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After being married for three years, Nancy and Justin Rohde began to start trying to have a baby together. The couple went through five rounds of IVF and even had a surrogate who miscarried. They were beginning to lose hope after so many disappointments, but in August 2015, they managed to find another surrogate candidate – Ashley Brown.
Just as Ashley began to prepare her body for Nancy and Justin’s embryo, Nancy and Justin decided that they would try one final round of IVF, in hopes of doubling their odds of having a child. After five failures, they didn’t expect anything to come of it.
But two weeks later, the clinic called: Nancy was pregnant.
Five weeks after that, Ashley called: she was pregnant as well.
Ashley and her husband lived in Utah, and Nancy and Justin lived in Chicago, but the two couples kept in close contact over the course of both pregnancies via text and email.
Both women had apps tracking the size, status, and growth of the babies. Nancy and Justin took time to appreciate each small moment of their baby’s growth, stopping to feel its hiccups, and even had Ashley use Bellybuds so the baby could still hear their voices.
The women shared their complications – Ashley’s baby was larger than average and breached; Nancy’s baby was tiny, and she also had an abnormality in her placenta – and agreed that immediately after Ashley’s delivery, the baby would be given to Nancy or Justin for skin to skin with her parents.
Nancy gave birth to her baby, Lillian Quinn, in early May and suffered complications after the birth. Justin took over then, taking care of both Nancy and Lilly, in the first few days following.
Once Ashley knew Lillian had been born safely, her only thought was to safely “get [Nancy and Justin] the second [baby].”
Ashley’s labor proved to be more difficult than they’d anticipated, but in the end, everything went smoothly. As originally planned, the baby – Audrey Eleanor – immediately went to Nancy after birth, and Ashley took care to interfere as little as possible to ensure for maximum bonding between Nancy, Justin, and their second daughter.
Both sets of couples – Nancy and Justin, Ashley and Josh – want to keep as open of a relationship as possible as the sisters – fondly called “twinblings” because of the proximity of their birthdays – grow up. Nancy adores Ashley, calling her “an angel. She’s just so special,” and Ashley has “already invited herself to [Audrey’s] first birthday party.”
Nancy and Justin are, very happily and thankfully, doing well with their two new daughters. As for Ashley, she doesn’t think she wants to be a surrogate for anyone again because this experience for her went so well. The only time she’d reconsider – if Nancy and Justin wanted a sibling for their daughters.
