‘Babydust gave us the son we had longed for’
Amy Walker, 36, used the same method as celebrity mum Danielle Lloyd to try for a boy after having four girls. She lives in Folkestone, Kent, with her plumber husband John, 37, and their children Abigail, 16, Isabelle, 14, Olivia, 10, Amelia, four, and on
Clutching the confetti-filled balloon, I walked through the front door to be greeted by our four daughters, who were waiting excitedly for us to get home from the baby scan. When they saw the balloon was filled with blue confetti, they jumped up and down with joy. At last, they were getting the brother they had hoped for.
John and I were excited, too, but also amazed that the Babydust Method we’d tried had actually worked – I’d conceived a boy.
I didn’t grow up wanting a big family. I wasn’t even sure I wanted children. But soon after meeting John when I was 18, I suffered a miscarriage. Losing a baby was heartbreaking, but it made me realise I did want children and a year later, when I was 19, our first daughter Abigail was born.
We loved being parents and wanted more babies. I was lucky enough to have Isabelle in 2007, followed by Olivia in 2011.
Having three girls was great but John and I both longed for a son too. So when we found out we were expecting a boy in 2016, we were thrilled.
The births of all my babies had been straightforward but a few weeks early, so
I wasn’t surprised when I went into labour at 34 weeks. I was given drugs to stop it but it turned out the placenta was beginning to fail.
Stillbirth tragedy
When I went into labour again a week later, a catalogue of errors were made – including a decision to delay the Caesarean by four hours. The result was that our much-longed-for boy, Harry, was stillborn.
When he was handed to me, he was perfect in every way with lots of dark hair and beautiful chubby cheeks. He looked as though he was sleeping – but of course, he wasn’t. He had never even drawn a breath. We were both
devastated and I struggled to cope. We arranged a funeral in the little country church where John and I were married and the girls were christened.
We buried Harry in the local crematorium after a service I can barely remember because I was in such a mess.
The hospital admitted negligence and I threw myself into fundraising to help other parents who had lost a baby to stillbirth.
I managed to raise enough money to fund six cuddle cots, which allow parents to spend time with their stillborn baby at home – something
John and I hadn’t been able to do.
We talked and realised we’d still love to have another child, not to replace Harry but because it felt right for our family.
A week before what would have been Harry’s first birthday, Amelia was born. We were now a big family but we couldn’t help thinking there was something missing.
John loves his girls, but he longed for a little boy to take to football and do other father and son things with. So, we decided that we would try one last time to have a boy, fearing that we would regret it further down the line if we didn’t.
Because I wanted to increase my chances of conceiving a son, I searched the internet for help. There was lots of information but I felt sceptical about it, thinking there was no way it could work.
However, a Facebook friend had been successful using the Babydust Method, so I bought a copy of the book and it seemed to make a lot of sense to me.
The method involved tracking when I ovulated and having sex at a particular time of the month. We had nothing to lose by trying. If it didn’t work, we’d still love the baby, whether it was a boy or a girl.
“You just tell me what to do and when!” John said. There were no rules to follow about what to eat or drink. And we didn’t tell our family or friends what we were doing in case they thought we were mad.
We’ve always been very open with the girls about sex being part of a loving relationship. There are a lot of us, sleeping at different times, so we didn’t have any problems where we had to sneak off for sex in comedy
‘We didn’t tell our family or friends what we were doing’
moments. The method was easy to follow and I got pregnant quickly.
John and I nervously went in for the gender scan at 14 weeks and I couldn’t believe it when the baby turned out to be a boy. Babydust had worked for us!
When you’ve lost a child at birth there’s never a moment when you feel the baby is safe, so I was nervous throughout the pregnancy.
But on 7 January last year, I went into labour at 34 weeks, had a Caesarean and baby Teddy was delivered safe and well.
Our family is complete
John was first to hold him and we cried with relief that he was OK. It was bittersweet because he looked so much like Harry.
We brought Teddy home five days later and he soon fitted into our family. His sisters adore him. He’s a year old now and crawls around pretty quickly. At this rate, he’ll soon be playing football!
Our family’s definitely complete now – and we’re a very happy, big family.
There are no guarantees the Babydust Method will give you the outcome you desire, and you definitely shouldn’t try it if you aren’t prepared to love a child no matter what the gender. But it worked for us.
THE BABYDUST METHOD: A GUIDE TO CONCEIVING A GIRL OR A BOY BY KATHRYN TAYLOR IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON, PRICED AT £12 IN PAPERBACK