A US woman has spoken about her journey to becoming a mother of two babies within months of each other
Chelsea Neubauer and her husband Joel had a devastating 2020; they had to cancel their wedding after COVID struck, a devastating miscarriage, and being diagnosed with autoimmune disease, Graves, with their chance of having a child naturally was nonexistent.
After countless fertility appointments and investigations, Chelsea was told the risk of miscarrying again was very high after her diagnosis, which also included hyperthyroidism.
The medication to keep her thyroid stable was too strong for a developing baby, but if she stopped taking it, it might put her life and that of the baby at risk. So, she felt she was in a no-win situation.
She said in a first-person article for YourTango.com: “I spent a lot of time wondering why I was in this predicament and what we could do to make our dream of becoming parents come true. That’s when we decided to pursue surrogacy.”
The cost of surrogacy in the US is in the region of $100,000, so with that being out of the couple’s price range, they turned to social media to seek help from family and friends.
They were blown away by the hundreds of responses to their initial post but one message stood out from her childhood friend, Taylor.
She said: “I always knew Taylor would be at my wedding and meet my children someday but what I didn’t know was that she would one day carry our baby and give us the best gift we could ever receive.”
Chelsea documented her Instagram account and said it was clear that their journey struck a chord with many of her followers.
But something the couple did not expect was how well Chelsea’s body reacted to egg retrieval.
She said: “We had seven healthy embryos and it got me thinking that maybe I could try and carry a pregnancy one more time before giving up on my body. I reached out to an amazing doctor in Chicago for a second opinion and had a consultation.”
The doctor outlined the risks to the couple but said if they wanted to give a transfer a shot he would support the idea.
Chelsea said things moved quickly after that. They met with Taylor and discussed their plan with her. She was excited for them to try a transfer and for hers to happen just two months later.
She said: “We found out we were pregnant on Mother’s Day. It was fate.
“We were shocked that the transfer had initially worked, but we knew we had a lot of stressful days to come. We had to prepare to lose the baby at any point during the pregnancy due to all of my thyroid complications and my immediately stopping my medications.”
Just three months after their announcement, they were delighted to discover that Taylor’s transfer had also been a success and that, all being well, they would become parents to two babies within two months of each other.
Their daughter, Banks, was born in January and their son Hayes was born in March.
The couple is still adjusting to life as a family of four.
Chelsea said: “I’m not sure how we got this lucky to have this unique experience of raising twiblings, but I’m so incredibly grateful that we did not give up. They say it takes a village to raise children, but for us, it took a village to even have them. They are my dream come true.”
What are twiblings?
The term twiblings is a blend of the words twins and siblings. Even though the children are not twins they were born so close together and are siblings, they are known as twiblings.
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