Double delivery: A Charlotte couple’s journey to their dream family
CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A Charlotte-area couple is celebrating something they’d always dreamed of but weren’t sure would ever happen.
They are counting down the weeks to a very special delivery.
It’s hard not to feel an overwhelming sense of wonder and joy Lindsey sifts through piles of tiny newborn clothes in the rooms that’s slowly turning into a nursery.
“This is from your sister right?” she asks as she pulls a garment out from the pile and holds it up.
Lindsey is due on October 13th and it’ll be an especially lucky day because it will actually be the couple’s second child.
Lindsey’s wife, Laura, is due with their first baby on August 22nd, meaning they’ll have two babies, two months apart.
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“They’re like twins, not twins. I mean, really close in age. Probably going to be in the same grade together,” said Lindsey.
It’s the kind of family the two have been dreaming of.
Lindsey said, “I think we were gonna start a family, even if we hadn’t met each other.”
The two were married in October 2022 and had their first fertility consultation the next month.
“Two women doing IVF together – most people think like, ‘Oh, gosh, you guys are going to kill each other,” Lindsey laughed.
Their doctors at Reproductive Specialists of the Carolinas agree this isn’t something they typically see.
Dr. Matrika Johnson the Medical Director and Founder of RSC said, “It’s actually the first time that it’s happened in my career that I have had a couple that really wanted to come in and really wanted to do it at a similar time.”
Dr. Johnson said while she does treat same-sex couples often, they tend to time things differently.
“Usually they think about doing it and kind of taking turns. Usually one will get pregnant and then the other one will get pregnant,” she explained.
But if you ask Lindsey and Laura, this is exactly how their story is supposed to unfold.
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“It’s kind of been an adventure from the beginning,” Laura said.
This particular adventure started with lots of shots, pills, and doctors’ visits.
Lindsey said, “I had a whole IVF binder, basically for me and for her. By the time we got going, the initial amount of shots was overwhelming and the schedule of them, but you get a system down.”
Their system worked! Laura was successful with her first egg retrieval and embryo transfer in December and Lindsey’s second retrieval and transfer stuck in January using the same sperm donor.
Since Laura’s first positive pregnancy test and Lindsey’s shortly after, they’ve helped each other through the first trimester and picked out a nursery theme.
”I was super, super nauseous, just all day long. I probably threw up a couple of times a week,” Lindsey recalled.
They’ve also loosely talked about how they’re going to navigate each of their delivery days.
“We joke all the time about when she’s in labor, like, I’m going to be a house, “Lindsey chuckled, “I’m just going to be able to be like, ‘Here, squeeze my finger. Good. Good job.’ And then vice versa, I mean, she’s going to be exhausted.”
Most importantly though, they know the hopes and dreams they have for their babies.
Laura said, “I just hope that they’re happy and healthy and, you know, feel loved every day.”
They also hope two tiny people can help others understand that each family is unique. It’s part of why they loved working with RSC.
“I’ve just had patients that have come to me, and have just said ‘Well, the last place I was at the doctor – once they met us, they wouldn’t treat us,’ and to me, that’s not fair,“ said Dr. Johnson, “It’s not my job to say that a child can’t have all the love and affection from two Moms or two Dads.”
Lindsey and Laura know people will have questions, but it’s why they want to share their journey out in the open.
“I wanted other gay couples to see that and say, ‘I can do this too.’ You know? When I was working in the school system, I didn’t tell anyone I was gay for years,” Lindsey said, “I hid it for a long time and I thought to myself, all those years as a high school teacher, how many students I feel like I did an injustice to because they were gay and they didn’t have a role model, you know? and they really deserved one.”
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