‘Miracle Baby’ Worth Cost of Long Court Fight, Parents Say : Aftermath: Mark and Crispina Calvert harbor few regrets over their decision to hire a surrogate mother even though the battle for custody of son Christopher has drained their finances.

After enduring a nasty three-year court battle that damaged them emotionally and drained them financially, Mark and Crispina Calvert on Monday had few regrets over their decision to hire a surrogate mother to carry their child.

“It was all worth it,” Crispina Calvert said as she gently touched her son, who sat on his father’s lap during an afternoon news conference, playing with a little red truck and smiling for photographers.

“He’s our miracle baby,” added a beaming Mark Calvert. “Certainly, he was worth it.”

At the news conference in their attorney’s office, the Calverts expressed their elation over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to review a state court ruling awarding them sole custody and parental rights to 3-year-old Christopher Michael Calvert.

The Tustin couple talked of a new beginning for their family and the relief of no longer having to worry about their son’s future. But they also reflected on the torment they felt was inflicted by surrogate mother Anna Johnson, who changed her mind about giving up the child she was carrying for the couple, despite her lack of a genetic link to the fetus.

“We’ll never forget the contribution that Anna Johnson made to our family. We have a loving baby boy here. But it will take some time to forgive her,” Mark Calvert said.

“We always planned on her being a part of our family, sharing birthdays. But when she goes on the media and calls us unfit and uncaring and continues to call Christopher ‘Matthew’ . . . ,” Mark Calvert’s voice trailed off.

“It will be hard for us to let her see our baby,” Crispina Calvert said.

The Calverts’ legal victory did not come without significant costs, they said.

The protracted court case depleted their finances and forced them to move from a quiet residential neighborhood in Tustin to a less expensive home on a busy street, where there are fewer families and fewer children for Christopher to play with.

The Calverts said they could not afford to have another child because legal costs have exhausted their finances.

The couple is suing Johnson and the director of a Beverly Hills surrogacy center who they said gave them advice on how to find a surrogate mother who would help them have a baby.

“They’ve cost us financially, dearly. It’s cost Christopher dearly, and why should he suffer?” Mark Calvert said.

Crispina Calvert said her son came to her weeping a few days ago because he didn’t have any playmates in the area.

“I just cried and said I’m sorry,” she said.

Christopher, however, seemed far from tears Monday, as he sat happily between his mother and father. He hammed it up for newspaper and television cameras, oblivious to the weighty ramifications of a court case that garnered national attention.

He played with his toy cars and was curious about the microphones and tape recorders placed on the table before him. When prodded by his parents, he showed reporters that he was 3 fingers old, stated his full name and told them that his favorite food was “tuna fish.”

The couple learned of the Supreme Court’s decision early Monday morning in a phone call from their attorney. Crispina said the news made her so happy that she started “jumping up and down on the bed.”

Mark Calvert said the impact of the court’s action has still not completely sunk in.

“I think it will take a little bit of time,” he said. “It’s not going to come overnight. . . . It might take a week, it might take six months, it might take years before we realize that this is finally over.”