Little miracle of lockdown
JUICING AND WALKS HELP COUPLE’S DREAM COME TRUE Mum’s joy after 10 years of trying to have a baby
A businesswoman celebrating her first Mother’s Day after trying to have a baby for a decade said she owes it all to lockdown.
Victoria Halliday and husband Mark dreamed of starting a family after tying the knot in August 2010 but tests revealed Victoria was suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome and may never have been able to have a child.
But the Fake Bake boss said lockdown restrictions last year, which made her slow down, lose weight and exercise, helped her conceive.
And against the odds the couple last month welcomed the safe arrival of miracle baby daughter Afton Ember.
Victoria said: “We have been on quite a journey but the important thing was to never give up hope.
“Whenever I hear myself moaning about lockdown, I have to stop myself because I really do believe it played a role in Afton being here.
“Normally I’m travelling all over the world doing a job I really love but lockdown gave me more time to think about my health and exercise.
“Mark and I started doing hour-long walks every day and I started juicing. I lost 2st, felt fitter and now we have Afton.”
Victoria, who is head of business development at the tanning company, was just 18 years old when she first met Mark outside a bar in Glasgow. The 37-year-old, of Newton Mearns, Glasgow, said: “In the first couple of years after we married we didn’t think too much about the fact I hadn’t fallen pregnant but, as time went on, we started to worry something wasn’t right.
“Finally we were referred for tests and I was told I had polycystic ovary syndrome, meaning my ovaries didn’t work the way they should, which made falling pregnant naturally an issue.
“We carried on trying but nothing happened. Further down the line we asked about IVF but I was told that to qualify for treatment on the NHS I would need to go away and lose weight as my BMI was too high..
“But weight gain is one of the symptomss of polycystic ovary syndrome, meaningg itt wasn’t as easy for me to lose weightght as it mightt be for other people.”
Victoria helped come to terms with her sadness by throwing herself into her work, regularly travelling to foreign cities including Dubai, Los Angeles, Ibiza and Las Vegas and of ten work ing withh celebrities and inf luencers at glamorous events.
Her Instagram page is filleded with images of herself picturedred alongside stars ranging from Piersiers Morgan and Olly Murs to Jean Johansson and Helen Flanagan,, who is now one of her closest friends.s.
She said: “Both Mark and I keptpt busy and went on nice holidays but it was always there.
“As family and friends fell pregnant , we were always so thrilled for them but would feel sad it wasn’t happening for us too. When we went to family events, the fact we had been trying so long for a baby was always the elephant in the room.
“We would feel it most on a Sunday. We’d be busy all week but there was something about 5pm on a Sunday when it would hit you.” Victoria had tragically miscarried once before but, like everyone else in the world, her life changed dradramatically when coronavirus hit. VictoriaVicto said: “I decided if I wasn’t going to be travelling so much, I would use theth extra time I had to address my healthhe and exercise. I started doing celerycele juicing, which my sister had read couldcou help with the symptoms of polycysticpoly ovary syndrome, and I started goinggoin for walks with Mark for our one-hhour-a-day outdoor exercise.” In earlye June last year Victoria did a pregnancypregn test. She said: “We went throughthroug so many pregnancy tests, I had them on repeat order. That day I did a test before ggoing into the shower. When I came out, I liftelifted it and, like a robot, I almost threw it into the bin, which is what I was so used to doing – but then I got sight of a very faint line. Mark and I were beyond thrilled.”
Victoria called her doctor, who warned her there was a “very high risk” she may suffer another miscarriage. But her pregnancy progressed healthily.
The couple waited until Victoria was 17 weeks’ pregnant to announce on their 10th wedding anniversary that they were having a baby. Afton Ember was born at the start of February this year.
Victoria said: “When we held Afton in our arms for the first time, it was such a wonderful, emotional moment.
“To wait 10 years for a baby was such a long time but she was worth the wait and we feel incredibly blessed. It will be a very special Mother’s Day.”
To 10 wait year baby sfor long is su a time ch was but wor she wait th
.We the bles feel sed