- It’s the first time simultaneous reciprocal IVF has been attempted in the UK
Oh boy! Meet Elvis, 10 weeks, and his 11-day old brother Ezra, who have made British history along with their mums Emily Patrick and Kerry Osborn.
The babies, pictured here for the first time, were born to the lesbian couple via IVF. Elvis was created from Kerry’s egg which was fertilised and implanted in Emily so she could be his birth mother.
Ezra, meanwhile, was created from Emily’s egg and implanted in Kerry so she could carry and deliver him.
It’s the first time the procedure, known as simultaneous reciprocal IVF, has been attempted in the UK – and it has led to a joyous and unique Mothers’ Day for the new family of four.
‘It’s been very emotional seeing both our boys arrive and watching each other become mothers in the space of a few weeks,’ said Emily, 38, a creative producer. ‘I was always the less maternal one but I’ve found a whole different level of love, like a new chamber in my heart, for our babies.’
‘I still can’t quite believe they’re both here, that we made our dream of a family a reality,’ said Kerry, 35, a teacher. ‘We never set out to be pioneers but we hope we’ve shown other people in the LGBTQ+ community that this is achievable.’
Elvis with his big eyes and button nose looks like his biological mother Kerry. Ezra, with his tuft of ginger hair, resembles his biological mother Emily. Interestingly, the women say that while they love their sons equally, they each feel a greater sense of parental responsibility towards the baby they carried rather than the one who shares their genes.
Emily and Kerry have been together for seven years and started to discuss simultaneous reciprocal IVF during one of the Covid lockdowns. The procedure has cost them around £25,000, including the price of the anonymous sperm donor who is father to both Elvis and Ezra.
Now planning to get married, the couple live in Hampshire with their retired greyhound Dotty.
Elvis was born naturally on New Year’s Day weighing 8lbs. Ezra arrived by emergency Caesarean section on February 28th weighing 7lbs 1 ozs. Says Kerry: ‘It’s not been quite as chaotic as we had anticipated. If you think the worst then it can only be easier!’
The two new mums plan to spend their first ever Mothers’ Day on the beach near their home.
Neither Emily nor Kerry has ever struggled with their sexuality. Emily knew she was gay in her mid-teens and came out to her supportive parents when she was 16. Kerry was at university to train as a teacher when she realised she was a lesbian and came out to her equally accepting family.
They first connected in January 2017 on the dating site Tinder. Emily was working in New Zealand having been there for a decade and Kerry was visiting.
Though in the same country, they were too far apart to meet in person but began an old-fashioned, long-distance courtship, corresponding for four months before they finally met. The first meeting included Emily down on one knee holding a sweetie in the shape of a ring and Kerry clutching a bottle of champagne.
They have been together ever since, travelling extensively around South East Asia and New Zealand before settling in Gosport a year ago. Now their extraordinary shared pregnancies have put the seal on a love story six years in the making.
Kerry was always the more maternal of the two – she knew she wanted children, whereas Emily hadn’t considered it before they got together. Discussing their future in the long hours of lockdown, they settled on the idea of creating a family in which they could be both biological and gestational mothers.
Kerry says: ‘There was no great ceremony, it was a Thursday night and we started swiping through sperm banks. The problem is that once you start, you can’t stop, there is so much choice. We chose a man about our own age who had two children and was donating for altruistic reasons – there were people in his family struggling with infertility and he wanted to help others.’
The couple were able to inspect his handwriting, as well as a picture of him aged about eight, and listened to a recording of his voice. Although the donor was a Dutch-German because he gave his sperm in the UK the two boys will be able to find out his identity when they turn 18.
Follow Emily and Kerry’s story on Instagram @twomumstwobuns.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
