Would You Carry Your Best Friend's Baby?

What would you do for your best friend? A Mobile woman is going above and beyond for hers. Melissa MacDonald is acting as a surrogate mother, and is carrying twins, for her best friend, Jessica Ladner. Jessica and her husband Cory wanted children, but because of her diabetes, Jessica couldn't carry her own child. The Ladners considered adoption, but decided surrogacy was a better option.

One day, Melissa offered to carry the Ladner's baby. "I just felt compelled to offer that. The only thing I can say is, that is where God needed me to be." Jessica was shocked! "I was like what? Somebody would really offer? That is what is amazing. It is such a selfless act for her to do this for us because it wouldn't be possible any other way."

Jessica and Melissa have been best friends for the past 10 years, but their husbands, Cory and Joe, have been friends since childhood. Still, Cory was stunned that Melissa would do this for them. "When I asked her, I was like, are you sure? She said she liked being pregnant. That was another thing that was surprising. Some women like being pregnant!"

Through the miracle of reproductive technology, doctors at the Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Mobile Infirmary used in-vitro fertilization to transfer two of the Ladner's embryos into Melissa's uterus, and both of them implanted. The twins are due in late Spring. Dr.George Koulianos says this is an uncommon scenario. "It's very uncommon. We very excited. We are lucky could find this best friend to give this special gift to her donor."

Melissa has two other children, but says, this pregnancy is different. "What it feels like to me is that I am their aunt, and I am babysitting them until I can give them to their parents."

In about seven months, these two little dots on the ultrasound will be in the Ladner's arms, thanks to Melissa. In tears Jessica says, "I have got to thank God for it. He has blessed us tremendously."

The whole procedure is costing the Ladners around forty thousand dollars. Insurance also does not cover it, or the cost of Melissa's prenatal care. It also does not cover the cost, when Melissa gives birth to the twins.