While menopause might mean a welcome end to periods, some may wonder if you can get pregnant after menopause.
The answer: Yes! Tess Morten learned that when doctors told her the symptoms they thought were cancer were actually indicators that she was pregnant.
Morten and her husband Neil had spent 14 years and more than $25,000 trying to conceive a child. They tried IVF three times, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. So instead they turned to fostering three children.
“I had counselling. I was devastated and heartbroken. My husband has been a rock. He said it would be tough if we couldn’t have kids but if we do it’s a bonus. But all I ever wanted was to be a mum,” she told the British paper The Sun.
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After months of feeling bloated, sick, and tired, Morten, 47, who was post-menopausal and on hormone replacement therapy, visited her general practitioner. Her doctor told her to “prepare for the worst” before sending her off to have an ovarian scan. At first, they assumed it was ovarian cancer.
“The hospital doctor was looking at the monitor as he rolled the scanner over my stomach and said, ‘Your ovaries are fine but look at this,’ she said. “I looked at the screen and could see a baby. I said, ‘Is this mine?’ The nurse was holding my hand because I was scared it was bad news. I cried because I never thought it would happen to me.”
Neil, her husband, was at home with their three kids and, we’re assuming, nervously waiting for the diagnosis. So imagine his shock when Morten whispered, “It’s not cancer, it’s a baby in my tummy.”
According to Morten, he stood swearing in the driveway, completely “over the moon”.
In January of this year, Morten gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Molly. “When we knew she was a girl I wanted to call her Molly. Tess looked its meaning up on the internet and it means ‘miracle,’” Neil said.
“I just want to share our wonderful story with the world. I can’t stop smiling and I can’t stop telling people, even strangers. The post office and local takeaway know and ask how ‘Miracle Molly’ is.”
h/t The Independent
This article originally appeared on our sister website, Woman’s World.
