Anne and Charlie, a 45 year old couple from Norfolk, UK, recently welcomed a special boarding guest in their home - Svetlana, 33, a surrogate mother who had been displaced by the war in Ukraine
The relationship between the two parties is also very delicate, because the surrogate child in Svetlana's belly is the daughter of the British couple
Nine years ago, Annie and Charlie remarried
The two lovers wanted to have their own child, but they failed in dozens of attempts in the past nine years
Annie had a 20-year-old son in her previous marriage, but Charlie had no children of his own, and Annie had always wanted a second child
When they were 35 years old, the couple cherished hope
After their natural pregnancy failed, they turned to a British private clinic for in vitro fertilization
After spending 6000 pounds, the embryo was not successfully transplanted into Anne's womb
In 2019, the two went to Spain
The Spanish clinic created four embryos for the two couples
At the end of the year, the first embryo was transferred to Anne's womb, but the embryo miscarried at the age of six weeks
Due to the interference of the epidemic situation, the Annies and her husband arrived in Spain again in July, 2020 for the second test tube baby attempt
Unfortunately, it happened again
Shortly before Christmas, a premature baby girl was born
She was only 23 weeks old
Five weeks after the baby girl was born, she still left
In August, 2021, Annie and her husband went to Spain three times
The transplanted embryos did not even stay in Annie's body for a week, and Annie directly miscarried
So far, Annie and her husband have spent more than 40000 pounds on fertility treatment
The desperate couple finally had to turn their attention to surrogacy
In Britain, only surrogacy that does not involve money transactions is legal, but it is difficult to find a pregnant mother willing to surrogate voluntarily
Finally, with the help of Anne's family, they came to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and found an agency and intermediary that specially arranged surrogacy services
Then they found Svetlana, 33, who had a 7-year-old son
She was a single mother who earned less than 1700 pounds a year in the hair removal business
In Ukraine, the world-renowned "surrogate factory", 2000 to 2500 surrogate babies are born from the womb of domestic women every year
Then, these children will leave this land forever and go to the infant biology parents who are looking forward to their arrival in all corners of the world
The United States is also a legal country for commercial surrogacy
However, the high price has deterred countless couples eager for children and turned to Ukrainian women for surrogacy, which is much cheaper
Like many women who have ventured into this industry, Svetlana not only sees the rich benefits, but also knows the risks faced by surrogacy, the damage to health, the risk of abortion, and the physical and mental pain of having to be separated from her own "flesh and blood" forever and never seeing each other again
At the same time, Annie and her husband need to pay the intermediary 4
￡ 20000, which is a "guaranteed" package price, involving unexpected circumstances such as miscarriage
This 4
Of the 20000 pounds, Svetlana can get 20000 pounds, which is ten times her usual income
She needs to support herself, her son, younger brother and an elderly mother
Annie and her husband were also very satisfied with Svetlana
They heard that Svetlana had conceived a pair of twins for a French couple
They were very relieved to give their embryos to Svetlana
"Emotionally, we know that she has dealt with the problem of handing over the baby and is happy to experience it again
" In this way, Svetlana became pregnant with the children of Annie and her husband, and gave birth to her life in her hometown, zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine
When the Russian Ukrainian war broke out, she was just 9 weeks pregnant and was in the early stage of pregnancy, which was easy to miscarry
Annie and her husband were stunned by the sudden outbreak of the war
On the first day of the war, Svetlana took the initiative to contact the worried Annie and her husband and said that she was about to set out with her mother, son and brother to the border city of Szczecin in Poland
Like many Ukrainian refugees who fled at that time, Svetlana, as the backbone of the whole family, traveled 1127 miles by train, bus and on foot with two small suitcases and her three families, and finally arrived at the Polish border three days later
The difference is that Svetlana is a special member of the refugees - she took the offspring of a British couple and risked miscarriage to almost cross her own mainland
During this period, Svetlana tried her best to keep in touch with the worried Annie and her husband
She turned off her mobile phone in order to save electricity, but she would send messages from time to time to tell them that they had arrived somewhere and reassure them, "don't worry, we are strong
" The next day, Svetlana didn't send any message to Annie and her husband
Annie and his wife could think that her mobile phone must be dead
Then something good happened
The Annies helped Svetlana apply for a special three-year visa, which allowed Svetlana's immediate family members to travel with her
Therefore, after the soul stirring escape, Svetlana can finally take her family to a safe land and enjoy good care
Annie and her husband are very worried about Svetlana's baby, but they are also very sympathetic and worried about Svetlana and her family
They vacated two rooms and bought new beds before the family arrived
After Svetlana arrived, Annie and her husband took her as their family
In order to distract Svetlana from the war, they took her and her son to Stonehenge, longlit wildlife park and the nearby Roman bathing place for sightseeing
However, Svetlana's pregnancy reaction was serious, and they did not travel again
Annie took Svetlana to the shopping mall clothing store to buy suitable maternity clothes
"I will buy you anything you like
"
"We want you to feel beautiful, independent and comfortable
You need clothes, and I'm happy to provide you with anything you want
" But in the end, Svetlana chose a loose Sweatshirt in a charity store
Considering Svetlana's feelings, Annie ordered a batch of discounted maternity clothes on the official website of the clothing brand after she came home
She told Svetlana that these clothes were on sale and there was no price tag on the clothes, so Svetlana was free to choose
Finally, Svetlana left 9 things and was very happy
Svetlana would take turns cooking with her husband and wife at home, but Annie found that the meat products she consumed were "lower grade"
It seemed that Svetlana didn't care about the impact of these meat with different prices on her body
However, Annie also laments that Svetlana's children are very healthy compared with herself who only eats "organic meat" during pregnancy
Now, Annie said that she was very happy to witness and accompany the whole process of her child's birth, and accompany Svetlana to every pregnancy test
Annie and her husband are also happy that Svetlana will stay after the birth of her child
They will help her and her family find a new place to live
However, Svetlana's current intention is to return to Ukraine as soon as possible
Svetlana is no longer worried about safety, food and accommodation, but all the surrogate mothers in this surrogate factory may not be as lucky as Svetlana and are treated so favorably by the biological parents of the children in their stomachs
Not all the surrogate children who stayed in the "factory" were taken home by their biological parents through the war
Today, the world's former baby "production base" is crumbling under the shadow of war
