Mom Becomes Surrogate For Her Daughter And Delivers Her Own Granddaughter
She gave her daughter the gift of life twice.
Instagram After Kaitlyn Munoz, 25, was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2019, that made it very difficult for her and her husband to get pregnant.
She salvaged four embryos and was able to deliver a baby boy named Callahan, but her pregnancy came with major concerns.
Doctors diagnosed her with Sjörgen’s syndrome, an autoimmune condition that causes the body to attack its healthy cells, and advised her to not have another pregnancy for her safety.
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Munoz then began considering other methods to have another child including adopting and using a surrogate, but she didn’t know who she could ask about it.
That is, until her 50-year-old mother, Chalise Smith, approached her with the offer.
Her mom agreed to be her surrogate and gave birth to her granddaughter.
Kaitlyn and Miguel Munoz documented her 50-year-old mother, Chalise Smith's, surrogacy journey on Instagram.
Watching Munoz struggling to start a family of her own weighed heavily on Smith, a mother of eight.
When her daughter came to her after being told she couldn’t carry another child, she began thinking of ways she could help.
"As a mother, we get so involved in our children's lives, emotionally," Smith told KSL. "There are just these different ties we have with our kids and so I questioned myself, 'Do I really know what I'm saying?'"
Smith had to triple check with herself to make sure that she really wanted to do this for her daughter.
“I needed to make sure this wasn't just jumping into this emotionally because I was wanting to do this for her. I wanted it to be the right choice.”
Smith kept her thoughts under wraps for weeks before finally making the offer to Munoz.
Munoz worried about her mother’s health while going through the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process at her age, but Smith assured her that the decision was all her own.
"I saw Kaitlyn go through the IVF process, and I know what it entails," Smith said. "There's all the shots and so many emotions that are involved with it, and I told her that I understood the risks, and that I had been praying about it for three weeks. Then she told me, 'I was just sitting here thinking about who could I have carry my embryos, and you called me up.'"
Smith gave birth to her granddaughter, Alayna Kait-Chalise Munoz, on May 17.
Despite carrying Alayna for nine months, Smith instantly felt a connection that only exists between grandparents and grandchildren.
"There were many during the pregnancy who tell me how hard it was going to be to hand the baby over after I carried her for nine months, but that wasn't the case,” Smith said.
“I knew from the beginning that this wasn't my baby. This was a gift for my daughter that she couldn't do for herself. I would do anything for any of my children."
Alayna is now nearing a month old, and the entire family looks back on the journey with pure delight.
“My mom is a living angel and brought us another blessing earth side and we are in LOVE,” Munoz wrote on Instagram.
“When my mom offered to be our surrogate it just felt so right. My mom did so amazing throughout the pregnancy and we had an amazing delivery experience. Grateful for my mom and her selflessness in this journey."
Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. Follow him on Twitter to keep up with his content.