An Iowa woman recently welcomed twin grandchildren, the only catch is that she also carried them for nine months, according to reports.
Susie Kozisek, 53 from Iowa, gave birth to Hallee and Hadlee in July, after her daughter, Ashley Larkin, has pulmonary hypertension and could not fall pregnant. Larkin, 28, also has a high blood pressure condition that makes pregnancy dangerous. She and husband Jay Larkin were looking into adoption when Kozisek, then 49 with three other grown children of her own, volunteered to carry their first baby.
Kozisek became the gestational carrier for her grandchildren by volunteering to carry the pregnancy. The eggs and sperm are harvested from the biological parents and united through in vitro fertilization. The resulting embryo is then implanted in the carrier's uterus.
"I heard about the procedure on a talk show and decided to check out the possibility of me doing this for them so they could have kids of their own if they wanted," Kozisek said, according to ABC news.
Kozisek said she stayed healthy throughout both gestational pregnancies and continued her job as a legal secretary.
While the ordeal seems relatively straightforward, the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Jani Jensen, who performed the in vitro fertilizations, said it is extremely uncommon 'for a mother to act as a gestational carrier for her own child.'
But even though Ms Kozisek is on the older end of a pregnancy spectrum, Dr Jensen said she 'was a good candidate because she'd carried previous pregnancies successfully and was in excellent health.'
Fifty years old is considered the cutoff for being a gestational carrier, but because Kozisek had no difficulties with the first baby, she was allowed to carry again.
