Woman gives birth to her own granddaughter, as surrogate

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah (Gray News) - A 50-year-old mother stepped in to serve as a surrogate for her daughter with infertility issues and gave birth to her own granddaughter.

Chalise Smith, a 50-year-old mother of eight, gave birth to her own granddaughter on May 17, acting as a surrogate for her daughter, 25-year-old Kaitlyn Munoz. The little girl is named Alayna Kait-Chalise Munoz after both women.

“Kaitlyn, her husband and my husband were all there in the delivery room. It was an amazing experience, and there wasn’t a dry eye in there,” Smith told KSL.

Smith made the decision to carry the baby for her daughter after seeing her deal with infertility issues for years, due to endometriosis.

“This was a gift for my daughter that she couldn’t do for herself. I would do anything for any of my children,” Smith said.

Munoz was able to harvest four embryos in 2019 and become pregnant with her son, Callahan. But it was a difficult delivery, with the baby born at 33 weeks.

She was then diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s syndrome that damaged her kidneys, according to KSTU. Doctors told her she should not try to get pregnant again, despite having two remaining embryos.

After careful consideration, Smith stepped in to carry those embryos for her daughter, something Munoz is grateful for.

“My mom did a lot of things for me, growing up, that I couldn’t do for myself, and 25 years later, she did something I couldn’t do for myself again. She brought me the greatest gift: Alayna,” she told KSL.

Thanks to her mom, Munoz is enjoying her family of four. She and Smith say they are even closer now after the “crazy” circumstances of Alayna’s journey into this world.

“I always tell people it’s crazy because she was grown in the same uterus as me, just 25 years later,” Munoz told KSTU.

Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.