Couple wait for their bundles of joy
By Miranda Wood
February 1, 2004
The
Age
Lisa Banfield has been
reunited with the American surrogate mother who will
give birth to her twin boys.
It was the first time
the 37-year-old, from Sydney, had visited Krisy
Prelewicz since she fell pregnant six months ago.
"I think she's excited
and I think she has a healthy detachment from this," Mrs
Banfield said.
Recent scans have
confirmed that Mrs Banfield and her husband John, who
are both originally from New Zealand, will have twin
boys.
The couple say they
will both play rugby for the All Blacks. "They will know
the haka before they know the alphabet," Mrs Banfield
said.
Doctors in the US have
told Mrs Banfield - who is unable to have children after
treatment for cervical cancer - that the babies are
healthy, but she is still anxious.
"I thought I would be
more relaxed," Mrs Banfield said. "I am nervous
something might be wrong with them.
"Until I see them in my
hands and I am holding them and seeing them crying,
that's when it will hit me."
Some of Mrs Banfield's
nerves were settled after her recent reunion with Ms
Prelewicz, 37.
"She looks wonderful,"
she said. "She's not at all maternal. She was very, very
keen to note and see my reaction to the scans. That was,
for her, the first highlight."
Mrs Banfield was
instrumental in the amendment of Australian laws to
allow her to take her embryos out of the country.
The Banfields will pay
Ms Prelewicz $US21,000 ($A27,500) when she has the
twins.
The Banfields first
planned to find a surrogate mother in 1998. However,
those plans were shelved when Sydney doctors discovered
Mrs Banfield had a recurrence of cancer.
During her battle
against the disease, she used a friend's womb, her
sister's eggs and her husband's sperm to try to have a
child. But the attempt failed. They attempted IVF five
times but were unsuccessful.
Against many odds, Mrs
Banfield shocked her doctors at Sydney's Royal Hospital
for Women at the end of 2002 when she began producing
eggs again, after menopause, due to the cancer
treatment.
Now, more than a year
later, that medical miracle is helping to produce
another two tiny miracles and fulfil the couple's
greatest wish.
