Hélène Dalglish has long wanted to be a mother. However, it took twenty-five years of tireless struggle and an endless medical investigation to finally achieve pregnancy.
Despite the obstacles, the big regrets and the drops in morale, she continued to nourish hope. Until the end, she demonstrated unfailing will and bravery to finally succeed in knowing the joys of a mother in June 2023, at fifty-three years old! The Mirror newspaper reveals its long journey.
Aged around twenty, Hélène Dalglish, a Scottish woman, settled in Cyprus with her partner. During this time, they tried to have a child. Without success. Both carried out tests to try to find the cause of the phenomenon, and Hélène was told that she was suffering from “unresolved infertility”.
The young couple decided to return to Scotland to carry out further examinations. Subsequently, Hélène underwent 4 intrauterine inseminations at the GlasgowRoyalInfirmary, a procedure during which sperm is introduced directly into the uterus.
However, the procedure was not crowned with success. The medical profession then suggested IVF, still no results.
At the same time, Hélène is learning a lot about the subject and considering other solutions. One day she was interested in a lecture on infertility given by a Scottish professor at a center in Glasgow.
She contacts him and wishes to undergo more in-depth analyses. He provided her with more details about her case, explaining that the tilted position of her abdomen complicated embryo movement and that movement of the myometrium was essential.
Happy with this new prognosis, Hélène replies that her predecessors had not detected this dysfunction.
When she was around forty, Hélène was able to conceive a child. Alas, the joy was temporary, as she suffered 3 miscarriages. She told herself that she had missed the opportunity to create a home.
And, predictably, the couple divorced. In 2019, now alone, Hélène wanted a change and returned to Paphos, Cyprus, where she was lucky enough to find a new companion.
While she did not want to impose further stress on herself, she learned, after some research, that there was a fertility center, Dunya, which welcomed people under 50 years old.
Helen was reluctant to go. But when her father left the world at 81 following cancer, her mother insisted that she make one last attempt.
When he was leaving, my mom said to my dad: “Send Hélène a baby,” it was very moving. She wanted me to try for the last time,” she says, still overcome with emotion. She presented to the clinic for the first time in the summer of 2019.
And she did well to trust her luck. The final stretch and a small glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel… After the embryos of an egg donor had been fertilized and kept, Hélène learned that only one of them, introduced into her uterus, had managed to survive.
All that was left was to pray and hope for magic to happen. Supported by her new partner, and finally, the miracle happened.
In September 2022, at the thirty-seventh week of pregnancy, Hélène gave birth to her little girl, named Daisy Grace. The little one was born healthy and weighed 2.7 kg.
“I started sobbing unbelievably, without believing my eyes…” admits the mother. “It was an unforgettable moment for me. It was a dream to hold her in my arms.”
Hélène wanted to share her experience, in order to encourage and motivate other women who are unable to have a child and who are losing hope of one day experiencing motherhood.