Against the Odds in Britain: A Surrogate Story of Success

In Great Britain, it is currently illegal to advertise yourself as a surrogate mother. This limit in surrogacy advertisement has consequently had a huge negative impact on the amount of surrogacy that takes place in the United Kingdom today. In the past 23 years, despite vast leaps in both traditional and gestational surrogacy, there have only been 600 successful surrogate births in the UK, and the subject of surrogacy still remains an “almost taboo” subject.

Yet here is a story of success against the odds for a surrogate couple and the intended parents.

Surrogate Parents: Vanessa and Kyle Hastings

To Vanessa Hudgens, “giving birth is a gift, something she is good at, and something she has always longed to share with others.” This positive mentality has enabled Vanessa to be a mother of three as well as a surrogate mother twice to three children. She had always wanted to be an egg donor, and in looking into it, she found the world of surrogacy. The support that her husband, Kyle, had for her decision allowed nothing to hold her back from being a surrogate mother.

Because surrogate advertising is illegal in the United Kingdom, Vanessa was able to meet with people wanting to get involved through a support organization, Surrogacy UK. Vanessa and Kyle met and befriended Sabreena and Robert Sutcliffe, the eventual intended parents, and through a support program, the two couples were able to create a friendship before the surrogacy. This relationship will allow Vanessa to remain in contact with the two children even after the birth of the twin daughters she is carrying for the Sutcliffes.

The Hastings have stressed that their own children fully understand the process of surrogacy and have known exactly what was happening in each surrogacy.

Intended Parents: Sabreena and Robert Sutcliffe

Sabreena Sutcliffe had always known she wouldn’t be able to have children. She was born without a womb and knew if she ever wanted children, it would be a difficult process, and in preparation, she began freezing her eggs since 21-years-old.

Sabreena and her husband, Robert, knew from the outset that they wanted to go through with a surrogacy in order to have children. After their previous attempt at surrogacy had resulted in a miscarriage, they began to feel the pressures of having children even more, until they met the Hastings in their support group. They quickly became friends and decided that they could work together to have Sabreena and Robert’s children.

Once the process had been taken care of and paid for, both couples were surprised and delighted to find that Vanessa was unintentionally pregnant with twins. Both couples fully intend to stay in contact and remain friends for life. Sabreena and Robert are determined to explain to their new daughters exactly how they came into the world, and that “it is nothing to be ashamed of or stigamatised about.”
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news-features/Surrogacy-our-story.4639609.jp