Strollerderby : surrogate

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 1st

Whit Honea — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Details Revealed About SJP Twins: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Is Her Surrogate!

Rosie O'Donnell's Marital Spat Gets Twittered By Neighbor

BREAKING: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick Expecting Twins!

Gavin Rossdale Had A Secret Romance?

Portraits of the Artists as Young Men - Before They Were Famous

Wolverine Goes to Disneyland

Sarah Jessica Parker - Baby Bump On Display

Patton Oswalt Welcomes a Baby Girl

Brangelina Started Because Jennifer Aniston Is A Secret Lesbian?

Jennifer Aniston Adopting A Boy!

Genetic Mom Gets OK to Adopt Baby Carried by Partner

JeanneSager — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:31:00 GMT

It happens every day - kids get adopted. In forward thinking parts of the country, they even get adopted by members of same sex couples.

But this was a first. A woman who supplied an egg so her female partner could carry their baby has secured the right to adopt her own genetic child - and there was no dispute between the two parties. No divorce, no acrimony. This was all about protecting the child.

Surprised this hasn't happened before? Me too. Same sex couples carrying each other's eggs is not exactly new - celebrity chef Cat Cora and her wife just made news a few months ago because they're both pregnant, and both carrying a fetus made from the opposite's eggs.

But where a woman carrying a baby with sperm donated by her husband via IVF wouldn't have a problem naming him as legal father of the child, too many states still deny same sex couples the ability to name their spouse as the baby's legal parent. Which is why Mona A., the egg donor in this case, petitioned to be named son Sebastian's legal mother shortly after his birth in 2008.

Mona and wife Ingrid A. were legally married in the Netherlands shortly after the country legalized same sex marriage. Their marriage is recognized in some states, where Mona is automatically afforded the rights as parent of the baby her wife delivered. But in other states, where the Defense of Marriage Act reigns supreme, their marriage means little in the eyes of the law - and Mona would be denied her rights as Sebastian's mom.

It was in the best interest of their son that Mona and Ingrid made this petition. It's in imperfect solution to the fight to have their marriage recognized, but it's what they have done to ensure they can both provide for their child.

According to the judge who presided over the case, "Sebastian's genetic mother has other potential legal avenues: first, to be listed on Sebastian's birth certificate; second ... to execute a statutorily prescribed acknowledgment of paternity [filiation]; and third, to obtain a judicial order of filiation."

But Judge Kristin Booth Glen didn't have jurisdiction to secure any of those options for Mona. What she could do was grant an adoption, making both Ingrid and Mona Sebastian's legal parents. Glen says it's the first time a court has had to look at whether two women can be listed on a birth certificate when one is the gestational mother and the second the genetic mother. Although certain states already grant that both members of a same sex couple earn equal legal status as parents, this is the first that takes into account genetics and egg donation.

I am happy for Mona and Ingrid that their case was successful, and I understand that they were doing this in order to retain Mona's rights across state lines. However, it's pathetic that this the means two women have to go through to ensure they both have rights to their own child. Moving to Arkansas or Oklahoma or any other Defense of Marriage BS state is not going to make Mona any less genetically tied to this child. No more so than a move across state lines would make a man's genetic "donation" into a baby any less potent.

But I guess I'm not taking into account that this sweet little baby boy is demon spawn in Arkansas or Oklahoma. . .

Image: Best Quality Wallpapers

Also on Babble:

The Other Side of Surrogacy

Mom Gets OK to Collect Dead Son's Sperm

JeanneSager — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:28:00 GMT

Somewhere in Texas a grandmother-to-be needs to get a grip.

Marissa Evans told a judge she wanted the rights to collect her dead twenty-one-year-old's sperm to make a grandchild because "I want him to live on. I want to keep a piece of him." The worst part? The judge said, yeah, OK, sounds good to me.

What is wrong with this picture? Oh boy, where do we begin? Maybe with the fact that Nikolas Evans is dead. Or with the fact that he was twenty-one when he died. Or how about the fact that this was his mother we're talking about?

Because a guy's random statements that he wanted to have children one day . . . and taking his sperm from his cold, dead body (I'm not being callous here, the judge got involved because they had to guarantee the sperm was gathered before his body cooled to less than 39.2 degree) are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Marissa Evans said her son really wanted to kids one day. He even had names picked out - Hunter, Van and Tod.

It's sad that this man did not get to live out his dreams, sadder still that a life was lost at twenty-one. But let's face it, children are not put on this earth for a parent's sake. We as parents create kids because we want to give them life, provide for them, help make them into productive members of society. It's supposed to be an unselfish act; living for someone else. Unfortunately, we all know too many parents who look to their kids to do for them instead of the other way around.

And that's just what Marissa Evans is expecting of an as-yet-unborn child. She wants them to replace her son, to give her a link to something she very sadly lost. Can you imagine the burden put on that tiny person's shoulders? An adult is pinning hopes and dreams on a child, who has no control over how similar or dissimilar they'll be to their dead parent.

She's not the first - a couple in New York just recently lost the fight to use their dead son's sperm to impregnate a surrogate, because they wanted to do the exact same thing. That fight was lost at the surrogacy stage, and hopefully this one will be too - or, better yet, when Marissa Evans moves past the denial stage of the grieving process, she'll realize she cannot bring her son back.

What do you think Babble readers? Would you be shooting lightning bolts downward if someone got hold of your sperm or eggs and wanted to make babies after your death?

Image: CyprusIVF

Surrogate Agency Disappears With Potential Parents Cash

Brett Singer — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:30:00 GMT

If you were trying to have a baby using a surrogate mother, I hope you didn't turn to SurroGenesis for help. If you did, odds are your money is gone.

According to the New York Times, SurroGenesis' main office in California is closed, and many of the 60 locations they listed on their web site were P.O. boxes. According to the Times, the company emailed clients on March 13 "that their money was gone." How much? About $2 million, according to lawyers, "with some couples losing as much as $90,000."

The thing is, the Surrogenesis website is still active as of this writing. Although the Times calls the site "impressive," there are a few red flags:

Adoption: Can their be a genetic relationship between parent and child? Rarely.
(emphasis added)

Um, proofread much?

Some potential parents lost a lot of money, but even worse are the ones who lost all their money and were already involved with a surrogate. (Note: this is all "allegedly", using the Times article as a source.) Attorney Andrew W. Vorzimer (representing former Surrogenesis customers) says that one surrogate mother is 33 weeks pregnant, confined to bed rest, and facing eviction since she is unable to work or pay her rent. The couple she was carrying the twins lost $50,000, and they can't help her.

The article also points out that "There is no licensing requirement for egg donor and surrogate brokers." Maybe after this story, there will be.

Source: NY Times

Image: Surrogenesis (please don't give them money, since they allegedly took lots from people already)

Open Letter To The Woman Who Pushed Me While I Was Picking Up My Kid

Tourney Time = Vasectomy Time

Back to the Third Grade for This 71-Year-Old

Kate Gosselin Dreamt Of A Husband and Children - Did You?

TV Is Neither Good Nor Bad For Babies

Jimmy Kimmel And The Octomom

Should Mixed Up Embryo's Mom Get to Weigh In on Abortion?

JeanneSager — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:25:00 GMT

Remember the outrage over the Japanese doctors who oh-so-accidentally transferred one couple's embryo into the wrong mom-to-be?

The story's back in the news - with a twist. It turns out the woman whose embryo was accidentally transferred into the womb of an ususpecting IVF patient (who later aborted) did not find out about the incident for a full two and a half months. Doctors said the woman, who was in her forties, was not overly concerned. Her exact words (according to the health officials) were "I'm sorry to hear that."

So what's the problem? Some members of the press are now debating whether that woman should have had a chance to weigh in on the subject when doctors realized the mistake. In other words - some are debating whether the embryo's "Mom" should have had the right to talk the pregnant woman out of aborting her "child."

Wait, what? Technically, they're suggesting that one woman should have the right over another woman's body. And they're not the only ones.

Some of the commentors on the original reporting of the story here on Strollerderby expressed their outrage at the woman who underwent the abortion - even pro-choice moms. As Emma says, "That's pretty disgusting. This woman was so desperate for a child she paid for expensive IVF treatments, but she couldn't bear to keep a child that wasn't her's biologically? I completely understand her anger, and a large settlement would be justified. For me, despite being pro choice, the abortion is unfathomable."

As a woman who was very happy to get pregnant and even happier when the pregnancy ended (with the birth of my daughter), I'm not sure I'm OK with the idea of going forward with a pregnancy for the sake of someone else . . . especially someone I've never met. Planned surrogacy is one thing. Accidental surrogacy, and suffering through all the ill effects of pregnancy for someone else's child is quite another.

On the other hand, this woman and her husband provided egg and sperm in good faith. They thought their embryo would become a child, and it was their flesh and blood. They didn't impregnate some poor woman on purpose, and they sure as heck could have suffered exponentially from the loss of either the chance to become pregnant or the loss of that fetus.

Should the biological parents' of the embryo have been allowed to know the situation right away? Should they have been allowed contact with the pregnant woman? Or was there enough of a burden on the women who suffered from the wrongly transferred embryo?

Image: PatDollard.com

Iron Chef’s Cat Cora & Wife Are Pregnant at Same Time

SunnyChanel — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Iron Chef’s Cat Cora and wife Jennifer are pregnant! Both of them. At the same time. Yup, Iron Chef Cat Cora and her wife Jennifer Cora are both expecting and their new additions will be born just three months apart. It’s almost like having twins, sorta. Cat and Jennifer will be adding two more sons to the family to join their sons 5-year-old Zoran and 22-month-old Caje.

The couple used the same sperm donor for all their sons and in an interesting twist, Cat and Jennifer are pregnant with each other embryos! Cat stated that, “We decided that having them a year apart is harder than having kids as infants together. [Jennifer] carried my embryo and I carried hers. It’s like surrogating, but obviously all of our kids are equal.”

Is there a name for half brothers born to surrogate mothers so close in time? Instead of using a term like twin, ‘Irish twins’ , can they be called half twins? And having both partners pregnant at the same time would make for some very interesting moments for sure. Have you heard of partners being pregnant at the same time before? And do you that it's silly or sweet?

Siblings Born Two Months Apart Aren't Twins

JeanneSager — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:31:00 GMT

Jeffrey and Delaney Ellis have the same mom and the same dad, but birthdays just two months apart. No years separate them - just two months.

The kicker? This isn't a case of one twin delivered early.

Jeffrey Ellis was delivered by his aunt, standing is a surrogate for the kids' parents, in November 2007. His sister came in January 2008, delivered by mom Kris.

Both kids are Tim and Kris Ellis's little miracles. After suffering through the stillbirth of a baby girl in 2006 and the death of her twin shortly after birth, the Ellises went through repeated bouts of in vitro that were unable to produce a pregnancy. There seemed one last option - Kris's sister-in-law, Susan Foth, had offered to act as a surrogate for the family. It was someone they could trust, and it was - they thought - their only hope of becoming pregnant.

In March 2007, two of the Ellis's embryos were transferred into Foth's uterus. One took. The Ellises were going to become parents. Two months later, Kris had a surprise for Tim. She was pregnant - via "normal" methods. They were going to become parents again.

Infertility issues are very real and very complex, but a lot of women have reported finally getting pregnant when the stress is off - when they least expected to become pregnant. It sounds like that's what happened to the Ellises. No longer worried about whether or not things would work this time, Kris's body was finally able to do what it needed to do. Not an easy road, but if only it could work like this for more couples who've been down the infertility route!

The result are two little miracles - two months apart. Jeffrey turned one in November, and Delaney will be one this week.

Image/Source: Bedford Times Register

Grandma Serves as Surrogate, Gives Birth to Triplet Granddaughters

JeanneSager — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:25:00 GMT

Kim Coseno's triplets had the same exact start in life as their mother . . . right down to the womb where they spent their first formative months. The surrogate "mother" who gave birth this week to Coseno's three little girls is also their grandmother.

Coseno's mom, fifty-six-year-old Jaci Dalenberg is possibly the oldest-ever surrogate to give birth to triplets. And lucky for her, she doesn't have to give them up! Well, not exactly. Already a mother of two, Coseno was no longer able to have children when her second husband, Joe, said he wanted them. The couple tried adopting, but were getting nowhere when Dalenberg made an offer they couldn't refuse.

Still in the prime of health, Dalenberg said she'd undergo in vitro fertilization. On the third try, two eggs transplanted into her uterus took.One embryo then split, creating a set of identical twins. Their sister is essentially a fraternal twin to each.

Although the "I am my own grandma" jokes go hand-in-hand with this story, I've got to give this granny a whole lot of credit. Triplets. At her age.

And while surrogacy kind of skeeves me out (for the surrogate, not for the parents-to-be), this seems like the best possible option. The Cosenos knew they could trust their surrogate completely, and that their babies were in a truly safe "home." Dalenberg, on the other hand, doesn't have to hand over the babies she carried and never see them again. She will be able to spoil them to bits, and then hand them back to Mom and Dad for the discipline and diaper-changing. She is, after all, Grandma.

Image: CBS News

Baby Boy Developed in Mom's Intestine Delivered Via Cesarean

Five Movies You Shouldn't Watch While Pregnant

Do Men Really Have a Pregnancy Fetish?

Woman in Labor Holds Off Delivery Until After Voting for Obama

They Say: Short Kids Can Grow With Hormone Therapy

Best of FameCrawler: Week of August 22nd

Whit Honea — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Suri & Her Doll - Photos and Girl Talk

Gwen Stefani Gave Birth! It's A Boy!!

Like I Needed Any More Reason To Love Johnny Depp

Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh Get The Gold, Now They Want to Get Pregnant

Ricky Martin is a Daddy!

Teenage Boob Jobs? A Tale of Two Lohans

Bernie Mac's Funeral Attended By Thousands (Pictures)

Peek-A-Boo, Guess Who?

Matt Damon Welcomes Second Baby!

Attack of the Monkey Children

Brett Singer — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

When your children get older and (finally!) move out of the house, what are your plans?

a)   Move to a smaller place
b)   Turn their room into a casino
c)   Adopt a monkey

No, I didn't make that last one up. Amazingly, there are people that, when confronted with so-called "empty nest" syndrome, decide that the thing to do is to adopt a monkey.

Now, before you think, "aw, how cute, a monkey as a pet" or even, "what a horrible idea, having a monkey as a pet", you need to know one thing: many of these monkeys are not treated as pets. They are treated as children. They call them – monkids.

Tonight at 10pm on ABC, "Primetime: The Outsiders" will profile Lori and Jim Johnson, a couple of lunatics humans from Orlando, Florida who have a capuchin monkey named Jessy as a…pet child. Lori had "adopted" the primate prior to marrying Jim; Lori told ABC News that "living with Jessy was 'all part of the deal' and that [Jim] 'signed up for both' when he married Lori." I know love is hard to find, but if a woman tells me on the first date that she has a monkey that she dresses in children's clothing, that said monkey eats at the table with her, and that she treats said monkey as if she were her daughter, including referring to the monkey as "my daughter", I'm thinking there's no second date, much less a wedding. But hey, who am I to judge? Check out these pictures. They certainly look happy. Well, "mom" does. Hard to tell how the monkey feels about all this.

This story was actually reported on by the Orlando Sentinel back in April; here's the story, and video (via BoingBoing). According to the Sentinel, there are 15,000 people in the U.S. who own/live with/adopt monkeys, despite the fact that the practice is illegal in 20 states. There's even a magazine that caters to monkey owners/adopters/parents (sheesh, what exactly do you call these people?)

For a slightly different take, let's be sure to mention Angelle Sampey, a successful professional motorcycle racer with a monkid. According to ABC News, she wanted to have kids, but didn't feel that she could while pursuing a pro racing career. "I can't race and, you know, bear a child… And I thought adopting a monkey as a surrogate child would be a good thing to do." So no empty-nest for her; the monkey is instead of a human child.

Myself, I think I'd just get a dog.

So tonight at 10pm, ABC. Have fun.

images: abcnews.com

Your baby is ugly

Strollerderby : surrogate

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 1st

Genetic Mom Gets OK to Adopt Baby Carried by Partner

Don't Call Her a Tomboy

Mom Gets OK to Collect Dead Son's Sperm

Marching on Washington for the Rights of His "Junk"

Making More Marriages Versus "Making Marriage Matter Less"

The Other Side of Surrogacy

Mom Gets OK to Collect Dead Son's Sperm

When Mom Doesn't Know Best

Judge to Mom: Spank Your Kid or Pay Up

And Deliver Us by Google

Surrogate Agency Disappears With Potential Parents Cash

Husband Loses Job, Wife Loses Respect For Him

Open Letter To The Woman Who Pushed Me While I Was Picking Up My Kid

Tourney Time = Vasectomy Time

Back to the Third Grade for This 71-Year-Old

Kate Gosselin Dreamt Of A Husband and Children - Did You?

TV Is Neither Good Nor Bad For Babies

Jimmy Kimmel And The Octomom

Should Mixed Up Embryo's Mom Get to Weigh In on Abortion?

Japan: Woman Impregnated With The Wrong Egg

What If The State Kept Your Kid's Blood for "Research?"

Court Nixes Couple's Request for Dead Son's Sperm

Texas Wants Women to Listen to Fetal Hearbeat Before Abortion

Iron Chef’s Cat Cora & Wife Are Pregnant at Same Time

Siblings Born Two Months Apart Aren't Twins

New for Mom: Spa Treatments on the Maternity Ward

Innie or Outie, a Sign of Fertility?

Earn Cash: Give the Kid a Normal Name

Ann Curry Scores Interview with Octuplet's Mom

Grandma Serves as Surrogate, Gives Birth to Triplet Granddaughters

Mom Ready to Deliver Baby After First Ever Ovary Transplant

Baby Boy Developed in Mom's Intestine Delivered Via Cesarean

Five Movies You Shouldn't Watch While Pregnant

Do Men Really Have a Pregnancy Fetish?

Woman in Labor Holds Off Delivery Until After Voting for Obama

They Say: Short Kids Can Grow With Hormone Therapy

Best of FameCrawler: Week of August 22nd

Attack of the Monkey Children