Enveloped in his mommy’s arms, the newborn cooed. In a voice barely above a whisper, the new mother leaned toward his pink cheeks and cooed back.
Perhaps little Mason knew he was special, a dream come true. Maybe that’s why he was wide awake, seemingly babbling before receiving his first bottle.
This is a love story.
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Tammy Freshley’s husband, Mike, drove his wife to Summa Akron City Hospital. But before leaving their Uniontown home, she called her sister, Laurie Stalnaker, to tell her she was in labor.
“I’ll meet you there,” she told Laurie, between contractions.
The now 42-year-old Laurie has had health problems since she was a teenager. Doctors didn’t want her to get pregnant, but having a child is all Laurie has ever wanted, said her mother, Judy Speirs of New Franklin.
Over the years, Tammy repeatedly offered to be a surrogate for her sister, but Laurie, who lives in Akron and is a special education teacher for Akron schools, wanted to exhaust her options first.
Following a medical appointment a couple of years ago, Laurie called Tammy, crying, “They said I couldn’t do it myself.” She explained that her doctor considered it too dangerous.
“This is for the best,” Tammy said, reminding Laurie that no one in the family wanted her to get pregnant because they worried it could kill her.
Laurie’s health issues began at 18 with mononucleosis. From there she was stricken with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s disease followed and gastroparesis, a paralysis of her stomach and intestines — causing her to need a gastric pacemaker.
Each time the subject of having a baby came up, Tammy, a part-time secretary at Akron Children’s Hospital, reminded her sister, “Don’t forget — I told you I would do it [be a surrogate].”
Laurie finally accepted the offer, and so at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Mason entered the world weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces, measuring 19 inches long, with a wisp of dark hair.
An hour after his birth, family members were gathered in a room at the hospital where Tammy lay in bed and Laurie sat nearby holding Mason. Occasionally, someone spoke, but mostly they listened to the cooing.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to repay her,” Laurie said, nodding her head toward her sister.
Tammy, 39, simply smiled, relishing her older sibling’s joy.
Big news
While Laurie was thankful that Tammy was willing to be a surrogate, she waited until she was certain that her sister, who has a stepson and two daughters, was done having children of her own.
“I didn’t want something to happen [while she was acting as a surrogate] that would keep her from having any more kids for herself,” Laurie explained.
As Laurie’s 40th birthday approached, she told her sister she was ready. Before the process could begin, counseling was required to go over potential problems.
“You sure you don’t want anything financial from your sister?” the counselor asked Tammy.
“We don’t think like that,” Tammy replied. “That’s not our family. Our family is very close.’’
After all of the legal papers were signed, Tammy began taking a multitude of medications, including self-injections.
“You do the first set to put you in a happy place to get pregnant. And then you do the second set to continue the pregnancy,” Laurie explained.
And then it was time
Using Laurie’s eggs and sperm from Laurie’s husband, Ron, Tammy was artificially inseminated.
“Don’t worry, I am very fertile,” Tammy teased her sister.
The first try was the charm. On Dec. 28, an employee for Akron fertility doctor Priya Maseelall called Laurie.
“Oh my gosh, you’re pregnant!”
Laurie asked that she be the one to call her sister.
“I called … just screaming,” Laurie said, flashing a broad grin.
Tammy was happy for her sister, but she already knew. Sometimes women sense the life growing inside them.
Selfless sister
Tammy gave birth to two girls, so it’s only natural to wonder whether she was bothered to learn during the fifth month of her pregnancy that she was carrying a boy.
“It’s not my baby. Now, if it would have been my egg and my husband’s sperm, I think it would have been extremely hard. But the way I look at it — I’m just the Easy Bake Oven.”
While it was a normal delivery, Tammy was often sick during the pregnancy, and noted that her husband is quite the guy for having put up with her the past few months.
“I told him I was going to take him someplace tropical in the spring. We are going to sit on the beach and sip margaritas,” Tammy joked.
As the family chatted quietly inside the hospital room, Dr. John Hutzler, who delivered the infant, slipped in for a visit. It was Hutzler who encouraged Laurie to visit with Dr. Maseelall.
Laurie handed the baby to Hutzler. He grinned, holding Mason up for a photograph.
“I’ve done this a few times,” he joked.
During Hutzler’s 40 years of practice, he’s delivered some 11,000 babies, though Mason was his first surrogate delivery.
Certainly, not all women would do this — not even for their sister. But Tammy and Laurie have always had a special bond.
“I have wonderful kids,” explained Tammy. “How can I look at my own children and deny someone else from having that love?
“She is going to be such a good mom. And I’ve only given up a few months to help someone for the rest of their life.”
A dream come true, thanks to a selfless sister.
Kim Hone-McMahan can be reached at 330-996-3742 or kmcmahan@thebeaconjournal.com.