The dream of becoming parents for Andrea and Mark Rivas is uncertain. Five years later, they are still gaping at their extraordinary and emotional experience. The couple wanted children when they initially got married, but they struggled to conceive. They had a miscarriage before deciding to try IVF. They had the lovely twins Conor and Avery in 2012. They became inseparable friends with Sandi and Philip Palmisano, a different couple going through IVF who were also wanting to start a family. Palmisanos underwent four IVF rounds.
All of them failed. Before Andrea offered to help, Sandi and Philip’s chances of becoming parents appeared slim. Sandi Palmisano and Andrea Rivas were two ladies who were having trouble getting pregnant when they first met in an online IVF support group in 2011. They desire to have children and think that everyone will be content if they are able to have at least one healthy child. “I just yelled, ‘I’ll carry you!’ out loud. Andrea proclaimed, “I can do it. Nearly two years have passed since the kind friend gave birth to her twins, Avery and Connor, which she conceived through IVF. But months after giving birth to her friend’s twins, the 30-year-old is now the mother of new twins after spontaneously conceiving two more son and daughter.
“My husband Mark and I have chosen not to pursue reproductive treatments any longer,” she stated. After having twin pregnancies, it’s absolutely not something we want to subject our bodies to. Our family seems full, but if we are fortunate enough to have another child, that would be wonderful. IVF failed to help Sandi, who has endometriosis, become pregnant. She actually experienced uterine cysts in addition to the uncomfortable ailment that impacted her uterus’ lining. Her doctor advised her to consider using a surrogate to carry her biological embryos if the subsequent IVF failed after the third one failed.
The couple talked about Andrea becoming Palmisanos’ surrogate after Andrea gave birth to her second set of twins, Avery and Connor Rivas, in February 2012. One of Sandi and Philip’s embryos was finally implanted into Andrea’s womb that October. Ten days later, they each took a pregnancy test at Rivas’ house, and both couples were overjoyed to learn that they were indeed expecting. Tragically, Andrea miscarried at eight and a half weeks. They want to give it another go. Two embryos from Palmisanos were transferred to their buddy Andrea in the third and final round of IVF. Success was achieved.
A month after learning Andrea was carrying Sandi and Philip’s child, in July 2013, an ultrasound revealed they were having twins. And almost two years after giving birth, in February 2014, Andrea gave birth to a child for her closest friends, EmmaLee and Grayson. They reside on earth as angels. For us to have a family, they sacrificed almost two years of their lives. I find it hard to believe that God would not reward them in the same beautiful ways that they have blessed us. Added Sandi
