Sisters donate eggs and serve as surrogate to help New Yorker become mother after IVF heartbreak

A New York woman who faced years of infertility and medical hurdles has become a mother after her two sisters donated eggs and acted as a gestational surrogate, delivering a healthy baby in February 2024. Jaclyn Fieberg, 40, and her husband Greg, 46, spent about £70,000 on seven rounds of in vitro fertilization and endured three miscarriages before the family’s support changed their trajectory.

Jaclyn and Greg married in 2018 and began trying to conceive soon after. Jaclyn has endometriosis and Mosaic Turner syndrome, conditions doctors warned could limit her ability to carry a pregnancy. After years of heartbreak and a sense of isolation, her sisters stepped forward with offers that would alter their own lives as well as hers. Stephanie Corritori, 42, and Meredith McIntyre, 36, were not only close by—living just a few miles away—but had also faced fertility challenges of their own.

Over the years, the Fiebergs endured three miscarriages and multiple failed IVF attempts, spending about £70,000 in pursuit of a family. Jaclyn, who has endometriosis and Mosaic Turner syndrome, recalls feeling broken as doctors explained that her chances of carrying a child were slim. Still, she hoped to have a baby of her own and feared a sense of disconnection if she pursued surrogacy or egg donation. She said, “I wanted to say that Greg and I made our baby. I stressed about a disconnection, and knowing it was someone else’s. It took me so long to get my head around it.”

In 2018, the couple’s journey began in earnest, with Jaclyn and Greg’s desire for a family shaping their days and finances. After the first miscarriage, Meredith and Steph offered practical support—Meredith had already experienced a miscarriage recently herself, and Steph had IVF experience from years earlier. Meredith later described her own fertility path, including a successful result for her own family, while reaffirming she would step in again if Jaclyn needed help. Steph also noted how her IVF work had produced a niece—Olivia—and a nephew—Tyler—demonstrating that sisters’ motherhood stories could intersect in unexpected ways.

The turning point came in 2023 when Meredith officially offered to donate eggs to Jaclyn. Jaclyn cried when she learned of the possibility and said the gesture felt like a profound gift from sisters who had already been her strongest supporters. “It was beautiful. It was the best gift imaginable from my sisters,” she recalled. But even as Meredith’s eggs offered renewed hope, the path remained complicated. The initial egg donation did not result in a viable pregnancy, and Jaclyn faced renewed uncertainty about whether she could carry a child at all.

Undeterred, the sisters pressed forward with a plan that would both honor Jaclyn’s wish to carry her own baby and recognize the practical realities of fertility health. Steph offered to carry the pregnancy as a surrogate. In mid-2023, the couple leaned on Steph’s experienced medical team to prepare for a transfer using Meredith’s embryo. Jaclyn and Greg were reassured by the familiarity of Steph’s doctor from her prior IVF journey, which helped the process move more quickly. Weeks after the plan took shape, the clinic delivered life-changing news: they were pregnant.

The pregnancy was confirmed in June 2023, and just months later Meredith’s embryo was transferred into Steph. Jaclyn recalled the moment when the news came—while the family was gathered for lunch at Meredith’s home—and they collapsed in a rush of emotion. “I cried, it was beautiful,” Jaclyn said. “No one could breathe.” Steph’s role as gestational carrier soon became a shared family project, with Jaclyn and Greg accompanying Steph to appointments and the extended family rallying around the growing anticipation of a new arrival.

By February 2024, Emersyn arrived healthy, with the extended family by Jaclyn and Greg’s side. The baby’s birth elevated a close-knit network of relatives who had supported Jaclyn through years of medical uncertainty. “Greg and I were smitten. All those years of pain and tears were worth it for our sweet daughter,” Jaclyn said, describing a moment she once thought might be impossible. The family celebrated not only Emersyn’s arrival but the bonds that had formed between Jaclyn and her sisters along the way. Steph, who grew the baby during pregnancy, and Meredith, who offered the donor eggs, remained tightly connected to Emersyn and to Jaclyn’s newly defined understanding of motherhood.

Since Emersyn’s birth, the sisters have continued to play active roles in the child’s life. They visit frequently, help with babysitting, and provide a constant source of emotional support, reinforcing the idea that family can be a cornerstone of health, resilience, and new beginnings after infertility and medical hardship. Jaclyn has said she would like her story to offer hope to other women facing similar challenges, emphasizing the importance of leaning on loved ones and maintaining an open mind about how families can form when traditional paths prove difficult.

Now about 1 1/2 years old, Emersyn embodies the outcome of a long, medically complex journey that combined fertility treatment, genetic considerations, and surrogate support. Jaclyn’s experience underscores how fertility health can intersect with family dynamics in unexpected ways, and it highlights the role that nontraditional routes can play in helping people build a family when medical odds are stacked against them. The sisters’ partnership illustrates how medical advances—ranging from egg donation to surrogacy—continue to reshape what is possible for families dealing with infertility, while also foregrounding the emotional, logistical, and ethical considerations that accompany such paths.

“Be open minded and lean on people for support. Everything will be okay,” Jaclyn told others who might be facing similar struggles. “There weren’t enough words to show our gratitude to my sisters.” The Emersyn story, she added, is a reminder that sometimes the most profound forms of health support come from those closest to us—and that hope can endure even after years of heartbreak.