Dan and Kerstin Lindquist recently made an appearance on the Today Show for National Infertility Awareness Week. Doctors diagnosed the couple with “unexplained infertility” years ago. Fertility treatments had been unsuccessful and took an emotional toll on them. There were times their situation seemed bleak, but they were determined to have children.
The Lindquists had always known they wanted to have children. They even had the names of their future children picked out by their second date: Grace and Ben. Dan and Kerstin were married in 2003 and began trying to conceive right away. Kerstin became pregnant and miscarried. After failed treatments, they had all but given up hope. Dan recalled, “Here I am trying to start a family, and I should be able to start a family without thinking about it, and that wasn’t our picture at all. It was a lot of work; it was a lot of emotion.” They finally decided to grow their family through adoption. The Lindquists adopted Grace in 2009.
Five months after adopting, Kerstin learned she was pregnant. One of her last remaining embryos had been transferred successfully. “When we found out we got the phone call that I was pregnant with Georgia, it was elation, shock, everything,” Kerstin shared, “Our family was complete and after so many years of thinking that this would never happen. All of a sudden, there are two.”
The girls look and act so much alike, people often mistake them as twins. According to Kerstin, “Because they are so close they act like twins. They sleep in the same room and don’t you dare try to separate them. They are best friends. They also must have the same exact things.”
The couple didn’t stop after the girls. Two years ago they adopted the son they always knew they’d have, Ben.
