Grandmother 61 gives birth to granddaughter for her gay Son
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A 61-year-old grandmother gave birth to her own granddaughter in Nebraska on Monday, after volunteering to be a surrogate for her son and his husbandâs child.


When Matthew Eledge, 32, and Elliot Dougherty, 29, began considering IVF as an option for conceiving a child two years ago, the couple say they were amused by Eledgeâs 61-year-old motherâs offer that sheâd happily be their surrogate.
Having last given birth more than 30 years ago, Cecile Eledge, who went through menopause 10 years ago, assured the couple that she âloved being pregnantâ, and, if she could, sheâd âdo it again in a heartbeatâ.
Meeting with a reproductive endocrinologist in their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, Matthew shared his motherâs âcrazyâ declaration with Dr. Carolyn Maud Dougherty, who assured him there was nothing crazy about her idea at all.
Calling Cecile in for a series of tests, including a Pap smear, blood and cholesterol tests, a mammogram and an ultrasound, doctors confirmed her to be in remarkable shape and fully capable of carrying a baby full-term.
âShe has lower blood-pressure than all of us [her children] and sheâs 61,â Matthew told DailyMail.com.
âI donât know how to describe her; sheâs remarkable. I have such a deep respect for her and am so gracious that even as a grown adult she continues to go above and beyond for me.â
With Cecile identified as a suitable host, Matthew and Elliot were once again blown away by another act of kindness from within their family. This time, it was Elliotâs 26-year-old sister, Lea Yribe, who offered the couple her eggs, having just given birth to her second child.
Cecil then had a series of hormone treatments. Using Eledgeâs sperm, doctors implanted several fertilized eggs in Cecilâs uterus, and remarkably she fell pregnant on the first attempt.
And, following a difficult nine-months â riddled with heightened morning sickness and frightening blood pressure spikes as a result of her age â she gave birth Monday.


Doctors were stunned when Cecile was able to give birth to Uma naturally, instead of the C-section procedure theyâd anticipated.
Photographer Ariel Panowicz captured the emotional moment Matthew and Elliot glanced down at their daughter for the first time, as grandma Cecile clutched the baby in her arms.
The pair are animated in their emotion throughout the labor, crying inconsolably into one anotherâs arms one moment, and beaming with pride the next, as a resilient Cecile stared back at them lovingly.
âGrowing up we would always tease my mom,â Mathew said. âSheâs very cute and sweet, so she let us get away with it. But in the midst of all the joking you can forget what someone is really like at the core of themselves.
âBut being in that room [during the labor] was such a visceral moment. All the joking had stopped. She was like a warrior â so strong. I just have such a deep respect for her and the incredible woman she is.â
Matthew, a high school teacher, says Cecile didnât find it hard to hand Uma over. What motivated her throughout the process, he says, was the very moment sheâd be able to place her âgrandbabyâ into her sonâs arms.
âShe said throughout the whole process that she didnât see Uma as her baby, she saw it as her grandbaby,â Matthew said.
âIn fact she was so exhausted after the pregnancy and birth she said she was actually glad to hand her over before the real hard work began,â he jokingly added. âShe said the whole process was âso worth itâ in the end.â
The couple say that Umaâs birth âliterally took a villageâ to bring together, but they couldnât be more excited about the prospect of being parents for the rest of their lives.
âThe whole experience behind it all has been so special. The acts of kindness that went into this all, and all of the support has been truly humbling.


âUma will now have some incredible female role models to look up to in Lea and my mother. I canât wait for her to develop an incredibly special bond with them both.â








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