Auckland mum-of-three Rebecca Haworth gave her then-US-based brother and sister-in-law Tim and Ashlynn Guptill the gift of parenthood when she offered – twice – to be their gestational surrogate after their daughter was stillborn. What followed was a triumph of selflessness, determination and luck between two couples on opposite sides of the Pacific, and amid a cancer diagnosis and a pandemic. Now the loving parents of their “little miracles”, the Guptills have pledged to pass the gift of life on to another family.
Cherie Howie reports. Sometimes, after the last meal of the day’s down the hatch, the little hands and faces have been wiped and the plates and cups cleared away, Ashlynn and Tim Guptill find themselves playing with their kids . It doesn’t matter which game’s been chosen, what dance move’s on show or which toy’s been grasped.
Seldom are such occasions in the photo collections of childhood , immortalised above words like “first” or “meets”. Nor do they reliably show the frustration and tedium that trails preschooler parenting like the head cold of a toddler in winter..