I had my first baby at 53 — after 25 years of $125K IVF treatments

After 25 years of trying, Helen Dalglish finally became a mom at age 53.

The first-time mom from Glasgow, Scotland, endured 21 failed rounds of in-vitro fertilization, costing almost $124,500 — before she finally got pregnant with her daughter Daisy Grace, born in September 2022.

Dalglish, who first started trying for a baby in her 20s, admitted she was beginning to lose hope after spending so many years of her life trying to conceive.

“When you get that little miracle at the end, you forget about the 25 years,” the loving mom told the UK’s Daily Record newspaper. “I was looking down, and the bump was getting bigger, and I thought, ‘Am I dreaming?’ “

“Even now looking at her I can’t believe I’m a mom,” she added. “It’s surreal.”

Dalglish was living in Cyprus with her then-husband when she first started trying for a baby at age 28. However, they eventually moved back to Scotland when the couple was diagnosed with “unexplained fertility,” despite tests showing no complications.

They underwent a first round of IVF for free through the UK’s National Health System. When it failed, they threw themselves and their savings into fertility treatments.

During this time, a consultant ran more tests and discovered the embryo transfers weren’t taking because Dalglish had a severely tilted womb.

She continued to try fertility treatments — even tried donor eggs — and devastatingly suffered three miscarriages.

As “emotionally, physically and financially” exhausting as the ordeal was, Dalglish says she knew she was destined to be a mother.

“What kept me going was I just kept seeing this baby,” she mused. “I tried to switch it off sometimes, and said, ‘Stop punishing yourself and putting your body through this.’ “

“Every one [attempt] that fails, you’re absolutely devastated. It’s like a death,” she continued. “I would get down for a couple of weeks, but then I would pick myself up and say, ‘Right, if you want this baby, get your act together.’ “

It wasn’t until Dalglish and her current partner moved back to Cyprus that she finally saw a positive pregnancy test, with help from the fertility center in Kyrenia, on the country’s northern coast. After their second attempt with the new clinic, she was able to carry a baby to full term.

“I wasn’t going to do the very last treatment,” she admitted. “My father had been seriously ill at home back in Scotland, and he passed away.”

However, at her grieving mother’s urging, Dalglish stayed and underwent another treatment.

“Before dad passed away he said to her ‘what can I send you from heaven?’ and she said ‘please send her a baby,’ ” she Dalglish recalled.

When they got news of a positive pregnancy test, the new mom said she and her partner burst into tears.

“My mom thought it was negative [when she heard us] but it was tears of relief and happiness,” she said. “I think my dad must have had something to do with it.”

Although it was a difficult pregnancy, with the new mom developing diabetes and pre-eclampsia, she remained positive that she was going to meet her baby girl.

She gave birth to Daisy Grace in September.

Dalglish burst into tears the moment they walked her baby girl through the door to their home. “It felt like 25 years of grief trying to escape and caught me at a moment where I wasn’t expecting it,” she gushed.

“It’s absolute heaven,” she continued. “She seems the most placid, laid-back, happy baby. It’s almost like I waited so long and now I’m being spoilt.”