I HAD A BABY AT 50!

Kia Glover, 51, refused to let age put her off chasing her dream

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As I jabbed at the 'end call' button on my phone, I wiped a tear from my cheek. 'It's not fair. I just want a family of my own,' I muttered out loud.

It was 2022 and the mother of the baby I was all set to adopt had decided she no longer wanted to go ahead - she wanted to raise the child herself, she said. I tried to be understanding - pleased for her, even - but in truth I was devastated. I had everything ready for the baby, and over the past few months I'd really let myself believe I'd soon be a mum, and have a tiny person to care for. But now it had been snatched away, just like that. I was 47 and had wanted children for as long as I could remember, but now it seemed like it would never happen.

As a child, I had just presumed it would all just work out for me one day, that I'd meet 'The One', fall in love, get married and have babies. Even after I was told at 39 that my egg reserve was diminished and I had fewer eggs than other women my age, I thought there was still a chance for me to conceive naturally when the right man came along. But as I'd inched closer to my mid-40s, tired of waiting for the right man, I'd decided to go it alone, and looked into adoption.

After all, you don't need a partner to be a mum, and I knew that I wanted a baby more than a relationship.

Some agencies wouldn't even consider me because I was single, though, and the process was agonisingly slow. I'd been overjoyed when a baby was found for me to adopt. I'd even bought a doll to practise nappy changes, but now I had to start from the very beginning again.

REKINDLED HOPE