A couple who spent 13 years trying for a baby have finally become parents in lockdown thanks to a surrogate 250 miles away.
Georgina Leslie, 44, and fiancé Stephen Shaw, 34, had been hoping for a child of their own for more than a decade but knew it would not happen without intervention.
After the heartache of unsuccessful IVF treatment, which Georgina needed as she had had both fallopian tubes removed, one of them following an ectopic pregnancy, they turned to surrogacy in a final bid to make their dream come true.
They had to travel to Prague for embryos to be taken, as it could not be done in the UK due to Georgina’s age.
In the midst of lockdown baby Aleena was born, after being carried by a surrogate living 250 miles away from the couple.
A planned C-section was due to happen on May 12, in Barnsley Hospital, south Yorkshire, but the couple could find nowhere to stay and faced the prospect of sleeping in the car.
Luckily a midwife went out of her way to help them, allowing the couple to meet their baby girl on the day she was born.
After a six and a half hour trip back to Scotland, mum-of-three Georgina is now at home with little Aleena, while Stephen has gone back to work on oil rigs.
Georgina said: ‘At first it was such a surreal feeling. I kept thinking someone would come and say “give her back, she’s going home”.
‘It took a while to sink in, but she’s now home.
‘To have her and knowing she is ours is just a really surreal feeling, but the best feeling in the world.
‘It’s a hard feeling to describe but it’s pure love. I’m besotted with her.
‘It’s crazy how much love you can have for one person after waiting so long and trying for so long.
‘It’s been hard for my partner as he’s working away on the rigs.
‘Aleena’s thriving. She’s the happiest, most content baby I’ve ever known.
‘For only being six weeks old she’s absolutely amazing for sleeping.’
Throughout the pregnancy, the couple, who live in Falkirk, were regularly making the 250 mile trip down south to go to scans with the surrogate mum.
But they were unable to do that when lockdown measures came into place.
Georgina said: ‘It was very hard for us as we weren’t allowed to travel down for the scans, or be present at them.
‘The head midwife in Barnsley was amazing.
‘We had a section planned, so we know our baby would be born on the 12th.
“But with lockdown we couldn’t get anywhere to stay as there were no hotels or other accommodation available.’
The head midwife at Barnsley Hospital, June Pollard, spoke to a colleague who knew someone with a flat available for NHS staff to stay in, and the couple were allowed to stay there for free.
Safety measures meant only one parent could be present at the birth.
‘We agreed Stephen would be at the birth to see our baby being born,’ said Georgina.
‘We never found out before she was born if we were having a boy or a girl.
‘We had been trying for 13 years, seven months and a day when she was born.
‘The following day she had all her tests done and they allowed us to come home.
‘We had to make a lot of stops obviously with a newborn, and it took us six and a half hours to get back up the road.”
The mum’s two older children, David, 27, and Amanda, 24, are delighted for her – and the couple now plan to get married in July next year, after vowing to wait until their family was complete.
‘We have been dying to get married, but we stuck to our pact,’ said Georgina.
‘And we’ll have our little flower girl.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/26/couple-who-spent-13-years-trying-baby-become-parents-lockdown-thanks-surrogate-12905878/
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