Chrissy Teigen just welcomed her fourth child via surrogacy. 4 families in different stages of the process share their highs and lows.

• Chrissy Teigen and John Legend welcome baby number four via surrogacy.
• Teigen announced the news on Instagram and talked about her relationship with their surrogate.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend just welcomed their fourth child, Wren Alexander Stephens, on June 19. This may come as a surprise to Teigen and Legend fans because Teigen just had her third child on January 13. Their fourth child was born via surrogacy.

On Instagram, Teigen shared that because of the traumatic miscarriage they suffered with their son Jack, though they wanted to continue to grow their family, she was initially scared to try again, so they looked into surrogacy. At the same time, they also tried IVF to complete their family, not knowing if it would work out.

And their plans definitely worked out two-fold.

"We want to say thank you for this incredible gift you have given us, Alexandra," Teigen wrote of their surrogate on Instagram. "And we are so happy to tell the world he is here, with a name forever connected to you." Indicating that the child's middle name, Alexander was after the woman who helped bring him to life.

More people are choosing surrogacy for their path to parenthood. Four people shared their story of how they became a family via a surrogate — or how they were a surrogate themselves — the process, and the outcome of this incredible way to grow a family.

Joe and his partner Sean have always wanted to be parents

"My partner Sean and I have been together going on 25 years, we met when he was a senior in high school, and I was a freshman in college," Joe Adelantar said. "We both come from big families — he and I are both the oldest. We knew we always wanted to be parents."

They were researching both adoption and surrogacy at the same time when one of Sean's best friends offered to be their surrogate. But there was an issue from the get-go, they had to move to New Jersey since the law in New York did not allow for compassionate surrogacy at the time.

Adelantar says the best thing about being a surrogate with their friend was that they were part of the entire journey. "From all the doctors' appointments to hearing the first heartbeat, to my husband being the first one in the delivery room to hold our daughter," he said.

The hardest parts of surrogacy were the financial aspects and all of the legal loopholes and other considerations they had to go through as a gay couple, says Adelantar.

"We had to hire a lawyer to create a contract between us and our surrogate. We went to therapy to ensure we were doing a temperature check throughout the process. We had to speak with the hospital administrator to allow two people, plus the surrogate, in the room and also get an extra band for my husband to have access to our daughter," he said.

Kristin Marquet and her husband are currently in the process of using a surrogate, and their transfer is scheduled to happen this summer

Kristin Marquet says she's wanted children for as long as she can remember. She and her husband had three failed IVF rounds before they turned to surrogacy.

They hired an agency that best aligned with their goals and values, and they were relieved that the agency would be responsible for finding and matching them to a surrogate who shared their vision for this journey. "The agency's expertise in the matching process gave us confidence that we would find a surrogate that not only met our medical requirements but also shared a connection with us on a personal level," said Marquet.

Gennifer Rose not only worked for a surrogacy agency, but she also is a surrogate herself

Gennifer Rose is currently on her first journey with a single "intended mother" who cannot carry her own baby, she says. "I officially started the process in January this year, but I had to go on a brief hold to get my iron levels up. I will be having an embryo transfer at the end of this summer," Rose said.

She says she decided to become a surrogate after being inspired by Phoebe on "Friends." " The way surrogacy was portrayed on that show gave it a lot of levity and loving energy," she said.

For Rose, the best part of being a surrogate is having a connection with the intended parents. She says that while people voice concerns about surrogates growing attached — and potentially wanting to keep — the baby, she says it's not about her and more about wanting to see the parents be able to have a baby of their own.

"You really commit yourself to the process, and you become a dynamic duo having a baby together," Rose said.

Alexandra French was advised to try surrogacy after finding out she had cancer

In 2019, Alexandra French was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Initially, she and her husband thought they'd be able to expand their family naturally after treatment, but during her surgery, they found a second form of cancer, so her doctors advised her to look into using a surrogate.

"We immediately started talking to agencies and signed with an agency in Atlanta in February 2020. We matched sooner than expected due to Covid, but because of it our process was different than how we had planned," French said. "We FaceTimed in for the appointments and were not able to be present for the transfer."

Even though it was different than they planned, French says they still had a great journey.

"We are still in contact with our surrogate, and our older son refers to the surrogate's children as his kids," she said.

Because they had such a wonderful journey, she and her husband wanted to give back after going through the process, so they created a 501c3 charity called Gift of Surrogacy Foundation.

"We actually have our first grant open right now that covers the major components of surrogacy up to $1000,000," she said.