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It’s going to be a very special Mother’s Day for one Long Island family.
Nicole and Kevin Barattini of St. James will be spending their weekend with their newborn twins, thanks to a surrogate family.
Little Dominic and Luciana Barattini were born Feb. 10 at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip.
Their bundles of joy were announced at a special press event Friday at Suffolk County’s H Lee Dennison administrative building in Hauppauge, in part because those involved are hoping to help lobby for legal changes to grant rights for biological parents in surrogate arrangements.
“We’ve been through a long journey, a lot of heartaches, a lot of heartbreaks, but now we are blessed with two beautiful children,” Kevin Barattini told the press assembled Friday.
Prior to marriage, Nicole was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that prevented her from bearing children because of a maternal mortality risk. That’s when close friends Lianna and Shawn Fives of East Moriches stepped in to help the Barattinis’ fulfill their life-long dream of being parents.
“It was a beautiful journey, we would do it over in a heartbeat,” said Shawn Fives, who has five kids of his own. “I hope more families do it.”
Lianna Fives served as a gestational surrogate, and carried the Barattini twins.
“I knew all along that the babies weren’t mine; I will always have a special bond to them — I love them, but I’m not their mother,” Lianna said.
Though the Barattinis are the biological parents of Dominic and Luciana, they actually had to go through a process of adopting their own children, because of legal loopholes.
“Even though our children have 100 percent our genetics, we weren’t on their birth certificate,” said Kevin.
Now, the Barattinis are taking a stand to help other families who have children through in vitro fertilization.
“We want to make it easier for other people who are going through this,” said Nicole Barattini.
The Barattinis earned the support of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, and now plan to work alongside of him in Albany to help get legislation passed so that biological parents have immediate rights to their children — no matter who carries them.
“We are absolutely going to support Kevin and Nicole in their efforts to lobby for legislation to have New York state recognize surrogacy,” said Bellone.
Top photo: Nicole and Kevin Barattini holding their new born children at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge. (Credit: Nicholas Esposito).
