"I sobbed all day. When we got home, a lot of our friends and relatives wanted to be there for us, but we just wanted to be with the babies," Amy, 41, exclusively tells the Daily Mirror. "For the next six hours, we never let them out of our arms... it was just the four of us. We both cried all day... it was terrible."

It was just a month after getting the twins, on September 3, that Amy was forced to give up the precious babies she'd waited so long for after Shelly Baker, the surrogate mother who'd carried them for her, decided she wanted them back. And all too soon the deadline came around and Shelly arrived with her mother and a police officer to witness the exchange.

"Scott said to me, 'you're going to have to do this', but I told him, 'I can't do it. I can't just hand my babies over'," Amy says. "Finally, Scott agreed to do it. First he I took out Ethan, then Bridget. Before Scott took them out I held each of them in my arms and gave them a kiss. And I hugged them as hard as you could a baby.

"Then I said, 'please look for us some day', as I shook with sadness. And they were gone. "I cried for weeks and weeks. My heart was utterly broken. It had been the most wonderful four and a half weeks of my entire life," Amy recalls.

It's something most parents couldn't ever imagine doing, but no matter how fiercely she loved Bridget and Ethan, there was nothing Amy could do to stop them being taken from her home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The surrogate mother, Shelly, accused Amy and Scott, 40, of being deceitful and withholding information after finding out about a drug charge Amy had from many years previously and that she sees a psychiatrist for anxiety.

Shelly felt Amy shouldn't have the twins, and went to court to fight for them back. They thought of fighting but couldn't afford the $15,000 (£9,400) it would cost, also they knew there was very little chance of winning. This was the final terrible blow in a process which had seen them turn to a surrogate after trying,and failing to have a baby for many years previously.

"We started trying to have he babies right away. Both Scott and and I love kids and were absolutely ur top desperate to have babies of our own," Amy says. "We tried the Natural way and then IVF. It was our top priority in life." But after five attempts, only one of Amy's eggs was fertilised. The only explanation was the Kehoes just weren't fertile.

Then Amy had an ectopic pregnancy in 2006 which ended, tragically, in a miscarriage. Later the same year she was pregnant again but had another miscarriage, followed by yet another the next year. "Every time I miscarried, a part of us just died," Amy says. "For weeks I'd cry myself to sleep, then pull myself together and we would try again. The three times I got pregnant - it was just terrible. Night after night, I'd walk through the door and start sobbing."

But she and Scott were determined. They considered adoption but finally settled on a surrogate - someone who would carry their baby for them. The Kehoes bought fertilised eggs from donors on the internet and began looking for someone to give birth to their children.

"Scott and I wanted to children so badly that we were after a sure thing. We wanted proven eggs, proven sperm and a proven surrogate," Amy says. It was all done through a broker and was legal and legitimate.

On a website, they found a woman named Shelly Baker from Detroit. She already had four children of her own - two with her first husband and two more with her second husband.

"At first, I thought she was the answer to our prayers... but Scott never liked her," Amy says. On paper she seemed perfect. Amy says: "She had been a surrogate twice before for a couple who were her friends. Shelly posted that she'd be willing to carry a baby for a Christian couple."

They met Shelly at her home. She had health insurance and the Kehoes would cover other expenses. In America, having a baby in a hospital can cost $100,000 (£62,500). The total cost would be $35,000 (£28,000). An agreement was worked out and soon after, Shelly was pregnant.

Now Amy admits that she was so desperate to be a mother that she ignored warning signs. "He didn't like Shelly from the start, he didn't trust her," Amy says. "I influenced Scott, I told him, 'Shelly's OK, everything's going to be fine'." Amy admits she was "terribly vulnerable" throughout the ninemonth rollercoaster. She says: "I wanted a baby so much that I didn't think it could go wrong."

Amy and Scott met with Shelly and her husband Paul several times during the pregnancy and on July 28, 2008, she gave birth to a boy and a girl.

Amy and Scott were so thrilled but it was six days before the hand-over took place.

"Finally, we brought Ethan and Bridget home.

I've never been so happy in my life," she says. On the children's nursery were the words: "Twins: Two little blessings from above. We were absolutely chuffed. It was a dream come true," Amy says.

But on August 21 they received notice that they must give the babies up in two weeks and their world came crashing down.

"Our attorney had called me a couple of days earlier and asked how it was all going... then said, 'Shelly is going to revoke the adoption'," Amy says.

Shelly has claimed she discovered that Amy had a misdemeanour cocaine possession and a drink-drive conviction from 2001. In addition, she discovered that Amy had an anxiety disorder.

Shelly told a local paper: "I'm standing there with a baby in my arms, just days after having (Caesarean) surgery and I'm hearing this for the first time."

In Michigan the surrogacy law remains hazy and as a result the two babies were Shelly's. It is one of five states that does not recognise surrogacy contracts, making them unenforceable. In that state, whoever gives birth - regardless of who the eggs or sperm came from - is considered the mother.

Shelly also claimed she had no idea Amy was seeing a psychiatrist and that she was driven by God to keep the babies.

But Amy says: "Shelly knew I was seeing a psychiatrist and he filed an affidavit that my illness would have no effect on me being a good mother. My criminal past was long behind me and besides, she said she was a Christian and yet she couldn't forgive something from a long time ago."

The court ordered the babies back to Baker but some experts believed the children belonged with the Kehoes. Amy and Scott have nine embryos left of the batch they purchased and they are being kept at a clinic. This time she says she'll carry the baby herself - no more surrogates. And they are unlikely to forget their fleeting time of happiness with the twins. "Maybe some day," Amy says sobbing. "They'll find out what happened and come looking for us. And we will greet them with open arms."

Could it happen here?

A spokesman for UK surrogacy charity COTS, says while there is no way this precise situation could arise in Britain, there is no guarantee that intended parents will be able to keep their child here either.

"A surrogacy arrangement like this could not be made in the UK," says the spokesman.

"That is because at least one of the intended parents must be genetically linked to the baby, whether that is the father, or the father and mother in a host surrogacy. But putting that aside, the situation regarding whether a surrogate mother can keep the child, is quite complicated.

"If the surrogate changes her mind during the pregnancy or immediately after birth before she hands the baby over to the intended parents, it is highly likely she will be able to keep it. However once the baby goes to the new parents, they are in a stronger position.

If it is six months later or even just four weeks, once the intended parents get wind of any idea the surrogate wants to take the child back they can apply for an emergency residence order. If this is granted, the child will stay with them until the courts decide where it should remain.

"And because in the UK there will be a genetic link with at least one of the intended parents, the courts will take that into consideration. The courts will decide what is best for the child, and often this will be to stay with the intended parents if this is where it has spent more or less the whole of its life until then. But unfortunately there are no guarantees and the decision will be made by the court."

Source: Daily Mirror

Pic: Daniel Andres Forero