As surrogate, woman bears granddaughters Associated Press LUBBOCK - For a South Plains woman who's skydived and piloted planes, bringing her granddaughters into the world was a bigger challenge. Marianne Thoms of Levelland, as a surrogate mother to her eldest son and daughter-in-law's children, gave birth to 3.8-pound Sydney and 3.6-pound Morgan on Sunday at Covenant Medical Center. Thoms, 52, said it's the first set of girls born to the Thoms family in two generations. "I think I was a lot more sensitive to how fragile life is and the possibilities about what might happen," Marianne told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Tuesday's editions, describing her pregnancy. "I don't think you think about how fragile life is at 22 and 23." Thoms' pregnancy followed a 28-year interval. Her son and daughter-in-law, Shawn and Traci Thoms of Dripping Springs, learned that Traci couldn't carry a child after trying for five years to get pregnant. Traci Thoms said that, because of complications from a miscarriage, doctors told the couple that children wouldn't be possible unless they could find someone to carry their children to term. "Our doctor said one of y'all's mothers would be an ideal surrogate," Traci said. Marianne Thoms volunteered. "It was more kind of a spur-of-the-moment deal," she said. "I was really surprised at the support from all the people I knew and people I didn't know." After Shawn and Traci Thoms selected a clinic in San Antonio for the in-vitro procedure, his mother underwent prenatal care and gave birth in Lubbock. Her obstetrician, Dr. Ronnelle Burley, said it was unusual for a woman that age to carry children. Marianne Thoms' pre-eclampsia, which developed about six weeks ago, could have been caused by age, Burley said. "Rarely do you see any 52-year-old pregnant women, whether it's a surrogate or natural birth," said Burley. "It went well. She was about eight weeks early. Beside that, it went absolutely OK." Traci Thoms said, "How many grandmothers can say they carried their granddaughters -- literally?" Chron
