A Burton couple who faced a 10-year struggle to get pregnant have told of their joy at welcoming not one, not two, but three babies into the world.
Michelle Cawley and partner David Sheriff were desperate to start a family, but she was diagnosed with endometriosis – a painful condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
After a decade of failed attempts to have a baby, they began to lose hope.
Miss Cawley, who is 34, said: “Myself and David (33) got together in 2005 and we had a very long journey trying to conceive.
“There were so many trips to the doctors to find out why I couldn’t get pregnant.
“I was also having bad pains which they put down to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and they continued to give me blood test after blood test.
After being booked in for another operation to fix or repair the the damage that had been caused, Miss Cawley was “heartbroken” to find that it had been unsuccessful
She said: “When I came around after the surgery I was told it was unsuccessful due to how bad it was.
“We were both totally heartbroken; we felt like we would never be parents.”
Miss Cawley and her partner were given a glimmer of hope when they were offered a round of IVF on the NHS.
“I was so nervous; I felt like it was our last chance. Then I saw a little heartbeat on the screen.
“It was so emotional that our dream was coming true, we were so happy.”
Miss Cawley felt nervous all the way through her pregnancy – she was convinced something would go wrong.
But on November 21 she welcomed her miracle son Connor.
“We were so in love. Holding our little miracle in our arms was indescribable.”
“In the summer of 2018 we decided that we wanted to try another round of IVF to give Connor a little brother or sister.
“We did do a lot of saving and thankfully my parents gave us a little towards our next round of IVF, which costs thousands.
In October she started her injections and in November they had two embryos put back in.
“It was a long wait until scan day, but we had more hope that it would be good news as we were lucky before with Connor.
“Scan day came and doctors confirmed that both embryos had stuck and we were expecting twins.
In July after year theiir second and third miracles were born. A little boy named Jacob and their little girl Kaci.
“We are parents to three beautiful children. It took a while to sink in but it was worth all of it as soon as they were in our arms.” She said.
