A miracle mother gave birth to a baby that doctors initially suspected was ovarian cancer – seven years after she went through the menopause.
After feeling bloated, tired and sick for several months, Tess Morten, 47, was told to ‘fear the worst’ by doctors, but was actually three-and-a-half months along.
Mrs Morten, from Reading, Berkshire, was taking HRT and had given up on having a child after three failed IVF attempts.
In January this year, she gave birth to Molly at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, who came out weighing healthy 7lb 14oz.
Tess Morten and her husband, Neil, pictured with their baby daughter, Molly, who was born seven years after she went through menopause
In January this year, she gave birth to Molly at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, who came out weighing healthy 7lb 14oz
She told the Sun: ‘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.”
‘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.’
Mrs Morten and her husband, 52-year-old Neil, married in Jamaica in 2003 and immediately began making plans to add to their family.
Mrs Morten and her husband, 52-year-old Neil, married in Jamaica in 2003 and began making plans to add to their family
They eventually gave up and fostered three children to try to ease their pain after three rounds of IVF treatment
But after three rounds of IVF across the next seven years that cost more than £20,000 in total, they eventually gave up and fostered three children to try to ease their pain.
Experts believe that her ovulation may have restarted by the HRT drugs she was taking to remedy hot flushes she was having.
She added in her interview with the Sun: ‘I was stunned because I had been through the menopause and didn’t think it was possible. I feel I’ve been blessed.’
The chairman of the British Fertility Society, Adam Balen, said: ‘I have not heard of it happening seven years later. It’s amazing.’
There have been several previous cases of women, who had already gone through an early menopause, falling pregnant while on HRT.
In 1997, British housewife Dawn Brooke became the world’s oldest natural mother at 59.
She was on hormone replacement therapy when she conceived and later gave birth to a healthy son, Harry.
Dr Geeta Nargund, head of reproductive medicine at St George’s Hospital, London, previously told the Mail: ‘There are rare cases of spontaneous ovulation for women on HRT.
‘In the past we’ve seen it happen with women who have gone through early menopause.
‘There’s a very small chance of that happening. It’s possible for ovulation to continue on and off around the age of menopause but not once a woman is completely post-menopausal.’