We all learned where babies come from at an age when the very concept still seemed gross. Though most of us have grown out of the phase where we have to bury our heads in our shirts to talk about it, as we mature and face reality, it becomes clear that we weren’t exactly being told the whole truth as kids — not all babies are made the same way.
Having kids isn’t for everyone, but for those who do dream of having children, it’s less of a box to check on a bucket list than it is a calling, a purpose even. So when one New York couple discovered they couldn’t have children, they were completely devastated. That is, until one of their friends stepped forward with an offer they couldn’t refuse.
In 2010, Kevin and Nicole Barattini made their love official and said their vows in front of family and friends. Madly in love, the newlyweds were ready to settle down and make a home for themselves in Smithton, New York.
Everyone who knew the couple would gush about how great they were together. That’s because Kevin and Nicole shared a lot of the same ideas about what they wanted in life. The biggest one for them was to raise a family.
The couple had many friends, but their closest pals happened to be another couple, Lianna and Shaun. Nicole and Lianna had known each other for over 20 years, and they considered themselves more than best friends — they were like sisters.
Over the years, Lianna and Nicole shared their dreams of growing up to become moms. Only Lianna got a head start on Nicole. In 2015, she gave birth to her 5th child! But her and Shaun wouldn’t have it any other way, they loved having a big family.
As Nicole finally found the love of her life and tied the knot, she was anxious to start her own family. She could already picture her and Lianna’s kids playing and growing up together. However, things didn’t go as planned.
While Nicole looked young and healthy to anyone on the outside, she was actually struggling with an unusual health condition since she was a teen. And it recently came back to haunt her in the worst way.
When she was only 16-years-old, Nicole began breaking out in small bumps all over her body. She could tell pretty quickly that these weren’t any normal pubescent break-out. Something was definitely off.
It wasn’t until she became overcome with fatigue that her family finally forced her to go to the doctor. By the time she got checked out, most of her body was covered in these strange bumps, and her eyes had turned jaundice.
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Doctors took one look at her and knew they needed to act fast. They took some blood tests and made a shocking discovery: While a healthy person has between 140,000 and 150,000 platelets in their blood, Nicoles’s were dangerously low. She only had 8,000.
All of Nicole’s strange symptoms added up to a diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP. This autoimmune disease causes blood clots to form around the body, and with Nicole having such a low number of platelets, she was in immediate danger.
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Though Nicole did have to spend some time in the hospital recovering, doctors praised her for coming in when she did. If she had waited any longer, it might have been too late. Fortunately, there was some good news.
Nicole’s doctors were able to match her with a medication that would essentially enable her to live a normal life — and she did! In fact, most of the time Nicole completely forgot she even lived with the disease. Until a few months after her wedding day.
As their honeymoon came to an end, Nicole and Kevin got right down to business. They were so excited to start their family, and they didn’t want to waste any time. But try as they might, they just couldn’t get pregnant.
Growing more and more frustrated, Nicole went to the doctor to see if he could shed some light on her situation. It turned out that while Nicole could technically get pregnant, it was a huge blessing that she didn’t.
If she were to get pregnant, her TTP medicine would put her baby at great risk. Alternatively, going off her medicine would put Nicole’s life at risk, especially if she were to carry a child. Given her condition, there was no safe way for the couple to conceive.
Kevin and Nicole were devastated by the news. For months Nicole was unwilling to accept that she couldn’t carry, even considering going off her medicine. But that’s where Kevin drew the line. They needed to start considering other options.
When they sat down to evaluate what was really important, they realized that they didn’t need to have their own biological child, they just wanted to be parents. But their new idea of adoption was quickly squashed.
Just the cost of legal fees to go through the adoption process was $37,000 to $42,000. Nicole and Kevin wanted nothing more than to be parents, but they just couldn’t afford that bill. When they then turned to surrogacy, they ran into an even bigger problem.
Not only was the average cost of having a surrogate about $75,000, but the couple also discovered that it is actually illegal to pay for a surrogate in the state of New York. It seemed like every route they tried just led to a dead end.
Crushed as Nicole and Kevin were, they felt lucky to have such great friends to lean on. Shaun and Lianna had a feeling their friends were going through a rough time, so they invited them out for dinner. That’s when Nicole really opened up to Lianna about their struggle.
It was difficult enough for the couple to get through their story without crying, but they were truly stunned by Lianna’s response. “You know I have five children, Shaun and I want to have maybe one or two more.”
Nicole and Kevin just blinked, could their best friend really be so insensitive to their struggle? Then Lianna clarified, “No, not for me, for you guys — I’d like to carry a child.” The whole table couldn’t hold back their emotions, they all broke down in tears.
Lianna passed the health test to carry Nicole and Kevin’s baby (at this point she was an expert)! Unfortunately, the implant didn’t work; Lianna wasn’t pregnant. The couple could hardly believe their luck, but Lianna gave them some unexpected news.
She was willing to try again! This time doctors implanted two embryos to increase their chances of getting pregnant. After one excruciating week of waiting, all four of them went to Lianna’s appointment. No one was prepared for the news the doctors were about to give them.
Not only was Lianna pregnant, she was going to deliver twins! After all their struggles to have a baby, this truly felt like a miracle. Nicole and Kevin could hardly believe their dreams of becoming parents were about to come true, and they had their best friend to thank.
Lianna’s pregnancy went smoothly, and Nicole and Kevin were there for her every step of the way. Finally, they were parents to a beautiful and healthy boy and girl, Dominic and Luciana. But the new mom and dad had their own surprise in store.
They named Shaun and Lianna the twin’s godparents, a duty they were more than happy to accept. It was a long and bumpy road for Nicole and Kevin but they claim that in the end, everything was totally worth it!
