Mom of Twins Gave Birth to Friend’s Twins After This Many Failed IVF Cycles
By: Ivy Jacobson for TheBump.com
Choosing a surrogate is one of the hardest choices to make in life - especially after undergoing IVF four times.
More from The Bump: "Why I became a surrogate"
Sandi and Philip Palmisano's failed results were discouraging, but met Andrea and Mark Rivas in 2010 at the Shady Grove Fertility Center in Washington, DC, where they were also trying IVF.
Andrea gave birth to twins after one failed IVF treatment, and became good friends with the Palmisanos in the process- so good, in fact, that Andrea offered to be Sandi and Philip's surrogate.
More from The Bump: Fertility tricks (that actually worked!)
"We knew we would be life-long friends no matter what the outcome," Philip told the Today show.
Andrea became pregnant with Sandi and Philip's twins two years after her own pregnancy and gave birth in February to Grayson and EmmaLee. The couples are still very close and consider one another family. Who wouldn't, especially after five failed IVF treatments total and four healthy babies?
"Now we have four miracles between all of us," Andrea says. "We call them cousins!"
Would you ever consider being a surrogate for a close friend or family member?
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IVF 101
How to deal when everyone else is pregnant (and you're trying to get pregnant)
