Published Tuesday September 8th, 2009 at 4:43pm
When Laura Wilson's flight from Kansas was approaching Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, she was shaking with nerves at the prospect of meeting her biological mother and family for the first time.
"But there was an instant connection when I first got off the plane. It was such a natural thing. We all instantly clicked," said Wilson, 20.
Her surrogate mother -- Tracie Dominguez, 44, of Oxnard -- said she was artificially inseminated in a doctor's office in Santa Monica more than two decades ago. After an eight-month pregnancy, "she was early, she couldn't wait," Dominguez said of Wilson. The infant was bundled up and taken to father Doug Wilson of Dallas and his wife, Elena.
Dominguez already had a son, Trevor McCune, now 21, and went on to have a daughter, Sarah McCune, now 18. She also gave birth to two more surrogate children. But she always wondered about her oldest girl, saying she had received information from the Wilsons for about five years before communication dried up.
Dominguez contacted the Center for Surrogate Parenting & Egg Donation, which had helped arrange the birth, but its information was out of date.
Then, in June, Wilson decided to try to contact her birth mother. Wilson was in Lawrence, Kan., where she attends college.
"I always knew about Tracie," Wilson said, and she was curious about the woman who had given her life. "When I was 18, my parents said I could meet Tracie."
Wilson said she didn't look right away because she had been brought up in a loving home, was getting ready to go to college and had other priorities. As time went on, Elena Wilson, who was herself adopted and had recently made contact with her birth parents, encouraged her daughter to make her own journey of discovery.
Laura Wilson said she had a diary that Dominguez had kept during the pregnancy, and as the young woman read more of it, she felt compelled to meet her birth mother.
Dominguez said she almost missed the phone calls because it was an unfamiliar phone number and she feared telemarketers. And Wilson thought leaving a voice message announcing herself after 20 years was inappropriate, so she kept calling and hanging up when the answering machine kicked on.
Finally, sensing something was different about this call, Dominguez answered -- and the two arranged to have Wilson come to California and visit over Labor Day weekend.
As Wilson sat on a couch in Dominguez's Oxnard living room, wedged between half-sister Sarah and her birth mother, she looked like the long-lost family member she is, bearing a striking resemblance to both women. Wilson said she was having a blast getting acquainted with the Dominguez/McCune clan, despite some gentle teasing about her habit of saying "y'all."
Dominguez said she decided to become a surrogate because she suffered a miscarriage during her first pregnancy and then took 10 months to conceive Trevor. She said the experience made her realize the heartbreak felt by many women who cannot conceive.
"I saw it as being like an organ donor. I didn't feel I was selling the baby," Dominguez said.
After going through the rigorous counseling and psychological testing required of surrogates, she decided to try it. Dominguez said it took three tries at the doctor's office before she conceived Wilson.
When it came time to give up the baby, she was reassured by the communication she had with the Wilsons that they would provide a good, nurturing home. "I think it's amazing. I don't think I could handle another woman having my husband's child," Dominguez said.
While Dominguez's husband of five years, Rex Dominguez, 40, prefers to stay on the sidelines as the boisterous brood gets reacquainted, he said he supports his wife's dedication to her children.
"I salute her for doing it. It's an amazing thing to help a family," he said.
For her part, Wilson said she is thrilled to finally make the connection to the family. "I've always been an only child. Now I have siblings," she said.
In fact, when they weren't completing each other's sentences, she and Sarah discovered a mutual passion for fashion and "Gossip Girl."
"We've already decided to be each other's bridesmaids," they both said.
But when asked if she'll get a tattoo like the rest of her newfound family, Wilson said, "I don't like needles."