Terrell Joseph and Jarius Goudeau have gone through a rollercoaster ride as they tried to become parents.
Terrell (above, left) had grown up around children and knew that he “always had ‘baby fever.” Then, he met Jarius (above, right) and the two have enjoyed six wonderful years together.
During that time, they got engaged in 2014, adopted three beautiful dogs, bought a house together, and started their journey towards having children.
Sadly, the journey was not easy.
The plan was for the two to try having biological children first before adopting.
“We had this theory that if we were to adopt first, we’d probably never move forward with biological children—out of fear that our adopted son or daughter would feel they weren’t ’enough,’” says Terrell. “But if we did it biologically first, once they were a little older we’d adopt a toddler or elementary-age child that could feel love from us and their siblings.”
As such, they focused on at-home insemination, while using both of their sperm (and swearing to never ask who’s sperm fathered the future children).
The two then went through a miscarriage with their surrogate last year, but they stayed strong and determined to have a child. As such, they buckled down, struggled to find a new surrogate, and eventually found one willing to take the journey with them.
Then, imagine their surprise when the first surrogate announced that she was also pregnant.
That’s right, after they once fought to have a single baby, the couple found themselves having two.
“At this point we didn’t know whether to jump for joy or crap a brick,” Joseph told NewNowNext. “We were expecting results from the new surrogate in just a few days.”
Thus, the two were graced with the (premature) birth of their son, Ashton, on July 27, 2017. After that, they were also blessed with the birth of their daughter, Aria, on September 9.
But that’s not the end of thier story. Just the beginning.
After having their children, the two got married in January and formally introduced the “twins” to family and friends.
Now, every day is filled with joy and love, and the happy parents want to remind parent-hopefuls to stick in there during the turbulent times before birth.
“Don’t give up, and don’t let anyone stand in your way,” Terrell advised NewNowNext, “There could be some heartbreak and some ’No’ before you finally get your ’Yes.’ But in the end, you won’t even remember the struggle it took to get them here—you’ll only know the fuzzy feeling you get every time you look at them knowing you’re their world.”
