Woman had a baby with her gay best friend for £8 – using a £3 syringe and a Morrisons Tupperware

The plan to start a family was formed on a drunken night out, but there was one catch – the pair wouldn’t have sex.

A woman revealed how she had a baby with her gay best friend – using a £3 syringe she bought off Amazon.

When pals Kerry Allen and Ali Thomson found themselves single and both desperate to be parents, they formed a plan on a drunken night out to have a child together.

But, there was one major catch – they wouldn’t have sex.

The syringe and Tupperware used by Ali and Kerry to conceive (PA Photo)

So they researched artificial insemination options. Then, after ordering a plastic medical syringe and using the ‘turkey baster method’ – where sperm is put directly into the vagina – at home, discovered Kerry, 29, was pregnant.

But tragedy struck at just 19 weeks when, in May 2017, the pair were told their baby boy Elijah’s heart had stopped beating, meaning Kerry had to give birth to the stillborn infant.

Now though, they are overjoyed to have welcomed a baby girl, Lanah, who was born on May 23 this year.

Adorable baby Lanah, aged 11 weeks (PA Photo)

Kerry, who shares a three-bed home in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland with Ali, 27, and their tot, smiled: “Being parents was something we had both wanted for so long, and seeing Lanah for the first time, I felt completely full of love.

“I would never have thought it would cost us just £8 to bring us so much joy. Using just a cheap syringe from the internet and a Tupperware from Morrison’s, we have an amazing baby.

“People do ask me, ‘Don’t you just wish Ali was straight?’ But I don’t. Neither of us have ever had any sort of romantic feelings for each other and we wouldn’t have the relationship we have now if he was.”

Singletons Ali, a barman, and Kerry, who worked in Burger King until her pregnancy, say they “just clicked” six years ago when they met working in the fast food restaurant – and have been best friends ever since.

He provided support for her, as she’d just come out of an “unhealthy” relationship. But their partnership was strictly platonic.

“Ali is a good-looking guy, but I never fancied him,” said Kerry. “That wasn’t what it was about.”

Ali and Kerry back in 2016 (PA Photo)

The best friends moved in together in 2014 and a year later, during a drunken night out, Kerry had a light-bulb moment.

She continued: “I’d always wanted to be a mum and felt the time was right.

“The only thing was, I wasn’t in a relationship and didn’t feel ready to be in one for a long time as I have been hurt before. Feeling broody, when I looked at Ali, I knew he would make a perfect dad. He was kind, funny and had said he would love to be a father one day too, so why not do it together?”

Steeled by a few glasses of wine, Kerry asked Ali what he thought about having a baby with her.

“I said, ‘Shall we have a baby together?’,” she recalled. “I think he was a bit shocked at first. He probably wondered what I was propositioning him for, but then, after thinking about it, he agreed.”

The morning after, Kerry asked Ali if he was still interested in her plan – and he was.

Ali and Kerry in 2016, a month before they started trying for a baby (PA Photo)

Straightaway the pair started researching how they could get pregnant without having sex.

“Sex was never an option for us. I don’t have the parts Ali likes, and neither of us see each other that way,” said Kerry.

“I did research on IVF but the process was shockingly expensive.”

Lanah at the 20 week scan (PA Photo)

They then found the ‘turkey baster method’ which sounded like the best, cheapest and easiest type of artificial insemination to suit their needs.

At home, Ali would collect his sperm in a medical syringe, which Kerry would then insert into her vagina and inject its contents before letting nature take its course.

After ordering the £3 syringe from Amazon and a £5 Tupperware box from Morrisons, for Ali to collect his sperm in, the pair chose a quiet night in October 2016 to start trying.

PA Photo

Kerry explained: “Ali did his thing, he left the syringe in my bedroom for me to collect before I did my ‘thing’.

“We did it all very separately and privately, and afterwards I laid on my bed with my legs propped up against the headboard for an hour and a half, as that can help with conception.”

Three months later, on their fourth attempt, they were delighted to discover Kerry was expecting.

The syringe used by Ali and Kerry to conceive (PA Photo)

But in May 2017, tragedy struck at just 19 weeks when, at a private scan during which they’d planned to find out the sex, the pair were told their baby boy’s heart had stopped beating.

Kerry had to give birth to their stillborn son, named Elijah, with Ali by her side.

Kerry said: “We were both heartbroken, as all our dreams of becoming parents felt like they were over, but fortunately we were supported by the Scottish charity SiMBA, who help people who have lost a child during pregnancy. We have had counselling online with the charity, which has helped us get through the devastating time.”

Despite their grief, the pair were determined to fulfil their wish to start a family, now even more sure they wanted to be parents together.

Last August, they decided to try for a baby for a second time – using the same £3 syringe as before, which they had kept on the bathroom shelf, and just sterilised.

And incredibly, Kerry fell pregnant straightaway.

Lanah aged two months old (PA Photo)

“I almost didn’t believe it was true,” she said.

“We had been left so devastated after losing Elijah that I never thought it would be possible again – but there they were, those two magic lines on the test.”

Throughout her pregnancy, Ali doted on Kerry, making her dinner and running baths to ease her aching body.

PA Photo

Kerry explained: “He was the perfect partner to go through it all with. And as my bump started to show, people did think we were a couple and congratulated us on expecting. We never hid anything. We just smiled and explained we weren’t a couple, Ali was gay, but we were having a baby together.”

At the 16-week scan, Kerry who is originally from Livingston, and Ali from Balerno, both near Edinburgh, Scotland, found out they were expecting a baby girl.

Kerry became fearful their daughter might arrive on May 20, the anniversary of Elijah’s stillbirth, but, on May 23 – two days overdue and after a five-hour labour – she gave birth to 6lb 11oz Lanah Allen-Thomson with Ali by her side again.

Ali and his new baby daughter, Lanah (PA Photo)

“She was just so perfect,” Kerry recalled. “The way Ali looked at her made me realise everything we had done was so right. And she is the spitting-image of her dad, too!”

Now three months old and living together in their three-bedroom home with separate bedrooms, Kerry says Ali is the perfect ‘other half’, changing nappies and sharing the gruelling night feeds.

Kerry smiled: “Lanah is a real daddy’s girl. She adores her dad, and so do I. We are both so lucky we met each other and decided to have a baby. It’s the best thing I have ever done. “

Ali and Kerry in 2016 (PA Photo)

Worried at first about people’s reactions, Kerry and Ali say the support they have had from family and friends has been nothing short of amazing.

“My mum cried and said she never thought I would give her a grandchild,” Ali said.

“Kerry’s mum was shocked but so happy, and now they are doting grandparents.”

PA Photo

And as for the future, Kerry, who says she has no interest in being in a new relationship, knows Ali, who has not dated for four years, will probably meet someone else and move out one day. But they do not want any more children, because of the trauma of losing Elijah.

She explained: “I know Ali will find someone, and I hope he does. But they will have to accept that Lanah and I will always come first. And we’ll explain to Lanah when she is older that we don’t have the most traditional set-up, but Mummy and Daddy love her so very much.”

Ali added: “The most important thing is that a baby is loved, and Lanah truly is.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration acted illegally when it canceled $7.6 billion in clean energy grants for projects in states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

The grants supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, including battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and efforts to capture carbon dioxide emissions.

The Energy Department said the projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable. Russell Vought, the White House budget director, said on social media that “the Left’s climate agenda is being canceled.”

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said the administration's action violated the Constitution’s equal protection requirements.

“Defendants freely admit that they made grant-termination decisions primarily — if not exclusively — based on whether the awardee resided in a state whose citizens voted for President Trump in 2024," Mehta wrote in a 17-page opinion. The administration offered no explanation for how their purposeful targeting of grant recipients based on their electoral support for Trump — or lack of it — "rationally advances their stated government interest,” the judge added.

The ruling was the second legal setback for the administration’s rollback of clean energy program in a matter of hours. A separate federal judge ruled Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as Trump seeks to shut it down.

A spokesman for the Energy Department said officials disagree with the judge’s decision on clean energy grants.

Officials “stand by our review process, which evaluated these awards individually and determined they did not meet the standards necessary to justify the continued spending of taxpayer dollars,” spokesman Ben Dietderich said. “The American people deserve a government that is accountable and responsible in managing taxpayer funds.”

Projects were canceled in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state. All 16 targeted states supported Harris.

The cuts include up to $1.2 billion for California’s hydrogen hub that is aimed at accelerating hydrogen technology and production, and up to $1 billion for a hydrogen project in the Pacific Northwest. A Texas hydrogen project and a three-state project in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania were spared, according to clean-energy supporters who obtained a list of the DOE targets.

The city of St. Paul and a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit after they lost grants.

Trump said in an interview last fall with One America News, a conservative outlet, that his administration could cut projects that Democrats want. “I’m allowed to cut things that never should have been approved in the first place and I will probably do that,” Trump said in the Oct. 1 interview.

Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the groups that filed the suit, said the court ruling “recognized that the Trump Department of Energy vindictively canceled projects for clean affordable energy that just happened to be in states disfavored by the Trump administration, in violation of the bedrock Constitutional guarantee that all people in all states have equal protection under the law.”

The administration’s actions violated the Constitution, foundational American values and “imposed high costs on the American people who rely on clean affordable energy for their pocketbooks and for healthier lives,” Patton said.

Anne Evens, CEO of Elevate Energy, one of the groups that lost funding, said the court ruling would help keep clean energy affordable and create jobs.

“Affordable energy should be a reality for everyone, and the restoration of these grants is an important step toward making that possible,” she said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles listens during a meeting with President Donald Trump and oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought speaks to reporters at the White House, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)