The most productive surrogate mother accidentally gave away her own child: "Heartbroken"

A mother from the United Kingdom who gave eight families the best present ever experienced incredible heartache when she accidentally gave away her own child.

This was reported by the Guinness Book of Records.

Carol Gorlok holds the record for the number of children born to a surrogate mother. She carried 13 children for other people. Among them were twins and triplets. And there was one child she didn't know was her own. This was reported by SSPDaily

Carol, who has two daughters, gave birth to a boy in June 2004. She believed that the child was created from her egg and the sperm of the husband of a couple for whom she was a surrogate mother. But when the couple took a DNA test six weeks after the baby's birth, it turned out that the child was in fact Carol and her husband Paul's child.

Carol and Paul were then faced with the painful decision of whether to take their son back or allow the couple to keep him. They decided to give the child back, and Carol once said that she had no regrets about this decision, although she thinks about her son "all the time."

She told the Mirror: "I am immensely proud of my surrogacy career and the fact that I have given birth to 13 children who are loved by their families. I am very proud to be a surrogate mother. Surrogacy has brought me and the families I have helped immeasurable joy, but it has also led to some of the darkest times of my life. Surrogacy is the highest gift one woman can give to another. But there is also a dark side when things go wrong - the heartbreak, emotional roller coaster and acrimony are devastating."

The boy, who turned out to be Carol and Paul's son, was the ninth of her surrogate children. They had no idea when they placed him with a family. Carol admits that they "agonized" over what to do, but eventually decided to let them keep him.

She faced a lot of scrutiny, with people asking her how she could give away her own child.

The woman explained that many of the children she carried for other families were biologically her children. The only difference with this boy was that he also belonged to Paul. But having agreed to help a family that could not have children themselves, they did not think it was right to take a child away from them.

Carol said that it was important for a surrogate mother not to become attached to the child, and that she would spend the entire pregnancy "at a distance" from the child to make the separation easier.

Carol and Paul had children from previous relationships and had no children together except for this little boy. Paul told Carol that they would raise the child if the couple didn't want it, but the woman says they "loved her from the moment she was conceived."

In 2016, Carol appeared on the This Morning TV show to say that she was officially stopping being a surrogate mother. She stated: "I am officially stopping being a surrogate mother. I got pregnant last year and unfortunately I miscarried at seven weeks and since then I've had two attempts but they didn't work even though everything was perfect and my IVF doctor said it might be time to stop."

Carol said she was "sad" to leave surrogacy because she loved helping couples become families.