Countless people grow up wanting to become parents someday, welcoming their own children into the world and raising them up into happy, healthy people. For LGBT couples, this process isn’t always so simple and straightforward, and for Elliot Dougherty and Matthew Eledge, the path to becoming parents was filled with surprises.
Elliot was working as a hairstylist when he was contacted one day by a stranger named Matthew on Facebook.
Matthew was in the middle of directing a short film and wanted Elliot’s help making wigs and styling the hair of his cast. The pair met up and immediately bonded, spending hours getting to know one another. Before long, they’d fallen in love.
The happy couple soon moved in together, traveled around the world, and enjoyed all kinds of exciting adventures, before the desire to settle down and start a family began to take over their hearts.
The pair said “I do” in the woods where they originally shot Matthew’s film, and it wasn’t long after that they were saving up for IVF treatment, hoping to welcome their own little bundle of joy into the world.
Matthew and Elliot had always been optimists, fueled by hope, but as they learned more about IVF, they started to see that the odds were stacked against them.
It would cost thousands of dollars to buy eggs, and the whole process seemed cold, industrial, and off-putting. Fortunately, Elliot’s sister offered to volunteer her eggs. At that point, all they needed was a surrogate. One night, during a big family dinner, Matthew’s mother, Cele, said she’d volunteer.
Matthew and Elliot laughed at the idea. After all, Cele was 60 years old, but when they mentioned the idea to their IVF specialist, they learned that it was perfectly possible for Cele to carry their baby, provided she was healthy enough.
Cele went in for some tests and, beyond all expectations, was found to be a perfect candidate for IVF! She had low cholesterol and, in the doctor’s own words, a “beautiful uterus”.
One embryo was placed into Cele’s uterus, and then came the two-week wait as the whole family hoped and prayed that the IVF would prove successful. Cele took a pregnancy test, and the result was negative, but after taking a second test, she was found to be pregnant after all.
Matthew and Elliot were blown away by the news and started preparing for the birth, picking out names and reading through parenting books.
They later discovered that their baby-to-be was a girl, so they decided on the name Uma Louise, with ‘Louise’ being chosen due to the fact that it was Cele’s middle name. Before long, it was time to go to the hospital for the big moment!
Beautiful Uma Louise was born, happy and healthy.
Cele did an amazing job and felt so thrilled to be giving such a wonderful gift to her son and son-in-law, while also becoming a grandma to a brand new baby at the very same time!
Elliot and Matthew were equally thrilled, both completely overwhelmed by emotion and love.
Together, through the body of Matthew’s mother, the egg of Elliot’s sister, and one family’s shared love, a new life came into the world.
Both Matthew and Elliot, as new dads, have made a promise to their little girl to protect and cherish her all her life, following the wonderful example set by their own mothers and family members.
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