A 46-year-old woman who had given up on motherhood after multiple miscarriages and IVF discovered she was pregnant just days later, giving birth to a healthy son. The mother, who conceived naturally with her partner, described the pregnancy as a 'pure fluke' after being told the odds of natural conception after 45 were less than 5%.
Speaking about her experience, she said she had spent two years grieving the idea of motherhood and had decided she was 'done' with fertility treatment. However, a few days after telling a friend she had given up, she found out she was expecting. She emphasised that her pregnancy was not due to any particular supplement or health regime, but simply luck.
The woman noted that older motherhood comes with a certain intricacy and that she often felt under a 'cloud of suspicion' during her pregnancy. She said conversations with midwives, consultants, and strangers often required her to reference her age first to acknowledge the improbability of the situation. She also reflected on the public scrutiny women face regarding fertility, saying it is 'a part of a woman's life that exists beyond herself.'
After giving birth to a son with 'enormous eyes and ears like tiny coracles,' she struggled to name him for weeks, feeling that no single word could capture the experience. She described becoming a mother at this age as 'astonishing,' like 'a dove drawn from my sleeve.'
