Surrogate sister: MultiCare scheduler helps brother have a family
After more than 10 years of trying to have a baby, Ashley and Danny Thrush are marveling at “baby’s first … everything,” especially the excitement of the first holiday season, when baby Theodore will experience his first Christmas.
Ashley, 39, and Danny, 40, have been together nearly 20 years. They knew early in their relationship they wanted children, but struggled to conceive. In vitro fertilization (IVF) was unsuccessful.
Then Danny’s sister, Katie Thrush, offered to be their surrogate. Katie is an imaging scheduler at MultiCare Auburn Medical Center.
Baby Theodore was just a few days old, snoozing in his carrier, as the couple talked about their journey to bring him into their world. Just a few days into parenthood and they were already sleep-deprived, but still amazed.
Danny talked about how grateful he was that his sister agreed to carry his son. Then he smiled.
“We missed his actual birth,” he says.
Journey to a family
Ashley knew the odds were against her carrying a child. The women in her family all had hysterectomies early in life.
As years passed without conception, the couple decided to see a fertility specialist.
Ashley was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which causes multiple cysts in the ovaries. She was also diagnosed with adenomyosis, where the lining of the uterus grows into the uterine wall, resulting in higher rates of miscarriage.
Ashley and Danny decided to try IVF. The couple stored a few embryos and started the process. In the first attempt, Ashley had a miscarriage. The embryo didn’t attach to the uterus in their second attempt.
The couple was heartbroken. They had two embryos left, but doctors determined it was unlikely Ashley would be able to carry a child to term.
Their doctor suggested looking into a surrogate or considering adoption.
“We were open to either,” Ashley says. “We just wanted a family.”
When they talked about it with Danny’s family, Katie said, “I’ll do this for you.”
The couple had new hope. But they had to wait in line — Katie was pregnant with her own child when she offered to help.
Katie’s journey to a family
Katie had a good sense of what she was offering. For years she wanted a child, but her partners did not. For that reason and others, the relationships dissolved.
She decided she would become a mother regardless, and went through intrauterine insemination. She became pregnant on the first attempt.
Katie admits she didn’t really want to be pregnant again so soon after she had her baby boy, but she wanted to do all she could to help her brother have a family of his own. The three spoke with the fertility doctor, who suggested she wait one year after her son’s birth before attempting IVF.
During that year, Katie, Danny and Ashley prepared. They worked with attorneys to ensure the legal processes were followed. They went to mental health counseling. They talked about what to expect — how surrogacy might affect each of them, during and especially after the birth. 
On her son’s first birthday, Katie was ready to try. She got pregnant on the first attempt.
“Nobody has ever done anything like this in my life,” Danny says.
Baby’s first surprise
Theodore was born in the early hours of a July morning at MultiCare Auburn Medical Center. He was a healthy 7 pounds, 3 ounces.
Labor started slowly just after midnight. Nurses suggested Danny and Ashley go home to rest. It would be a while, they said. At about 4am, nurses called to say Katie had gotten an epidural and it was a good time to head back to the hospital.
There’s still time, nurses said. 
Then, about 10 minutes after that call, Theodore decided he was coming into the world. Katie had gone from not progressing at all to an imminent delivery.
“As soon as the nurse left my room, I felt that pressure,” she says.
The baby spent a couple of days in Auburn’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where nurses Brittnie Presnell and Kristy Penn took great care of the new family, Ashley says.
Family and work life post-birth
The joy of holidays and gatherings have new meaning for the Thrush family. The little cousins — Katie’s son Greyson and Theodore — are bonding nicely, and the Thrush family feels blessed.
“Mentally, I feel good,” Katie says. “(Theodore is) healthy, and seeing him with them, I feel great. They are going to be amazing parents.”
“This has been a decade of a journey for us,” Ashley says. “It’s amazing that he’s here. Katie volunteered to do this for us. We wouldn’t have a family without her.”
