A 30-year-old woman, Jenna Newell, from Llanelli, Wales recently gave birth to her niece by surrogacy and now feels that it's like an addiction.
There are two types of surrogacy – traditional and gestational. In traditional, surrogate's own eggs are used, and in gestational a sperm and egg from others are used. In this case, Jenna was hoping to go through gestational surrogacy process but eventually went for the traditional surrogacy, according to Wales Online.
Jenna said, "I signed up to surrogacy UK, and it was after I had revealed this to my family that my cousin came forward and told me they were having trouble conceiving. I had no idea."
"At first we were looking into getting an egg donated, but when we realised how much more medical intervention was involved, we decided to go for traditional surrogacy.
"It worked out as my cousin would then have a biological link to the baby," she said.
Jenna decided to help her cousin while being pregnant with her second child. She became pregnant with her niece six months after giving birth to her daughter.
"The fact it was my egg didn't change my feelings about the surrogacy. We were done having our children after our two and I was considering egg donation anyway," she added.
Jenna always wanted to be a surrogate and her husband knew about it. So, when they found out about her cousin wanting a baby but struggling, Jenna's husband told her that she needs to do it.
She said, "He was always worried that I would be a surrogate for a couple and then they would just leave with the baby, and I would have no contact or relationship, but this way we knew I wouldn't feel used."
However, her parents were initially a bit worried about the idea, but when they realised it was for her cousin they were really happy about it. She feels grateful that she decided to do surrogacy with someone she knew and trusted, as legally the surrogate can have the final say and they can change their minds and also the intended parents can do so by leaving behind a baby that the person wasn't expecting, but she adds that it is "very rare."
When she was asked if she would do it again, Jenna said "Yes. I wish I was pregnant now."
She mentioned that "I would love to have a little sibling for my niece. Towards the end of the pregnancy I had decided that I wouldn't do it again, but seeing them become a family and how amazing they are as parents, it gave me such a buzz."
She further added, "Other surrogates I spoke to said that I would want to do it again, and I do, it's an addiction."
