Stunning Photos Capture Mom's Reaction to Seeing Her Child Born via Surrogate
Watching her child being born was the end of long and painful road for one mom.
— -- For Kim Overton, the journey that joyfully ended with seeing her son, Oliver, being born via surrogate was a long and painful one.
Overton, who was diagnosed as having fibroid tumors in 2005, was able to give birth to her 4-year-old son, Dylan, after a surgery. When she decided she'd like another baby, she thought another surgery would do the trick.
She was wrong.
A second myomectomy -- the removal of the fibroids in her uterus -- took place, but Overton wasn't able to have a child. It was then her thoughts turned to surrogacy, she wrote on her blog.
She told ABC News that seeing Oliver, now 4 weeks old, being born was "surreal." Her surrogate was her cousin's daughter, Cydnee, who volunteered to carry the baby.
The experience was documented by Leilani Rogers, a birth photographer from Austin, Texas, where Overton and Cydnee live.
"I was panicking, wanted to do skin-to-skin as soon as he was born," Overton said. "It was all happening so fast. It only took a few minutes for Cydnee to push him out."
At the time she gave birth to her older son, Overton was a single mom. It was during the surrogacy process she met her now-husband, who himself has a son.
"I had known him for about a month when he asked me if I wanted to have a second child," Overton said. "I told him that we had just transferred an embryo to my surrogate the day before. He was thrilled." She said she knew then that he was the one.
Overton wants people to know that just because she did not carry Oliver, she feels the exact same love for him as she does for her other son. "The experience," she said, "was all positive. There is no negative, There is no deficit."
Oliver's birth story is "a beautiful one," added Overton. "He'll always know how many people and how much love surrounded him at his birth."
As for Cydnee, Overton said she holds her "on a pedestal."
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