When Seattle Storm starBreanna Stewartsuffered anAchilles injury in 2018, she made a plan.
The then-24-year-old power forward, known affectionately to fans as “Stewie,” didn’t know when she’d get time off the court again.
“‘If I’m gonna be out, this is probably the best time to do it,’ " Stewart, now 26, tells PEOPLE she thought to herself of freezing her eggs. “Then after I did it, I was like, ‘This is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.’ "
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“It was an easy decision,” Xargay Casademont, 30, says of using a surrogate. The former pro basketball player, who played for the Phoenix Mercury and in the 2016 Olympics for her home country of Spain, is now retired.
So, while they were hunkered down in theWNBA bubble in 2020, they started looking into surrogacy.
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In the time since, Stewart has won the WNBA Championship with the Storm, the distinction of WNBA Finals' MVP and anOlympic gold medalwith the U.S. women’s basketball team.
“I have these moments that I’m like, ‘I can’t believe we’re parents,’ " Stewart says from the road with her team as they finish out the 2021 season. “I think we’re great parents, but it’s still like, wow. A whole person.”
“I could be, like, 24 hours looking at her and staring at her,” gushes Xargay Casademont from their home in Seattle. “Just the joy that she already brings to us, the happiness, it’s amazing.”
Xargay Casademont froze her eggs in June, and she and Stewart are looking forward to expanding their family – but “not right now!”
“We’re pretty busy,” Xargay Casademont says. “But we want to have a family, a big one.”
Adds Stewart, “[Egg freezing] is something that a lot of people should do, especially our generation. We’re so focused on being successful and doing all these things, that sometimes you forget about planning for beyond.”
For the couple, planning for a family also included talking about their finances — and figuring out how they’d share them.
They’ve partnered withAlly Financialto encourage all couples to be open and honest about money. The company offers a free, interactivefinancial vow generatorto help people open up to their partners about where they stand financially in a fun, low-pressure way.
On one of their first dates, Stewart and Xargay Casademont started having “lighthearted conversations” about their respective investments, financial advisors and properties in the U.S. and Spain.
“We weren’t afraid to talk about money,” says Stewart. “This is your person, and your person for life, and you need to have that conversation.”
source: people.com
