This is a story of school best friends who happened to be the same-sex couple – Karina and Kelly. Both are biomedical engineers and in 2017 they get married after realizing their feelings for each other.
Karina – 31 and Kelly – 32, first met at school in Venezuela, South America. They both then moved to the United States after graduation and lived all over the country separately. During the interval, they dated a few men and happened to reconnect in Miami, Florida.
Their life changed when Karina Rincon and her wife Kelly Mesa decided to have a baby together. They wanted to double their chances. Unable to afford the high-priced IVF clinic treatment, both decided to buy a home £72 insemination kit before finding a sperm donor online.
The couple wanted to get pregnant at the same time as they knew the chances of having a baby was quite less. But they happened to be a same-sex couple, getting pregnant at the same time.
Both women conceived and ended up giving birth just three days apart in July last year.
Karina says ‘I’m really glad we didn’t go into labor at the same time.
Karina from Los Angeles, California wanted to share their story with other women to break a traditional taboo. She reveals –
“That was a worry of ours, but thankfully, being three days apart meant that I could be there when Leo was born and Kelly could when Sophie was.”
“People told us that we would kill each other being two pregnant women in the same house, with all those hormones flying around but, actually, it was great to go through this with the love of my life, who completely understood how I was feeling.”
Kelly added Karina –
“We are so in love with our babies. People always ask if they’re twins and we joke, ‘Almost!’”
The couple now lives in Los Angeles with their two children. Kelly gave birth to baby Leo on July 7, 2019, and her wife to his sister Sophie just three days later.
Positive pregnancy tests and scans of the babies
For the first few years of their relationship both kept their love secret from their families. Eventually coming out in 2017, just before marrying.
Speaking of their relationship, Karina said;
“Whenever I’d hear Kelly talking about boyfriends, I’d feel almost jealous and started to realise that it was because I had romantic feelings for her.
“She moved around a lot but, eventually, we found ourselves in the same city when we both moved to Miami. I was so nervous, as I had no idea how she would take it, but I had to tell her how I felt. Thankfully, she felt the same.”
And discussing the process of telling their friends and family about their true feelings for each other, Karina revealed;
“Not all of our loved ones approved. Coming out as a process is very hard. You have to come out to yourself first, accept who you are and understand that you aren’t doing anything wrong.
“As I’d only ever dated men before Kelly, some people thought it was a phase, but it wasn’t.
“Part of why we wanted to get married was to formalise our relationship and show the world that we were serious about one another.”
Karina and Kelly and their babies, Leo and Sophie.
Kelly revealed she wasn’t sure about having children, but Karina’s desire changed her mind. “Growing up, I hadn’t thought I wanted children,” she explained. She continued –
“I wanted to focus on my career and studying instead. But Karina changed all that. She has always wanted to be a mother, and I knew she’d make a fantastic one. My love for her changed my mind.”
The pair are now enjoying their life as a family. By sharing their story, they hope to inspire other couples for whom traditional conception may not be an option. The couple always wanted to raise awareness for the many different journeys that can lead to parenthood.
Kelly concluded: ‘My advice to other couples would be to be systematic. Think about what you want, and what will and won’t work for you.’ Karina added: ‘My advice is to be patient. I still can’t quite believe the way things all happened for us, but don’t give up hope.’
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