“I never thought I’d ever get to say these words but..I’M PREGNANT!!,” wrote elementary school teacher Kelsi Pierce, from Minnesota, in an emotional Facebook post on May 16 of this year. “People always say ‘It’s when you stop trying ...’ but literally this was supposed to be impossible! My doctors still can’t figure out how this happened.”
Not only was 31-year-old Pierce pregnant after three years of failed fertility treatments, her 54-year-old mother, Lisa Rutherford, was pregnant too. After a successful embryo transplant, Rutherford was expecting her granddaughter, as a gestational carrier for Pierce and her military husband, Kyle.
The “miracle” sisters would be born five weeks apart.
In her May Facebook post, Pierce shared that after an arduous infertility journey, her doctor had sat her and Kyle down and told them they were “out of options.” She said, “He advised us to look into surrogacy because we had four healthy embryos left, which led us to my amazing mom now carrying our first baby.”
Rutherford underwent an embryo transfer on Feb. 7. A week later, on Feb. 15, she got the news she was pregnant.
Pierce went on to share that even though she was thrilled and grateful her mother was willing to carry a child for her, “a part of me secretly was still sad that I couldn’t experience pregnancy for myself.”
“Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a mom,” she wrote. “There was really nothing more that I wanted in life. We are so beyond excited to be able to now have two babies and get this unique experience.”
Ultimately, Rutherford gave birth to Everly on Oct. 1, in Michigan, and Pierce gave birth to Everly’s sister, Ava, in Minnesota, on Nov. 23.
ABC News reported that Rutherford did experience some complications. At her 36-week appointment she learned she had preeclampsia and needed to deliver the baby via C-section within 12 hours. Pierce and her husband jumped in the car and drove the 750 miles from Minnesota to Michigan, getting there just in time for Everly’s arrival.
“She came out with no colour, she didn’t cry and we couldn’t hold her right away or see her because they had to transfer her to another hospital that had a neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU),” Pierce told ABC News. “We had waited so long and I just wanted to hold my baby.“
Fortunately, Everly make good progress and came home from the NICU on Oct. 6, Pierce’s birthday. The Pierces stayed in Michigan for a week after Everly’s birth, before returning with Everly and Rutherford to Minnesota to get ready for Everly’s sibling.
After both Everly and Ava had arrived, Rutherford shared her joy with People magazine. “It makes me proud to say, ‘Hey, we went through this.’ It wasn’t conventional, but they ended up with kids at the end.”
And Pierce, now a proud mom of two, told ABC News, “It’s just so surreal. I keep pinching myself, like I can’t believe this is my life.”
Related: Getting through the holidays after pregnancy or infant loss