Jessica, a mom from California, chose to be a surrogate mother, meaning she would carry and give birth to a baby for someone else. However, her journey didn’t go as expected. She and her partner, Wardell, who already had two kids, faced some unexpected twists after making this big decision.
Jessica, who’s 31, agreed to be a surrogate for the Liu family from China and was to be paid $30,000. But, in a surprising twist, she got pregnant with her own baby while also carrying the Liu family’s child.
Jessica was already pregnant using IVF, and a few weeks in, doctors found another embryo. They first thought the embryo they put in had split into twins. But, as Jessica explained, her body did something super rare: it released another egg and she became pregnant naturally at the same time.
Most people don’t know this can happen, but now, because of Jessica’s story, more people are finding out.
Jessica found out that her rare situation has a name: “superfetation.” It’s when a woman gets pregnant while she’s already pregnant. She wonders why surrogates aren’t told about this possibility. At first, doctors thought the second baby was a twin, so both babies were given to the Liu family. But then Jessica and her husband, Wardell, had to fight hard to get their own biological son back.
When the babies were born in December, Jessica didn’t get to see them. A few weeks later, the intended mom sent her pictures. Even the mom started feeling that one of the babies might not be hers, so she did a DNA test. Jessica was really worried when she saw the pictures. She reached out to her case worker asking how this could’ve happened. The case worker didn’t have clear answers but said Jessica needed to take a DNA test too.
The DNA test results showed that one of the babies was indeed Jessica’s. This news led to a stressful video call between Jessica and the intended mother. During the chat, the mom brought up the idea of giving the baby up for adoption, mentioning there was already a couple considering it.
Jessica, shocked, made it clear she wanted to keep her son. She told her, “At this point we had no idea what to do, so by the end of the call we told her we were going to talk about it.” They were faced with the unexpected challenge of preparing for a baby they hadn’t planned for.
The very next day, Jessica firmly told the woman, “We definitely want our son.” But it wasn’t that simple. Even though DNA showed the baby was theirs, the intended mom had signed the birth certificate, which legally made her the baby’s mother. This put Jessica and her husband in a tough spot trying to get their son back. To make things even more complicated, they were asked to give back $22,000 of the payment because they had agreed to carry multiple babies for the couple.
After going through legal struggles and lawyer fees, Jessica and her husband finally got their baby boy back, who’s now 10 months old. The first time Jessica saw him, she took him and lovingly said, “Give me my baby,” showering him with kisses. She sat with him in the back seat, talking and bonding with him.
It’s such an unusual story but, thankfully, it has a happy ending. Share your thoughts in the comments!
