A woman's sons were born 24 days apart: how it happened

A 32-year-old woman got more than she bargained for when she became pregnant at the same time as a surrogate mother. Now she has two sons who were born just 24 days apart.

This was reported by SSPDaily.

Jenna Herrera suffered five miscarriages in 10 years before she and her 39-year-old partner Joe decided to use a surrogate to start a family.

The couple was overjoyed when their surrogate, also 32, became pregnant with their biological child using Jenna's egg and Joe's sperm in early 2023. Then there was the shock when just four weeks later, Jenna found out she was pregnant too. In October last year, both women gave birth to healthy boys less than a month apart, making Jenna and Joe the parents of "twins."

Jenna gave birth to her son Joseph on October 1, 2023, and the surrogate gave birth to Alexander just 24 days later. Although the boys are not actually twins, the happy couple decided to raise them as if they were twins because it just "makes sense" for their family.

Mom, who co-owns a financial group in California, USA, with Joe, said: "Having twins now is twice the joy, but five times the work! My surrogate mother and I talked every day, and at 12 weeks, I decided to tell her that I was pregnant too. She was very happy for me. We immediately felt very comfortable being pregnant at the same time because she is friends with our good friends. I didn't want to tell her until we were at a good stage of pregnancy – we didn't want her to feel stressed or worried. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it."

Jenna, who also has two daughters from a previous relationship, had her first three miscarriages back-to-back in 2013, but doctors couldn't pinpoint the cause. Eventually, she was told that she had a hormonal deficiency, but also that her chances of getting pregnant and keeping it that way were mostly down to "luck."

In 2022, she and Joe decided they wanted to have a child of their own and began trying to conceive naturally, which unfortunately resulted in two more miscarriages within nine months.

It was then that they decided to try surrogacy and contacted a surrogate mother in Colombia who did not wish to be named. Jenna said she is still a close friend with the surrogate even after the birth of her sons. She explained: "We also plan a lot of family trips with our surrogate. We talk every day. We are very close."

Although her two boys are not actually twins, Jenna believes they come from "the same batch of eggs" so she thinks they may end up looking like twins. She said: "I think they come from the same batch of eggs – I didn't have a cycle between each retrieval – so I don't know if they'll look like twins. I am very interested to see. My husband is a musician – he will want them to play the drums. My family is more athletic and competitive – we just want them to do the same. It's so easy with one child, but with two, I'm a little worried."