51-Year-Old Mom Serves As Daughter’s Surrogate, Gives Birth To Her Granddaughter
Julie Loving has given birth to her granddaughter after daughter Breanna Lockwood asked Loving to serve as her surrogate.
Lockwood had learned from her doctors that she would be unable to have a successful pregnancy, leading mom Loving, 51, to step in as a surrogate to help her daughter become a mother herself, Good Morning America previously reported.
On Nov. 2, Loving gave birth to Briar Juliette Lockwood — her own granddaughter. Lockwood shared the exciting news on her Instagram page, writing that the newborn “has filled our hearts with so much joy.
“My mom was an absolute rockstar through a difficult delivery,” she added in a lengthy caption, alongside several photos of baby Briar.
“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.”
Lockwood continued, “Every move and decision I make for my daughter, I’m finding the answers through how my mom raised me. The way she loves and the selflessness she exudes is pure, genuine and kind. My mom Julie, and baby Briar are doing fantastic and healthy! I have SO MUCH to share on our birth experience, but right now my husband and I are soaking up these newborn moments!”
“Struggling with infertility was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” Lockwood told the outlet. “When you have a plan for your life and then something like infertility gets in the way, I felt like I couldn’t see what I pictured anymore, that it could be taken away from me.”
“I feel like my mom is the closest place to home she can be, rather than my own body,” she added of her daughter. “My mom wants to be a grandma just as much as I want to be a mom, so she’s doing everything she can.”
Loving said that she was the one who suggested the possibility of being a surrogate to her daughter after Lockwood suffered a miscarriage.
“I started to talk to her about it. She was not on board and thought I was crazy, but I just kept pursuing it,” Loving shared. “I’ve run 19 marathons and done many triathlons. I felt like health-wise I could do it and I had really easy pregnancies with my two kids.”
As for how they will tell baby Briar about her birth, Lockwood told GMA she and husband Aaron can’t wait to tell her that she was “wanted so much that we did everything we could to bring you into the world.”
Loving echoed those sentiments and said she also looks forward to the day that she can tell her granddaughter about how she carried her for nine months.
“We’re going to be really open with her at a really young age and tell her when we feel like she can understand,” she shared. “And just tell her the truth.”