AS she gazes lovingly at her beautiful new baby boy, Denise Coleman looks like any other proud new mum.
But Denise hasn?t just waited nine months to set eyes on her precious son ? she?s waited nine years.
And it?s only thanks to her amazing sister- in-law that Christopher James is finally here.
Cancer survivor Denise, 35, and her husband Billy, 45, tried desperately to have a child both naturally and then through IVF.
But after 10 failed attempts, Denise was starting to lose hope and it was having a huge effect on their life and marriage.
That?s when sister-in-law Lynda Coleman stepped in and offered to carry their child for them.
And last month, delighted Denise and computer engineer Billy watched as little Christopher James was born.
Denise, from Shettleston, Glasgow, said: ?Holding him in my arms for the first time was just phenomenal. We just couldn?t believe he was actually here.
?I?m so proud of how my baby boy got here and I can?t wait to tell him the whole story when he?s old enough.
?I want him to know what an amazing thing our amazing angel Lynda has done for us.?
Denise said that when she held her baby for the first time, she finally felt complete.
She said: ?I always knew I wanted to be a mum but when I was 25, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and was advised to have a hysterectomy.
?I asked for a second opinion because I didn?t want to give up my dream of having a family and the second doctor said it was possible to remove just my cervix and my lymph nodes.?
Denise decided to take that option as she was so desperate to be a mum and in March 2004, she was given the all-clear.
Billy and Denise married that September and started trying for a baby straight away. A year later, they still were still trying and started thinking about IVF.
Tests showed that while Denise was ovulating normally, the scar tissue from her cancer surgery could have been preventing her from getting pregnant.
Denise said: ?The first time they harvested my eggs, they said that they were top quality so we had a good chance of getting pregnant.
?They fertilised the first egg successfully but when they dropped it into my womb, it failed to implant.
?We tried again and again with different doctors and techniques. I just didn?t want to give up. I was convinced I?d be a mum one day.
?Every time it failed, it got me really down. I felt inadequate as a wife because all I ever wanted to do was have a family.
?Looking back, I can?t believe I carried on for so long.
?One doctor told me that I should start to consider my options because IVF was unlikely to work for us.
?He asked if I?d thought about surrogacy but I could never have asked anyone to become a surrogate for me. It was just too much to ask of anyone.?
What she didn?t know was that Billy?s brother Steven, 41, and his wife Lynda, 39, had been discussing the possibility of being their surrogate for months.
Denise said: ?It was July 2011, when Steven and Lynda came up to the house and said there was something they wanted to discuss with us.
?I couldn?t believe it when Lynda said she wanted to be a surrogate. I just burst out crying.
?Even now, when I think about it, I start filling up again.?
Steven and Lynda had discussed the idea with their children Kelsey, who was 14 at the time, and eight-year-old Carley as they felt it was important that the whole family was happy for the process to go ahead.
Denise said: ?The girls understood that their mum would be carrying my baby for me. I knew Lynda wasn?t the type of person to rush into anything and that she was strong enough to cope with the emotional side of it all.?
Using the money that Denise and Billy had saved up for additional IVF treatment, they were able to fund the treatment to allow Lynda to become a surrogate by implanting their fertilised egg into her womb.
Denise said: ?She had to go through the same process of hormones and implanting the egg that I?d already been through 10 times. It was amazing that she was willing to do that for someone else.?
But there was more disappointment to come.
The first embryo failed to develop and Lynda lost the baby at just seven weeks.
Denise said: ?Lynda vowed she?d keep trying again and again until she was 40. She was convinced that it would work.?
The second implantation led to another pregnancy but again there were problems from the start and a scan at 23 weeks found she had miscarried again.
After Denise?s 10 failed attempts and Lynda?s two miscarriages, it was to be No13 that finally brought some luck to the family.
Denise said: ?The next attempt was totally different from the start.
?Lynda had a really good feeling about it and she was really glowing.
?We got past the 12-week scan but it took until the 20-week scan until I realised that my baby was going to be a reality.?
After a trouble-free pregnancy, Lynda was due to have a Caesarean on June 20. But on June 15, Denise got a call at 2.30am from Lynda to say her waters had broken and she was contracting.
Garry F McHarg/FOCAL Scotland 2013
?Denise said: ?We were so excited and rushed to the hospital but they made us go back home and wait because she wasn?t going to have the baby for a few hours.
?At 10am, Lynda called and told us to come back because she was going to have our baby by C-section that morning, so we had a mad rush back to the hospital.?
Denise and Billy were allowed to be in the operating room at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital as Christopher James was born at 12.12pm weighing a healthy 7lbs 6oz.
Now the family are closer than ever after their incredible experience.
Denise said: ? Lynda and I speak on the phone every day and I?m always sending her photos.
?Billy and Steven had always had a really close brotherly bond but the relationships I have with Billy?s mum Mary, Lynda?s family and my own parents have totally changed.
?Christopher James is our miracle baby and he has brought so much joy to our family.
?We never thought the day would come when we would be holding our own baby in our arms, but Lynda made it possible.
?It makes all the years, the agony of IVF and the heartache worth the pain and the wait.
?Every day, we still look at him and can?t believe he is finally here, he is so precious to
us all.?
Lynda added: ?I have two amazing children who have brought me and my husband so much joy and love every single day of their lives.
?I couldn?t imagine anyone not having that and we knew Denise and Billy deserved to have their own family. It?s just an amazing feeling to know we could do that for them.
?I would not change a thing. I love my gorgeous nephew Christopher James. He will be a special wee boy in my life forever.?
Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/cancer-survivor-hails-surrogate-sister-in-law-2072608
Galaxy S4 google reader carnival cruise nfl nfl wes welker Conclave
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.