Texan grandmother gives birth to daughter's child in surrogate pregnancy

A 53-year-old Texas woman has successfully given birth to her granddaughter in an act of surrogacy for her 33-year-old daughter, after she was unable to carry a child to full term.

Grandmother Tracey Thompson, agreed to carry daughter Kelly McKissack’s child, after McKissack suffered a third miscarriage following three years of in vitro fertilisation treatments.

Three-kilogram newborn Kelcey – a portmanteau of grandmother Tracey and daughter Kelly’s name – was welcomed into the world on January 6 and was pronounced healthy.

Ms McKissack has described her mother’s act as “the best gift…for a lifetime”.

"She’s a special kind of woman," she told ABC News.

"She’s strong. I don’t think many people could do what she did with all that she had to go through to get there."

Ms Thompson has described the opportunity to act as a surrogate as a “blessing”.

While the possibility was discussed previously while McKissack was aged just 13, Ms Thompson never expected to be called on her promise to act as a surrogate.

In April 2015, she announced she was carrying “their bun” in her “oven” in a playful Facebook post featuring daughter Ms McKissack and husband Aaron.

The Medical Center of Plano reports Ms Thompson had to undergo a “a series of carefully coordinated medical treatments” in order to prepare her body for surrogacy.

A 2008 report claims an average of around nine children are born via surrogacy in each US state every year.