California Couple Flee War-Torn Ukraine On Foot With Newborn Birthed Via Surrogacy

A California couple that had traveled to Ukraine to welcome their baby daughter into the world went through a harrowing experience to ensure she survives. The couple was forced to flee the country mere days after the child's birth, walking 8 miles to the border in the midst of utter chaos, as bombs exploded and Russian invaders poured into the country.

The mother, Jesse Boeckman, was in a hospital room with her newborn, Vivian, when she woke up to the sound of explosions. Jesse and her husband, Jacob, realized within moments that the city was under attack.

“My biggest fear is that we were going to be stuck,” Jesse told Inside Edition.

The couple had arrived in Kyiv for the birth of their daughter who was born via surrogacy. With Ukraine being one of the most popular destinations for couples seeking surrogacy services, the couple had visited the country a few years ago for the birth of their older daughter, Mary, also birthed by a surrogate. However, during their trip to Ukraine this time for Vivian’s birth, the couple found themselves in the midst of a massive military invasion.

Two days after welcoming their 2/22/22 baby, Jesse and Jacob found themselves joining scores of other people trying to run for their lives from the war-torn country.

The couple hired a driver on Feb. 24 to take them to the city of Lviv so they could get to Poland. What was typically a six-hour car ride turned into a 27-hour-long journey, and to make matters worse, traffic had come to a complete standstill as they approached the border.

After spending a few hours sleeping in the car, Jesse and Jacob decided to walk the remaining 8 miles on foot with their newborn in the freezing cold, on Feb. 25.

“We decided to get out of the car and proceed the rest of the way on foot, hoping to get across the border by sundown,” Jacob told the outlet.

Jessie carried Vivian while Jacob wheeled their luggage and carried their backpacks. It took them four hours to reach the border, only to encounter more chaos as a massive crowd was waiting to get through.

A man in the crowd asked Jesse at one point how old their baby was and then began yelling at the crowd.

“(The man) started yelling ‘She has a baby! Four days old! Let her through!” Jacob told the Orange County Register.

“The crowd decided Jessie and our daughter deserved priority,” Jacob added. “They literally pushed Jessie and the baby through hundreds if not thousands of people to get her to the front.”

Although Jesse reached the front, she told Inside Edition: “I didn't have the baby's food or my passport, because Jacob was carrying all that. What they had to do was pass it over the top of the crowd, and then throw it over the barbed wire fence and give it to me.”

Jesse and Jacob eventually reunited and stayed in Warsaw until getting a ticket for Tuesday to fly back to California.

“It was a nightmare for us, but it's so much worse for so many other people,” she told the publication. "We're lucky enough that we get to go home.”