A surrogate Idaho woman cares for the newborn baby for over four months due to lockdown. Her biological parents, who live in China, could not travel to the US to get her due to the pandemic.
Pandemic has stopped almost all travels
COVID-19 turned into a global pandemic two months before Emily Chrislip was scheduled to give birth to her surrogate baby. Almost all travel is stopped, and countries had implemented strict restrictions to prevent the further spread of the virus.
Chrislip told PEOPLE that at first, they thought it would only take a maximum of four weeks that they have to care for the little one. Little did they know that it kept getting longer and longer until it has reached over four months.
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The 25-year-old said that they have learned to accept that there is uncertainty as to when the baby's parents would be able to have her. She explained that they are loving the infant now and they know that they are constant in the kid's life.
Wanted to help other people become a mother
In 2018 was the first time Chrislip decided to become a surrogate. It was after she gave birth to her son Camden because she wanted to help someone else to become a mother. She shared that she saw family members and friends struggling with getting pregnant.
Since she and her husband, Brandon, had no trouble conceiving and had easy pregnancy and delivery, they decided to look into it. According to ABC affiliate KIVI-TV, a couple in China chose Chrislip to become the surrogate mom of their baby in September 2019. The process started in February that same year.
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Their initial plan was to have the parents see the baby's birth in the delivery room. Then that would end Chrislip's job. But since the pandemic happened, everything was flipped upside down. Chrislip said that it hit her that the parents could not come during her delivery when the borders closed down.
The couple had the option of leaving the baby with a nanny agency but then they decided to care for her instead. She knew that it will be a bittersweet ending when the time comes that they have to give the baby one day.
However, they wanted to treat her as their own at this stage in her life because she needs all the attention and love that she could get. Both Chrislip and her husband are waiting for the time to come when the baby's parents could get her.
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When that time comes, she noted that she would likely serve as a surrogate again. She realized that she could love someone like her child even though that kid is not hers biologically. She has also learned to live in the moment and take one day at a time.
