Surrogate Mother Got The Surprise Of A Lifetime After She Agreed To Carry Her Friend’s Baby

Their Friends Lianna And Shaun

Nicole and Kevin's friends Lianna and Shaun would play a huge role in their journey towards parenthood— they just didn't know it yet. Lianna and Shaun lived in East Moriches, New York. They have five kids of their own. These two love having a big family. Their house is never quiet, and that's just fine with them.

Lianna actually considered having more children. Little did she know, she would be pregnant again very soon.

Helping Out A Friend In Need

Nicole and Kevin weren't having any luck getting pregnant. Nicole was distraught, so she talked about her struggles with her good friend Lianna. She knew that Lianna would understand how badly she wanted to be a mother. Lianna did understand, and she wanted to do something to help her friend.

She told Nicole and Kevin that she had discussed the matter with her husband and that she would like to be their surrogate. She wanted to help her friend start a family.

Implantation Day

Nicole was beyond thankful for Lianna's offer. After much discussion and contemplation, she decided that surrogacy was a good option for her family. Dr. Richard Klein was the obstetrician who harvested Nicole's eggs and implanted the embryos in Lianna's womb. He said that it was "so much fun" having both couples appear at the doctor's appointments.

In July 2016, both couples went back to the doctor to find out if the embryo had implanted and if Lianna was pregnant.

Hoping For Good News

Both couples were very nervous in the weeks leading up to that appointment with the obstetrician. Nicole and Kevin had prayed for a baby for so long, and now, years after their journey began, they might have a baby on the way.

Lianna had done everything correctly, going through the procedure of having the embryo implanted. Now all they had to do was wait. When the time came to find out the results of the pregnancy test, everybody was anxious.

A Long Time Coming

The Barattinis got married in 2010 and now it was 2016. They had been through six, long painful years of infertility. These two were looking forward to becoming parents, but after all those years of waiting, it was starting to feel like they would never achieve their dreams.

There was a lot riding on this pregnancy test— years of disappointment and false starts and tears and frustration. Everyone was hoping that Lianna really was the answer to their prayers.

Nicole Had A Long History Of Health Issues

Nicole wasn't surprised that she was having so much trouble conceiving. She thought that her inability to conceive naturally might have something to do with her previous health issues. When Nicole was 16 years old, she began noticing small bumps appearing on her skin. When she went to the doctor, suffering from a fever and fatigue, they discovered that she also had jaundice.

The doctor took blood samples and found that her level of platelets was dangerously low. While the average adult has between 140,000 and 150,000 platelets in their blood, Nicole only had 8,000.

Nicole Had An Autoimmune Disease

Doctors diagnosed Nicole with an autoimmune disease called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP. TTP causes blood clots to form around the body, which if left untreated can be fatal. Nicole was in immediate danger.

After her diagnosis, she stayed in the hospital recovering. She was lucky to have made it to the doctor in time to be treated. Nicole realized that she was having symptoms of the disease just in time. She thought that her previous diagnosis of TTP might be causing her infertility.

TTP Is Very Rare

If Nicole had actually developed a blood clot, she would have had a 95% mortality rate if the clot wasn't treated immediately. She would have had to have surgery to have the clot removed. The rare blood disorder increases blood glycoprotein in hemostasis, which causes different parts of the body to experience blood clots.

Nicole's symptoms of fatigue, fever, and bruises all match up with TTP, which affects 1 out of every 100,000 people. Very few people develop this disease before they reach adulthood.

Managing Her Disease

Nicole was able to live a normal life with TTP thanks to a cocktail of medications. She just took her meds everyday and she didn't have to worry about those nasty TTP symptoms.

When Nicole went to the doctor to find out why she wasn't getting pregnant, she learned that her TTP medications actually affect her fertility. She also learned that if she were to get pregnant, she wouldn't be able to take the medication anymore because it would harm her baby. Nicole couldn't go off the medication without putting her health at serious risk.

Discussing The News With Kevin

After learning that pregnancy would be too risky for her, Nicole went home, devastated by the news. A while later, her husband Kevin came home, and instantly knew something was off.

He recalls, "I got home from work and Nicole had that look on her face like something was wrong and I'm never going to forget it. I said, 'What's wrong?' and she said, 'The doctor doesn't think we can have children.' And you know, nobody wants to hear that." She explained the risks and he knew it was true.

She Couldn't Get Pregnant

The difficult part for Nicole was knowing that she could in fact conceive, but the pregnancy would be very high risk, both for her and the baby. She explained, "I was able to conceive, but I wouldn't be able to have a healthy pregnancy. And it would result in death of myself or the baby."

It was clear that it would be too dangerous for Nicole to fall pregnant, and she would need to find another way to achieve her dream of having a family with her husband.

She Almost Took The Risk

Nicole was absolutely heartbroken that she wouldn't be able to carry her own baby, and it took her a while for the news to sink in. She was incredibly frustrated that she was able to get pregnant, but that the doctors told her not to.

She even told Kevin that she was willing to risk everything, but he said no. Nicole was grieving a loss and the couple took time to cope with it all.

Another Option For The Couple

Through it all, they were still trying, emotions running high. Eventually they decided to stop trying to conceive, and face the facts they were presented. They needed to calm their hearts and listen to their heads, because this was a very serious decision.

Then, Nicole decided to freeze her eggs and think about searching for a surrogate, since it would be a safe method of starting their family. They also considered adoption.

Soon they found out their options were limited.

It Costs A Lot Of Money To Adopt

One of the first options the couple was considering was adoption. For Nicole and Kevin, the most important thing to them was that they had a family, and whether or not the children were biologically theirs, wasn't the most important aspect.

They quickly found out that adoption is incredibly expensive, and that they didn't have the funds to make adoption a viable option for them, especially since they would need to save money to raise the children, too.

High Legal Fees

There's no question that there are lots of children out there who need a loving home. But the way the system works, makes adoption an extremely expensive option for couples. Part of what makes adoption so pricey is the legal fees involved, going through the process.

According to Adoptive Families, international adoptions finalized in 2015 and 2016 cost an average of $42,000. Domestic adoptions for newborns averages at $37,000. While their hearts said 'yes,' the couple's bank account wasn't ready for this cost.

They found that other options were even more expensive.

The Possibility Of Surrogacy

Adoption appeared to be too expensive for the couple, so they turned to their next option: surrogacy. They switched gears and started researching the process. Right away, they were devastated by the price tag - more than $75,000. As it turns out, surrogacy is even more expensive than adoption.

Still hoping to make it work, Nicole contemplated who would be willing to carry the couple's child for free. She said, "We had heard stories that sisters carried and mothers carried, but I don't have a sister, and my mother is over the age."

Then, they hit another road block.

Paying For Surrogacy In NYC

New York state's laws on surrogacy came as a surprise for Nicole and Kevin. They had no idea that it was illegal to pay someone to act as a surrogate in the state. To work around the law, they would need to pay someone who lived out of state to carry the baby.

But this was also a problematic option, as it would be expensive to travel to and from doctor's appointments, and they really wanted a surrogate who they could be close with.

The Best Option

Still, the couple decided that they wanted to go with a surrogate. The medical process includes creating an embryo by IVF, and implanting it into the surrogate. The embryo includes the mother's egg and the father's sperm, so although another woman is carrying the child, biologically, it would be related to the couple.

Like many other couples, this is what Nicole and Kevin saw as their best option. They still needed to find a way to do it, however.

Her Friends Tried To Help

No longer a secret that it wasn't safe for Nicole to get pregnant, the couple shared their dream of finding a surrogate to carry their firstborn. They were amazed at the supportive response from their friends and family. Many of them even offered to become their surrogate!

It seemed that things were looking up for the couple, once they put it out in the universe that this was what they wanted. However, they were just as quickly disappointed when they found out through initial testing that the women who offered weren't fit to carry.

Again, it seems like there was no chance of having a child.

Already A Mother

Lianna was a friend of Nicole and Kevin's. She and her husband Shaun have five children together and the couples had known each other for 20 years. Lianna loved being a mother and couldn't imagine life without her children.

When she heard of their situation, she was empathetic. She contemplated offering to carry their children, but she had just given birth, and wasn't sure if her body was ready to carry another child yet.

A Lot Of Medical Bills

In order to qualify to become a surrogate, a woman must be entirely healthy. Because the process is costly, and the chances of becoming pregnant decrease as women age, a lot of factors are considered before the procedure takes place. And as Nicole and Kevin found out, not all women are a good fit to become a surrogate.

Once the woman gets the green light to become a surrogate, however, there's a good chance within three tries of implanting the embryo that they will become pregnant.

Discussing It Over Dinner

In December of 2015, the two couples met up for dinner one night. It was clear that Kevin and Nicole were going through a stressful time in their lives. Lianna and Shawn wanted to lift up their spirits, without prying too much into their situation.

Of course, the topic couldn't be avoided, and they soon started discussing having children. Nicole was visibly upset about not being able to have a child, and Lianna, a mother of five, wanted to help.

She Already Had Five Kids

After listening to Nicole speak about their child bearing woes, Lianna said something completely unexpected. Kevin recalls what she said at the dinner table that night as, "Lianna goes, 'You know I have five children, Shawn and I want to have maybe one or two more.'"

"And [Nicole and I] looked at each other with a puzzled look, like, 'You have five kids, why would you want any more?'" What she said next caused everyone to tear up.

An Offer They Couldn't Refuse

It would almost seem like throwing it in her face that Lianna was talking about having a sixth child when Kevin and Nicole couldn't even have one. They didn't know what to think. But Lianna kept talking. Kevin said, "And she goes, 'No, not for me, for you guys- I'd like to carry a child.'"

Nicole and Kevin were completely in shock. Kevin said, "The two of us, just forget about it. We just, we all started crying." Finally, the couple felt that they had found the answer to their problems. This was meant to be.

Doing It Together

Lianna knew in her heart that it was the right thing to do. She said, "I was blessed to have five kids, and they are all amazing, and I couldn't picture my life without them. And to see this family so deserving, it broke my heart."

It was the joy that Lianna got from being a mother that led her to wanting to give that experience to someone else, who otherwise wouldn't be able to have children.

Taking The Leap

After giving birth to her fifth child in 2015, Lianna and Shawn felt that their family was complete. Lianna's heart was so full with all the love she had for her children that she felt she had more to give. She was considering becoming a surrogate to help another couple have a family.

Lianna brought the idea up to her husband, Shawn. She let him know that if she chose this path, it would require extra help from him in taking care of their children. He agreed with her idea.

The Plan Was Going Smoothly

Through tears, Nicole and Kevin accepted Lianna's offer of carrying their child on the spot.They were over the moon about their friends' selfless offer, which would help them get what they've always dreamed of.

Lianna passed the medical tests with flying colors, making it official. The timing was right and everyone was on board. Nicole and Kevin couldn't have been happier with finding the perfect person to bring a baby into their lives.

A Negative Test

After passing the medical exams, Lianna went to the doctor's to have the embryo implanted. It would only take one week to find out if the embryo took, but it felt like an eternity for everyone involved. Although they felt like everything was falling into place, the couple had been disappointed before.

They knew that nothing was guaranteed, and all they could do is wait and pray. The two couples went back for the follow up appointment, only to learn that Lianna wasn't pregnant.

Giving It Another Go

Although it didn't happen the first time, neither couple was ready to call it quits. The doctor was optimistic and told them that this time around they would implant more embryos, increasing their chances of Lianna getting pregnant.

They had to wait yet another week to find out if Lianna was pregnant with the second round of embryo. Again, everyone was on the edge of their chairs, praying and hoping that this round would take.

Two Babies!

Once again, both couples arrived at the doctor's office to find out if Lianna was pregnant with Kevin and Nicole's child. This time, the doctor had good news to deliver. He told them that the embryo had taken, and that Lianna was pregnant!

He had even better news on top of that... they were pregnant with twins! Everyone was overjoyed and emotional as they heard the good news. Kevin and Nicole would be welcoming not one, but two babies into their family that year.

Telling Thier Family

Labor Day weekend rolled around and Kevin and Nicole thought it would be the perfect time to share the news. 60 of their closest friends and family were in attendance at a Labor Day celebration, and they were all about the hear the couple's big announcement.

They stood in front of everyone and asked the guests to be quiet for a moment, that they had something they wanted to share. No one could have expected to hear what they would say next!

A Boy And A Girl

On February 10, 2017 the twins arrived. Kevin and Nicole welcomed a boy and a girl. They named them Dominic and Luciana. Both babies were born healthy, and everything with Lianna's pregnancy went just fine.

The couple was overjoyed holding their newborns in their arms, and couldn't be more thankful to Lianna. "It's probably the most amazing thing," Kevin said, "because you think it's the end of the road, now here we are with two beautiful children."

Lianna And Shaun Are The Godparents

Of course, Lianna and Shawn became the twins' godparents. They had already been there through every step on their children's lives, and they would always be connected.

Nicole said of Lianna, "I don't have a sister, but I'd consider her like that. We don't hold back, we are open, honest, and I am constantly turning to her for guidance. Everything worked out. Nicole was able to stay on her medication to manage her TTP, and they were still able to welcome two kids.

Surrogacy Works!

They didn't stop there. Now having successfully started their family, Nicole and Kevin wanted to share their experience with the world, and advocate for surrogacy to become legal in New York State and beyond.

The couple began working with New York legislators and reproductive specialists to change the laws. Kevin said, "We are happy that our story went public to help others in the time of need." It's honorable how open the couple made their experience so transparent and honest, to show others that it's possible.

Worth It In The End

Nicole and Kevin never take Lianna's kindness for granted. Without her, they couldn't have made their happy family. Nicole wants other women in her position to know that they too, can find someone willing to take the journey of surrogacy. And it's all worth it.

"There are people out there, like Lianna, that will do it out of kindness. It's easier to find them than it seems. It's never the end of the road." The couple continues to fight to legalize surrogacy.