Utah mom Julia Nevarro, 58, is due to give birth to her first grandchild this month, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Nevarro offered to be a surrogate for her 32-year-old daughter, Lorena McKinnon, who had suffered about a dozen miscarriages and a failed in vitro procedure.
Undaunted by the legal, economic and medical process of surrogacy, Nevarro agreed to the idea after McKinnon’s sister and another friend regretfully declined. Nevarro went through a physical screening process, signed contracts about parental rights and attended three months of state-mandated counseling.
Since she had been menopausal for about 12 years, she had to giver herself hormone shots everyday for three months.
“My bum was bruised and bleeding,” Nevarro told the Tribune.
Although doctors said the implant had just a 45 percent chance of taking, the first embryo proved a success.
“I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” McKinnon’s husband, Micah, said to the Tribune. “But we haven’t had any complications. I’m pretty happy about it.”
They plan to name the baby Myla Juliette McKinnon.