CAMBRIDGE, Minn. – A Minnesota couple who struggled for years to have a baby welcomed two daughters in less than two months, thanks to a selfless family member.
Kelsi and Kyle Pierce say they depleted their savings account during their fertility journey. They went into debt after paying for everything from surgeries to in vitro fertilization (IVF).
When nothing worked, the Pierces say they were told their options were adoption or finding a gestational carrier to carry one of their embryos, which can cost thousands of dollars.
In 2018, Kelsi’s mother, Lisa Rutherford, went to a doctor’s appointment with her daughter and that’s when she first considered carrying her daughter’s baby for her.
Rutherford gave it a lot of thought and decided that since she didn’t have the money to help pay for a surrogate, then she would offer to be the gestational carrier herself, because she knew how much it meant to her daughter.
At 53 years old, Rutherford underwent multiple tests and was approved to carry a baby before undergoing an embryo transfer in February. Less than a week later, she learned it worked and she was pregnant.
In March, the unthinkable happened. Kelsi says found out she was pregnant herself, without the help of any fertility treatments or medications.
Within only a few weeks, Kelsi and Kyle went from being constantly disappointed by their fertility results to expecting two babies around the same time.
On Oct. 1, Rutherford gave birth to the couple’s first baby girl, Everly. Unfortunately, there were some issues due to a pregnancy condition called preeclampsia, so the newborn had to stay in the NICU for a while. Luckily, Everly was OK and got to go home with her parents about a week later.
And on Nov. 23, Kelsi gave birth to their other daughter, Ava.
After struggling to have children for so long, Kelsi believes she appreciates being a mother even more. For others struggling with fertility, her advice is to keep an open mind, because there are a lot of unconventional routes to parenthood.
