Baby Boy Born to Surrogate as Lawyers Joust

Surrogate mother Anna L. Johnson gave birth to a baby boy Wednesday, more than two weeks ahead of schedule, triggering a frenzy of activity by lawyers who are warring over the child’s future.

Johnson, 29, and the 6-pound, 10-ounce newborn--dubbed “Baby Boy Johnson” by doctors and nurses--were doing well Wednesday evening at St. Joseph Hospital after a relatively short labor and uncomplicated delivery at 1:50 p.m. In a brief interview, Johnson told The Times that she was “tired” but declined to say more.

“It’s extremely uplifting,” said Johnson’s lawyer, Richard C. Gilbert, who is representing the birth mother in her custody fight against the baby’s genetic parents. “It’s really something. Even in the middle of this mess, it’s still so exciting. Anna is in heaven.”

Although the baby’s entry into the world was simple, it has suddenly shifted a unique legal tussle into high gear, with lawyers scrambling to prepare for immediate fights over the child’s custody and parentage. Johnson, who was implanted with an infertile couple’s embryo, is the first surrogate mother to demand parental rights and custody even though she has no genetic link to the child she carried.

Mark and Crispina Calvert, the couple who hired Johnson to carry the child for $10,000, visited the hospital Wednesday night. They held the infant and bent over his crib, smiling and taking pictures.

“It looks like us,” Crispina Calvert said as she emerged from the nursery.

“It’s got my nose and real straight, brownish hair,” her husband said.

The couple did not visit Johnson, who is breast-feeding the baby, but left behind a bouquet of red roses for her.

Question marks hung over everything from the infant’s future to his name. The infant’s birth certificate is going to remain blank for the time being, according to Robert Walmsley, one of the Calverts’ lawyers. Anna Johnson has chosen to call him Matthew, but Crispina Calvert said she and her husband want to name the child Christopher Michael or Michael Christian, a gesture to Christian R. Van Deusen, Walmsley’s law partner.

William Steiner, the baby’s guardian for legal purposes, rushed to the hospital when he heard Johnson was in labor and ordered officials there not to release the child until a judge decides who will have temporary custody, said Harold F. LaFlamme, the infant’s court-appointed lawyer. Custody arguments, originally set for Sept. 27, were hastily rescheduled for Friday. The baby’s due date was Oct. 6.

Under Steiner’s orders, the hospital will “treat the baby as if he has three parents,” allowing frequent visits by the Calverts, LaFlamme said.

When LaFlamme heard that Johnson was about to deliver, he hurried to court and obtained an order forcing immediate DNA testing of the baby to confirm its parentage, he said. A blood sample was obtained from the infant’s umbilical cord, and its genetic material will be compared to that of Johnson and the Calverts later, to rule out the chance that Johnson got pregnant on her own.

In the maternity ward, there were many signs that this baby boy was born into a legal and emotional firestorm. Hospital personnel and a security guard patrolled outside Johnson’s room, fearful of a media onslaught. Telephone calls to Johnson’s room were halted. Drapes in the nursery were drawn to prevent photographs being taken of the baby.

Before she received word that she could visit the baby, Crispina Calvert sat quietly at home amid the tumult.

“I’m still so shaky,” she told The Times. “I’m real excited, but I’m also worried. I know in my heart that he’s our baby, but there’s still the question, what if we don’t win? What if we don’t get him?”

Calvert, 36, said that she and her husband, Mark, 34, will have to rush to finish decorating the baby’s room. They bought a crib and chest of drawers, but once the legal battle heated up it became too difficult to continue preparing, she said. Now she wants to buy a changing table and finish wallpapering the room with bright Disney characters, she added.

The child’s birth seemed to soften some of the points of combat between the lawyers, who have been disagreeing on just about everything from the beginning. Gilbert said Johnson has dropped her claim for damages for emotional distress, saying that she “forgives” the Calverts for the pain caused by the dispute. She has contended that the Calverts were callous and failed to meet her needs during the pregnancy.

Gilbert also said he is no longer demanding exclusive custody for Johnson but will agree to a “shared parenting arrangement” in which the baby could spend time with Johnson and with the Calverts. But Walmsley said the Calverts are entitled to sole physical custody because “it’s their child.”

And Gilbert, who several weeks ago accused the Calverts of trying to “kidnap” the baby from Johnson and has charged that they are unfit parents, said Wednesday that the couple should be free to spend as much time as they like with the baby.

“The Calverts can move in with Anna as far as we’re concerned,” he said. “You have to build bridges. You have to forgive. That’s what Anna has done. It’s best for the child.”

If the Calverts win custody, Gilbert said, it will be extremely painful for Johnson.

“I’ve known the truth from the beginning, that Anna is extremely bonded to this child,” he said. “It’s as intense and as human as any loving mother to her baby, anywhere in this world.”

Mark Calvert said he and his wife “have no bitter feelings against Anna. We hold no grudges. We wish the best for her. We just thank God that we have a healthy baby.”

LaFlamme said he has lined up foster parents who will take the baby in temporarily if the custody fight breaks down into a hostile standoff.