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THINGS TO BE SLOW MOVING. WELL, IT’S NOT THAT UNCOMMON FOR COWORKERS TO BECOME FRIENDS, BUT FEW EVER BECOME FAMILY. KCCI BEAU BOWMAN SHOWS US HOW THAT HAPPENED TO TWO TEACHERS AT MARSHALLTOWN’S MILLER MIDDLE SCHOOL IN THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY WAY. HAVE WE GOTTEN ANY OF THE QUESTIONS RIGHT YET ON THE LOCK CHALLENGE? TEACHING CAN SOMETIMES BE A TOUGH GIG. NOT BECAUSE THE QUESTIONS ARE HARD, BUT BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE LONG AND THE STAKES ARE HIGH. I WOULD NOT HAVE COME UP WITH THAT ONE EITHER. SOMETIMES THE THING THAT MAKES IT EASIER ISN’T A NEW LESSON PLAN. OR A BETTER BELL SCHEDULE. IT’S YOUR BEST FRIEND RIGHT ACROSS THE HALL. SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADERS. THEY ALL THOUGHT WE WERE SISTERS. ANNA MILLER AND MORGAN HURST BOTH STARTED AT MILLER MIDDLE SCHOOL IN MARSHALLTOWN 14 YEARS AGO. TWO TEACHERS ARRIVING AT THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME, THEN MOVING LIKE PARALLEL LINES THAT NEVER REALLY DRIFTED APART. CAREERS GROWING SIDE BY SIDE. BUT ALMOST WITHOUT THEM REALIZING IT. THEIR LIVES DID TOO. WE KIND OF GOT MARRIED AT THE SAME TIME. OUR FIRST KIDS ARE SIX MONTHS APART. FRIENDSHIPS AT WORK MAKE THE HOURS TICK FASTER, BUT THE REAL ONES DO SOMETHING ELSE. THEY HOLD YOU UP, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE HARD THINGS STOP BEING AFRAID. IT’S BEEN REALLY GREAT TO HAVE SOMEONE LIKE CELEBRATE THE REALLY, REALLY GREAT THINGS. AND THEN ALSO THE REALLY, REALLY HARD THINGS. FOR ANNA, ONE OF THOSE HARD THINGS WAS TRYING TO GET PREGNANT WITH HER SECOND CHILD. TEN YEARS, 20 ROUNDS OF IVF AND EVENTUALLY A CONVERSATION. NO ONE WANTS TO HAVE. BUT SOME FAMILIES HAVE TO TOWARDS THE END, LIKE HAD SAID, YOU KNOW, LIKE THEY HAD RECOMMENDED THAT WE SHIFT TO SURROGACY. I WASN’T READY FOR THAT. YOU KNOW, MORGAN WAS KIND OF ALWAYS THAT SUPPORT PERSON. SHE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO SAY, LIKE, YOU KNOW, LIKE I’D BE WILLING TO DO THIS FOR MORGAN. IT WASN’T COMPLICATED, NOT BECAUSE IT WAS BIG, BUT BECAUSE LOVE SOMETIMES IS SIMPLE. I HAD REALLY EASY PREGNANCIES, A SUPER SUPPORTIVE HUSBAND, AND SO IT WAS A REALLY EASY DECISION TO BE LIKE, IF YOU NEED THAT, I’M HAPPY TO HELP. THE EMBRYO WAS TRANSFERRED ON APRIL 1ST, 2024 AND STUCK ON THE FIRST TRY WHEN THEY CALLED AND LET US KNOW THAT HER BLOOD TEST CAME BACK POSITIVE. THAT WAS LIKE THE FIRST LIKE, OH MY GOD, THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING. AND IN THE CLASSROOMS, THE ANTICIPATION BUILT THE WAY IT DOES IN A SCHOOL ON THE LAST DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK, I FEEL LIKE HE’S KICKING AND SHE’D RUN DOWN TO MY ROOM AND THEN HE’D GO SILENT AND I’M LIKE, HE’S JUST CALM BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU, RIGHT? LIKE YOU BRING THAT CALMING PRESENCE. AND THEN THAT DECEMBER SHY BOY DILLON WAS BORN. AND MORGAN, WHO HAD CARRIED HIM NINE MONTHS, MADE SURE THE FIRST MOMENTS BELONGED TO ANNA MORGAN, WAS VERY LIKE, I DON’T WANT TO SAY HANDS OFF. BUT LIKE WHEN HE WAS BORN, SHE REALLY WANTED IT TO BE ME. AND THAT WAS JUST A REALLY SPECIAL THING FOR ME TO HAVE BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, LIKE, THAT’S SOMETHING THAT I MISSED OUT ON AND I JUST AFTER HE WAS BORN, SHE KIND OF LET US HAVE OUR TIME, BUT THEN WAS WILLING TO BE, YOU KNOW, THAT PERSON OF SUPPORT. BUT THEN THAT NIGHT EVERYONE LEFT AND IT WAS JUST DYLAN AND I. AND THAT WAS JUST LIKE A MAGICAL MOMENT OF SOMETHING THAT I HAD HOPED FOR FOR SO LONG. NOW, ONE YEAR LATER, HE’S GOT FROSTING ON HIS HANDS AND OPINIONS ABOUT CAKE. HE ATE HIS CAKE, AND WHEN HE WAS DONE, HE LET US KNOW. HE JUST FLIPPED IT OFF THE TRAY AND IT LANDED ON THE GROUND. DILLON IS LOVED BY MORE THAN HE COULD EVER UNDERSTAND. OUR FAMILIES ARE JUST LIKE, ALMOST BONDED. AND IT ALL STARTED RIGHT HERE IN THE HALLS OF MILLER MIDDLE SCHOOL, WHERE TWO TEACHERS BECAME FRIENDS. AND THEN IN THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY WAY, BECAME FAMILY. THERE WE GO.
‘A magical moment’: Teachers turn friendship across the hall into family through surrogacy
Updated: 2:51 AM PST Dec 29, 2025
Two teachers at an Iowa middle school, who started at the school 14 years ago, have taken a friendship that began across the hall and turned it into family after one served as a surrogate for the other.Anna Miller and Morgan Hurst taught and raised children at the same time; their careers and lives moving in parallel. “The seventh and eighth graders, they all thought we were sisters,” Hurst said.Their bond deepened through both celebrations and hardships. “It’s been really great to celebrate the really great things and then also the really, really hard things,” Miller said.Miller and her husband spent a decade trying to have a second child, undergoing 20 rounds of in vitro fertilization.”Toward the end, they had recommended that we shift to surrogacy. I wasn’t ready for that,” she said. “Morgan was always kind of that support person.”But she was the first one to say, ‘I’d be willing to do this.’”Hurst said the decision was straightforward for her. “I had really easy pregnancies, a super supportive husband, and so, it was a really easy decision to be like, ‘If you need that, I’m happy to help.’”The embryo was transferred April 1, 2024, and resulted in a pregnancy on the first try.”When they called and let us know that her blood test came back positive, that was like the first like, ‘Oh my God, this is actually happening,’” Miller said.Hurst carried the child, and the women shared moments during the pregnancy. “I’d be like, ‘He’s kicking!’ and she’d run down to my room, and then he’d go silent, and I was just like, ‘He’s calm because he loves you. Like, you bring that calming presence.’” Hurst said.When the baby, Dellyn, was born that December, Hurst said she wanted Miller to have the first moments. Miller said, “Morgan was very, I don’t want to say hands-off, but, like, when Dellyn was born, she really wanted it to be me and that was a really special thing for me to have because that’s something I missed out on, and after he was born, she kind of let us have our time, but then was willing to be that person of support.” Miller added, “And then that night, everyone left, and it was just Dellyn and I. And that was just … a magical moment of something that I hoped for for so long.”
Two teachers at an Iowa middle school, who started at the school 14 years ago, have taken a friendship that began across the hall and turned it into family after one served as a surrogate for the other.
Anna Miller and Morgan Hurst taught and raised children at the same time; their careers and lives moving in parallel. “The seventh and eighth graders, they all thought we were sisters,” Hurst said.
Their bond deepened through both celebrations and hardships. “It’s been really great to celebrate the really great things and then also the really, really hard things,” Miller said.
Miller and her husband spent a decade trying to have a second child, undergoing 20 rounds of in vitro fertilization.
“Toward the end, they had recommended that we shift to surrogacy. I wasn’t ready for that,” she said. “Morgan was always kind of that support person.
“But she was the first one to say, ‘I’d be willing to do this.’”
Hurst said the decision was straightforward for her. “I had really easy pregnancies, a super supportive husband, and so, it was a really easy decision to be like, ‘If you need that, I’m happy to help.’”
The embryo was transferred April 1, 2024, and resulted in a pregnancy on the first try.
“When they called and let us know that her blood test came back positive, that was like the first like, ‘Oh my God, this is actually happening,’” Miller said.
Hurst carried the child, and the women shared moments during the pregnancy.
“I’d be like, ‘He’s kicking!’ and she’d run down to my room, and then he’d go silent, and I was just like, ‘He’s calm because he loves you. Like, you bring that calming presence.’” Hurst said.
When the baby, Dellyn, was born that December, Hurst said she wanted Miller to have the first moments. Miller said, “Morgan was very, I don’t want to say hands-off, but, like, when Dellyn was born, she really wanted it to be me and that was a really special thing for me to have because that’s something I missed out on, and after he was born, she kind of let us have our time, but then was willing to be that person of support.”
Miller added, “And then that night, everyone left, and it was just Dellyn and I. And that was just … a magical moment of something that I hoped for for so long.”
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