A 50-year-old mother of eight is pregnant with her own grandchild after offering to be a surrogate for her daughter.
Chalise Smith said she made the “emotional decision” after daughter Kaitlyn Munoz, 24, was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that prevented her from having children.
Kaitlyn, who lives in El Paso, Texas, in the US, was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome in 2019. It is caused by the immune system damaging healthy parts of the body.
She also suffers from endometriosis, where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
Though she and her husband Miguel, 30, conceived their two-year-old son Callahan through IVF, her diagnosis with Sjogren’s syndrome “crushed” their dreams of extending the family.
The stay-at-home mum said: “I was told by health professionals that it wouldn’t be safe to carry anymore children.
“I was crushed, it’s always been my dream to have a big family, it’s been my dream to be a mum with lots of kids ever since I was a young girl.”
Chalise, who owns entertainment farm Hee Haw Farms in Utah, said Kaitlyn’s symptoms first became apparent after she visited her while pregnant with Callahan in October 2019.
“On her way home, she had issues breathing and got extremely tight chested and was told that she had pleurisy inflammation in her lungs,” said Chalise.
"Two weeks later, she was diagnosed with Sjogren's, something which she had actually had since she was 16 but was never correctly diagnosed.
"She was incredibly lucky to carry Callahan to an almost full term, as Sjogren's often causes early miscarriages.”
After having carried eight babies to full-term herself, Chalise said she then “thought for a long time” about Kaitlyn’s situation.
"I kept my thoughts to myself while I made sure I wasn't making an emotional decision to be a surrogate and knew it was the right thing to do,” she added.
"But a few months after she told me, I gave her a call and offered to be her surrogate.
"She was in shock at the idea as she had just been sitting in her car waiting for her son to wake up wondering how she'd be able to have more children.
"My call was like a moment of fate for both of us and the beginning of our journey".
After making sure that Miguel and Kaitlyn, as well as her husband Kyle were “100 per cent” in, she then underwent checks.
“With my age, I had to go through a lot of health checks before I could get the all clear for becoming a surrogate,” said Chalise.
After being given the all clear, she had two embryos implanted in September and is now pregnant with her granddaughter.
Kaitlyn praised how “supportive” her mum had always been of her dreams.
"I know that all of her pregnancies went perfectly and that she is extremely healthy, so I never doubted that there would be any issues with her being my surrogate,” she added.
The family are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of her daughter, who is due in May.
"I think the highlight of the whole surrogacy experience will be seeing my daughter's face light up as she welcomes her own daughter into the world alongside me,” said Chalise.
"In my heart and soul, I just see this picture of having a beautiful girl for my daughter and her husband.”
