Photo: Oku Okoko
When she finally gotpregnantfrom her fourth round of IVF in November 2016, Caliendo (already mom to now-12-year-old Hunter from a previous marriage) and husband Pete Pasetsky took one giant step of precaution: they hired a surrogate, who was implanted with two embryos.
“I kind of hedged my bet,” Caliendo, 43, tells PEOPLE. “I said, ‘Let me get a surrogate to carry two [embryos] so that hopefully one of us will end up having a child.’ ”
“When I was working with the surrogate, she was like, ‘I don’t really want twins,’ ” adds Caliendo. “I said, ‘Oh, don’t worry. The chances of that are basically zero.’ ”
“When it rains, it pours,” she says, joking about welcoming daughter Harlow in August 2017 and twins Piper and Presley in January 2018. “We couldn’t even believe it.”
Pete Pasetsky and Tracy Caliendo with their children.Oku Okoko
With three babies — whom the New York mom describes as “essentially triplets” — Caliendo and Pasetsky, a 42-year-old equity trader, were “beyond thrilled and over the moon.” At last, the couple had the big family they always dreamed of — and, much to their surprise, it was about to get even bigger.
Shortly after welcoming Piper and Presley, the parents of four found out they were expecting again.
“Out of nowhere, I ended up pregnant naturally, without even trying,” says Caliendo, whodocuments her journey on Instagram. “It was a bit frightening.”
On Sept. 21, 2018, Caliendo gave birth to Dylan at 29 weeks gestation. Though he has growth and fine motor skills hurdles to overcome, she says her kids are happy and healthy, and that she and her husband could not be more thankful for their unusual circumstances.
While raising their children — Hunter, 12, Harlow, 2, twins Piper and Presley, 20 months, and Dylan, 11 months — both parents are also now back to work.
“When you struggle, you do get a totally different perspective,” she adds. “When people say to me, ‘Oh my God, my kids are driving me crazy, I need a break,’ all I think to myself is, ‘You have these healthy children. You’re so lucky.’ “
source: people.com
