Grandma gives birth to her own grandchild. A woman’s joy knew no bounds when her mother decides to carry her pregnancy through IVF and give birth to a baby for her. Tracey was born without a womb some 35 years ago but now has her own daughter courtesy of her loving mother.
Mum-of-two Emma, 55, gave birth to her own granddaughter in January by IVF as a surrogate for her daughter.
Tracey, 31, was born without a womb but longed to start a family with husband Adam. So the family were delighted when Tracey’s biological daughter Evie was delivered healthily by emergency Caesarean.
Nursery worker Tracey says: “I can’t thank my mum enough for what she has done.
“I believed I’d never have a child of my own, so to have Evie in my arms is a dream come true.”
Tracey discovered at 16 she would never be able to carry a child.
She says: “Scans showed I had been born without a womb, but with working ovaries and fallopian tubes.
“I was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome, a condition which causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent, although external genitalia appear normal.
“I was heartbroken I wouldn’t carry my own child. I was offered counselling and attended a support group with my mum but found it easier to bury my sad feelings.
“After diagnosis, Mum made an offer to one day carry my child for me. I didn’t really think about it then, and we never made a firm plan.”
But in April 2014, Tracey met groundskeeper Adam Smith — they were both working part-time in a hotel — and fell in love.
They got engaged two years later.
Tracey says: “The issue of having a family was always on my mind. I’d told him it was never going to happen with me. It was an upsetting subject and I’d even tried to push him away.
“But Adam told me it was me he wanted. So we started to be practical about ways we could try to start a family, and attended an appointment with a fertility specialist at University Hospital Coventry.
“The doctor said IVF could work and asked if we had a surrogate in mind. We were over the moon.
“At home Adam and I talked about using a surrogacy agency, but worried about finding someone we trusted. British law gives the surrogate all parental rights from birth and that felt like a huge risk.
“Then I remembered mum’s offer. We met up in September 2016 and I asked her if she’d been serious. Her eyes lit up and she said, ‘Of course I was’.
Eventually, the baby is born!