51-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth to Granddaughter, Acts as Daughter’s Surrogate

There's almost nothing a mother won't do for her child. And when a North Dakota woman saw the difficulties her daughter was having getting pregnant, she had to step in.

Sherri Dickson, who is 51 years old, agreed to carry her daughter Mandy Stephens' child after the 32-year-old and her husband struggled with fertility issues for years.

In a report by ABC News, Stephens and her husband wanted to have a baby since the day they were married back in 2013. After turning to in vitro fertilization, Stephens finally got pregnant but lost the baby because she went into early labor. The couple named the baby Theo.

"There's so much excitement," Stephens told ABC News. "You carry the baby for so long, and then it's all ripped apart and taken away. Your whole world stops."

Stephens experienced something doctors call cervical insufficiency, meaning her cervix opened prematurely. Though there is a procedure that may have allowed her to carry her own child, Stephens and her husband started considering adoption and surrogacy.

"Watching your child lose a child is the definition of sadness," Dickson said. "I can't describe it any other way. It breaks your heart."

Dickson wanted to do something to help, so she decided to carry Stephens' baby for her. Despite her age and the fact that she was in remission from multiple sclerosis, Dickson wanted to give her daughter that gift. And after two rounds of in vitro, Dickson became pregnant last November and gave birth to a girl, Mila, about a month ago.

"It's indescribable," Dickson said. "There are times I look at … [the baby] and say, 'We did that, you know?' We gave her what she wants. Not that you ever make up for a baby you lost but you give someone that hope, you know?"

Dickson says the pregnancy was actually pretty easy, but the labor wasn't how she remembered it some 20 years ago.

Congratulations to the entire family!