On November 2, Julie Loving, 51, gave birth to a healthy newborn girl in a hospital in Illinois with Breanna Lockwood by her side. Briar Juliette Lockwood, the infant’s name, is the first child born to Lockwood and her spouse, Aaron, who are also the child’s biological parents.
Briar’s birth was described by Lockwood as “definitely a surreal process” on “Good Morning America.” “Watching my mom go through everything and all that she has done and is still doing for me has brought on all these emotions at once.”
After being aroused about 10 days before her due date, Loving gave birth to Briar. Because of problems with the umbilical chord, the girl required an emergency cesarean section, according to Lockwood.
Lockwood characterizes Loving’s pregnancy as normal; the birth marked her first caesarean section as a mother of two. It was a very emotional day with lots of tears, lots of joyful moments, and some scary moments, but the doctors and our team are wonderful, said Lockwood. “She definitely rocked the pregnancy and the birth gave her a bit of a shake, but she did a great job.”
Soon after getting married in 2016, Lockwood, a 29-year-old dental hygienist, and Aaron started attempting for a child. Lockwood started seeing a specialist in the reproductive department after a year of unsuccessfully attempting to reproduce naturally.
Lockwood’s obstetrician advised her to start thinking about surrogacy because her uterus could only support one baby nearly two years later, following numerous IVF tries, surgeries, and miscarriages, including a twin pregnancy.
In an interview with “GMA” earlier this year, Loving, who also has a son who is 27 years old, said, “I’ve raced 19 marathons and done many triathlons. “I thought if I was healthy enough and had two kids very easily during my pregnancy, I could do it.” After visiting Kaplan for the first time with her daughter, Loving’s concept started to take shape.
After that visit, Loving began a series of tests and was seen by five specialists, including Kaplan, as well as a high-risk obstetrician, her own obstetrician, and her primary care physician. principal and a psychologist. She overcame all of us with flying colors,” Kaplan told “GMA.” “I think it’s very important for me as a doctor and for the field to be for people. know that this is not customary and not everyone can use their mother. It has to be a unique situation.”
Because of Lockwood’s past pregnancy disappointments, the family no longer hopes that Loving will become a successful surrogate.
The family held their breath even after Loving successfully transferred embryos on her first try in February and learned she was expecting her granddaughter in March. She continued, saying that it’s only about halfway through the pregnancy that they allow themselves to really start planning, adding that we can’t jump for joy because we’ve experienced so much grief and trauma. baby.
“It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re experiencing infertility,” says Lockwood of her own journey to becoming a mother. “But as long as you can keep telling yourself, that there are many ways to be a mother, not just pregnancy. There are so many ways to be a parent, no matter which one you choose.”
