The biological mother of the surrogate baby at the center of a multi-state legal battle sobbed on the stand Tuesday — as she claimed the surrogate mother was trying to steal their child.
Nausheen Gilkar testified in a hearing in a Dallas court on whether to enforce a temporary restraining order preventing the surrogate, McKenna West, from seeing or making decisions about the baby.
“She’s making us run from doctor to doctor, state to state. With our baby — she’s trying to take him,” Gilkar sobbed.
West, a 28-year-old nurse from Alaska, gave birth to the baby boy, whom the biological parents call “Rumi,” on Aug. 12.
He was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital condition in which the heart doesn’t develop correctly.
The life-threatening diagnosis was made during a 20-week scan, with the genetic parents deciding they wanted to end the pregnancy as a result.
Gilkar broke down uncontrollably during her testimony, forcing the court to take a recess.
Gilkar and her husband Omar Ahmed, from Los Angeles, are also currently suing West for more than $100,000 for keeping the baby rather than abort it at their request.
West, who calls the baby “Gabriel,” flew to Texas to give birth and provide the baby with life-saving medical care after he was born.
West is fighting to ensure the baby stays in the Lone Star State for treatment, where she claims she is the presumed mother of the child under the law there.
Here is the latest news on the McKenna West surrogacy battle:
Gilkar, however, claimed she and her husband had already arranged medical care in California and that West withheld his medical records in Alaska.
“We didn’t even know if he was still alive for two months,” she said from the stand.
They had agreed to pay West $60,000 to carry their child — with an abortion clause that allowed them to terminate the pregnancy if there were issues with the fetus, who was later diagnosed with HLHS.
A medical team in Texas was able to keep the baby alive in the days after birth, and he remains in intensive care in a Dallas hospital as West and the genetic parents wage a legal battle involving three states.
But the baby’s condition took a turn for the worse shortly day before the hearing, leaving him in critical condition, Gilkar and Ahmed claimed in a legal filing asking the court to postpone the hearing.
Over the last 24 hours, “Serious medical developments have arisen that impact the health and safety of the child.
The child is in critical condition and being closely monitored at the hospital,” Gilkar and Ahmed said, according to court documents.
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