54-year-old Tracey Thompson carried baby for daughter who miscarried 3 times
Surrogates as old as 61 have given birth to children in Chicago and Japan in recent years
Kelley McKissack, left, holds the hand of her mother, Tracey Thompson, who carried and delivered Kelley’s baby, Kelcey, as a surrogate, as their doctor Dr. Joseph Leveno, far right, explains the procedure at The Medical Center of Plano in Plano, Texas, on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016.
PLANO, TEXAS
For three years, Kelley McKissack and her husband tried to have a baby. Three times, McKissack miscarried.
McKissack's mother, Tracey Thompson, offered to be a surrogate and carry an embryo from the Wylie couple's final round of in vitro fertilization.
On Wednesday, the 54-year-old gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Kelcey – a combination of Kelley and Tracey – at the Medical Center of Plano.
And on Thursday, McKissack showed off her rosy-cheeked daughter, all 6 pounds and 9 ounces, with Thompson beaming by her side.
"Say hi to the world!" McKissack told Kelcey, tucking her tiny arms in a mint-colored blanket as a camera shuttered in their hospital room.
Thompson, who lives in the rural community of Nevada, was already seven years past menopause when she began the pregnancy, but her health was excellent, doctors said. Medical advances allow older women to be surrogates, under strict supervision.
Though noteworthy, Thompson's pregnancy was no medical breakthrough. Surrogates as old as 61 have given birth to children in Chicago and Japan in recent years. Among the oldest mothers in recorded history is a 70-year-old Indian woman who delivered a baby girl in 2008.
"It was a beating," Thompson told reporters about her surrogacy. "It really was. ... It's been many years since I've been pregnant."
Thompson has two adult children. McKissack is 28, and her brother is 30.
The family was protective of Thompson during this pregnancy. Her husband, Ben, helped with any lifting. McKissack religiously attended her mother's medical appointments, treating them as her own.
"I didn't want to disappoint her," Thompson said of her daughter. "I was overly cautious with everything."
Sometimes, strangers would stare. First at Thompson's face, then at her belly.
Her husband would jokingly tell people the baby wasn't his and walk off, leaving Thompson to explain it was her daughter's.
"The looks we got were quite funny," Thompson said.
Doctors noted Thompson went through a comprehensive medical evaluation. Her family also had to sit down with a counselor to check for any emotional problems. Once it was determined that Thompson's uterine cavity was normal, she started taking hormones to prepare for the implantation of a 5-day-old embryo.
"Pregnancy is a heavy load on a woman," said Dr. Ali Guerami, McKissack's fertility specialist in Frisco. "We have to make sure that their heart can accept it, and then we have to make sure the patient understands that when they're older there's much more chance you'll have an operative procedure like a C-section."
With older women, there's also a higher possibility of complications, Guerami said.
Thompson had a C-section Wednesday after Kelcey's heart rate dropped. The baby had a bowel movement inside the uterus.
Becoming a surrogate wasn't a decision Thompson came to lightly.
She and her husband, Ben, talked about it together, with their family and their pastor John Spencer of Lone Star Cowboy Church in Nevada.
The couple is active in the church. Ben Thompson is a church leader. On Sundays, the Thompsons and other members eat dinner together. Games of dominoes often follow at the couple's house.
They talked with Spencer about Tracey Thompson's health and concerns about her age.
But whether the surrogacy was part of God's plan wasn't a discussion, Spencer said. He knew about the difficulty of the couple's daughter and son-in-law to have a baby.
"I have come to appreciate that we serve a huge God. I'm afraid we tend to put him in this little box because then it feels safe for us, rather than understanding that God is almighty and he uses different channels for his purpose," Spencer said on the phone Thursday. "God uses medical channels to heal, or in this case, bring new life." - The Dallas News
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