A mother’s love for her children is limitless.
It goes without saying that every mother would do almost everything for her children’s welfare.
That’s what exactly happened when a 49-year-old Utah mom named Chalise Smith agreed to surrogate for her daughter.
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She never thought that she’d once again carry life inside her womb, not until she learned that her 25-year-old daughter had been struggling to bear her second child because of infertility.
Kaitlyn and her husband, Miguel Munoz had been through a lot. In order to have their first child, the former went through egg retrieval and in vitro fertilization. She’s ready to try and do everything just to start a family with her husband.
A mom of 8 wonderful children, Chalise said the decision wasn’t made “lightheartedly.”
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Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Chalise told Good Morning America, “It was on my mind daily. I thought about it. I prayed about it, just wondering and asking if this was a direction or path for me, and before I even told Kaitlyn and Miguel or my husband, I just kept these thoughts to myself.”
After a thorough contemplation, she finally decided to call her daughter to let her know what she had been thinking about. The 49-year-old mother then offered to be the surrogate for Kaitlyn’s embryos.
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The idea totally surprised her in awe since the light about her infertility journey was starting to dim.
“I was definitely surprised,” Kaitlyn said. “I mean, I’m a third of eight kids. So she is Wonder Woman, and the idea that she was willing to get pregnant at 49, and she turned 50 while being pregnant — just the fact that she was willing to do that for me was amazing.”
The hardships and sacrifice of a mother.
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Kaitlyn had successfully carried their firstborn, Callahan, via IVF, however, in January of 2021, she learned that she had an autoimmune disease that damaged her kidneys. Unfortunately, she was met with the heartbreaking news that it’d be impossible for her to carry on another safe pregnancy.
“I was devastated,” Kaitlyn said. “All I ever wanted was a big family like the one I had.”
After the agreement of her husband and family, they began to roll out their plan. Fortunately, Chalise got medical clearance to carry another pregnancy for the ninth time. At 49, she was deemed to be physically fit and healthy with no underlying conditions.
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“It went really well,” Chalise said of her surrogate experience. “With the IVF cycle, I had the shots for the first 10 weeks of the pregnancy. My husband became a great nurse administering those shots. We told our extended family 15 weeks after I passed some of those markers in that first trimester and from there on, it was great.”
Here comes the baby!
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May 17th, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Alayna Kait-Chalise. Kaitlyn decided to name their baby after her mom who unhesitatingly made the ultimate sacrifice of carrying the child for her.
Thankfully, their new bundle of joy is looking great and healthy.
“She has such a calm nature and she is just the sweetest little thing,” Kaitlyn said. “She lets you know when she’s hungry but other than that, she sleeps and just chills with us throughout the day.”
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Even their 2-year-old son is already emotionally attached to his new baby sister.
“If she’s in her bassinet, and I’m walking around, picking up something, he always looks at me and says, ‘Oh, where’s baby Alayna?’ So he’s very concerned for her and he just adores her and wants to hold her all the time,” Kaitlyn said.
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Even with the addition of a new little angel to their family, Kaitlyn and Miguel are still open to the possibilities of making their family even bigger. But for now, the couple is more about focusing on raising their two beautiful children.
Watch the video below to know more about this touching story.
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