Woman Gives Birth to Her Brother and Sister After Parents Ask Her to be Their Surrogate

International   |   Sarah Zagorski   |   Apr 9, 2015   |   5:33PM   |   London, England

In the United Kingdom, Ellen Brown was asked by her mom, Jenny Dias, and stepdad Tony to act as surrogates so they could have a baby. In 1990, Jenny split from Ellen’s dad and met Tony two years later. She informed him that she underwent a hysterectomy and couldn’t have any more children. Jenny said, “Tony accepted it very well and wanted our relationship more than children.”

However, as their wedding day grew closer they discussed surrogacy. Jenny said, “I wanted to be genetically connected to Tony’s offspring — so I didn’t want to do it with anyone but Ellen.” Jenny told the Daily Mail more about their journey toward surrogacy. She said, ‘If it couldn’t be mine, Ellen’s eggs were the next best thing. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable adopting someone else’s baby where I didn’t know the family history. At least I would be biologically related to them this way as, genetically, they would be my grandchildren.”

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At the time, Ellen was 32-years-old and already a mother to daughter, Maddie, but thought the decision to become a surrogate for her parents was easy. She said, “When mum asked me I sat in silence for two minutes, then said ‘Yes I don’t see why not’. It just felt right. I wanted to help.”

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In order to conceive, Ellen used her own eggs since Jenny’s were no longer viable, and Tony’s sperm was used to fertilize them. But after two rounds of intrauterine insemination (IUI) failed, they agreed to try in-vitro fertilization (IVF) instead. In December 2001, Ellen became pregnant with twins.

According to Jenny, the day Ellen gave birth was peaceful. She said, “The birth was so calm and relaxed. Ellen’s birthing plan was that she wouldn’t hold the babies, so the pediatrician handed them straight to me, then I took them over and showed them to Ellen. It was surreal. Suddenly, they were there. It was really happening.”

Despite the successful delivery, Jenny was worried about the toll the twins’ birth would have on Ellen. She said, “Poor Ellen was quite weak from losing a lot of blood. It just didn’t seem fair. She wasn’t keeping these babies, yet they were in the same room as her. She could smell them, see them and hear them. It did get to me, because she is my baby, too. The next night, Jenny and the twins were moved upstairs. That was lovely — just me and the babies together. But I was worried about how Ellen was feeling.”

As planned, that same week Jenny adopted the twins and named them Alex and Ruth. Ellen concluded, “I understand that a lot of people would find it very hard, but I have been through some very stressful situations in my life and I don’t tend to get very emotional about things any more. I lost my emotions a long time ago. I had to see it as an IVF pregnancy and I didn’t allow myself to get attached to the babies. Maddie adores the twins and they don’t consider themselves half-siblings, but full-siblings. The twins are also Maddie’s aunt and uncle as they are legally mum’s children. They are also my brother and sister — which is very strange!”

Unfortunately, during IVF eight of Jenny’s eggs were fertilized but only two of the “healthiest and most viable” embryos were implanted. As LifeNews previously reported, In Britain the number of destroyed in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos has risen to nearly 170,000 a year and since 1990, over two million embryos have been discarded. Embryos are usually discarded when they are no longer wanted, have passed their storage limit or carry a faulty gene that causes an inherited disease.

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