It's May 10, Mother's Day. Two moms are on a FaceTime call, connecting Chicago to Louisiana, as they celebrate an even bigger occasion.
Gia Canellis has turned 2.
"She is perfect," Blandine Moore says as she sees Gia pick sprinkles off her birthday cake. "I am so glad you're a mom."
"You made it happen," Monica Canellis replies.
Lou Canellis, Monica's husband, calls Gia the "miracle baby." She is the product of a complex story that involves a Chicago sportscaster who made his name interviewing 1990s Bulls players, an anonymous Asian egg donor and an immigrant from Belgium who enlisted in the Air Force and deserves her own "30 for 30" documentary.
It's an ultramodern family, hatched on the day Canellis decided he wanted to be a father. No, needed to be a father. But his wife, Monica, could not conceive, and their advanced age and the closing of international borders limited their chances for adoption.
"We were on the verge of giving up," Canellis says.
They found another way.
They found the Michael Jordan of surrogate moms.
"One hundred percent," Monica says.
