I’m a mum-of-three and also a surrogate – trolls accuse me of selling my child but I only got paid £3 an hour
A MUM has been slammed for selling off her children after she became a surrogate for other couples struggling to conceive.
Yessenia Latorre is a mum-of-three from the US and revealed the real reason behind being a surrogate despite people thinking she did it for money.
Speaking to Truly, she said: “I’ve been accused of selling my child.
“I was paid $50,000 (£39,573) to be a surrogate. I have got a lot of hate online that I never really expected. ‘Keep selling yourself,’ ‘The baby is still yours.'”
Yessenia has three boys herself, Tyson, 6, Trey, 5, and Tamir who is eight weeks old.
She revealed the surrogate baby she had was also a boy and revealed she decided to go through the process after tragically suffering from a miscarriage herself.
“I experienced a miscarriage, and it changed my life forever. It ended up leading me to surrogacy so I could help other people have children,” she explained.
The mum was already an egg donor, but decided against using her own eggs in the surrogacy so the child she was carrying was not biologically hers.
Yessenia who already had Tyson and Trey while being a surrogate explained to the boys she was having a baby but that it wasn’t hers, getting them to meet the parents as well.
After having the surrogacy child, Yessenia went on to have another child, Tamir, but she hopes once she is done breastfeeding she can help another family.
Yessenia decided to share her surrogacy on social media to help others going it through it, instead, she has had hateful comments hurled her way.
Many claim she ‘rented her body out’ for easy cash – but she revealed she didn’t do it get rich, especially as she made just £3 an hour.
She said: “They assume I’m getting $100,000, but it’s not that at all.
“So I was paid $40,000, and around $5-10,000 in benefits, but ultimately it was 18 months of my life. I had to give birth. I had to take IVF medications. I tell people all the time, I only got $4 an hour.”
“I think a lot of people think surrogacy is a get rich quick scheme.”
She added: “The thing that I love the most about the process was seeing the baby in his parents’ arms for the first time. Felt so proud of what I did.”
What is surrogacy?
Surrogacy is the name given for a type of pregnancy where a woman carries and gives birth to another person’s baby.
The surrogate mother is then expected to give up the baby at birth, so it can be raised by the couple who originally wanted the baby.
Surrogacy is often an option for those unable to have children themselves, or for same sex couples.
According to surrogacy charity Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy (COTS), there are two different types of surrogacy.
- Traditional surrogacy: When the surrogate uses her own egg fertilised with the intended father’s sperm.
- Gestational surrogacy: The surrogate carries the intended parent’s genetic child conceived through IVF, for which specialist doctors are needed.
How are surrogate babies conceived?
In traditional surrogacy procedures, the egg is artificially inseminated using a syringe.
Gestational surrogacy is carried out through IVF.
During this in vitro fertilisation process, the egg is removed from the woman’s ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory.
The embryo is then planted in the surrogate’s womb to grow and develop.
This procedure must be carried out by specialist doctors and the biological mother is required to still have working ovaries.
The clip on Truly’s YouTube went viral with over 16k views and people were quick to praise the mum for her selfless act in the comments.
One person wrote: “It’s very touching that losing her own child helped her to empathise with others struggling to become parents. I love that they considered everyone’s feelings including herself, the biological children, the husband and in-laws. Truly a loving and supportive family.”
Another commented: “Being pregnant is so tough. For people saying she’s selling her babies are wild. $50k is not worth it. Seems like she legitimately wants to help others.”
“People are literally really dumb and or stupid, she didn’t sell her child she helped a woman who can not experience pregnancy have a child, grow up people,” penned a third.
Meanwhile a fourth said: “What a lovely thing she done, children bring so much joy and purpose to their parents lives, I’m glad she had the confidence to do this for those who are not so fortunate to be able to do it for themselves.”
“Her selflessness is so impressive. What a wonderful woman!” claimed a fifth.
Someone else added: “I think it’s great. She’s giving women/couples something they couldn’t do on their own. My mother always said she would be a surrogate for someone if needed because she loved being pregnant lol.”
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