Surrogate Granny? Grandmother Gestates Son and His Husband’s Child

Apr 11, 2019 4:00 PM

A heartwarming story of being extra for your kids. Cecile Eledge, from Nebraska, surrogated the baby of her son and his husband, who wanted to start their own family. Carrying the child of her son (Matthew Eledge) and his husband’s (Elliot Dougherty), delivering a baby girl. The egg was donated by Mr. Daugherty’s sister Lea while the sperm by Mr. Eledge. Despite difficulties, the grand daughter-granny duo did well off. Read on to know more about the surrogate granny.

Providence, RI — Credit: by Purino/ Shutterstock

Surrogate Granny? Grandmother gestates Granddaughter for her Son and His Husband

After Mrs. Eledge was implanted with the embryo of her son’s child, in less than a week post the implantation, she took a home pregnancy test. Mr. Eledge (son of Cecile Eledge) and his husband Mr. Dougherty eagerly bought Mrs. Eledge the pregnancy test kit to confirm.

“We were told not to, but the boys couldn’t wait,” said Mrs. Eledge, laughing.

However, the test kit showed a negative result. The family thought it was ‘obvious sign of her age’ and started to reconcile the bad news. Mr. Eledge later that day came to his mother to comfort her and then something happened, that maybe felt nothing short of magic to them. Mr. Eledge spotted a second pink line on the test bar, which Mrs. Eledge missed. The pregnancy was confirmed.

“She can’t see anything, but she’ll be able to deliver,” recalled Mrs. Eledge her son and his husband saying.

Spokane, WA — Credit: by aarrows/ Shutterstock
Surrogate Granny? Grandmother gestates Gay Son and His Husband’s Child

61 Years old Cecile Eledge shared her joy of being able to surrogate her son’s baby to BBC. Matthew Eledge and his husband Elliot Dougherty got baby Uma Louise, with baby Uma’s grandmother carrying her to birth. Speaking about the incident to BBC, Mrs. Eledge told how she forwarded the offer to her son and his husband when first they planned to start a family and recalled the time since when it all started. She said her offer was never a ‘realistic path forward’ and was reportedly taken as a joke among her family. She was 59 then. Elliot Dougherty, commenting to BBC about the starting of the incident said:

“She’s such a selfless woman.” It just seemed like a really beautiful sentiment on her part.”

The couple who lives in Omaha, nearby to Mrs. Eledge were nonetheless exploring viable options to have a biological baby and a fertility clinic recommended them to that Mrs. Cecile’s idea could be an option. And after Mrs. Eledge underwent a series of test and interview, there was green light ahead. About the pregnancy, Mrs. Eledge told hers was smooth for the most part and responce was positive. Only that the regular symptoms were “simply elevated” and was initially a shock to her other children. She said:

“When everyone got the full picture it was nothing but support.”

Rough Around the Corners

The act of surrogacy by a grandmother gestating the baby of son and husband had exposed some prevalent discriminations against LGBT families in Nebraska. To state a few, Mrs. Eledge reportedly told she couldn’t win the fight with the insurance company over health expenses that would have been covered had she gave birth to her own child. The family also had to settle with Mrs. Eledge as the ‘mother’ of Matthew and Elliot’s child. Despite gay marriage being legal in the state since 2015, there isn’t any official ban barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. What are your thoughts on surrogate granny and her selfless loving gesture? Let me know in the comments below.