51-year-old grandma gives birth to her own granddaughter

Julie Loving just gave her 29-year-old daughter the gift of life for a second time. The 51-year-old delivered her granddaughter as the gestational carrier on November 2, 2020.


New mom Breanna Lockwood made the announcement in an Instagram post, sharing her daughter’s name — Briar Juliette Lockwood — a sweet nod to her own mom.

“My mom was an absolute rockstar through a difficult delivery,” Lockwood wrote in the post. “The sacrifices she took to bring this little slice of heaven into our world takes my breath away. Holding my daughter in my arms my heart is bursting. The feeling of how I would do absolutely anything needed for this child is radiating through me when I look at her, and reflects back on what my mom did for me.”

Thoughtful comments have poured in for Lockwood, Loving, and baby Briar, by the thousands from people around the world who have followed the story since Lockwood’s viral Instagram post announcing the pregnancy.

“The love between a mother and daughter is unbreakable — can’t wait to see a pic of three generations of STRONG women with you, your mama & baby Briar!” one follower wrote, while others celebrated Briar’s long-awaited arrival via emoji.

TODAY Parents talked with the mother-daughter duo last month when Loving was 35 weeks pregnant.

“It’s been a textbook pregnancy,” Loving told TODAY Parents. “Everything’s been perfect.”


Lockwood, had struggled with infertility for years, experiencing four failed embryo transfers, two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy. After a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure left Lockwood with problematic scar tissue in her uterus, she and her husband Aaron turned to the idea of using a gestational carrier.

“Most Americans cannot afford a gestational carrier,” said Lockwood’s fertility specialist, Dr. Brian Kaplan of Fertility Centers of Illinois. “It’s over $100,000.”

Loving offered to be her daughter’s surrogate, but Kaplan wasn’t so easily convinced.

“My immediate reaction was, ‘This is not a good thing,’” said Kaplan, who has done more than 20,000 in vitro fertilization procedures in the span of his 29-year career. “Normally a gestational carrier should be under 40 years, but in medicine you have to look at an individual and personalize it.”

After rigorous testing, which included both medical exams and education on possible risks, Loving was given the green light.

“Fortunately she got pregnant the very first time with the very first embryo,” Kaplan shared. “I’ve been with Breanna for years with so much trauma and intensity — the resilience was mind-boggling. If she did not have her mom, she wouldn't have a baby.”

In the second post since baby Briar’s arrival, Lockwood shared she is “Just living in new mama bliss!” and updated followers that her mom is recovering and enjoying her rest.

Congratulations to the whole family!

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