12 miscarriages - then comes miracle Joe

26 July 2004 07:14

A woman has given birth after 12 miscarriages in five years. Sarah Patterson, 26, had also lost another baby through an ectopic pregnancy, since she was first pregnant in 1999.

Sarah had given up hope of ever giving birth and even went on the pill to save herself the trauma of another lost baby.

When, out of the blue, she became pregnant again and, in March, gave birth to baby boy Joe.

"When I first held him in my arms I was in heaven," said Sarah, of Trafalgar Road West, Gorleston. "I cried with joy, It was overwhelming. All the pain and suffering were worth it. Joe's my own little miracle."

Sarah's first miscarriage came when she was living in Leicester and planning to marry former fiance Jamie.

And just weeks before their wedding tragedy struck again when doctors had to abort another baby after she suffered an ectopic pregnancy - a life-threatening condition where the baby grows in the fallopian tube instead of the womb.

Doctors told her blood clots in the placenta were starving the foetus of oxygen, causing her miscarriages.

The trauma of repeated miscarriages took its toll on Sarah and Jamie's marriage and after just 14 months they separated although they continued trying for a child.

After two more miscarriages, in 2001, they split for good and Sarah moved to Gorleston, where she started seeing old friend Mark Jermy.

Following another miscarriage she went on the pill, hoping to put a halt to the cycle of lost babies.

But somehow she became pregnant again.

Sarah said: "I was on a knife-edge for the whole pregnancy. It wasn't until I heard him cry that I let myself believe it was for real."

On March 25 she gave birth to 6lb 4oz Joe, by cesarean section.

Speaking yesterday Sarah said Joe was doing well and had started teething.

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