For Sarah Shellenberger, the birth of her son Hayes is her “medicine” after tragically losing her husband, Scott, as a result of a heart attack last February.
The new mom gave birth to her late husband’s baby 14 months after his death – using frozen embryos.
“Holding Hayes has been such good medicine for me and he has healed my heart in a lot of ways,” the 40-year-old teacher from Oklahoma City in the US told 7news.com.au.
The couple had just completed an embryo fertilization at a Barbados fertility clinic when husband Scott suddenly died while teaching a class at college.
A widow gave birth to her late husband's baby 14 months after his passing, using frozen embryos and said that her son has healed her heart. Sarah Shellenberger, 40, described Hayes as her "medicine" after she lost her husband Scott, 41, to a heart attack.
— IOL News (@IOL) July 6, 2021
Shellenberger said she was convinced that Scott would have wanted her to give birth to the baby and she fell pregnant with Hayes last August, six months after he died.
She also hopes to have another baby with her late husband using the same process with their second and last viable embryo.
“In our eyes, we have these two embryos that are already created and they are our children,” she added.
After marrying in September 2018, the couple immediately started planning for a family.
“Both of us really wanted at least three kids and we were really excited to start our family,” said Shellenberger.
And that’s when the couple started the egg-retrieval process via IVF.
Then came the good news – a week after Scott’s funeral, the clinic said she one more viable embryo.
“I was so hopeful that we had at least one more from the second round because I knew that was the last chance to have a child with my husband.
“It was our biggest dream – Scott wanted to be a dad,” added Shellenberger.
She later gave birth to Hayes on May 3.