Source Hanahan Herald
A 55-year-old woman has acted as a surrogate for her daughter and given birth to her child.
Tracey Smith has a condition which means she is unable to carry a baby.
So her mother Emma Miles, from Lampeter in Ceredigion, lost six stone (38 kg) to allow her to carry baby Evie.
She was born last month – and as a review takes place, Tracey has called for a change in the law to make it easier for her to be legally named as her daughter‘s mother.
Current rules mean Emma is named on the birth certificate and Tracey faces a lengthy court process to change that.
Aged 16, Tracey was told she had Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH) – meaning she was born without a womb.
It took her years to come to terms with not being able to carry a child.
But her husband, Adam Smith, persuaded her to begin IVF treatment.
The process involved taking an egg from Tracey and fertilising it with sperm in a laboratory so it could be placed in a surrogate‘s womb to grow and develop.
Against the odds, it was successful at the first attempt – all she wanted now was a surrogate, and her mother offered to help.
Emma was told she would need to lose six stone (38kg) in weight before attempting treatment, so she quit her job at the local Co-op and moved to Coventry to be near her daughter.
After shedding the pounds, she successfully carried the baby before Evie Siân Emma Smith was born on 16 January 2019, weighing 7lb 7oz.
But in the eyes of the law, Evie‘s parents are Emma and her husband Robert – not Tracey and Adam.
They have begun legal proceedings for a parental order – which would see them changed to parents at the family court.
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