BABY JOY FOR
A WOMAN who plunged to just four stone as she fought anorexia has given birth to twins at the age of 50.
Overjoyed Christine Forshaw worried she’d never become a mum after a 20-year struggle with the eating disorder.
Doctors feared she had been left infertile. But years of help and support saw her return to health and she became pregnant after a fourth round of IVF.
Her daughters – 4lb 12oz Emily Tracey and 5lb 8oz Grace Christine – arrived three minutes apart nine days ago.
Christine says: “After the struggles I’ve had with anorexia, my periods had completely stopped and I honestly thought I’d lost any chance of having a baby, let alone two. It’s double the joy.
“I always wanted children. My friend said about trying IVF – I hadn’t thought about that. I got pregnant at the fourth attempt. My first attempt was in 2017, I was 46. Now I’ve got my little miracles.
“I know some will say I’m too old to become a mum but it’s about what I want and what’s right for me, not what they think. It’s not for them to say about what I should do in my life. I’m so happy.
I thought I had lost any chance of having a baby, let alone two... it’s double the joy CHRISTINE FORSHAW on her thrill after finally becoming a mother
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“You can become a mum any time, any age. At 50 you have such a lot of life experience. I’ve always wanted to be a mum and I absolutely love it.
“I’m really upbeat about it. This is what I always wanted, I thought I’d never have it. It is such a nice feeling when you get to say, ‘oh these are my daughters’. Being a new mum is a learning curve all the time. You learn every day. There’s so much to look forward to.”
Christine had IVF at a private clinic in London, using a sperm donor and paying £20,000 in total for treatment.
She says: “Daddy is a sperm donor, I don’t know who he is. But I chose him from a website. It’s a bit like Amazon.
“You look at the criteria for the donor, all his information. I know his hair colour, blood group and hobbies. His hair is dark brown, his eyes are green. You get a catalogue number, put it in a basket and pay.”
Christine, a customer services administrator from Epsom, Surrey, paid £275 a year to keep the sperm frozen as she underwent IVF.
She almost gave up hope after three failed attempts, saying: “I phoned the clinic and said, ‘I’m not going to do this any more’.
“But they said we should have one more attempt. It’s heartbreaking when it doesn’t work and I didn’t know if I wanted to go through it all again. But I knew I’d always regret it if I didn’t give it one more try.
“They said they would put two eggs in this time, but there would only be a 5% chance of twins.
“When I came to do the pregnancy test I just thought it won’t have worked. The funny thing is I did a test at home and just stuffed it in my bag.
“I got to Clapham Junction on the train before I pulled out the test. I just blurted out ‘Oh my God, I’m pregnant’. This lady next to me said, ‘That’s lovely’.”
The clinic confirmed the pregnancy through a blood test. Christine goes on: “I went back again at seven weeks for another check. As the doctor examined me I said to him ‘Oh, you’re going to tell me I’m having twins aren’t you?’ When he said yes I fell off the bed!” Christine kept the pregnancy secret from everyone except her closest pal until she got to 26 weeks. “I didn’t want to say anything as things could go wrong,” she says.
“So I waited 12 weeks, then 20, then at 26 I just had to tell people. I couldn’t keep it hidden much longer. The only person I told was my best friend. She has been through so much with me, throughout my anorexia she was my rock.”
She was at 36 weeks when the girls were delivered by C-section – 12 days early – at Epsom District Hospital.
Doctors had discovered one of the babies was in the breech position. “I was awake throughout,” Christine says. “The joy of two perfect daughters is beyond