Two Perfect Gifts
Lee-anne beat incredible odds to give birth on her birthday…twice!
As my due date came and went, everyone was starting to speculate… ‘I wonder if you’ll give birth on your birthday,’ my mum Julie, 56, said.
It was May 2005 and I was ready to pop.
It was my 19th birthday on 11 May, but that was nine days after my due date.
‘Surely I’ll have the baby before then!’ I said.
On 9 May, I finally went into labour. It was slow progress, though, and I still hadn’t given birth the next morning.
‘This baby certainly isn’t in any rush,’ a midwife at Airedale Hospital laughed.
Eventually, I was given an epidural and, hours later, on 11 May, I was ready to push. Suddenly, it dawned on me… ‘It’s my birthday!’ I panted. So, as I pushed, Mum and a team of midwives sang Happy Birthday to you!
Paige soon arrived, weighing a healthy 8lb.
Sadly, things didn’t work out with her dad, but she was my world.
And, over the years, I made sure our shared birthday was extra-special. I’d get us both a cake, and we’d sing to each other and have parties with family and friends.
Then, in 2012, I was introduced by one of my friends to Iain, 41.
We hit it off, and he was great with Paige, too. We tied the knot in October 2014.
Soon after, we started trying for a baby of our own.
We were thrilled when I fell pregnant. But, tragically, I lost the baby at 11 weeks.
I’d had two miscarriages before Paige, and each one had ripped my heart to pieces.
Eventually, my GP prescribed a drug to help me carry a pregnancy.
I fell pregnant in 2015, and the baby’s due date was 19 May last year. A few people wondered if I’d give birth on my birthday again, but I just laughed it off. ‘No chance,’ I snorted. But at the start of May, doctors were concerned about my high blood pressure – and on 9 May, I was induced again.
Labour progressed slowly like last time, and it turned out the baby was breech.
‘We need to prepare you for a Caesarean,’ a doctor explained. And the only available date for the op? My 30th birthday! What were the chances?!
As Enya-rose was placed in my arms, my heart melted.
‘Our rainbow baby!’
I cried to Iain.
She’d brought so much happiness after a tough time. And I believed it was fate she’d arrived on my 30th birthday. Paige, then 11, was thrilled. ‘Not a lot of people can say they became a big sister on their birthday,’ she beamed proudly.
I’ve worked out that in 2026, we’ll be celebrating my 40th birthday, Paige’s 21st and Enya-rose’s 10th!
Apparently, I beat odds of one in 48 million to give birth on my birthday twice.
I hope my story encourages other women not to give up hope. My beautiful girls have brought me so much joy.
The only available date for the Caesarean? My 30th birthday!