A real life angel here on Earth...

Everybody, meet Jasmine

Jasmine is the closest thing you’ll meet to a living angel here on earth. She is a gestational carrier for Kelly, who is a real live WARRIOR, and elementary school employee, who endured SEVEN years, three losses, multiple surgeries, and countless financial struggles trying to have her miracle baby.

I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of these two ladies after a post in a Facebook group I am a member of caught my attention, following Kelly and Jasmine’s story. After doing these photos for Jasmine and getting to know her a bit, I fell fascinated with digging deeper into the details, and felt that their’s is a story worth sharing. It is one of hope, optimism, and it uplifted my spirits when I badly needed a sense of hope this week… so I am hoping to share that uplifting experience with you! (With the permission of Kelly and Jasmine, of course)

So, this is my paraphrased documentation of Kelly’s side of this journey, I hope I can do it justice and honor, and tell it with at least half as much grace as she did.

I talked on the phone with Kelly for about a half an hour last night to gain some more insight on documenting their journey. I was brought to tears not once, but twice. This woman… when she speaks… you can hear her HEART. Her heart for Jasmine, and Jasmine’s very supportive, kind husband… her heart for the baby she has longed and prayed for, for many years… her heart for the loss she has endured. All of it. When she tells her story, it is the most heartfelt tale of all time.

Kelly became pregnant on her very first try—with TWINS—which sadly, she later miscarried at separate times. The medical procedure that followed the miscarriages left Kelly with irreparable scarring on her uterine lining. After one more pregnancy that tragically ended too soon as well, Kelly began her journey into the world of surrogacy/gestational carriers.

She joined a WORLDWIDE surrogacy group on Facebook, and typed “Louisiana” into the search bar.

One post came up from years earlier, 2017. It was Jasmine. She was sharing her heart, asking for guidance and advice in wanting to begin the process of becoming a surrogate and blessing a family.

But the comments on the post were disheartening. Kelly found herself overwhelmed with the amount of negativity… how many people from all over the country were telling Jasmine to surrogate in ANY state besides Louisiana. You see, Louisiana is considered to be an “unfriendly surrogate” state. There are very strict, harsh laws in place for becoming a surrogate. The main one being, that the carrier cannot legally be compensated for her service in our state. (What the heck?? This is a whole other issue that clearly isn’t being talked about enough. Why haven’t we done anything to change this yet…?!) anyways.

Not only was Jasmine from Louisiana… she lived 15 minutes away, in a neighboring city. Kelly had considered expanding her search to outside of the state, but with her work schedule being inflexible, and with her deep desire to be present at each and every progressing doctors appointment, her heart NEEDED it to be someone within the state. And God did her one better, by giving her a provider—the one surrogate in the state open to carrying, despite not being allowed compensation—living right in her own city.

Jasmine was discouraged after her post in 2017 and went back to focusing on her own family; a husband and four children of her own.

All these years later… Kelly took a chance, reached out, and asked if Jasmine was still interested in being a gestational carrier despite the insane amount of hoops that have to be jumped through. Even Jasmine’s HUSBAND had to go through blood work, drug testing, etc. just for Jasmine to be eligible to carry someone else’s biological child for them.

The discussion went on for three months while Jasmine made sure her husband was fully on board, and the four (Kelly, Jasmine, and their husbands) finally met up in person.

Fast forward to their first attempt at transferring a fully viable embryo of Kelly’s to Jasmine… and it was unsuccessful. Kelly notes at this point that one of her friends’ words stuck with her through the desire to throw in the towel… “your desire has to be greater than your devastation”.

She says had it not been for Jasmine’s optimism and faith that the second round would be successful, she would have likely given up.

After the second try, Kelly found herself unable to ask Jasmine anything about if she was taking at home pregnancy tests, or keeping tabs on the situation at all. She was too afraid to face bad news yet again.

One day, Kelly was at a work meeting, when a Secretary came and told her that someone had stopped by and left something on her desk. She walked in and found a teddy bear on her desk, with a box. Inside of the box was a picture of a positive at home pregnancy test. The doctor soon confirmed the pregnancy was successful. Kelly mentions how every single detail during infertility is always mapped out, planned ahead, every medication scheduled, every visit predictable. There is no such thing as “surprise” in the world of infertility. But Jasmine was able to give Kelly that element of shock and excitement in her own very special, very heartwarming way.

Jasmine is now nearing 30 weeks pregnant with Kelly and Kyle’s biological child. A miracle that both of them have longed for in their heart, for all of their lives, and wouldn’t have been possible without each other. At this point in the story, Kelly mentions the overwhelming amount of photographers and service providers who have reached out wanting to lend a hand or offer services to honor and support their beautiful journey together. And Kelly and her husband, Kyle, chose ME — of all people — as one of their choices to photograph this beautiful woman carrying their beautiful miracle.

I have been blessed, touched, and warmed to the heart by this entire day revolving around these photos and these women. I cannot wait to hopefully get the opportunity to photograph the birth as well as newborn photos for this beautifully joined family

So please, everyone share some love for Kelly and Jasmine… the two strongest women I’ve ever met.