Southwest-area nurse takes break from saving lives, gives instead

For years, it has been Cassaundra Veenendaal’s duty as a nurse to save lives in the emergency room and intensive care unit at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals Siena Campus.

Last year, she extended her commitment by sharing the gift of life with her friend, Annette Mullis.

On May 30, 2012, Veenendaal gave birth to Mullis’ twins, Johnny and Mary, as their surrogate mother.

“We met in our undergrad for nursing (at UNLV) like nine years ago,” Veenendaal said. “We became really good friends, and now she’s like family.”

Mullis, 33, and her husband Jamie, 40, tried to have children for a few years before learning Mullis had an abnormal uterus that caused her to miscarry.

The couple turned to Dr. Geoffrey Sher at the Sher Fertility Institute for help.

“They were so devoted to having a baby and had gone through hell and back,” Sher said. “I told her (the miscarriage) would likely happen again, so I suggested that she find a surrogate mother.”

Shortly after meeting with Sher, Mullis confided in Veenendaal that she was thinking of getting a surrogate mother in India.

“I didn’t think I had any other options,” Mullis said. “I couldn’t ask if anyone I knew would do that for us.”

Veenendaal, 30, offered to be her surrogate.

“It’s kind of one of those things where you tell your friend, ‘I would take a bullet for you,’ ” Veenendaal said. “We were friends for a long time, so I just went with it.”

Veenendaal, Mullis and her husband decided to pursue a gestational surrogacy, in which the embryos are fertilized outside the womb and transplanted into the surrogate’s uterus.

Though Veenendaal would carry the embryos, Mullis and her husband would biologically be the parents.

The women were placed on steroids and hormones to time their cycles, harvest eggs and stimulate the uterine lining.

In December 2011, Veenendaal became pregnant.

“(Veenendaal) did it out of love, not for money,” Sher said, “and that is the greatest kind of gift of all.”

After the procedure, Veenendaal said she immediately knew she was pregnant with twins. Six weeks into the pregnancy, her suspicions were confirmed when she visited the emergency room for slight complications.

“When the ultrasound tech found Johnny, I asked him where the other one was,” Veenendaal said. “He was confused but looked on the other side and, sure enough, there was Mary.”

Veenendaal carried the twins for 27 weeks before Johnny’s placenta ruptured, causing her to go into early labor. The twins were delivered in an emergency cesarean section and placed in the neonatal intensive care unit for about 75 days.

Johnny weighed 2 pounds, 10 ounces. Mary weighed 2 pounds, 2 ounces.

“My whole family has a history of early babies,” Mullis said. “My niece was born at 26 weeks, and my nephew was born at 30 weeks. We didn’t expect it with the twins, but we were planning for it just in case.”

According to Veenendaal, the early delivery was a blessing in disguise because it allowed Mullis and her husband to bond with the twins and watch them grow.

“It was like they got to be there for the rest of the pregnancy, but it was outside of me,” she said.

Veenendaal experienced postpartum depression for about six months after giving birth.

“I don’t think the actual birth of the twins was the issue,” Veenendaal said. “I actually had a baby when I was 19, and I gave her up for adoption. I wouldn’t have agreed to (be a surrogate) if I hadn’t had a baby before and didn’t know what to expect.”

Although Mullis always wondered what it was like to carry a baby full term, she doesn’t feel she missed out on anything with the twins.

“I don’t feel like I lost anything because I’ve gained so much,” Mullis said. “I wouldn’t have traded any of it for the world.”

Mullis and her husband decided to pass on the gift of life by donating their remaining embryos to a couple they know, who are expecting a baby girl.

Despite Mullis and her husband being biologically related to baby, the couple don’t consider it their child.

“We already have our family, and we just wanted to give somebody else the opportunity to have theirs,” Mullis said. “The baby is theirs because they’ll raise it, just like the twins are my babies even though I wasn’t pregnant with them.”

As for Veenendaal, she’s unsure if she’ll have kids of her own.

“I wouldn’t want to have children without a partner, so I don’t know,” she said. “Besides, everyone else already has babies I can love.”

Johnny and Mary know Veenendaal as Aunt Cassi. Mullis said she will share the story of how they were born when they are older.

“My advice is to never give up on your family,” Mullis said. “Your family will come to you one way or another. Just be open to the opportunity when it does come.

“I never thought my family would come to me this way, but it’s everything I’ve ever dreamt of.”

Contact Southwest/Spring Valley View reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-383-0403.