, and frozen via IVF, as my mom breezed through every preliminary test she took, to be able to give us this gift. Defying the odds at 51 years old, shes pushing reproductive science out of the box, as ONE of only a handful of surrogates NATIONWIDE to deliver their grandchild via gestational surrogacy! The trials and tribulations of infertility was undoubtedly the hardest venture we have had to face in our lives. In short that included... 1311 days 476 injections 64 blood draws 7 surgical procedures 3 rounds of harvesting eggs 19 frozen embryos 8 IVF frozen embryo transfers total 4 failed embryo transfers 1 singleton miscarriage 1 twin miscarriage 1 ectopic pregnancy Countless tears Sharing this adventure with my mom has been the most unique and amazing experience. Surrogacy is truly the most selfless gift. She is the pure example of you would do anything for your kids, and if i can even be half of the mother she is, I know im doing something right... I want to give a special thanks to Dr. Kaplan with @fertilitycentersofillinois for his compassion and care in this field. Baby Lockwood we cant wait to meet you... See you in November!
A post shared by Breanna Lockwood (@ivf.surrogacy.diary) on Jun 5, 2020 at 5:34pm PDT
Made with a lot of love, and a little bit of science... Baby Lockwood will be brought into this world via GESTATIONAL CARRIER, and this little miracles carrier is quite a special one. MY MOM, Lockwood shared in the post, which was met with mostly positive reactions from around the world.
I would say 90% of the responses and feedback I get are fantastic and wonderful, but there are that 10% of internet trolls that have nasty things to say about whatever they can online, Lockwood said. I think a lot of it comes from lack of education where they dont understand IVF or what a surrogate is, or they think this baby is my sister.
As Lovings due date inches closer, the mother-daughter team shares feelings of excitement mixed with nerves.
Im so ready, Lockwood said. Were so lucky and fortunate that this was able to happen for us.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
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