Meet Kiely.
Kiely is the mother of two boys and after her and her husband, Dean, felt as though their own family was complete, Kiely went on to be a gestational surrogate for four other families. She's delivered a total of seven children into the world including her own two sons and a set of twins in her third surrogacy journey!
Throughout her years of involvement in the surrogacy community, she’s written books, created a presence on TikTok by educating other women and advocating for surrogacy, and is in the process of starting a non-profit poised to provide helpful resources for other surrogates and to raise funds to assist intended parents with offsetting costs related to surrogacy.
Her passion for parenthood and empathy for those that want nothing more, is what drove her to help families in this way. Aside from having her own children, carrying pregnancies on behalf of others has been her most fulfilling work.
For my first time being a surrogate, I was matched with such a loving, nurturing set of parents! They had been through a couple decades of heartache trying everything to start a family. Surrogacy was their last attempt. When we met each other in person for the first time, the intended mother said to me, “now that I’ve met you, I have hope.” Queue ALL THE FEELS!
This couple was so ready and excited to be parents, but they were very private. I’ve respectfully never shared their name or any personally identifiable information about them. On delivery day, I saw how fulfilled and proud they were and I felt the same way. That experience truly sealed the deal for me and I knew I wanted to carry again for another family. 1
Journey #1
During that first journey, I had blogged my whole way through as I navigated the ins and out and learned all about the details and steps of a surrogacy journey. After I delivered, I had posted a link to the blog in my local Oklahoma Surrogates and Intended Parents group on Facebook. It wasn’t long at all after that that I got a message from Steffin. She said that she had read every word of my blog, loved my perspective, and (when I was recovered and feeling up to it) would love to take my husband and I out to lunch to share their story.
The four of us met for lunch one afternoon, my husband Dean and I, Steffin, the intended mother, and Lyle, the intended father. Steffin and Lyle told us all about themselves and shared that Steffin was born with a pretty rare condition - she doesn’t have a uterus. She can produce her own eggs, but always knew that, when the time came for her to become a mother, she was going to need the help of a surrogate if she wanted to have genetically related children. Want to really have your mind blown? Steffin successfully induced lactation and breastfed her newborn baby! She’s amazing.
Steffin and I are such kindred spirits! Our personalities instantly clicked. We had the best experience together. She attended every appointment and our communication with each other along the way was ideal. We spent hours brainstorming ideas for a nonprofit we’d eventually start together that would help bring more resources to other surrogates and raise funds to help offset the costs of surrogacy for intended parents - sound familiar?
As so many people like to remind me, I thought I might be ready to hang my hat after that second journey. However, the more I thought on it, the more I knew I wanted to carry for another family! This third time around, I felt strongly about carrying for a same sex couple. I connected with the agency I used during my first journey and it only took a matter of DAYS before I was perfectly matched with Jeremy and Jarett.
Our story is perfect in every way. Their communication was on pointe, they were so generous with their attention, and we truly enjoyed each other’s company, too! The night before the heartbeat confirmation ultrasound, Jeremy and Jarett stayed in our guestroom. The next morning, we all got up, went out to breakfast and joked about how crazy it would be if we went in to this ultrasound and saw two heartbeats instead of one. At the gestational age that embryos are at the time of transfer, there is about a 3% chance that this could happen. Sure enough, I ended up carrying identical twin girls for these gentlemen! This family of four is so dang beautiful, inside and out, and we’ve continued to be such good friends.
For real this time….this is my last one.
After that third journey was complete, I remember feeling a sense of surrogacy being a true party of who I am. It’s been so fulfilling and I’ve become so passionate about educating other women, advocating for surrogacy as a family building option, and have slowly but surely progressing ThatSurrogateLife.
I told my agency that I’ve been so blessed to have such unique journeys before - a very private couple, a super open couple I have a strong connection with, a same sex couple that I carried twins for….I wanted this last journey to have that “unique factor” as well. After learning about this coupe’s story, I knew they were the ones. There were two new elements to this experience…
1.They weren’t going to be first time parents, they already had a son that had been conceived after multiple rounds of IVF.
2. Not long before I was pregnant with their daughter, the intended mother had called me to tell me that after switching doctors, they had agreed to one last embryo transfer for herself and she was successfully pregnant! We carried pregnancies at the same time! It was wild. About 5 months after she delivered their second son, I delivered their daughter.
10 Years after completing our own family, I’m now retiring from surrogacy.
9 Times I’ve been in L&D as a patient (including 3 instances for false labor)
8 New friends I’ve made from carrying their children for them
7 Children I’ve brought into this world altogether (including my two boys)
6 Pregnancies I’ve put my body through
5 Babies delivered as a surrogate (including a set of twins)
4 Successful embryo transfers (on the first attempt)
3 Times I’ve been through postpartum depression
2 C-sections (one planned, one unplanned)
1 Truly fulfilled heart
(Just for funsies - I’ve done the math and I’ve taken over 420 injections in the name of surrogacy)…
In July of this year, I had walked into my house one evening to see my entire living and dining rooms full of my favorite people. They all yelled “Surprise!” and I was so confused! Dean had to point out a banner on the wall that said “Happy Retirement”. I was instantly in tears. There were pineapples everywhere, pomegranate juice (IYKYK), my ThatSurrogateLife logo and my books displayed up on the mantle, a “pin the sperm on the egg” game, cupcakes with photos of pregnant Kielys, and the best part: I was sat down in my living room and shown videos that had been collected from the parents I had carried for. Each one showing so much love and gratitude, congratulating me on bringing my surrogacy era to a close.