When Jaclyn Fieberg couldn't seem to make her dream of becoming a mom come true, both of her sisters stepped in. Her younger sister donated her eggs and her older sister acted as a surrogate in this true labor of love. The sisters visited Studio 1A on March 8 to talk about their bond.
"Every single roadblock that I felt like we could hit, we were hitting," Fieberg said of her fertility journey.
The elementary school teacher and her husband, Greg, a firefighter and sergeant in the Air National Guard, were married in 2018. They endured seven unsuccessful rounds of IVF and three miscarriages. They also discovered that Fieberg had endometriosis and a chromosomal condition affecting her fertility.
When Fieberg's doctor, Matthew Lederman of RMA of New York - Westchester, suggested that she use an egg donor, her younger sister volunteered immediately. "I just knew it was something I had to do for her," Meredith McIntyre said.
“I don’t know how she went through the journey that she’s been through," McIntyre, a mother of twins, said. "It’s been years and it was so hard for her family to see her struggle. It was just blow after blow.”
The first attempt to transfer McIntyre's donor egg to her sister was unsuccessful. So Fieberg's older sister, Stephanie Corritori, already a mother of two, got involved.
"Jaclyn said, 'Stephanie, will you carry?'" Corritori recalled. "And my answer was, 'Yes.' Because it was always, 'Yes.' I would have given anything."
McIntyre added, "Stephanie and I always said to Jaclyn, ‘Whatever you need, we’ll be there.’”
The positive pregnancy was confirmed on on June 2, 2023 — the same day as their mother’s birthday. “Once the transfer took, I remember I fell to my knees, and I just hoped and prayed,” said Corritori.
Feeling pressure to carry the pregnancy to term for her sister, Corritori tried to remain positive. She said, "I remember I have a playlist that I listened to, and it’s called, 'We’ve Got This' because it was a team; it was everybody."
And then baby Emersyn Clare was born on Feb. 1, 2024.
While still on the delivery bed, Corritori turned to Fieberg and said, "You’re a mom!"
A mother at last, Fieberg said of Emersyn, "She’s going to know her story, and she’s going to know how wanted she was, and that her aunts did the most selfless, incredible thing."
Motherhood looks
Sitting on the couch with the three sisters and baby Emersyn in Studio 1A, Hoda Kotb asked Fieberg, "How's motherhood?"
"It's amazing," said Fieberg. "It's better than I even dreamt of, and I can't even believe that we're here right now and that she's finally here."
"I cannot believe what you endured over all of that time," Hoda said. "Was there a point that you thought to yourself, 'Well, maybe it's just not in the cards?'"
"I struggled with that quite a bit," said Fieberg, blinking back tears. "I just couldn't give it up. I've always wanted to be a mom. I was invested, and I kept praying that we'd finally have a miracle."
Turning to Corritori, Hoda said, "Can we talk about this playlist for a second because I love the 'We've Got This' playlist."
Corritori said, "I created that playlist a month before we started IVF, and I would listen to it everyday." Referring to "My Wish" by Rascal Flats, she said, "It reminded me a lot of Jaclyn and her struggles. And now it's for Emersyn so that her life is wonderful, too."
Corritori's playlist included the following songs:
- “My Wish” by Rascal Flats
- “Most People are Good” by Luke Bryan
- “When You Believe” by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey
- “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston
- “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John
- “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe
- “One” by U2 (Mary J. Blige version)
Hoda leaned in and asked the sisters how they would one day describe their journey to Emerson.
"I just hope she always knows how much we wanted her, that we were not willing to put it to rest until she was here, and that not only do my husband, Greg, and I want her, her aunts — her special aunts — and her grandparents ... everybody was rooting for us," said Fieberg. "She's finally here. So we're just so grateful."
"I feel like babies come right on time," Hoda responded. "And this little angel is right on time for your family."
