A woman from California went on an unexpected journey after deciding to become a surrogate mother, and it didn’t exactly go to plan.
Jessica Allen and her partner, Wardell, who were already parents to two children, made a life-changing decision when Jessica chose to become a surrogate mother.
The 31-year-old was originally paired with the Liu family from China – who were set to pay Jessica $30,000 to carry their child.
However, an unexpected turn of events led to her becoming pregnant with her own biological child while carrying the Chinese couple’s baby.
“This process is not explained”
“I was pregnant through IVF already and at about six, seven weeks they found another embryo and they labelled it that the one embryo that they transferred split and turned into twins,” Jessica revealed, per the New York Post.
“My body naturally still ovulated while I was already pregnant – that’s very rare – no one really knows about it but obviously, with my situation, more people are learning about it.
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“It’s called superfetation – it has a medical term to it, so why this process is not explained to surrogates, I don’t know. They don’t give this as a possibility.”
Initially, medical professionals believed that the second fetus was an identical twin, leading to both babies being handed over to the Chinese couple following delivery. The Allens, Jessica and her husband, faced a challenging battle to regain custody of their biological son.
“I immediately freaked out”
Jessica did not have the opportunity to see the babies when they were born in December. Instead, the intended mother sent her photos of the babies a few weeks later… Though, even she began to have doubts about the origin of one of the babies and decided to conduct DNA tests.
“I immediately freaked out and I asked my case worker, ‘what’s going on, how can this be, what’s happened, how did this happen?’ and she didn’t have any answers for me,” Jessica recalled.
“So she [the case worker] said the next thing we need to do is to get me to have a DNA test.”
The results of the DNA tests revealed that Jessica was the genetic mother of one of the babies, leading to a tense Skype call between the two parties. During the call, the intended mother suggested giving up the child for adoption, but Jessica expressed their strong desire to keep their son.
Credit / Getty.
“That’s when she announced that the results indicated that I was his genetic mother. During the Skype call she did suggest that we could give him up for adoption and they already had a couple thinking about adopting him,” Jessica explained.
“At this point we had no idea what to do, so by the end of the call we told her we were going to talk about it, because we needed to figure out how we’re going to get ready for a baby literally overnight.”
However, the next day Jessica told the woman: “We definitely want our son.”
Legal challenges
Legal challenges arose because the intended mother had signed the baby’s birth certificate, making her the legal mother. So, despite having DNA evidence of their genetic connection to the child, Jessica and her husband faced obstacles in regaining custody. They were even asked to reimburse a portion of the fee, around $22,000, to the couple as they had agreed to carry more than one child.
Ultimately, after all the legal hurdles and fees associated with hiring a lawyer, the Allens were joyfully reunited with their biological son, who is now 10 months old.
“When she [the case worker] pulled him out of her car and walked towards me, I just snatched him from her and said ‘give me my baby’ and I was just kissing him and trying to look at his face for the first time.
“I sat in the back seat with him so I could see him and talk to him and stuff.”
What a unique story, and definitely one that has a happy ending. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!