The 53-year-old mom and her 31-year-old daughter give birth to biological sisters weeks apart. When 31-year-old Kelsi Pierce and her husband decided they were finally ready to start a family they didn’t anticipate having so many difficulties trying to get pregnant.

Three long years. The couple from Minnesota dealt with a three-year struggle to get pregnant, but try as they might, it just wasn’t happening. They even spent all of their savings on everything from surgeries to IVF, where it was discovered that Kelsi had a low ovarian reserve…

As Kelsi went through a successful round of IVF, the bad news continued when she was then told that the lining of her uterus was too thin to carry a pregnancy. Kelsi tried for two years to thicken her lining, but all her efforts appeared to be in vain. There was nothing left to try but adoption or surrogacy. They could afford neither.

That’s when Kelsi thought about her mum. Lisa had talked again about being a surrogate…so they picked up the phone. It was the call for which Lisa had been desperately waiting.

Rutherford went to her doctor right away and started the process of getting medical clearance to be a gestational carrier. Many people would think she wasn’t fit to carry a child at 53 years old, yet she was cleared for a transfer at the start of this year. On Feb. 7, the selfless mom had her embryo transfer and was almost immediately confirmed pregnant, on Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, Kelsi, who said that she had never seriously contemplated her mother carrying her child, was pleasantly pleased when she learned of the news. Kelsi stopped attending fertility physicians and using fertility drugs after learning of her mother’s pregnancy. Kelsi couldn’t believe her eyes and took a second test, which came out positive, before seeing a doctor to confirm her pregnancy.

Kelsi “was crying for a month straight” as she tried to digest the good news after so many years of horrible news. Only two months had passed since Kelsi and Kyle had gone from having few alternatives to expecting their first two children. Kelsi and her mother loved their pregnancies together as their baby bellies expanded, with Rutherford stating, “This pregnancy was fantastic.” It went off without a hitch.”

The pair shared pregnancy tips and tricks, facetimed each other at doctors appointments, and discussed pregnancy cravings. At Rutherford’s 36th week appointment, doctors discovered that she had preeclampsia and needed to deliver the baby within 12 hours via C-section. But although baby Everly had some complications during birth, she went on to be a perfect, happy, healthy baby.

Seven weeks and three days later, Kelsi gave birth to big sister Ava.
She’s now basking in the glow of being a first time mom, and although it can be hard, all she has to do is remember where she was this time two years ago, and how her dream to be a mom has finally come true in the best way possible.

We are so happy Kelsi and her husband were finally able to start a family. All thanks to her loving mom and her body finally giving her what she’d wanted for so long.