She was born via surrogate. Now she wants to become one.
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Photo illustration: Allie Carl/Axios. Stock: Getty Images. Photo: Courtesy of MaRiahh Hodgkinson.
MaRiahh Hodgkinson knows she has "unique" origins: She grew up with a mom and dad — and an "auntie" who gave birth to her in 1999.
The big picture: That has "always been a part of my family and story," she says. She doesn't even remember a time she was sat down and told about her parentage."
Between the lines: The surrogate is not only Hodgkinson's biological mother but also her aunt — the wife of a half-brother her adoptive father only discovered as an adult.
- When she learned Hodgkinson's parents had struggled with fertility for years, she offered to help. Their first IUI cycle worked.
Zoom in: Hodgkinson has an old handwritten letter from her auntie to her mom, with an ultrasound picture of "your baby." And she still has a relationship with the woman who carried her.
- Right after Hodgkinson was born, both her parents were in the delivery room, and she went straight to her mother's chest.
"I was just the oven," her auntie would tell her. "You were always your mom's bun."
- Years later, that philosophy is also guiding Hodgkinson's surrogacy journey, this time as the oven.
Her turn: After birthing her own kids — a son and then twins 19 months later — Hodgkinson wants to be a surrogate for somebody else.
- "I got whatever crazy gene that is of loving being pregnant," she says. "I want to do it a million more times."
What's next: Hodgkinson already matched with intended parents and is in early talks about carrying their baby — she's just waiting for her doctor's clearance, at least a year postpartum, before moving forward.
- She found the family not through an agency but a Facebook group for intended parents and surrogates.
- She would be a gestational carrier, "although I'm not opposed to doing what my aunt did" and using her own egg.
- Her base compensation: $45,000 — modest by industry standards, she says. "I don't want to get rich off of this."
The bottom line: "I want to bless somebody's family," she says.
