Lifestyle
These Gay Dads Had Babies Three Weeks Apart Via Surrogacy
It was "quite the whirlwind,"
August 05 2020 10:35 AM EST
August 05 2020 6:40 AM EST
MikelleStreet
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It was "quite the whirlwind,"
If you needed a feel-good story, Good Morning America has you covered. College sweethearts Terrell and Jarius shared their story of becoming fathers and building an audience of over one million followers on TikTok.
"We were looking for representation online for people that looked like us, just trying to become parents, homeowners, just getting out of college, all of that fun stuff and we unfortunately didn't see it," Terrell said in the feature. "So we just decided to fill the void and be the 'testers.'"
After graduating from college in 2015, the couple pretty quickly settled down into building out their family. After a May graduation, they bought a house the following July. By October, they were already pregnant via surrogacy.
It was "quite the whirlwind," Terrell admitted. Sadly, the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage which Jarius described as a "loss you never get over." And while the couple grieved their loss, and still feel the impact of the pregnancy, they continued on, finding another possible surrogate.
The new surrogate ended up being "everything we could have ever dreamt of," but she struggled to become pregnant. And while they couldn't bring themselves to cut their losses, the couple began to explore a third surrogate. In an unexpected twist, both surrogates became pregnant with the babies, Ashton and Aria, both being born weeks apart.
As a result of sharing their stories, the two dads have been able to quit their jobs to become fulltime content creators and dads.
"We wanted to show a little bit of diversity in same-sex parenting," Jarius said of their onus. The pair have taken to calling themselves the "CEOs of Dreams Come True" given their ability to persevere in the face of hardship. They continue to share their story (and funny content) across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
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Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.
Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.