Alice Dixson On Surrogacy: It Was Hard To Accept To Stop Trying To Get Pregnant

It’s the first time Alice Dixson, who became a new mom at 51 years old, is talking openly about her journey to motherhood. Now that her daughter Aura is 20 months old, Alice is sharing more openly how she and her partner welcome their baby back in February 2021. 

“This process was almost 10 years in the making. Kasi ikaw, I don’t know if you remember, ikaw you said ‘Try our doctor because you don’t have a lot of time’.  And at that time I was twiddling my thumbs pa doing my own thing, Alice tells Vicki Belo as a guest at the latter's vlog.

“And then it came to point that I was going to turn 50 soon, actually I was in my late forties and I was like, hindi pa kami nakakabuo. So okay, let’s try Vicki’s doctor, she said. 

And it was Dr. Kaufmann, Vicki’s doctor, who helped Alice too. Vicki asked, what took Alice so long to decide to try surrogacy? 

“I think finding a surrogate as very difficult. Accepting the fact that we wouldn’t try on me anymore and that we’d have to go to a third party. That was a big transition for me, says Alice. 

'Accepting the fact that we wouldn’t try on me anymore and that we’d have to go to a third party. That was a big transition for me' -Alice Dixson on trying to conceive

She adds, “And then the whole, trying to do it here [Philippines] but it’s more advanced in the States? So we spent a lot of time trying to do it here when it could have been a lot faster in the US. 

“It affected me. For me, I think I could’ve done the journey but it was my partner who said ‘Let’s get a surrogate.’

If the decision was just hers, Alice says she would have preferred to be pregnant with her daughter. “Kung ako ang papipiliin, I rather have carried my daughter myself,” she says.

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Aura’s birth story 

When Aura was born, the public was surprised to learn that Alice was trying to have a child. “People knew I was on this journey but we didn’t announce that we have a pregnancy. They only knew noong nanganak na, she says. Alice told only a few of her closest friends, as well as Vicki, when they were already expecting. 

But Aura came much earlier than expected—two months before her due date--and Alice wasn’t prepared. She had just returned home from lock-in taping of Legal Wives when she received a call that the surrogate’s water had broke. 

"And then the next day, I was at home just starting to unwind when I received a call, ‘You’re surrogate’s water broke,’ and this was the height of pandemic na you cannot get flights, there was still quarantine. 

“So I didn’t know how I was gonna make it, like I had to do all these thing rush-rush ‘coz she was two months premature. 

Alice says, “I was not prepared at all, I mean I knew what I was going to do but none of the arrangements had happened. 

RELATED: Alice Dixson Returns Home With 'Baby A' In Tow

 “I was able to book a flight, I went there, I quarantined for about 7 to 10 days before I could actually go in to the hospital to see her, she recalls. 

“When I saw her [Aura], she was like a premature baby, she was very frail, like she looked like a little bird and I’m, like, 'Is this really my daughter?’ 

Chasing after a toddler 

20 months later, Aura is a healthy little girl who seems to be challenging to run after. “She just turned out as she grew, she turned out to be such a lovely child. She’s so healthy now. There’s no signs of her being premature at all.” 

Alice says Aura enjoys climbing, isn’t talking in full sentences yet which can cause frustration when she can’t express what she wants to, and is quite athletic just like her parents. Alice also hopes she picks up the three languages she hears at home: English, Filipino and French. “Her Papa speaks to her in French. So hopefully she picks up all 3 languages, she says. 

Is it difficult to become a mom later in life? 

“Well at my age when you’re more mature and ready for a child, mahaba ang pasensiya mo, you’re loving every moment of the experience. But there’s a part of running around which is kind of hard, yung ‘Oh we have to go here,’ ‘Oh we have to go here,’ and she’s climbing around and doing things na naughty at this point. So it’s a transition. 

Alice reveals that they’re not starting to discipline Aura, something which she’s figuring out as each day passes. They’ve built a timeout room, which Aura used for the first time days before Alice filmed the vlog. 

Aura couldn’t get something she really wanted a threw a tantrum, so Alice explained that she needed to go inside the timeout room and stay there until she was calm. Vicki was surprised Aura followed and Alice said after five minutes, Aura was calm and came out ready to talk. 

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“I’m experimenting a lot, Alice says about her discipline and parenting. Where is she learning from, Vicki asks? Just like every parent today, Alice is learning how to parent via the Internet. 

When it comes to Aura’s upbringing, Alice says she hopes to also pass on to her daughter the family values she learned as a child. She grew up with her half siblings. 

“But growing up I never felt that we were half brothers and half sisters  and I didn’t know until I was in my late teens na. Parang it didn’t really matter to me and that’s the kind of upbringing that I want Aura to have, she says. 

What she does wish however, was for Aura to meet her parents who have both already passed on. But Aura still has grandparents from her father’s side. “I wish that she could have known her grandparents kasi ang natitira nalang is my partners’, 

“This is the best role of my life. Sa lahat ng role na na-portray ko, this is the one that I cherish most,” says Alice.