A powerful surrogacy story: This mama’s twin carried her twin babies

The bond between sisters is special, but Jill Noe and Whitney Bliesner have a unique bond that goes beyond just being siblings. As twins, Jill and Whitney shared a lot throughout their lives, and when Jill became Whitney’s surrogate they even shared a pregnancy.

As first reported by Today, Whitney has a rare disease called NF2 (Neurofibromatosis type 2). Because of NF2 she lost the vision in her left eye and hearing in her right ear, along with partial hearing loss in her left ear. The condition makes pregnancy risky, and the disease is hereditary.

Whitney and her husband, Pete, wanted to start a family, but adoption and surrogacy fees seemed to be putting parenthood out of their reach. Until Jill stepped in as their surrogate.

“We have always had a strong connection, I do think this experience made our connection stronger, for sure,” Whitney tells Motherly, adding that she’s sure that when Jill eventuallu has kids of her own the sisters will likely bond over motherhood, too.

Through IVF, Jill carried donor eggs fertilized with Pete’s sperm to make her twin sister’s family, and on June 7 Jill delivered Whitney and Pete’s son and daughter, little Rhett and Rhenley.

“Going through this with Jill was so easy,” Whitney tells Motherly. “We both had no idea what was going to happen or how we would deal with stuff during this journey. We had our ups and downs, but I think that’s life, and in any situation you would experience that. But with my sister, there was a sense of everything was going to be ok, like always. We always get over our annoyance and disagreements with each other very fast with no hard feelings. It was just a great experience to have with my best friend, my twin sister.”

Rhett and Rhenley are keeping Whitney super busy these days (with twins, someone is always hungry!) but she’s making time to share her story because she wants other people who can’t physically be pregnant to not give up on their dream of being a mom.

“It’s not about blood or biologically carrying a kid that makes you a mom, it’s the unconditional love, care, and security you give a child that makes you a mom,” she explains.

Whitney continues: “Even though you aren’t carrying or blood-related, you still have those feelings of babies being yours!”

Whitney calls Jill her best friend and Jill says the feeling is mutual, telling Today that she knows Whitney would have done the same for her if the roles where reversed.

“She’s always wanted to be a mom and her disease has already taken so much from her. I wasn’t going to allow (NF2) to take this opportunity from her, too,” Jill said. “It just felt like the right thing to do. Our family is so strong and so supportive of one another, especially since Whit’s diagnosis in 8th grade.”

Thanks to Jill, Whitney is now living her dream, taking care of her two adorable babies.

Jill is an amazing sister, and Whitney is already an amazing mom.

[A version of this post was originally published June 14, 2019. It has been updated.]