After nine miscarriages, this mom welcomed her babies in the most special way

What’s the greatest gift you’ve ever received from a sibling? A sweater? A handwritten letter? For Melissa Kayser, it was the birth of her baby girls.

After three heartbreaking years of fertility treatment, IVF and nine miscarriages, Melissa, 33, was beginning to think her dream of becoming a mother would never come true. But her older sister, Lisa Auten, wasn’t about to let that happen. When doctors suggested Melissa consider using a surrogate, Lisa selflessly volunteered.

“I couldn’t stand watching Melissa go through loss after loss,” Lisa told InsideEdition.com. “She hurt so badly and she just wanted a child so bad. If I could give her a family, then I was going to do it.”

While Lisa had never planned to become a mother herself, she was determined to make her little sister's wish a reality. Lisa was implanted with two of Melissa’s embryos, as doctors believed one of them wouldn't be strong enough to take. But that sister love is strong—it was soon announced that Lisa was carrying her sister’s twins! Twin sisters to be exact.

“I think we were all a little bit shocked,” Melissa shared with InsideEdition.com. “My sister was telling them to count again.” 

Thankfully, the rest of the pregnancy came with no other big surprises—the twins’ nine months in utero passed with little complication. Both sisters brought this new generation of sisters into the world together. “I got to be at all the ultrasounds and got to feel the babies kick,” said Melissa. “We did a gender reveal and we tried to make things fun and memorable.”

Little Tierney and Ashlynn are now 6 weeks old and doing well. Their new mom Melissa is over the moon. “Every day I am in awe,” she said. “You hear women say you don’t really know love until you have children. They really do complete me.”

And about Aunt Lisa, Melissa gushed, “There’s never any words that I can say to thank her for what she did. She gave up a year of her life so that we could have a family. I could never repay.”

Talk about a cool aunt! We can’t think of two better role models to teach these little girls all the lessons of selfless sisterhood.

Read more: How I breastfed my surrogate-born baby Why I'd consider becoming a surrogate