Her polycystic ovaries meant she struggled to conceive naturally and, at 49, she was sure she’d be too old for IVF treatment.
Even when she did finally become pregnant, she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and her baby James was born dangerously early.
But, against all the odds, Wendy is celebrating Christmas with the healthy miracle baby she had always hoped for.
Wendy, now 51, says: “James really was the best Christmas present we could have asked for. For so long, I truly believed I would never become a mum – so to hold James in my arms was the most incredible feeling. He really is the proof that miracles do happen.
“And this year, we will be spending our first Christmas at home as a family – something that I only dared dream about.”
Wendy and her husband, Andrew, 50, started trying for a baby after their wedding in 2013, a year after they met through on online dating agency.
The happy couple couldn’t wait to start a family, but Wendy, from from Rothley, Leicestershire, was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries a year after their wedding and was told it would be very difficult to fall pregnant naturally.
They considered adoption, but decided they wanted to find a way of having a baby of their own.
But their hopes were dashed once again when Wendy was told the NHS only funds IVF treatment for women aged 42 and under.
Wendy and Andrew, an accountant, were quickly running out of options.
“I thought all my chances of becoming a mum had ended,” says Wendy. “I almost resigned myself that it was over.”
But, after doing some research, the couple found CARE fertility in Nottingham, and arranged to see a consultant.
Wendy was told she would be eligible for treatment until she was 53 using donor eggs and the couple were given their first glimmer of hope in years.
“We were told there was a 60% of the first attempt being successful, which we were very optimistic about,” says Wendy
“I just thought if it’s meant to be, it will happen.”
And it did.
On Father’s Day last year, Wendy discovered she was having a baby.
“I just cried and cried in disbelief and amazement as Andrew and I hugged one another,” she remembers.
Although the pregnancy went well initially, the 20-week scan revealed the couple’s unborn baby wasn’t growing at the rate doctors would have hoped for.
After being regularly monitored, just four weeks later Wendy was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and told their baby may not be receiving sufficient fluids.
Just 29 weeks into the pregnancy, Wendy was rushed to theatre for an emergency caesarean section.
Baby James was born weighing a tiny 1lb 13oz and needed urgent medical attention, meaning Wendy couldn’t even hold her newborn son.
“I was so worried after everything we had all been through that James wouldn’t make it,” she says.
James was rushed to the neo-natal department where he was placed on a ventilator.
Then, when James was one-day-old, Wendy got to hold her precious son for the first time.
“I felt like the happiest mum alive,” she says.
The family tried to make Christmas Day in the hospital as special as possible.
Then, when James was eight weeks old – a fortnight before his actual due date – Wendy and Andrew were finally able to take him home.
