stop HIIT classes<\/a>. At 25 weeks, she went on early parental leave. Seven weeks before giving birth, Emma stopped driving, and her mother stepped in to help with cooking, cleaning, driving and emotional support.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m one of those people who\u2019s sick from the start until birth,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI also didn\u2019t completely relax once during the pregnancy. Carrying someone else\u2019s babies is a big responsibility \u2013 if I miscarried, it wouldn\u2019t just be me grieving.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the twins made their entrance in December \u2013 in a birth so textbook and speedy, the midwives didn\u2019t even have time to phone the obstetrician \u2013 Emma\u2019s daughter Maddison caught Lina. Nine minutes later, Henry followed as Peter and Patrick stood alongside her, watching as their babies entered the world.<\/p>\n
Emma insisted on delayed cord clamping and initial skin-to-skin contact, before the twins rested on their parents\u2019 chests an hour later. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy body had done nine months of work \u2013 I needed that moment,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Yet she never doubted she would give up the babies.<\/p>\n
Emma tells, \u201cPeople say there\u2019s a risk the surrogate will want the baby, but surrogates actually fear the parents might not take the baby!\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The twins made their entrance in December. Photo \/ Meg Holmes Photography<\/p>\n
Peter and Patrick stayed close by, alternating nights in a double hospital room. After being discharged, Emma returned home to her kids but visited daily to breastfeed and deliver expressed milk. <\/p>\n
\u201cI plan to pump until 14 weeks,\u201d she says. \u201cIt goes on a chiller truck and is shipped to the family in Auckland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The twins\u2019 arrival has transformed Peter and Patrick. <\/p>\n
\u201cLife is richer now,\u201d Peter says. \u201cOur hands are full, but we feel complete. We feel like we won the lottery every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Emma is embracing her maternity leave as a chance to rest and reflect. She bought herself a small \u201cpush present\u201d, upgraded her Thermomix and planted the placentas beneath roses in her garden, alongside those of her previous surrogate babies. She knows this will be her last surrogacy.<\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it had been one baby, maybe I\u2019d have offered a sibling,\u201d she reflects. \u201cBut twins were brutal. I don\u2019t have another one in me. I\u2019ll forever be grateful my body allowed me to do this. Not everyone gets that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legally, the journey isn\u2019t over. In New Zealand, surrogate parents have no legal rights until adoption is finalised. Until then, Emma remains the twins\u2019 legal mother. Oranga Tamariki will conduct home visits, financial checks and references before the adoption order is granted. When it is, Peter and Patrick will officially become the twins\u2019 parents.<\/p>\n
For Emma, Peter and Patrick, legalities are secondary to the joy the twins\u2019 arrival has brought. <\/p>\n
Peter enthuses, \u201cWe are very grateful for Emma and her family. She truly is an angel. We will never forget what she has done for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
To learn more about how families and surrogates can match, go to lovemakes.family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt started with a thought that wouldn\u2019t leave me \u2013 I kept thinking I had one more baby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8038,15408,9869,806,51,9218,15316,27703,115,97743,9057,7500,31143,790,2550,14768,1888,2082,71,28726,176829,1861,11551,6721,685,176828,1362,33321,30504,111,43,139,69,29392,25992,4525,23569,153565,24359,8229,1529,1850,176830,1883,6923,13971],"class_list":["post-328702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-natural","tag-almost","tag-arrival","tag-as","tag-auckland","tag-before","tag-birth","tag-born","tag-calls","tag-cried","tag-dads","tag-december","tag-delivery","tag-emma","tag-even","tag-every","tag-first","tag-for","tag-from","tag-hailed","tag-henrys","tag-history","tag-hours","tag-labour","tag-last","tag-lina","tag-made","tag-miracle","tag-mums","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-perfect","tag-placenta","tag-something","tag-surrogacy","tag-surrogate","tag-these","tag-they","tag-three","tag-twins","tag-unheard","tag-whanganui","tag-what","tag-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}