'It is priceless': Same-sex couple carries same baby for the first time ever
A Texan couple has made a first in fertility treatment when they welcomed their baby boy.
The same-sex pair, Ashleigh and Bliss Coulter, have become the first two women to carry the same baby, thanks to a new type of IVF.
Ashleigh says that she wanted to get pregnant for a long time but her wife Bliss "always wanted to have a child. I just didn't want to carry the child."
However, when they decided to try for a child, they started to think about the process in which they would go about carrying their little one.
Wanting to find a way to make it happen so that they as two women could carry the baby, they got the help of fertility specialists Dr. Kathy Doody and her husband Dr. Kevin Doody, who suggested reciprocal effortless IVF.
With this type of treatment, the egg and embryo came from Bliss and then were transferred to Ashleigh.
Costing about $8,000 with medication, it luckily worked for the Coulters, with Dr Kathy explaining that, "Bliss went through the stimulation of her ovaries and the egg harvest.''
Then the sperm and eggs were placed in the chamber of a device called the INVOcell and the device was placed in Bliss' body for five days, and the process of early embryo development began.
Kathy said, ''she got the embryo off to an early start. The eggs fertilized in her body and when they returned five days later, we removed the device and froze the embryos. It turns out, not surprisingly, that the woman's own body is a very good incubator."
It was Ashleigh's turn then.
After she was given estrogen followed by progesterone, the embryos were transferred to her body.
Ashleigh acknowledges that the collaborative aspect of the process was emotional but extremely gratifying.
She said, 'she got to carry him for five days and was a big part of the fertilization, and then I carried him for nine months. So that made it really special for both of us – that we were both involved. She got to be a part of it, and I got to be a part of it."
The Coulters are now proud parents to their beautiful five-month-old baby, Stetson.
This treatment is revolutionary and will pave the way for same-sex couples who want a family.
As Kathy said, ''I think it opens up new avenues, new choices for same-sex couples."