Jenn and LeighAnn Amico worked out a complicated choreography when overlapping pregnancies blessed them with two babies. Jenn delivered Owen in August. Five months later her wife, LeighAnn, gave birth to daughter Quinn. They juggled two infants and a breast pump, then Jenn’s unexpected gallbladder surgery added another twist.
“It’s a circus around here at night now,” LeighAnn said on St. Patrick’s Day, a few days after Jenn came home following surgery. “If I’m pumping and he wakes up, she’ll come wake me up and she’ll carry my pump for me. She’ll hold that and I’ll pick him up, like, extended out and like put him in her lap. OK. And then she hands me back my pump and then she’ll text me when she’s ready for me to put him back in his crib.”
Today, the married women celebrate their first Mother’s Day as mothers of two. They beat the biological clock while joining the small but growing number of gay parents raising children together.
“We have fantastic highs, but there are absolutely lows and you just need to ride through them both,” LeighAnn said.
Long shot
LeighAnn is 35 and Jenn is 38. In medical jargon, they are of “advanced maternal age” and had “geriatric pregnancies.”
The Kingston Twp. couple fast-forwarded their pregnancy journeys. They wanted more than one child but raced against time.
A Luzerne County native, LeighAnn, a graduate of Dallas High School and Penn State, knew she wanted children. Jenn grew up in the South, a pastor’s daughter with a degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and dreamed of raising a big family. Both work remotely for different insurance companies.
Sweet beginning
LeighAnn had a side business making decorated cookies. She met a North Carolina baker on TikTok and swapped business tips. That online friendship grew to include the baker’s roommate, Jenn King.
LeighAnn knew her family was skeptical when she decided to fly to North Carolina in January 2022 to meet them. “My whole family thought I was going to, like die,” she said, “because I was flying somewhere to meet these people who I met online.”
She soon made a second trip. “Jenn and I just had this connection that was kind of undeniable.”
It felt different, but right, Jenn said. “It was just one of those things where we clicked and it wasn’t — we didn’t question it. It was just like, ‘Well this is right, this is how it’s supposed to be.’”
Neither had dated a woman before.
Planning
They were eager to try for children. But the wedding had to come first for legal concerns as well as emotional reasons and planning purposes. They believed being married would make it easier to get both their names on the birth certificates. They also plan to go through the adoption process to make sure their parenthood is secure. It’s expensive, so they are trying to do it themselves.
They were married outside at the Benny Brewing Company in Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 1, 2024. There were six children in the wedding party, nieces and nephews who served as flower girls and ring bearers. The North Carolina baker was one of their maids of honor.
They were researching sperm banks when LeighAnn stumbled across a website on private sperm donation. Jenn was dubious at first. But online relationships had worked for them before. They found a donor on the Just a Baby app after swiping, messaging and doing interviews over video calls.
A lawyer drew up a contract covering fees and spelling out the relationship. The donor is not a parent and the couple will never ask him for anything. They used an at-home insemination kit. Their plan saved thousands of dollars.
They used the same sperm donor for both babies. They wanted them to be biologically related, plus finding one donor was hard enough. The couple looked for a donor who would bring some height into the gene pool and they could imagine being friends with. The donor is an Irish immigrant who lives within driving distance on the East Coast. The donor has become a friend and they send him updates on the babies.
They spaced their pregnancies to avoid the risks of overlapping third trimesters and deliveries.
Acceptance
The couple hasn’t faced negative reactions to parenthood. Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton gave them a warm welcome at doctors’ visits and the births.
Another local gay parent, Jamie Stanavitch, said he and his husband and three daughters are well received. At worst, they get an occasional curious look. Adopting their children from the foster care system may account for some of the support, he said. Stanavitch wonders if that might change when their children enter school.
“All one has to do is read the Facebook comments on news articles to see that opinions are very split on the topic,” he said, via email. Stanavitch is treasurer of QueerNEPA. He said parents can find resources and community there and at similar groups, such as the Rainbow Alliance, and the NEPA Pride Coalition.
The Amicos are among a small but growing group of parents. Nationally, 2.6 million LGBTQ parents are raising 5 million children under age 18. That includes biological, adopted, foster and stepchildren and covers parents who are single or in a relationship.
“It’s absolutely worth it if that’s what you want,” Jenn said. “I mean, I can’t imagine, it’s hard to imagine life without them.”
(COURTESY OF JESSICA MARY PHOTOGRAPHY)
Wedding day. (COURTESY OF JESSICA MARY PHOTOGRAPHY)
The couple during their pregnancies. LeighAnn is in blue. (COURTESY OF MADISON LEIGH MCCORKLE)
From left: Owen, Jenn, LeighAnn, and Quinn play around on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
From left: LeighAnn, Quinn, Owen, and Jenn play around on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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(COURTESY OF JESSICA MARY PHOTOGRAPHY)
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Wedding day. (COURTESY OF JESSICA MARY PHOTOGRAPHY)