A woman who gave birth to twins at 49 has described why she had a burning desire kept her going until she realised her dream
Gill Porter spent £250,000 and ten years of fertility treatment trying for a baby.
She said her desire to have children was fuelled by the fact that she was adopted.
She told the BBC: “I have fantastic parents, and I’ve always thought that adoption would be an alternative, but to have my children has been life-changing.”
Now 52, she said life is very different with her three-year-olds Floyd and Jayla.
She said: “There is no coming home from work and having dinner and a glass of wine.”
Gill began her journey to motherhood at the age 39 and was told that she was too old to be eligible for a free NHS IVF cycle.
She said: “My husband, Linda, and I had to go down the private route from the start, which we knew would be an expensive one.
“We had two private cycles in Glasgow as there wasn’t anywhere that did the whole process. Unfortunately, both those cycles failed in that year. We then left it for two years, and in 2015, we tried again but that wasn’t successful either.
“After three treatments we thought it was probably best to put it on hold or to give us a bit of a break.
“But I didn’t have time for a lot of a break, and that was at the back of my mind as well.”
For their fourth cycle, the couple went to Prague.
Gill said the treatment was more personal and she felt less of a number than she did in the UK.
She said: “We were able to go away and not worry about having to work between appointments. We also did not have the stress of telling people what we were doing.
“It was the only thing we had to focus on.”
They came home with a bag of medication and two pregnancy tests from the clinic.
Gill did the pregnancy tests six weeks later and got the shock of her life when the first one came back positive.
Two days later she did the second test and, again, it was positive. After all the time and money spent she was at last pregnant.
The couple discovered it was twins at their 14-week scan.
Gill said: “In Europe, they won’t give you IVF after the age of 49, so it really was our last chance.”
She said she knows how lucky she is to be able to have her children.
She said: “It does feel unfair to me that people who potentially can’t afford it lose out on becoming parents, and the fact that it is so limited on the NHS is also something that I question.
“Once you reach the age of 40, that help seems to stop.”
In 2021, 32 women over the age of 45 gave birth in Northern Ireland, two of them were over 50.
The Belfast NHS Trust said that women were eligible for treatment up to the age of 42.
Did you have children in your late 40s? We’d love to hear your story. Email mystory@ivfbabble.com.
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