Our Christmas LOVE STORIES

Three women reveal how the festive season changed their lives forever

- GILLIAN HARVEY

‘Our happy ending’

Motherhood coach Ivana Poku, 36, lives in Hertfordshire with husband Yaw, 44, and twin sons Henry and Mason, four.

Coming back from the bathroom, I could barely get the words out. ‘I’m bleeding,’ I said to my boyfriend Yaw.

As I watched his eyes widen in horror, I began to shake. I’d become pregnant just weeks into our relationship and, when the 12-week scan had revealed twins, I’d felt excited, but overwhelmed by the pregnancy itself. It had been such a whirlwind that I hadn’t yet felt connected to the pregnancy. But when I saw I was bleeding, I knew at that moment how much I wanted to be a mum and how much I already loved my babies.

It was New Year’s Eve 2015 and, as I’d been feeling tired, we’d planned a quiet night with friends. Now, suddenly, we were calling an ambulance. It was 8pm and luckily the A&E at Chelsea Hospital was still quiet. We were whisked through for a scan and fear was soon replaced by joy – on screen, our boys were healthy; one even seemed to look at us with an expression that said, ‘What are you two looking at?’ Even the sonographer laughed!

I’ve never felt as elated as when we were discharged later that evening; almost dizzy with the happiness that replaced that terrible fear. Little did I know there was more excitement to come.

We arrived home at 11.50pm and, as the clock chimed 12, Yaw dropped to one knee and proposed to me. I later found he’d been planning it for weeks, but hadn’t thought it would be such an eventful night.

After I said a resounding ‘yes’ we danced to Elton John’s