Pulling the new top over her tummy, Rachel MacPherson felt a sinking feeling as she noticed how tight it was. It wasn’t the sudden weight gain that worried her. She was going through an early menopause and thought that was part of it.
Instead, the 44-year-old feared she had the same bowel cancer that had recently taken her mum’s life.
But Rachel couldn’t have been more wrong – she was actually pregnant, even though the odds were only 1.6%.The Tauranga mum had resigned herself to having just one child, Eli (5), after fertility specialists told her she would be unable to have anymore without the aid of an egg donor.
So when her stomach began to swell and she got severe heartburn, Rachel feared she had cancer. “I had two miscarriages after Eli was born, then nothing. I was told it was menopause,” she says. “I had noticed changes myself. My periods were lighter, I used to have hot flushes and I knew I wasn’t ovulating as much.”
Rachel initially thought the heartburn was stress from caring for her dying mum, Derrin Bain (67).
But the symptoms didn’t ease when Derrin lost her fight for life just three months after her diagnosis, and it was then that a friend suggested Rachel take a pregnancy test. Both Rachel and her husband Joe (41) were dumbfounded when it was positive.
“It was so bittersweet, losing mum and finding out I was pregnant. My doctor sent me for a scan and I was 20 weeks along!
I couldn’t believe it. How could I not know?”
Rachel was advised to have a caesarean because of her age and because she had one for Eli’s birth. With just four weeks to go, Rachel held a baby shower and was stunned when she went into labour during the celebration.
“I had major contraction pains and less than three hours later I had an emergency caesarean. They all said it was the best baby shower ever, where the mother produced the baby on the day.”
Since Sam’s birth eight weeks ago, Rachel’s midwife has advised that she go on contraception to avoid another surprise.
“Stranger things have happened. It was a miracle to get Sammy,” she says. “I like to think my mum gave us Samuel to take our minds off her – to keep us busy and to give us focus. This time last year my mother was in fine health and I thought I couldn’t have a baby. We had no idea what lay ahead. What a difference a year can make!”
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