A phone call I made to my brother and my sister-in-law in 1992 resulted in an interesting curve to our family tree. They had been battling infertility issues for a number of years and had decided that a pregnancy just wasn't going to happen. It made me sad to know that two people who would make wonderful parents probably wouldn't ever get that chance but there wasn't anything I could do.
Or was there? Would they consider a surrogate pregnancy? Even though I was 40 already I was healthy and willing to offer my womb and an egg but that couldn't be a decision I made alone; I had a family of my own to consider. My husband and I talked about the idea of a surrogacy and together we decided that I'd make that call.
They were intrigued. But there were lots of details to work out. One important detail was the choice of a sperm donor. Since my brother's DNA would be represented by the DNA that he and I shared, they decided that a donor from my sister-in-law's family would be ideal to represent her family line. Luckily she had an older half-brother who was willing to be that donor.
The logistics were interesting since we lived in two different states but after only a few flights and the use of a syringe I recognized the early signs of a pregnancy. I confirmed it with a home test. Our homespun approach to surrogacy had worked.
This time my call said, "We're pregnant!!"
Nine months later with both my brother and sister-in-law in the delivery room, we had a beautiful baby girl born. I relinquished parental rights and became her aunt. Today that baby is nearly 30 years old. She grew up to be a Genetic Counselor who educates individuals and families about family health history, inheritance, genetic diseases, and testing options and gives advice on the social and ethical issues associated with genetic disorders or test results.
No comments:
Post a Comment