A NURSE who shed five stone to fulfil her dreams of becoming a mum is set to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday next month.

Laura Magee, of Lancing Avenue, Orford, vowed to lose the weight to improve her chances of having a child.

At 17 stone, the A&E nurse at Whiston Hospital was told by IVF specialists that she would need to drop the pounds ahead of the treatment.

The 36-year-old, who married her husband Chris, 55, almost 13 years ago, said: "We started trying for a baby after we got married but nothing happened.

"It was always in our plan to have children.

"It was quite early on – in 2005 – when we started going for tests.

"We were diagnosed with unexplained infertility so there was nothing majorly wrong with either of us."

The couple decided to keep trying but in 2012, Laura and Chris, who works as a nurse at Halton General Hospital, decided to look into whether IVF was an option.

"We thought about adoption and fostering but in the end I wanted to try everything," said the former St Gregory's High School pupil.

"But they kept saying it was my weight that was stopping us from conceiving and that if I lost weight that would help.

"It was extremely tough to hear and it took a further few years for me to get into gear.

"But I got my head screwed on and decided to do something about it."

Laura had signed up to the gym ahead of her wedding to Chris but this time she knew there was more at stake after 10 years of trying to conceive.

As the couple had to pay privately for the IVF as they were denied funding by Warrington Primary Care Trust due to Chris having two sons from a previous marriage, Laura knew it was make or break.

Laura joined Nicola Rae's bootcamp – based at Warrington University Academy – and she quickly became hooked.

"I always joked that I flirted with the gym but I had never done anything as intense as this," she said

"Nic is a nutritionist and she totally educated me about food. I was eating the wrong stuff and the wrong amount.

"I completely changed my lifestyle."

With three bootcamp sessions a week and a personal training session with Nic once a week, Laura lost nearly five stone.

In March 2014, the couple began their IVF journey at CARE Fertility Manchester and on December 1 they finally received the good news they had been desperate to hear after their first attempt.

"It was longest three minutes of my life waiting for the pregnancy test results," said the former Priestley College pupil.

"We both looked at it at the same time and saw the words pregnant.

"We both just started crying."

In August 2015 the couple welcomed their daughter Ailish Marie on Laura's personal trainer's birthday.

"I think it's poetic that it happened on Nic's birthday," she said.

"After all it was with her help that she is here."