The thing about miracles is that they always happen when you least expect them, when they seem impossible, and when you feel helpless. That's how Annie Johnston and her husband Joby Johnston felt for five years.
The couple was married in 2005, and three years later they decided to start their family. But no matter what they did, no matter how many procedures, surgeries, and treatments the couple would undergo, they could not conceive. For five years, they left doctors baffled. No one could pinpoint why it was so hard for Annie to get pregnant.
“When we were ready, we thought it would just happen,” Annie said. But it just wouldn't happen, and for so many woman who want nothing more to be mothers, like Kim Coseno, who resorted to having her 56-year-old mother become her surrogate, it just doesn't happen.
Then in 2013, when Annie felt completely helpless, her sister decided to do the unthinkable…
Annie and Joby Johnston decided they wanted to start their family. But after five years of fertility drugs, artificial insemination, and eventually IVF there was no luck.
“You just feel helpless,” Annie said.
Then there's Annie's big sister, Chrissy. Chrissy and her husband James already had two sons, but both couples were close. In fact, Chrissy and James lived just seven houses down the street. It just made sense for Chrissy that she would become a surrogate for her little sister.
“We’ve always been so close, and I knew how badly she wanted to help,” Annie said.
So Annie's doctor, who still didn't understand why she couldn't conceive, decided to place two of Annie and Joby's embryos in Annie's womb, and two in Chrissy's. Although there was 14 percent chance they might end up with at least one set of twins, they were mentally prepared for it.
“We were ready for a new problem. If the worst problem he can give us was now there would be four babies, we were ready,” Joby said.
Then they got the call. The sisters were prepared for bad news. What they got was quite the opposite. Annie was pregnant with twin girls, Chrissy with twin boys.
“Emotionally, mentally, in my heart I’m doing this for them,” Chrissy said.
On October 24, 2013, both sisters gave birth to four little babies by cesarean section. Chrissy went first so Annie could be there for the birth of their boys. Then Annie went off to deliver the girls.
Little Charlie, Tommy, Grace, and Haddie, twins by birth, quadruplets by circumstance, loved by two sisters, one aunt and one mommy…
Sometimes to have those beautiful ordinary things like a loving family, it takes extraordinary circumstances.
See more of Annie and Chrissy's amazing birth story in the video below!
Would you ever become a surrogate for a loved one? Let us know in the comments!
Please SHARE this story if you think this is one big, lucky family!
