South African Triplets Born To Same-Sex Couple. Have DNA Of Both Fathers.

We highlighted a Nevada couple, Fletcher and Greg in our recent blog Three LGBT Weddings Featured In 50 Best Weddings List. Newlyweds Want Us To Know, "If We Can Have This Happiness, Others Can, Too."  In it we learned about how the couple fought to adopt, then struggled to adopt one and then another child and then become one of the couples fighting the state of Nevada for marriage equality.  There are so many ways families become a family these days.  We wish it was easy for everyone, but some of us go through the initial struggles so the ones that come next may have it easier.

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Here are Theo and Christo and their new family.

A same sex couple from South Africa has made history after they both fathered their triplets, carried by a surrogate.  The babies, including a set of identical twins, were conceived after their surrogate had one egg fertilized by each of the fathers.

Theo and Christo Menelaou have their hands full! The couple welcomed triplets, born prematurely in July, are just so happy to be parents.  “It’s very hard to be accepted for adoption and we were told we would always come after heterosexual couples. And then we just never thought we’d ever find a person who would want to be surrogate to a gay couple,” Christo told the International Business Times.

It is thought that the couple, who both fertilized one egg, are the first same sex couple to share parenthood of their triplets through the help of a surrogate.  Theo is father to their identical twin girls, while his partner Christo is the father to the girls’ brother.  When one of the eggs split, making the surrogate pregnant with triplets, doctors suggested that the couple terminate two of the fetuses, but they declined, according to The Telegraph.

The triplets were born prematurely, at just 31 weeks, on July 2nd. Joshua was born first by cesarean section, followed by sister Zoe and then Kate.  Sky News reports that the babies were put on a machine to assist their breathing until they were strong enough to go home.  Joshua was the first baby to go home at 3 weeks old, followed by Zoe left 10 days later, while Kate went home on August 4th. – hotmomsclub.com

Here's an AP video from YouTube showing the new family of 5 adjusting to it all.

 

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The couple met their surrogate under very interesting circumstances.  Theo and Christo were friends and neighbors of former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, currently in jail for killing his girlfriend, and met the woman who would become their surrogate at a gathering of friends after the trial.

Christo told Sky News he and Theo weren’t sure they would ever become parents.  “When you are gay, there is always the thought that it just may not be possible to be a parent no matter how much you would love to be.

While it’s thought that the fathers are the first to co-parent their children with the aid of a surrogate, there’s very little data to support that claim, although they know it’s very rare.  Dr Heidra Dahms, the gynaecologist at Sunninghill Hospital who delivered the babies, told Sky News: “It is extremely rare. I have never heard of this before.”

While the triplets still face some health issues, with Zoe requiring heart surgery to fix a heart defect within in the next 6 months, the men are simply enjoying being fathers.  Theo, after talking about how they massage their backs or tickle their toes to ‘remind them to breathe’ sums up the experience perfectly.  “We feel so blessed. We really do.” – hotmomsclub.com

 

Thanks for sharing your story guys.  We wish only the best for you.  Thank you for paving the road for so many others, not just in South Africa, but the world.

 

h/t:  hotmomsclub.com