Baby Boy Goes Home to His Genetic Parents : Custody fight: Infant ends stormy stay in hospital. The surrogate mother later visits couple and the child.
ORANGE — The child born to surrogate mother Anna L. Johnson, a tiny boy who was delivered into the eye of a legal and emotional hurricane four days ago, went home to his genetic parents Saturday.
The infant’s departure from the hospital was as unusual as his test-tube conception, his gestation in the womb of a hired surrogate and his birth into a potentially precedent-setting custody dispute.
When the still-unnamed newborn left St. Joseph Hospital in Orange about 10:15 a.m., there were no cooing relatives with flowers or baby rattles to beam at him and tickle his belly.
Instead, a pediatric nurse in a green scrub suit carried the sleeping infant out the front doors, flanked by a police officer, a clutch of hospital officials and the baby’s court-appointed guardian, attorney William G. Steiner. The child, wrapped in a striped blanket, was swept past a bank of reporters and photographers and loaded into a borrowed infant seat in Steiner’s car.
Steiner drove the child to the home of Mark and Crispina Calvert, the Orange County couple who hired Johnson to bear their baby. Crispina Calvert, 36, said that when Steiner pulled into the driveway of their quiet neighborhood, Mark could no longer wait inside. The 34-year-old insurance underwriter ran to the front door and out onto the steps, smiling and extending his arms so Steiner could hand him the still-sleeping baby.
After he crossed the threshold of the Calverts’ home, the infant’s life began to look a little more traditional. A houseful of relatives leaned over him almost constantly, talking baby talk to him and watching rapturously as his diaper was changed.
“We’re just so jubilant we have our child,†Calvert told The Times Orange County less than an hour after the baby arrived. “We appreciate Anna Johnson’s consideration, and we’re extremely grateful for her compassion in this situation.â€
Johnson rode home from the hospital in silence Friday night and wept intermittently on Saturday, said her attorney, Richard C. Gilbert. Staying with friends in Mission Viejo, she waited patiently until arrangements were made for her to visit the baby late Saturday afternoon.
Steiner said the visit at the Calverts’ home, which lasted about 75 minutes, was “tense and awkward the first few minutes†but went “much better than I expected.â€
Johnson brought a rum cake for the Calverts to break the ice, the child’s legal guardian said, and both Johnson and her 3-year-old daughter, Erica, played with the baby.
“I sort of got the feeling that this baby was sort of the peacemaker,†Steiner said. “The attention just focused on the baby and away from all the acrimony and problems.â€
Looking upbeat after the visit, Johnson smiled but would say only that she is “fine.†Johnson’s attorney said he wanted to respect the Calverts’ privacy and preferred that she not comment after the visit.
“She changed the baby and held the baby, and the baby slept a good part of the time,†Steiner said, adding that Johnson spent some time alone with the infant and also visited with the Calverts, chatting about the baby’s birth.
Johnson also had pictures taken of herself with the baby, just as the Calverts had done in the hospital the night he was born.
Ironically, Johnson--who is seeking shared custody with the Calverts--was the one who made certain that the child went home with the Calverts, Gilbert said. During a five-hour session with a judge Friday, the parties could not agree on who should take the baby home until another custody hearing could be held.
When Gilbert called her at the hospital to say that the judge was about to place the infant temporarily in a foster home, Johnson decided--tearfully--that it was better for the baby to be with the Calverts than in foster care.
Johnson’s attorney said he plans to seek an order from a state appeals court Wednesday or Thursday placing the baby with Johnson and declaring that she has parental rights equal to those of the Calverts. If the appeals court will hear the case, a custody hearing scheduled for Thursday would be postponed.
Johnson, 29, is the first surrogate mother to ask a judge to declare that she is the legal parent of a child who is not genetically related to her. She agreed to be implanted with an embryo made from the Calverts’ sperm and egg. But she later backed out of the $10,000 contract and sought to keep the child, saying the Calverts had neglected her during pregnancy and would make unfit parents.
Crispina Calvert cannot bear a child because her uterus had to be removed.
Gilbert said Johnson was in an emotionally delicate state Saturday. He said Johnson’s daughter had nightmares Friday night because she “wonders what happened to her baby brother.â€
Johnson will probably have to stop breast-feeding the baby now, because arrangements would be difficult and she believes the Calverts do not want her to bring milk for the baby, Gilbert said.
Although Johnson is “very comfortable with the decision she made†Friday, she would prefer to have the baby with her, and she still wants a court to declare her a legal parent and affirm what she believes is her right to participate in rearing the baby, Gilbert said.
Mark Calvert, meanwhile, said his wife is so overjoyed that she “won’t put the baby down. He’s constantly in her arms.â€
After the court hearing Friday, the couple bought diapers and a bottle on the way home.
And Crispina Calvert dashed out Saturday morning, she said, and bought a white changing table, a baby monitor, an infant bathing tub and a few tiny T-shirts, all in a mad half-hour shopping trip.
She said she is trying not to think about what might happen next in court.
“I’m just thinking about my baby and watching his beautiful face,†she said.
Staff writers Gebe Martinez and Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this story.
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