It is not unusual for married women to be infertile. In fact, the CDC reports that around 6% of women in the United States have a difficulty bearing children. It can be a frustrating experience, but one woman found a way to make it happen by enlisting the help of her 51-year-old mother.
Julia Loving agreed to carry her own grandchild at the age of 51. Her daughter, Breanna Lockwood, struggled to get pregnant and now is calling her mother the ‘surrograndma’.
Loving gave an interview with TODAY Parents, saying “It’s been a textbook pregnancy. Everything’s been perfect.”
It is typically expensive to hire a gestational carrier. According to Dr. Brian Kaplan, the fertility specialist, “Most Americans cannot afford a gestational carrier. It’s over $100,000.”
Lockwood approached her mother about the subject when she found out about her fertility problems. She had originally offered to carry the child but was refused at first.
“I knew she wanted to be helpful, but I just kept kind of saying no,” Lockwood said.
When Lockwood’s mother went to a fertility appointment with Dr. Kaplan after her husband couldn’t attend, she was instructed not to talk about carrying the child.
Loving broke the ice toward the end of the appointment, however, and told the doctor she wanted to carry the baby.
Dr. Kaplan had some concerns about her age, saying that the health of the surrogate is one of the most important things to consider.
“Normally a gestational carrier should be under 40 years, but in medicine, you have to look at an individual and personalize it,” he said.
The doctor discussed the possibility with his colleagues.
“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,” he 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 was able to get cleared, she was approved to carry her daughter’s child.
Lockwood decided to share everything on social media but not everyone has been supportive.
Lockwood said: “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. I think a lot of it comes from lack of education where they don’t understand IVF or what a surrogate is, or they think this baby is my sister.”
Internet trolls aside, she is excited to welcome the baby girl, as the delivery date is getting closer.
“I’m so ready. We’re so lucky and fortunate that this was able to happen for us.”