Special Delivery
Photo posted April 15, 2013 in
News by Jill Knight
In December 2011 Jamie Pursley, then a 26-year-old UNC Charlotte student, was rushed to a Charlotte hospital after suddenly fainting in her professor’s office. Pursley, who was 16 weeks pregnant, had a ruptured uterus. In an effort to save Jamie’s life, doctors were forced to remove the 16-week-old baby as well as Pursley’s uterus. Pursley would never be able to carry a child again.
In the weeks following the emergency surgery, she was approached by a handful of women who offered to be a gestational carrier for Pursley and her husband Jacob.
An offer from her cousin Kristen Broome became a reality in July 2012 when Jamie and Jacob’s embryo was successfully implanted into Broome’s uterus at a fertility clinic in Charlotte.
Broome is a military wife and mother. Broome’s husband Lee is deployed in Afghanistan with the Air Force. For most of her pregnancy she has raised her two-year-old son Hayden by herself.
Broome was an unpaid surrogate and received no financial compensation for carrying the Pursley’s child. The biological parents covered costs related to legal fees, the pregnancy as well and gas money to fund the frequent trips from Broome’s home in Sumter, S.C. to Charlotte, N.C. where the Pursley’s doctor is located.
On the morning of April 6, Jamie and Jacob drove slowly and carefully from the hospital, arriving home with their three-day-old healthy baby boy. "I have to pinch myself sometimes," Jamie said. "I have to continuously remind myself that it’s all real and that this is not going to be taken away."
~ by Jill Knight
Jamie Pursley reads FitPregnancy magazine in the lobby of a Charlotte ob-gyn office. Jamie and Kristen Broome, pregnant with Jamie's son, were there for a check-up for Kristen. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie and her husband Jacob Pursley relax after painting the walls of their son-to-be's nursery in their Mooresville, N.C. home. Jacob picked out the wall colors and Jamie planned the nursery’s theme. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie walks through the Motherhood Maternity outlet store in Concord, N.C. Jamie took Kristen to the store to purchase maternity clothes and a new maternity bra. Although Kristen was an unpaid carrier, the Pursley’s paid for Kristen’s maternity clothes and other pregnancy related expenses. / Photo by Jill Knight
In the kitchen with Kristen and Kristen's two-year-old son Hayden, Jamie holds Sofey in her sweatshirt pretending the dog is a baby. Jamie proclaimed "this is what it’s going to be like when Liam is here." / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie, Jacob and Kristen react as they see the face of Liam during a 3D ultrasound. Kristen wanted to give the ultrasound as a gift to the Pursley’s but the couple would not allow her to pay for the procedure. / Photo by Jill Knight
In Liam's nursery, Jamie tests a sound and light machine she received as a baby shower gift. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie leans close to Kristen's belly to talk to her unborn baby after a dinner party at the Pursley’s home. Jamie often spoke to Liam in this manner out of fear that Liam would not recognize her voice after he was born. Jamie said that she felt like it sometimes made Kristen feel uncomfortable but that it was important to her that Liam heard her voice as much as possible. / Photo by Jill Knight
Kristen holds a cold washcloth to her head during labor on April 3, 2013 at Carolina’s Medical Center University in Charlotte. / Photo by Jill Knight
In the early hours of the morning her son would be born from the body of another woman, Jamie pumps breast milk. Lactation consultants from the hospital worked with Jamie to make it possible for her to breastfeed her son. / Photo by Jill Knight
Kristen eats a cherry popsicle during pre-labor. She was restricted to liquids during her scheduled induction. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie watches as Kristen’s water is broken. Doctors decided to induce Kristen at 39.5 weeks to prevent minor birth complications that occurred during her first birth with her own son. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie watches as her son’s head crowns during birth. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jacob watches with some concern as his son's neck is stretched as he is pulled free. / Photo by Jill Knight
After delivering Liam, Dr. Jen Rollins allows Jamie to hold the baby. Rollins was the physician who operated on Jamie in December 2011 when her uterus ruptured. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jacob cuts the umbilical cord immediately after Liam is delivered. The cord was cut promptly so that Jamie could start skin-to-skin contact with her son. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie and nurse manager Danielle Burgess watch as another nurse cleans Liam. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie begins to cry as she holds her son against her bare skin. "I think I was just in shock. I have never had an out-of- body experience until that day," she said later. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie touches her husband’s face to feel his temperature after Liam's birth. Jamie asked her husband if he was hot from all the emotions and adrenaline. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie hugs Kristen, thanking her for carrying their son, while Jacob brings Liam in to be with Kristen for the first time since birth. Kristen stayed in her own hospital room after the birth. Jamie and Jacob went back and forth from their hospital room to Kristen’s during their three-day hospital stay. / Photo by Jill Knight
A nurse gives Liam a shot. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie holds Liam close. "Finally," she said. "The feeling of him on me is the biggest sigh of relief." / Photo by Jill Knight
Robin Howard, Jamie’s mom, sees her first grandchild for the first time. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jacob holds his son against his bare skin. The hospital placed great emphasis on skin-to-skin time. Because Liam had a mild case of jaundice Jamie and Jacob were told to keep the baby by the window. / Photo by Jill Knight
Liam lies in a hospital bassinet near the window. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jamie dresses Liam in his first set of clothes before departing the hospital on April 6, 2013. / Photo by Jill Knight
Jacob and Jamie hug in their hospital room after their first full night as parents. / Photo by Jill Knight
Kristen had little opportunity to hold the baby she carried for nine months. Liam spent most of his first few days away from her for fear that her pheromones would confuse his natural tendency to nurse from the birth mother rather than from Jamie. / Photo by Jill Knight
Kristen and Jamie wait to be discharged. Jamie wanted to experience being pushed out in a wheelchair and asked to sit in a wheelchair next to Kristen. / Photo by Jill Knight