After Welcoming a Baby via Surrogate, One Woman Discovered She Was Secretly 18.5 Weeks Pregnant (Exclusive)

03/22/2025 04:30 AM

After years of IVF procedures and numerous miscarriages, one woman was shocked to discover she was naturally pregnant – a miracle she never expected

For years, Katlyn Sparks-Haught was told she would never be able to carry a baby to full term. After three years of IVF, seven heartbreaking miscarriages and an autoimmune disease diagnosis that made sustaining a pregnancy nearly impossible, she had come to terms with an alternative path to motherhood. 

Then, against all odds, she received news of a miracle she never thought possible: She was unknowingly 18.5 weeks pregnant. 

She took to TikTok to share her disbelief, posting a video from her car recounting a moment when a grocery store cashier congratulated her on her pregnancy. Initially confused, Sparks-Haught then remembered – she was, in fact, pregnant – and admitted in the video that it would take some time to adjust to the unexpected reality.

@ktlynsprkshght

The bump now looks like a bump and not just me getting fat like what I thought was actually happening. 😂😂 #pregnacy#pregnant

♬ original sound - Kātlyn

Sparks-Haught learned that conceiving would be difficult at just 26 years old. After undergoing numerous tests, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and was advised to take control of her health in preparation for future attempts at pregnancy. 

"And I did just that. I had lost like 115 pounds… was the happiest I've ever been, like all these things. So I definitely had prep before meeting my husband," Sparks-Haught tells PEOPLE exclusively. "And then when I met my husband, we both knew, with talking to my doctor, that I needed to go to an IVF doctor. So a month before we even got married, we had already started that process."

For three years, Sparks-Haught endured the emotional and physical toll of IVF, yet, during that time, she says she never considered giving up an option. 

"You know how people just say they put on their 'big girl pants' and just plow through? I just knew I've always wanted to be a mother," she explains. 

"From the time I was 12, I started babysitting. By 18, I had a six-figure career being a nanny and then I was a high-profile nanny. So my path to motherhood started very young, like I knew I wanted that. So it was never a question of if – it was always a matter of when."

People often suggested she take a break from IVF, but Sparks-Haught was terrified of stopping. "I rather had kept going and kept the process going, because I was afraid that if I stopped, I don't know if I would have the courage to come back to it, because I knew what it meant to start over again," she says.

During her IVF journey, Sparks-Haught quit her job and in her spare time decided to pour her efforts into a meaningful project: writing a book that would connect her with others facing similar struggles. 

Related: Woman Turns IVF Needles into Art During Infertility Journey, Now Empowers Others Through Her Paintings (Exclusive)

Sammie and The Miracle Pearl: An IVF Journey became her outlet and a way to offer hope to other women navigating infertility. 

"I made a huge connection with the IVF community and — outside my husband and my family — it has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life, you know? Just to connect with other people and kind of share a common story," the author describes. 

But after multiple failed IVF transfers, Sparks-Haught saw a reproductive immunologist (RI) in Michigan who revealed she had natural killer cells that prevented her from maintaining a pregnancy. Realizing her body could no longer endure the toll of treatment, she and her husband made the emotional decision to pursue surrogacy. 

"For me, when we finally decided that my journey to motherhood wasn't going to be like everybody else's, the relief, the stress, everything just kind of washed away," she reveals. 

She and her husband quickly turned to Facebook to seek out a potential surrogate. By day three, they had found their match: Kaitlyn Frey, a mutual acquaintance from high school. 

The connection was instant, and soon after, Frey carried and delivered Sparks-Haught's daughter, who was born in October 2024.  

Holding her baby for the first time was indescribable. "I got to pull her out, and it was like I could breathe for the first time. I feel like that's the best way to describe it – yeah, like we did it!" Sparks-Haught says. "And not only we did it, but like, Kaitlyn and her husband did it, my whole family did it, it wasn't just me, we had a community of people who just wanted this child, wanted her here."

Yet, just as she and her husband were settling into parenthood, life surprised them. Despite being told she could never carry a baby, Sparks-Haught was unknowingly pregnant.

"I hadn't been feeling well. And I told my husband for months, like I don't feel well, I don't feel like myself," Sparks-Haught recalls.

She took two pregnancy tests the week their daughter was born, but both were negative. At that point, she credited her missing period to her ongoing PCOS symptoms.

However, her symptoms worsened, and she eventually sought medical attention in early February. An MRI revealed a "mass the size of a mango" in her uterus. 

"So I spiral...I text my husband. I was like, they found a mass in my uterus. They're saying it could be cancer or a tumor," Sparks-Haught tells PEOPLE. But a review of the MRI notes revealed the "mass" was actually that of a baby. 

A urine test confirmed the unthinkable: She was nearly five months pregnant and growing a healthy baby boy.

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"My husband and I were laughing, we look back and all the signs were there…but after three years of being told it's never gonna happen… I'm still getting used to it," she tells PEOPLE. "Like, the other day, he kicked me, like, kicked me. And I was like, what was that? I was like, 'Oh, I'm pregnant.' "

Despite the initial shock, Sparks-Haught has quickly embraced her second pregnancy with gratitude. 

"I'm not scared. Like, I know that sounds weird, and you think it'd be contradictory to everything I've been through, but I just have so much gratitude… I believed in miracles… I know what I've been told, and I know the chances of this happening."

Since the news, Sparks-Haught is excited to welcome a new perspective on pregnancy. "I knew, [Kaitlyn] putting her body through it, but I'm about to experience what she's physically done for us, right? So there's going to be a whole new level of gratitude, which I didn't think I could have," she says.

Sparks-Haught also believes her pregnancy is no coincidence. "I firmly believe that I'm pregnant because of Kaitlyn. So I believe that she blessed us, not with one miracle, but two," she says. "You know, because I was able to relax and to be excited and focused on something else. So she not only gave me one baby, she gave me two."

Now with her baby boy due at the end of June, Sparks-Haught is soaking in every moment, appreciating the journey she once thought impossible.  "I'm excited for every single day, every single moment, because, you know, it wasn't promised," she tells PEOPLE.