I'VE BEEN PREGNANT FOR 13 YEARS

Emily Westerfield, 38, has given birth to 11 babies – and she's not done yet

- KERRY HARDEN, LUCY LAING

Holding my newborn son against my chest, I felt his soft skin on mine.

'Hello Charlie,' I whispered. 'Welcome to the family.'

It was March 2014 and our third baby had just arrived. I passed him over to my husband Max, then 32, who gave him a cuddle, then placed him carefully in the arms of our daughter Mckenna, three, while little Jack, one, looked on.

Watching them together, my heart soared. Our family was complete.

Ever since we'd met in a local pub, in my hometown of Celina, Ohio, four years earlier, Max and I had talked about having children.

I quickly fell pregnant and Mckenna was born in April 2011. By the time we married, two months later, we were already planning more. Jack arrived in March 2013, and when I fell pregnant for the third time, three months later, I felt incredibly lucky. But I knew this wasn't the case for everyone.

I knew people who had endured multiple miscarriages, yet for us pregnancy had always been so easy. During my pregnancy with Charlie, knowing this was my last baby, I started to research infertility and surrogacy. There were hundreds of families desperate for a baby, and I began to wonder if I could carry another person's child.

BIG DECISION

I learnt there were two types of surrogacy: traditional, where your own eggs are used to make a baby, and gestational, where an embryo is implanted into your womb. While I didn't think I'd be able to give up a baby that was genetically mine, I was drawn to the idea of being a gestational surrogate.

'What do you think?' I asked Max. We discussed the risks. What if I became unwell during the pregnancy and couldn't look after our children? What if carrying someone else's baby left me ill or injured?

But deep down, I'd already made my decision. After Charlie was born, I told Max I wanted to become a surrogate, and seeing what it meant to me, he agreed.