A 58-year-old woman from Utah is due to give birth to her granddaughter in February after agreeing to be her daughter’s surrogate.
According to the Irish Examiner, Julia Navarro is serving as a gestational surrogate for her daughter and son-in-law after the couple struggled with fertility problems.
Navarro’s daughter Lorena McKinnon, after three years of trying to have a baby, has had about a dozen miscarriages.
“As a family, we have to help each other,” Navarro told The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper.
Julia had to undergo tests to ensure she was healthy enough to carry a baby to term. According to the Nation, she had been menopausal for about 12 years and had to give herself hormone shots every day for three months before being implanted.
Julia and Lorena had to sign various contracts about parental rights and were required to take three months of counselling.
“The psychologists wanted to make sure we knew what we were getting into – that we were mentally prepared,” said McKinnon. “Mostly, surrogacy contracts are with people you don’t know. It was weird to have a contract with my mom.”
“It’s worked out better than I ever expected… I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but we haven’t had any complications,” said the baby’s father Micah McKinnon.
Image via The Nation.
