Sister Wives surprise: Robyn wants to be Meri’s surrogate

Sunday night’s season finale of Sister Wives showed the emotional home birth of Robyn and Kody Brown’s first child together, Solomon, the 17th in the polygamous Brown family. (Click here for first photos of baby Solomon)

After the whole family crowded in to meet Solomon (even Hunter, who was reluctant about the situation) Robyn asked to speak to first wife Meri alone. Through streaming tears Robyn asked Meri, who has been unable to conceive since giving birth to her daughter Mariah more than 15 years ago, if she wanted her to be her surrogate, and carry Meri and Kody’s baby.

“I want to get you while you’re good and emotional. I want to know if you want me to be your surrogate. Taking pieces of you and pieces of Kody . . . I’m offering it, wholeheartedly.”

Meri was so overcome she could barely speak, and said “wow, thanks,” before she leaned down to hug Robyn and cry.

As mentioned, Meri has struggled with infertility for more than a decade. She has said many times that she wanted more children, and has watched sister wives Janelle and Christine give birth to six children each. During the first season of Sister Wives, Kody discussed possible in-vitro fertilization with Meri during a vacation to Mexico, but she was reluctant, and said she was done with that part of her life.

Now, it looks like she might be ready to accept Robyn’s offer. Meri and Robyn have developed a very close friendship, one that Meri said she never experienced before with her other sister wives. In fact, it was Meri that first felt a connection with Robyn, and proposed to Kody that they bring her into the family. Now, if they undergo this experience, they’ll share a REALLY special kind of bond that almost never happens. Most surrogate situations aren’t people who are close to you, let alone someone who’s married to your husband!

UPDATE June 2012: As of now there appears to be no plans for Robyn to carry Meri’s child. On the show Meri and Kody visited two fertility experts, one of which pointed out that Meri may be running out of quality eggs and suggested that she use a donor egg (a kind of ridiculous idea in these circumstances.) Meri seemed unwilling to go through with anything that didn’t use her egg, and also was unsure if she still wanted to have anther child even if she used her own eggs.

UPDATE: A year after Solomon’s birth, Meri was still unsure what she wanted to do, but felt guilty for not taking Robyn up on her offer. Meri is unsure if it’s wise to have a baby at age 42.

Would you be a surrogate to someone you love?