Birth of Maitê | Surrogate Birth in Pensacola, FL

I’ve been contacted many times over the years about documenting a surrogate birth in Pensacola, FL. For one reason or another, it hasn’t happened. So when Débora reached out to have the birth of her daughter Maitê, via surrogacy, documented I knew I had to find a way to make it work. Even though I was already booked solid AND leaving on a trip to Croatia just days after the planned induction date.

Débora and Antonio are from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but live in Lisbon, Portugal. They each have two sons from previous relationships and tried for years to have another baby together. There was a bit of a language barrier and I didn’t fully understand all of the details behind why the option for IVF and/or surrogacy wasn’t an option in Brazil or Portugal, so suffice it to say that they ended up coming to Florida for fertility treatments and egg retrieval (pre-COVID).

Then the world shut down and they were not able to get back to have their embryo implanted. Not wanting to wait any longer, they explored the option to have a surrogate in Florida carry their baby and were matched with Kat, here in Pensacola.

I felt like just starting the documentation of this story at the hospital wouldn’t be enough context to really do it justice. So I contacted Kat to see if she might be willing to meet me at the Pensacola International Airport when Débora and Antonio arrived. Not only was she excited to do it, but she brought her WHOLE family.

I’m really thrilled with how the clips of the women and families meeting for the first time help to establish a sense of place and give future Maitê an idea of where she was born.

Kat ended up having to be induced earlier than expected. Bouncing back and forth between her laboring and Débora, Antonio, and their friends (who surprised them and flew in from Miami for the birth!), was different from any birth documentary I’ve ever done. It was challenging and interesting.

Kat’s labor was long, and in the end Maitê didn’t tolerate pushing. Due to the emergent nature of the c-section, I wasn’t allowed into the OR until Maitê was delivered. And of course, video is not allowed in the OR either.

I do wish I’d been able to get more footage of Kat meeting Maitê as she was such an important part of this journey. But we weren’t able to wait for her to leave the OR recovery area.

Maitê and her family are back in Lisbon now and I’m looking forward to visiting them when I’m there next year.

*All images and footage have been approved by the surrogate and shared with her written permission.