Baby love

Dinner lady Julie Fisher, who has two young daughters of her own, has spent the past four years helping desperate couples overcome the heartbreak of infertility.

Last year she gave birth at York Hospital to a boy, Jordan, for a childless couple.

Next month she will have a second child for them - making their family complete.

Julie, 32, who has the total support of her husband, Andrew, has also been an egg donor, which has brought baby joy to another couple. Modest and matter-of-fact, Julie says her sole motivation is to help others experience the joys of having children.

She said: "After I had my first child I decided to become a surrogate mother. I just wanted to ease the pain of somebody's infertility."

'I just wanted to ease their pain'

CHILDREN'S pictures cover the entire kitchen door of Julie Fisher's home. In the garden, a pink scooter sticks out of her daughters' playhouse. Just behind is a giant slide and other play equipment. Pictures of Lauren, six, and Hannah, four, are proudly displayed on the living room wall.

Heavily-pregnant Julie, 32, plonks herself down on the comfy sofa and picks up a small box, which she opens to reveal a clutch of pictures of a small boy.

With his big eyes, round face, and fair hair, there is no mistaking the family resemblance to Julie's girls.

This is Jordan, Julie's son - half-brother to Lauren and Hannah - who she gave birth to last year for an infertile couple from Northamptonshire.

Next month, she will be having another child for them, a second boy, and then she plans to retire as a surrogate mum.

Julie said she decided to become a surrogate following the birth of Lauren.

"You have such feelings for your own children and I just wanted to ease the pain for somebody who couldn't have them," she said. Her husband, Andrew, 34, an HGV driver for Sam Smith's brewery, was totally supportive, but Julie, had to put her plans on hold because she was advised to complete her family first as a precaution in case anything went wrong with a surrogate pregnancy.

And so, following the birth of Hannah, Julie became a surrogate - embarking on roller-coaster ride filled with high expectations, dashed hopes, but ultimate fulfilment.

Julie met her first couple, from Lancashire, through the support organisation COTS (Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy).

They were keen to have a child which was genetically theirs, so they opted for "host" surrogacy involving IVF whereby eggs and sperm were taken from the couple and the resultant embryo placed in Julie's womb. Unfortunately Julie miscarried and a further five IVF attempts were unsuccessful.

"We decided to call it a day. You can't go on forever. It was disappointing. It was two years out of your life and we didn't get anywhere," said Julie, who lives in a maisonette in Tadcaster and works as a dinner lady at Riverside Primary School.

However, such was Julie's desire to help people overcome childlessness that, during one of the IVF cycles, she donated some of her eggs to help an anonymous infertile couple.

"I was happy to do host surrogacy because I didn't think I could give away my own genetic child," explained Julie. "But after becoming an egg donor, I got over that. The egg donation worked and there was a genetic child of mine out there, which didn't bother me."

So Julie offered to be a "straight" surrogate for the Lancashire couple, whereby she would use her eggs and inseminate herself with the intended father's sperm, but the couple turned her down.

"The husband said if they could not have their own child together they would rather try to adopt," said Julie.

Undeterred, Julie contacted COTS again and picked out a couple she wanted to help: Fay and Barry Leonard of Northamptonshire.

Their story highlighted some of the pitfalls and dangers of surrogacy, said Julie.

"They had had two previous surrogates, one lost contact with them and the other got pregnant and said it was Barry's, then well into the pregnancy told them it was her partner's," explained Julie.

They all agreed to go for "straight" surrogacy, which involved Fay and Barry visiting Julie at home. Barry would provide a sperm sample which Julie would then "inject" into herself using a plastic syringe.

"Andrew was working nights at the time, which was probably a good thing," said Julie, laughing at the memory of it all.

On the third attempt Julie fell pregnant and nine months later Jordan was born by caesarean section at York Hospital.

Her husband, Andrew, was with Julie at the birth, but immediately afterwards Jordan was given to Barry and Fay. They looked after him for a few days in York's special care baby unit, where he was monitored for breathing difficulties.

Julie is remarkably matter-of-fact and unemotional about her surrogate pregnancy and birth.

"I knew I could do it," she said. "All the way through I told myself: 'this is not my child'. I didn't become involved. I didn't bond. There was no nursery to decorate, no baby clothes to buy."

She always knew she would be able to give him up. "It would not matter how much pain I put myself through, I couldn't put somebody else through it by not giving them their child," she said.

After the birth, they all agreed to stay in touch so that Jordan would know about his "other family".

Julie's daughters enjoy spending time with Jordan, although they don't feel they have been deprived of a baby brother.

"Children are very accepting," said Julie. "I told them that Fay had a broken tummy and I was going to have a baby for her and Barry."

Families, friends and colleagues have been equally pleased and supportive. "People often say: 'good on you, but I don't know if I could do it'," said Julie.

Surrogates cannot be paid for their services, but can earn expenses up to about £10,000. Julie won't talk about the financial side of her arrangement but stresses that money has never been a motivating factor.

She said: "You can't do something like this for money. You have got to do it because you genuinely want to help somebody."

Updated: 09:24 Saturday, June 26, 2004