Long Island couple honored for helping friends achieve dream of parenthood
ST. JAMES, Long Island -- If a mother's heart is a child's home, then two beautiful babies are doubly blessed this Mother's Day.
On Friday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone made a very special proclamation, honoring a local couple for generously offering to be surrogates for another couple that had difficulty conceiving themselves.
"You can't even put it into words," new mom Nicole Barattini said.
Barattini and her husband Kevin, of St James, weren't sure they'd ever be able to have kids. Right before they got married, they received the devastating news that Nicole has a rare autoimmune disease that would make pregnancy life threatening.
"We laughed, we cried, and then there was hope," Kevin Barattini said.
Their friends Lianna and Sean Fives, of East Moriches, already having five kids of their own, decided to help out.
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"It's almost a blur now, that Leanna and Sean stepped in to help," Nicole said.
Over dinner one night, they decided, really, what's one or two more? After all, Lianna knows a thing or two about motherhood. But she never knew the joy surrogacy could bring.
"I'll always have a special bond to them," Leanna said. "I love them."
And so do their newest five "cousins," who adore Luciana -- who already has the cutest yawn -- and Dominic -- a boy in motion.
The twins were born at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip back on February 10, but ever since, their parents and now Godparents have continued to share the special bond they all felt in the delivery room.
They also want to work with lawmakers so surrogacy becomes an easier process for parents.
"The kids aren't on our birth certificate yet," Nicole said. "We have to adopt our own children that are 100 percent maternally and paternally ours."
What they do know is that the journey may have been rough, which makes the outcome that much sweeter and the selflessness of this super mom unforgettable.
