Gemma, 38, a childminder who lives just outside York with her teenage daughter Abby, gave birth to her fourth surrogate child in February - a boy called Orson.

It is the fourth child Gemma has had for other couples in the past six years.

She said: "Surrogacy is the best thing I have ever done - I get a front-row seat in seeing families come together. I love it."

Click here to read our full report on what Gemma's families think of her incredible acts of kindness and altruism

Surrogacy is legal in the UK - but operates under strict guidelines. Surrogates cannot be paid but can claim reasonable expenses.

Single parent Gemma, who continued to work as a childminder throughout her surrogacy pregnancies, said: "In the UK you are not allowed to do it for money. It is illegal to profit from surrogacy. You get expenses for maternity clothes and any other costs while pregnant.

"We don't want people to do it for money in the UK - you do it out of friendship, not for financial gain."

Gemma said she met all of the couples she helped through Surrogacy UK, the country's leading surrogacy agency, which hosts events where surrogates and couples can meet informally.

"We form friendships and that is a brilliant way to do it," said Gemma. "I've made masses of friends from other surrogates; we can support each other."

She said the parents seeking a surrogate have varied reasons. Her first couple had fertility problems. Gemma carried a baby girl for them in 2015 followed by a boy the following year. Her next couple needed help after the woman suffered a premature menopause. And her latest family are same sex couple, Nick and Karl Dixon-Myers, now the proud parents of baby Orson.

Nick told The Press: "We will never be able to thank her enough for what she has done for us. And she will always be there for Orson."

Karl added: "Gemma has given us what we always wanted. It's not going to be a typically straightforward childhood for Orson because he has Downs Syndrome and needs open heart surgery, but we wouldn't change any of it. We are so glad Gemma was able to give us Orson. He is fantastic."

Gemma said she keeps in touch with all of them and sends all her surrogate babies cards and gifts for their birthdays and at Christmas.

All four babies have been conceived using Gemma's own eggs - meaning she is the biological mother of each child. But she says she doesn't think of them as her children.

She said: "I always use my own eggs but it never feels like I am giving the baby away - it feels like the baby is going to its parents. I love being pregnant - it seems the most natural thing in the world to have a baby and for the baby to go straight to his or her parents. It's like childminding; I adore my children and their families but they are never mine - it is kind of like that with surrogacy.

"It's the best feeling in the world - seeing a family all come together. It never feels like the baby I am carrying is mine or that I am giving it away - I'm just looking after it for a while."

Gemma first learned about surrogacy through a programme on the TV and joined national organisation Surrogacy UK to find out more. She says: "My whole life is about children - I am a childminder."

She added: "For me, it is just a little thing that I can do to change somebody else's life."

Gemma says she has been lucky in that she has mostly had easy pregnancies and labours.

And, she says, it all seems very normal for her daughter Abby. "She has grown up with it and it is just a big part of our lives. It's been an amazing education for her. As a woman, you grow up and assume you are going to have a family. She is getting an education in that even if that doesn't happen nothing is impossible."

Would she do it again? Gemma isn't ruling it out. "I've been caught out saying 'never' before so I've learned my lesson never to say never! I don't know. I've loved every second of the four pregnancies I have had and don't know what the future holds."

READ MORE: "We can't thank her enough" - what Gemma's surrogate families say