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Last March, Elizabeth Banks announced that she and her husband Max Handelman had welcomed their first child, a son named Felix, via gestational carrier. In her announcement, Elizabeth discussed her struggles with fertility and how close she and her husband became to the woman who carried their child. Well, 18 months later, Elizabeth has a new announcement: she’s a mom again! Elizabeth and her husband welcomed their second son at some point…? Here’s Elizabeth’s post on her blog:
As 2012 winds down and Thanksgiving approaches, I have much for which to be thankful – personal, professional, and Presidential.
However, nothing can match the joy and excitement my husband and I felt when we recently welcomed our second baby boy, Magnus Mitchell Handelman.
Magnus joins older brother Felix, thus commencing a decade or more of close hand to hand combat.
Like Felix, Magnus was born via gestational surrogate. This experience has exceeded all expectations, taught us a great deal about generosity and gratitude, and established a relationship that will last a lifetime. I am also so very thankful to our family and friends for their support throughout this process, as well as the Center for Surrogate Parenting for helping make all this possible.
I now turn my attention to managing two boys under two. For which I am thankful. And all their poop. For which I am less thankful.
Wish me luck.
Congrats to Elizabeth and Max! I love her, totally and completely. Previously she had been so open about her fertility struggles, and my heart just went out to her. I wonder if she used the same surrogate? Probably not…? Do the surrogacy agencies encourage surrogates to wait a certain amount of time before getting pregnant again?
As for the baby’s name… Magnus Mitchell. Hm. I liked his big brother Felix’s name a lot, but I’m not crazy about Magnus. It’s a “big” name for a baby, and it’s a little bit pretentious. Maybe it’s a family name? I just don’t want to admit that I dislike Elizabeth’s baby name because I like her so much.
Photos courtesy of WENN.’
Written by Kaiser
Posted in Babies, Elizabeth Banks
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Wohoo, congrats! Two kids under the age of 2…that’s quite an undertaking! All the best!
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Yup, I wish her luck, she’s going to need it
I really like her, but the fact of having a surrogate is still weird. I don’t know what I’d do if I’d be in her shoes – serious question.
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@liv – I always said I wouldn’t go to great lengths to have my own child if I wasn’t able to carry it, that I would adopt. Now that I am having fertility problems, that opinion has changed. Please don’t judge until you’ve been there.
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I’m not judging! Actually I said I don’t know what I would do if I’d be in her situation – I really get the desperation when having fertility problems, so I would probably do the same. What I meant was that I still find it “weird” to have a carrier and that one must probably be super careful handling the situation. And there also are other ways to have children like adopting. But I guess it’s a personal and individual decision.
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Congrats to them!
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Awwwws B-)
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Oh, congratulations to her! I had no idea she had a kid before now. Now that’s how to handle your private life – low key and no famewhoring. New favourite couple
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Love her and love the fact that she has been with the same man for so long.
Good for her, good for them! So happy to hear this
She’s going to have her hands full now!
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That colorful dress and the shoes are lovely…
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I agree! I usually don’t notice shoes, but these are great.
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Yay! Love her!
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Congrats to them, and I really like the baby’s name. I would have gone with Mitchell as the first name and used Magnus as the middle name, but Magnus Mitchell is good, too.
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It’s a Greek thing, I think. (no offence intended.)
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She’s not Greek. She probably likes the meaning of Magnus in Latin (Great). Mitchell is her maiden name.
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I’m so glad she’s having success with gestational surrogacy! I think it really helps remove some of the stigma associated with infertility when someone in the public eye is open about their struggles and successes, but isn’t oversharing.
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Beyonce could learn from this; just saying.
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I absolutely adore her, congrats to them!
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Magnus is a really common name in Sweden
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Well I really like her and I don’t like her baby’s name.
I loved her statement it made me smile. I’m very happy for her!
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It’s not a coincidence that the ads to the side are for egg donors and surrogates, is it?
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I love this woman. She doesn’t overshare and she loves her life.
When I first glanced at the picture I thought, “WOW. Chelsea Handler got some GREAT work done!” And actually felt a twinge of guilt I compared the two of them. Banksy is the best.
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May the odds be ever in her favor. I just had to say it
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Love it!
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Congrats Effie!
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This is potentially a stupid question but what is the difference between a gestational carrier and a surrogate? If they are the same why is gestational carrier being used and not surrogate, it’s shorter. Is it like a PC thing or an American thing? I’m not in the states.
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A surrogate carries a child which is made from her own egg. Elizabeth’s gestational carrier is carrying a child using Elizabeth’s egg and most likely, her husband, Max’s sperm.
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I’m going to answer this without doing any research, so forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think it has to do with the eggs.
A surrogate will use her own egg to be fertilized by the sperm of the father/a donor, so that the baby is biologically related to her.
A gestational carrier will be implanted with a fertilized egg of the couple (or if they are a gay couple, they will use a donor egg/donor sperm), so that the baby she carries is not biologically related to her.
Surrogate used to be the “only” term that described both/all forms of a woman carrying a baby she wasn’t planning to parent, but then the distinction grew between the two types.
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I prefer Magnus to Felix. Felix is such a drippy name. It’s current popularity tells me that we are scrapping the bottom the barrel for boys names with much-coveted, low-frequency vowels, ie Quinn, Zachary, Maddox, Max, Zavier, Knox.
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Well, we love our daughter, Quinn, all the same.
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Kat – my daughter’s name is Quinn, too!
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All the names you mentioned as being the bottom of the barrel really appeal to me. Also, the name Felix always makes me think of Felix Leiter, a recurring character in the James Bond novels and movies. He was portrayed so well by Jeffrey Wright in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace (even though QoS wasn’t a great movie), and I quite like the name Felix as a result.
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@Lisa — I am not disparaging those non-Felix names I listed, nor did I describe those names as being the bottom the barrel. Felix is, mind you.
I have children under the age of 10 and encounter many lovely names which include at least one -x, -q, -z, or -k. Some expectant or new parents think a popular name is undesirable and they go in search of alternatives that are less common, ie the dread vile Felix.
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I like all of those names!
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@Suze — I like all those names more than Felix.
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I have friends who called their kid Felix because it means both happy and lucky in Latin, and the father has cystic fibrosis and he thought he’d never live to have kids . So when they finally managed to, as they had fertility issues as well, they felt both happy and lucky. I imagine that’s what Elizabeth and her husband felt too, so I think it’s cute.
Mind you, I also think it works better for a cat.
I assume that Magnus is to keep the Latin connection up.
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Congratulations to her and her newly expanded family!
Elizabeth Banks has a wonderful touch of the crazy about her, without ever seeming vicious or mean.
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Well said – I would agree.
Congrats to them both – strong marriage, healthy babies and great senses of humor.
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I find both of her sons names awful.
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Aw congrats to the family! I’ve grown to really like her a lot over the past few years, and the ways she has presented her family news to the public has been really well stated and admirable.
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Love her, congrats to them.
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Can’t stand her as an actor, she grates on my last nerve.
However, as a human being, I think she is wonderful. Congratulations on the new baby boy!
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I hate the term gestational carrier. It sounds so clinical and politically correct.
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Congrats on a healthy baby!
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I saw her being interviewed recently over the Hunger Games, and just thought she was wonderful. Smart, thoughtful, funny and totally lacking in vanity. She had some really interesting things to say about reality TV, Roman gladiators and the pressure to defy the aging process in Hollywood. She was just so… sane.
I’m really happy for her over her baby. We have had some struggles ourselves in that area and it’s so hard. I’m delighted she has been successful with her alternate route, and how warm and appreciative she is over the carriers, too. Really gracious lady.
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Love her. She’s so witty and articulate. Congrats to her. We needed help with baby making and I love that she was so open and honest about it.
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I had fertility struggles to have my first baby, it’s a chore month after month trying to get that positive pregnancy test! I remember everyone around me was pregnant with either a singleton or twins and I wanted one so badly.
Our boy came along and 19 months later we got a girl, as a bonus, lol. We were just about to go back for a referral for more fertility treatment when I found out I was expecting her. Very exciting stuff!!
Congratulations to them, she’s going to be tired but on the upside she won’t have the aching body that’s getting over a pregnancy and labour and/or a C-Section.
Now she can just enjoy.
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the whole surrogate thing weirds me out more on the surrogate’s end because I don’t get why anyone would put themselves in that much physical pain/danger for 50k or so. People die in childbirth. idk.
thats my thought on this.
she’s beautiful and magnus is a weird name unless you are swedish or something. then it makes sense.
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A lot of men in Sweden was named Magnus in the 70s and 80s. Now it´s not that common anymore
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She rocks!! God bless her!
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