A single mum helped a couple have a child through surrogacy - which allowed her to buy her first ever home.
Teale Kelley, 27, was able to buy a house for her and her daughter Ella, 10, after earning £56,721 ($72,000) as a surrogate for a couple.
Teale used a surrogacy agency, which handled everything from the matching process to the intricate legal process.
In December 2023, she gave birth to a baby boy, and two months later, she was able to purchase her £401,300 ($500,000) four-bedroom home.
Teale always knew she wanted to be a surrogate and has always loved helping others.
Teale, a registered nurse in Denver, Colorado, USA, said: "I always knew I wanted to be a surrogate.
"I love being able to give back and help others. That's probably why I chose nursing as a career.
"I was working as an IVF nurse in a fertility clinic so I saw infertile people every single day."
Teale's experience with one patient, who had four miscarriages, is what pushed her to become a surrogate.
She explained: "I was sitting with this patient after she just got the news that she was having another miscarriage and had lost her baby.
"I held her while she cried and sat with her for a while.
"It was at this time it clicked for me that I could be a surrogate, and I could help someone bring their baby home."
So in August 2022, Teale began to search for an agency. She interviewed 10 different agencies before picking one.
The agency took the time to match her with a family, referred to as IPs (Intended Parents), based on her values and what she wanted to get from the journey.
According to Teale, the agency she chose was different to some agencies that match people with the next available IP's.
She said: "They honestly could not have picked better IP's for me to match with.
"They were incredible and we developed such a close friendship over the time of my surrogacy journey."
When the perfect couple were found, the process moved along smoothly and Teale gave birth to a healthy baby boy in December 2023.
Teale knew she wanted to spend her money she had earned on a brand new house.
She had been saving for several years but as a single parent, she struggled to gather the funds.
Teale said: "I had been renting apartments for years and I knew I eventually wanted to buy a house that I could make my own.
"I had been saving for years prior to doing the surrogacy journey but as a single parent with a one income household it was difficult to save enough."
Teale has stayed in contact with the couple and she has even been shipping frozen breast milk to them.
Teale said: "They became such good friends of mine. I love them and I love that I was able to help them.
"We talk all the time and the baby is doing great.
"I have actually been pumping milk for them and shipping it frozen to them as they live out of state.
"They also send me pictures and updates and I am going to visit them in the next few weeks, which I am so excited about."
Teale posted her whole journey and continues to post updates on her TikTok account: @Tealekelleyy
Teale Kelley, 27, was able to buy a house for her and her daughter Ella, 10, after earning £56,721 ($72,000) as a surrogate for a couple.
Teale used a surrogacy agency, which handled everything from the matching process to the intricate legal process.
In December 2023, she gave birth to a baby boy, and two months later, she was able to purchase her £401,300 ($500,000) four-bedroom home.
Teale always knew she wanted to be a surrogate and has always loved helping others.
Teale, a registered nurse in Denver, Colorado, USA, said: "I always knew I wanted to be a surrogate.
"I love being able to give back and help others. That's probably why I chose nursing as a career.
"I was working as an IVF nurse in a fertility clinic so I saw infertile people every single day."
Teale's experience with one patient, who had four miscarriages, is what pushed her to become a surrogate.
She explained: "I was sitting with this patient after she just got the news that she was having another miscarriage and had lost her baby.
"I held her while she cried and sat with her for a while.
"It was at this time it clicked for me that I could be a surrogate, and I could help someone bring their baby home."
So in August 2022, Teale began to search for an agency. She interviewed 10 different agencies before picking one.
The agency took the time to match her with a family, referred to as IPs (Intended Parents), based on her values and what she wanted to get from the journey.
According to Teale, the agency she chose was different to some agencies that match people with the next available IP's.
She said: "They honestly could not have picked better IP's for me to match with.
"They were incredible and we developed such a close friendship over the time of my surrogacy journey."
When the perfect couple were found, the process moved along smoothly and Teale gave birth to a healthy baby boy in December 2023.
Teale knew she wanted to spend her money she had earned on a brand new house.
She had been saving for several years but as a single parent, she struggled to gather the funds.
Teale said: "I had been renting apartments for years and I knew I eventually wanted to buy a house that I could make my own.
"I had been saving for years prior to doing the surrogacy journey but as a single parent with a one income household it was difficult to save enough."
Teale has stayed in contact with the couple and she has even been shipping frozen breast milk to them.
Teale said: "They became such good friends of mine. I love them and I love that I was able to help them.
"We talk all the time and the baby is doing great.
"I have actually been pumping milk for them and shipping it frozen to them as they live out of state.
"They also send me pictures and updates and I am going to visit them in the next few weeks, which I am so excited about."
Teale posted her whole journey and continues to post updates on her TikTok account: @Tealekelleyy
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FunTranscript
00:00I gave birth about two weeks ago to a baby that was not mine.
00:04I was a surrogate, so I carried someone else's baby for them.
00:07The couple I had carried for already had the embryos created, so it was made from their DNA and then it was transferred into my uterus to carry.
00:13Before I talk about my birth story, I want to preface this video saying that I would 100% do it again and be a surrogate and carry this pregnancy.
00:21My aunt is a doula and she was my support person for this, so I called her. She came to the hospital.
00:25They started me on a magnesium drip to help control my blood pressures and to prevent a seizure and prevent a stroke.
00:33All of which can happen with preeclampsia.
00:36It was just crazy to me because I hadn't had any, like, telltale signs of preeclampsia the whole pregnancy
00:42and the week before all the preeclampsia labs came back negative.
00:45The parents got there around midnight, which worked out perfectly.
00:49I am so grateful they were able to, like, get on a flight as quickly as they did.
00:53The epidural was the greatest thing that ever happened to me because I was able to take a wonderful nap.
00:58So then I started doing some practice pushes with the nurse and she was like,
01:01oh, we need to slow down a little bit because he's about to come out.
01:04And then they called in the doctor and I had the intended parents in the room, my aunt who's the doula, the doctors, the nurses, everyone was there.
01:10And then I started pushing.
01:11This was the easy part. It was so quick.
01:14I pushed for like 10-15 minutes and then he was born.
01:17He was 7 pounds 11 ounces.
01:20He was born exactly at 38 weeks.
01:22I can't imagine how big he would have been if I went all the way to 40, even to my induction day.
01:27They put baby on me and cleaned him off and then gave him to mom.
01:30The look on their faces when he was born, it made it all worth it.
01:36Just seeing how much like love that they had for him and how excited they were for him.
01:41That is like what I did it for.
01:43That image is going to be something I have like ingrained in my brain for a very, very long time.
01:48Okay, and then baby went to go do skin to skin with mom.
01:51He was laying on her chest for like an hour in a recliner next to me.
01:55While they were doing that, the doctor is delivering the placenta and then she delivered it and then she went to go do another delivery.
02:02The nurse came in the room and was massaging my fundus, just like your uterus.
02:06And she was like, I don't want you to freak out, but I need some help in here.
02:10So she pushed her button and a bunch of people came in.
02:12So everyone rushes in and she's like, I can't get her to stop bleeding.
02:16Like she's just gushing blood.
02:17So another nurse comes over and is pushing on my fundus, like trying to get the bleeding to stop.
02:22And then I felt this big huge gush.
02:24I like sit up and I look and I should not have done that.
02:28But there was like this huge, huge clot like bigger than like a softball.
02:32The doctor's still in the other delivery.
02:34So they call her and they let her know what's going on.
02:36They're like, she won't stop bleeding.
02:37Can we start like our hemorrhage protocol?
02:40Okay, so they have the hemorrhage controlled.
02:43They use that Jada suction device, which honestly saved my life.
02:47The whole entire time this was happening, the intended parents stayed with me and stayed by my side.
02:51They gave the baby to the nurses so they could start doing all of his newborn care.
02:55But then they stayed with me.
02:57Then they moved us to the recovery postpartum side.
03:00The baby's mom did not want me to be alone.
03:02So she had them bring a cot into my recovery postpartum room.
03:06So she could sleep in there with me, which was probably like the kindest thing she could have done.
03:12I don't think I would be like so emotional about this.
03:15I was talking to the mom after and she was like, Teal, if something would have happened to you, like, I don't know what I would have done.
03:21She was like, you gave me the greatest gift in the world.
03:24You gave me a baby and I never thought I would have one.
03:27And if something would have happened to you, like, I don't know what I would have done.
03:31What did I spend my surrogacy compensation on?
03:34Surrogates are compensated for their time, for their energy, for being pregnant.
03:38Pregnancy is very hard.
03:40The agency I use compensates very generously.
03:43I cannot share the exact number I was compensated, but I can give you a general ballpark and tell you what I spent it on.
03:49If you go on their website, it tells you first-time surrogates make up to $72,000.
03:53I was right around there.
03:55I'm a registered nurse, so I have a nice, steady, stable income, but I'm also a single mom.
04:00I also put myself through nursing school, so I have a lot of student loan debt.
04:03The compensation is broken up into monthly chunks.
04:06The first few payments I got, I worked on paying some of my student loans down and paying off my credit cards.
04:11And then I literally saved the rest.
04:13And with everything that I saved, I did just put that down on a brand new house.
04:19It's a new-build house.
04:21It is absolutely beautiful.
04:23My daughter and I literally went from being, like, homeless and bouncing around from couch to couch and staying with different people eight years ago to now owning a huge house.
04:32I've also shared with you guys, I grew up extremely poor, like, very, very poor.
04:37I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school, first person in my family to go to college.
04:41So this actually, like, wasn't supposed to be in the cards for me.
04:44I'm very proud of myself.
04:45I could literally cry thinking about it, talking about it.
04:48I'm so excited to bring you guys on this homebuyer, homeowner journey with me.
04:53But yes, my surrogacy compensation 100% helped with this.