After They Wouldn’t Let Her Brother Adopt A Baby, This Loving Sister Took Matters Into Her Own Hands

Your family is there for you through thick and thin and vice versa, right? No matter how annoying they can be, you would do absolutely anything for them. But really? Anything? Would you carry and give birth to your brother’s child?

David and his partner Brendan from Sydney, Australia wanted a child of their own. For years they had been desperately trying to adopt. Because of Australia’s policy on adoption for same-sex couples, they were having a very hard time and began to lose hope of being able to have a child.

Seeing their struggle, David’s sister, Ashlee Mataele, volunteered to be a surrogate for the couple. Ashley already had three children with her husband, and she was ready to bear number four for her brother.

Super Sister

When asked about her generous offer to have their child, she explained, “When I was growing up all I ever wanted to be was a mum. That’s why the decision to become their surrogate was so easy for me… Being a mum has brought me so much joy, I wanted the same happiness for David and Brendan. When I saw how much David and Brendan were struggling to become parents together, I knew I had to help.”

That is one awesome sister, and that is certainly a much bigger favor than, “Hey can you run to the store for me?” When she first offered, the couple was shocked.

“It took a few days for them to believe I was serious. They couldn’t believe it,” she said.

The Team Is Now Complete

Once everyone was onboard, David and Brendan started searching for an egg donor to fertilize with Brendan’s sperm. Within only a few days, they connected with a woman through a surrogacy forum named Corrinne Hocking, who would be the egg the donor. When getting to know Hocking, they realized that she used to study where the couple was studying when first met. They felt like the connection was kismet.

Ashlee got pregnant on the first try.

She said, “After doctors created a few viable embryos, I was implanted with the first one in September 2015. I remember feeling really excited about the prospect of falling pregnant with my future niece or nephew. We discovered it had worked about two weeks later and I got David’s kids to draw banners to tell them the news. It was an amazing moment our families shared.”

Baby Rylee was born on June 4, 2016. When he was born, the baby was put into Brendan, the father’s arms first. Brendan also cut the umbilical cord and the nurses placed the baby on his chest where they stayed cradled like that bonding for more than an hour.

You may be thinking, “How could she possibly carry a baby for nine months and then hand him off to someone else? Wasn’t that hard for her?”

But Ashlee said, “People questioned if I’d be able to hand over a baby at the end, but that never once worried me. I was the baby’s aunty, not its mum.”

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