Australian woman gives birth to own grandchild
54-year-old Tasmanian woman Maree Arnold has given birth to her own grandson after acting as a surrogate for her 28-year-old daughter Meagan White.
Meagan has no uterus and was unable to conceive, so her mum suggested the idea of acting as a gestational carrier. Meagan was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome at the age of 17 after not menstruating during puberty. MRKH is a rare disorder that affects one in 5000 women, and the syndrome means that while Meagan has no uterus, she does have working ovaries, so she is able to have a biological child with the help of a surrogate.
The baby, named Winston, was safely delivered following a short two-hour labour on January 13th. Ms Arnold told Sunrise, “We arrived at the hospital at 7 am and by 9 am he was born, it was so quick and organised.
“I feel really well considering it’s only been a week, so it’s amazing.”
Arnold, who had previously appeared on Sunrise last year while pregnant, told Kochie and Nat, “If I had my time again, I would do the same thing, it worked out perfectly.”
Ms White said she was loving being a first-time mum to Winston, who is “not giving us too much grief” and sleeping well. Of his birth, she said, “It’s hard to describe the feeling of when he was born. It was definitely a pinching myself moment.”
Experts say mother-daughter surrogacy is very rare and it’s recommended that gestational carriers are under 40 years of age. However, another older mum, 51-year-old Julie Loving from Chicago, made headlines in 2020 after carrying her daughter’s baby.
Loving volunteered after watching her daughter Breanna Lockwood struggle with fertility issues for four years. The family welcomed a daughter, Briar, in November 2020, with Lockwood writing on Instagram, “My mom was an absolute rockstar through a difficult delivery. The sacrifices she took to bring this little slice of heaven into our world takes my breath away. Holding my daughter in my arms my heart is bursting. The feeling of how I would do absolutely anything needed for this child is radiating through me when I look at her, and reflects back on what my mom did for me.”
Image: Channel 7