Daniela Rodriguez loved being pregnant.
“I felt great and had minimal symptoms,” said the 35-year-old mother of two, speaking from her house in Stamford, Conn. “I would look at myself in the mirror and feel pretty.”
In fact, she enjoyed pregnancy so much that she told her gay friends she would gladly carry their babies for them.
“I was partly joking but also serious,” said Rodriguez, whose kids are now 6 and 4. “I had heard all these stories about people doing it for friends and, you know, how amazing these women are for giving their bodies to help other families, so it was always in the back of my mind.”
Then, last November, her sister suffered a miscarriage. She, her science-teacher husband and her two kids had recently moved back to the New York City area after a stint in Chicago, and Rodriguez — a bridal hair and makeup artist — suddenly had a lot of free time, with all the wedding cancelations due to the pandemic. It seemed like a sign.
