Unlucky-in-love woman, 40, embarks on motherhood alone

A woman who dreamt of becoming a parent has embarked on motherhood alone after her husband of six years decided he didn’t want to have children.

Katie Bryan, 40, from Austin, Texas, married at 23 and thought she had plenty of time to start a family – but was divorced at 29 when her partner decided he didn’t want children.

The school administrator later decided to freeze her eggs – and soon stopped trying to find a new partner and instead considered single parenthood.

She fell pregnant with her son Miles following an embryo transfer shortly afterwards.

Ms Bryan said: ‘I felt smug when I was married at 23, I was young, I was married and I had a house which meant in the next few years I would have kids, but then we divorced six years later as he didn’t want children.

‘I thought I would go on and date someone better but it never happened. My ex-husband had set the bar high and I couldn’t find someone I would be happy to have a family with.

‘As got older I realised I wouldn’t have much time to figure out if they were right or not, didn’t want to just have child with someone I didn’t know for that long and I was getting to point where I didn’t want to have baby with stranger. 

‘So I decided to just go on as many dates as I could. 

‘It was getting to a stage where I was going on up to three a week and finally found someone at 38, and decided I was going to freeze my eggs as I expected the relationship to progress.

‘The relationship broke down and I was in a position where I needed to have a baby soon as my window was closing, but the only way I could find out how strong my eggs were was to fertilise them, but I didn’t have a partner for this.’

The school administrator quickly decided to freeze her eggs – and soon stopped trying to find a new partner and instead decided to have an embryo transfer

She fell pregnant with her son Miles (pictured above with Katie) shortly afterwards

Ms Bryan first tried intrauterine insemination (IUI) – a type of artificial insemination – but had a miscarriage.

She then consulted a fertility specialist, and decided an embryo transfer was the best option.

‘I had a donor and I fell pregnant after some very successful egg retrievals at 39,’ she said.

‘It has cost me around £7,000 overall including medications, it isn’t cheap but being a mum is worth it, and if I was to choose buying a car or having a baby I would choose a baby any day.’

Ms Bryan said her son, Miles, is already aware of how he was born.

Ms Bryan first tried intrauterine insemination (IUI) – a type of artificial insemination – but had a miscarriage

She then consulted a fertility specialist, and decided an embryo transfer was the best option

‘It is not something we will tiptoe around, and I truly believe that while he’ll have questions and feelings about it, it doesn’t have to be a problem,’ she says.

‘In our family, we just don’t have a dad. We also don’t have a pony. It’s just not something that’s in the cards for us right now, maybe ever.’

The mother-of-one said she chose an ‘open ID donor’ so she could access his background and photographs.

This will be shared with Miles when he is older – and her son and even met the donor.

She said: ‘He has even met my son and keeps up to date with what we’re doing, which makes it easier for when Miles is older as he won’t have all these questions, he can just ask the donor himself.

‘So for now whilst he is around I decided it was best to not make it a big deal but just to make Miles aware as he gets older.’