One mother’s difficult journey to complete her family ended with the gift of sᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴄʏ and touching photos captured the exact moment she met her new son.
Kim Overton shared her three-year journey on her blog, Solo Starter. Overton, who was ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsᴇᴅ as having ғɪʙʀᴏɪᴅ ᴛᴜᴍᴏʀs in 2005, was able to give birth to her 4-year-old son, Dylan, after a sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ. When she decided she’d like another baby, she thought another sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ would do the ᴛʀɪᴄᴋ. A second ᴍʏᴏᴍᴇᴄᴛᴏᴍʏ — the ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴀʟ of the ғɪʙʀᴏɪᴅs in her ᴜᴛᴇʀᴜs — took place, but Overton ᴡᴀsɴ’ᴛ able to have a child.
The ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀs told her that it was nearly impossible for her to get ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ. Overton considered sᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴄʏ and upon discussing it with her family, learned her cousin’s daughter, Cydnee, was willing to do the job. Both Overton and her husband were incredibly touched. Kim said:” We see Cydnee as an angel. Without her we wouldn’t have been able to have another child. What she did was incredibly selfless and loving.”
Cydnee, meanwhile, wanted to become a sᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴄʏ because of the sᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴛᴇ Kim encountered trying to have another child. Cydnee said ” Having children of my own opened my eyes to how blessed I am, because there are women out there who can’t or are having ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛɪᴇs carrying their own children”.
The experience was documented by Leilani Rogers, a birth photographer from Austin, Texas, where Overton and Cydnee live. Overton said:” I was ᴘᴀɴɪᴄᴋɪɴɢ, wanted to do skin-to-skin as soon as he was born. It was all happening so fast. It only took a few minutes for Cydnee to push him out.” At the time she gave birth to her older son, Overton was a single mom. It was during the sᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴄʏ process she met her now-husband, who himself has a son. Overton said: “I had known him for about a month when he asked me if I wanted to have a second child. I told him that we had just transferred an ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏ to my sᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴄʏ the day before. He was thrilled.”
Overton wants people to know that just because she did not carry Oliver, she feels the exact same love for him as she does for her other son. She said: “The experience, was all positive. There is no negative, There is no deficit. Oliver’s birth story is ‘a beautiful one’ . He’ll always know how many people and how much love surrounded him at his birth.”
