50-Year-Old Mom Gives Birth to Granddaughter, Says Surrogacy is 'The Greatest Gift'

mom gives birth to granddaughter Chalise Smith Kaitlyn Munoz utah infertility surrogacy Surrogate Mom Sjögren's syndrome Autoimmune disease embryo implantation Alayna Kait-Chalise Munoz endometriosis two frozen embryos Greatest Gift

By Lili Scott , Parent Herald Jun 04, 03:10 pm

Photo: (Photo : RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Utah mom Chalise Smith has given birth to her granddaughter at 50 years old after she offered to be the surrogate for Kaitlyn Munoz, her 25-year-old daughter.

Smith wanted to help her eldest child become a mom for a second time as she was aware of Munoz's infertility issues. The young mom suffers from Sjögren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that affects her body's ability to conceive. Munoz also suffers from endometriosis so she is more challenged to have an easy and safe pregnancy.

Thus, in September 2021, Smith went through embryo implantation. Smith, who has eight children of her own, successfully birthed her granddaughter, Alayna Kait-Chalise Munoz, on Tuesday, May 17.

Speaking with NBC 29, Smith said that this was her greatest gift to her eldest child. The happy grandmother said that she will do anything for all of her children.

Kaitlyn's Infertility Struggles

In 2019, Munoz fell pregnant for the first time after years of struggles with having a baby. She and her husband, Miguel, went the IVF route and had four embryos harvested. Two of these embryos resulted in Callahan, their firstborn son. However, Munoz had such a difficult time with the pregnancy and delivery of Callahan, who was born on the 33rd week.

The pregnancy led to the discovery of the young mother's autoimmune disease because she had flare-ups and other unusual medical episodes while trying to carry Callahan to term. Doctors told Munoz that her life would be at risk if she becomes pregnant again because Sjogren's syndrome may damage some of her organs.

In fact, doctors said that the pregnancy with Callahan was a matter of luck because women with Sjogren's syndrome usually suffer an early miscarriage, per Daily Mail. However, Munoz did have plans to have another child because she and Miguel still had two frozen embryos left. Smith, who breezed through eight pregnancies, then offered to become the surrogate after she witnessed the impact of Sjogren's syndrome on her daughter.

Why Mom, Daughter and Granddaughter Share the Greatest Gift

Smith said that she wanted everyone in the family to be fully on board with her plans to be the surrogate mom. She told her daughter and her husband that they can drop the plan if one of them has doubts.

But then the Munoz couple was more than 100 percent on board, as well as Smith's own husband and Munoz's siblings. The 50-year-old also needed to go through a lot of health checks prior to the surrogacy. Once she was given an all-clear by the doctors, everything was smooth sailing until the baby's birth.

Munoz can't thank her mother enough for not only giving her life as her daughter but also giving life to Alayna. She said that she gets a kick telling people that her daughter and her share the same uterus, "just 25 years later," per KSTU.

Smith is also grateful to have this gift because she and her daughter are even closer than before. She was very excited to see her granddaughter in the flesh but she's even happier to help her daughter and son-in-law fulfill their dreams of becoming a family of four.