‘I don’t want more children but became a surrogate because I love pregnancy’

A woman who longer wants children of her own has turned to surrogacy because she loved the feeling of being pregnant. Yessenia Latorre, 26, who is mother to five-year-old Tyson and three-year-old Trey Jnr, said she reaps great joy from carrying babies.

Gestational surrogacy, is when a person carries and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple who cannot conceive. The young woman first thought about the medical arrangement after experiencing a miscarriage, which highlighted how common fertility issues are.

The surrogate educator from Atlanta, Georgia, explained: “Going through my miscarriage, made me realize that so many women have problems getting pregnant.

“There are so many people out there who deserve to have children and having that miscarriage made me realize I wanted to help others.”

To help other women complete their dreams of becoming a mother, Yessenia finally became a surrogate after undergoing higher embryo transfer in 2022.

She did this with the full support of her partner Trey Murray, 27, who she had initially been able to share her intentions with.

“My husband was cool about it – I was really nervous talking to him,” she said. “When I spoke to him about it, I explained how so many people can’t have children.”

When Yessenia gave birth in March 2023, she was overjoyed with how well the pregnancy went, having been showered with gifts from the family.

“Whenever I think about what I do, it makes me happy,” she said. “Whenever I receive pictures of the baby or get gifts as a thank you, I feel a lot of pride and happiness that I was able to accomplish something so life-changing.”

Due to the high demand for surrogates in the United States, Yessenia was able to find work soon after setting out to find potential parents.

“Surrogates are in really high demand, there is one surrogate out there for every 10 families needed one – so, as a surrogate you don’t have to wait long to be matched,” she explained.

“You are matched really quickly on the spot,” she added. “As a surrogate, I wanted to have a relationship with the family.”

“Something that stood out for me with the family that I chose was that they were OK to have whatever relationship with eh baby that I wanted.”