A Minnesota couple that suffered through three years of infertility welcomed two daughters over the past two months.
Kelsi Pierce, 31, gave birth to her daughter, Ava, on Nov. 23, in Minnesota. On October 1st, in Michigan, she and her husband Kyle welcomed their second daughter, Everly. Since the Pierces, Everly’s biological parents, used Lisa Rutherford as their gestational carrier, she gave birth to Everly.
“It’s just so surreal,” Pierce said of being the mom of two newborns. “I keep pinching myself, like I can’t believe this is my life.”
Becoming a mom is something Pierce dreamed of for the past three years as she and Kyle struggled to get pregnant, depleting their savings account to try everything from surgeries to in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Kelsi and Kyle struggled with infertility for years, spending a ton of money and time on IVF only to have their hearts broken time and time again. Eventually, the physicians advised the couple that they would be better suited adopting a kid or looking for a gestational surrogate to deliver their child.
“We had already poured more than our savings and gone into debt incredibly just for what we had done before, so it wasn’t an option,” Kelsi said “It was a very depressing time.”
That’s why Kelsi’s mom, 53-year-old Lisa Rutherford, stepped in to be the couple’s gestational carrier. ”
“It was so important for me to help Kelsi and Kyle realize their dream of becoming parents because of how much my husband and I have loved being parents,” Rutherford said. “I knew we didn’t have the $100,000 that it would take to hire a gestational carrier to carry their embryo. It was the only feasible option at the time.”
Rutherford was given the all-clear by doctors, assuring Pierce and her husband that it would be safe despite their concerns about the hazards Rutherford would encounter due to her advanced age.
Rutherford underwent multiple tests and evaluations and was approved early this year as her daughter and son-in-law’s gestational carrier. She underwent the embryo transfer on Feb. 7, and less than a week later, on Feb. 15, was confirmed pregnant.
Just over one month later, in late March, the unthinkable happened for Pierce, who had stopped seeing fertility doctors and taking fertility medications.
“I did a second test that was also positive and then went to the doctor and it was confirmed again,” said Pierce, an elementary school teacher.
“After hearing bad news for three years straight and never walking out of a doctor’s appointment happy, I couldn’t believe it,” said Pierce. “I think I was crying for a month straight.”
Rutherford’s doctor determined that she had preeclampsia, a pregnancy condition characterized by elevated blood pressure, during her 36-week appointment on October 1 and chose to hasten the delivery.
Pierce and her husband immediately jumped into their car and drove from Minnesota to Michigan — where Rutherford lives — to get to the hospital.
“It was scary to get the call that she was going to deliver Everly early, especially because we live 12 hours away,” Pierce said. “We rushed there and made it just in time for her birth.”Everly was born via an emergency C-section and spent 6 days in the NICU after her birth.
Just a few days before Thanksgiving, Pierce gave birth to Ava, who was born seven weeks and three days after her big sister Everly.
Now, after three years of heartbreaking infertility struggles, Pierce is a mother to two baby girls — sisters who were born nearly two months apart.
“Every time something is hard or I’m tired, I remind myself that this is my dream finally coming true,” said Pierce. “I appreciate it so much more because of how long it took and how much struggle it took.”
“Even if you have to go a super unconventional route, if being a mom is important to you, there are a lot of ways to do this,” she added.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Dec. 7, 2020.
