(gentle music)
- I know my kids are excited.
I want them to see
what this means.
(nurses indistinctly chattering)
- [Nurse] Boy?
- [Savannah] Yes, a boy. (Olivia laughs)
- [Nurse] And you've been feeling good movements?
- [Olivia] Yes.
I want them to know what it means to sacrifice for somebody.
(gentle music)
and not to be sad that, you know,
what they thought could have been their brother or sister,
in some way, it's not.
I want them to be happy because, you know,
their mom had sacrificed her body for someone else.
(gentle music)
- I can't believe we only have a few more weeks.
- How are y'all feeling right now-
- Three weeks. - Like how are y'all?
- We're ready. - [Mason] We're ready.
- We're ready. - Okay, good.
- He's gonna look like you.
- Yeah. That's my nose. - I think so.
- Maybe he was just squished.
(Mason laughs) - Maybe so.
I love this.
It's perfect.
- It'll get dirty quick.
You want me to show you how pretty?
It says, "Handpicked for earth by my brother in heaven."
I love it. It's perfect.
Thank you again.
(gentle music)
- You good? - Yeah.
- Okay.
- [Interviewer] This is for our sound.
Mason, do you mind just giving me a clap?
- [Mason] A clap. (hands clap)
(gentle music)
- We became friends first
and then we started dating from there.
He never actually asked me to be his girlfriend.
He went straight to asking me to be his wife.
- Yep.
More than anything in life
was finding the right person, number one.
And you know, letting the Lord lead me to Savannah.
But then at the same time,
like, knowing that when we got married,
we were destined to be parents
and I was destined to be a dad.
- I have liver disease.
I was born with biliary atresia.
So the reality of me actually, having a child
was very unknown.
I was told early on that I may not even be able
to get pregnant one day.
It's a funny story.
Mason actually went to school with Olivia's husband
- William and I dated, like, the same like,
high school sweetheart.
And so really William didn't really care for me for a while.
(Savannah giggles)
- Mason had planned their high school reunion.
- Oh. Yeah, yeah.
- And I was sitting across from Olivia at the table
and I said, "You know, you might be taking care
of my baby soon in the NICU."
And she's, looked at me and she was like, "What?"
And she goes, "Wait, are you pregnant?"
(gentle music) (baby crying)
(machine beeping)
- [Olivia] We just had a twin admission a few hours ago.
Everyone's telling me to sit down and stop moving
but
it's kind of hard when you're,
you got a day like today.
- [Interviewer] Does it take any extra motivation
to come into to work?
(Olivia laughing)
- When you have three kids, not really.
'Cause either way you're working.
Well, I graduated in 2010 from nursing school.
I came here, I wanted to do labor and delivery
and they needed NICU.
So I said, "Okay, let me just get my foot in the door,
and do NICU."
Eight. Okay, so you're head ultrasound would be in two days.
Okay.
I'd never in a million years
thought I'd be working with neonatal babies.
But once I got here, got in the NICU,
saw what it was like, saw that I actually was
capable of doing that.
I never looked back.
So where do we need this?
(nurse speaking indistinctly)
That one works.
- [Nurse] Don't pick that up.
- Mason and his wife, Savannah got married
but I didn't really know her that well.
I knew Mason from Abundant Life and from just the community.
Like we just all kind of knew each other.
Fast forward to her ending up here at Ochsner
at the end of one of my shifts.
I didn't even know she was having complications.
- There was a Monday in June.
We went for my 17 1/2 week checkup.
And at that point they saw that
it looked like he had spina bifida.
And then they also thought he had a diaphragmatic hernia
which caused his organs to go into his chest.
They say, "Okay, you need to go in
for an emergency ultrasound tomorrow."
We found out that our child was not going to survive.
I went to the hospital
I got sent to triage here at Ochsner on O'Neal.
And they saw in ultrasound then that I was actually actively
contracting and I went into labor.
And I look over at my sister and I said,
"You know, I wonder if Olivia's working."
And I didn't even have her phone number.
We messaged her on Facebook.
- She was here in the hospital, and she wanted to see me.
And so I went to triage right down the hall.
And I was like, "Why are you here?
What are you doing here?"
Mason actually started saying, what was wrong with Reece.
It was emotional,
because I knew the second, he started rolling,
the diagnosis off his tongue,
I was like, "Okay, you're telling me
your baby's not gonna live."
So,
that was a rough night for them, for sure.
- He actually passed away as I gave birth.
At the time, I think I was in such shock
that this actually was happening.
- Yeah.
- It was a huge shock. - It was.
It's still something that we feel every single day.
- [Interviewer] Tell us about the day at church
where you volunteered to become a surrogate.
(Olivia giggles)
- [Mason] This was about maybe three weeks
- [Savannah] Three weeks - [Mason] after.
- [Savannah] after I had Reece.
- [Mason] We kinda looked at each other,
like, we really didn't want
to get out and go to church just yet,
but you know, we thought it would be a good idea.
- [Olivia] I went and found them after church
and I hugged her and asked her how she was doing.
- [Savannah] I looked at her.
I said, "I'm having a really
hard time." - [Mason] Yeah.
- [Savannah] But we are going to speak with this couple
tomorrow about surrogacy.
- When she said that I got really excited.
I wouldn't say this to anyone if I didn't mean it
but it just came out that I said, "I'll have your baby."
And she just looked at me
with this complete and utter shock and surprise.
- I said, "No, like, this is something
we're really considering. (Mason laughing)
Please, don't just say that you know."
And she said, "No, like, this is something
that I've always wanted to do
and I will carry your baby for you."
- Yeah.
- So I turned around and at grab Mason on the arm
(Mason laughing) and he looked at me
and I said, "She offered to do this."
And Mason just started sobbing.
- Yeah. I broke down.
- It's one of those moments you got chills.
You just knew what you were doing was supposed to happen.
Knowing what these amazing people have gone through.
They deserve a kid.
They are gonna be the best parents in the whole world.
And they're gonna love him more than anything.
And I don't know, I can't describe it
as more than just like a dream come true.
(dramatic music)
(dramatic music continues)
(door creaking)
- [Mason] Hey, you guys. - [Olivia] Hey.
- Come on in.
- Oh, it's good to see you.
- How are you? - Good.
- [William] I'll just come for the hug. - Yeah, come for the hug.
(hands slapping) - Oh, come on in.
- Is he good? - He's taking a nap.
- Yeah. - Hey, Uncle Willie.
- Say hi.
- [Savannah] That's something I tell her.
I'm like, you know, we are infinitely connected to her
and to her family and I can't thank her enough
for doing something I can't do for our family.
And that's to give us a healthy baby.
Hey, Brooks. This is your brother.
This is your blue butterfly, Reece.
Yeah, this is him. (baby cooing)
We love him, huh?
He helped us get you.
I've been having empty arms for the last year
and a half, - Yeah, yeah.
and I'm sorry.
Like they're not empty anymore.
Like I feel full. - [Mason] Yeah.
- I feel complete.
And even though we still grieve our son, Reece
like Brooks, has brought so much peace back into my heart
and I needed that.
(gentle music)