Mum discovers pregnancy just before having ovaries removed

Caroline Darlington, from Great Sankey, had accepted that she was infertile after years of trying for children – with IVF treatment having also failed.

The 39-year-old and husband Roy, 48, eventually adopted their now six-year-old son.

After suffering excruciating endometriosis and a cyst, she was due to have her last ovary surgically removed before the coronavirus pandemic delayed her operation.

Once surgery resumed, Caroline underwent a final scan in September last year before she was set to go under the knife – at which point the sonographer discovered that she was 16 weeks pregnant.

And Jorge Albert Darlington was subsequently born in late March in Warrington Hospital, weighing 11lb4.

Caroline said: “I had a scan, and the nurse told me 'your ovary looks fine, but you're actually pregnant’.

“My stomach had been swollen, but I just assumed it was the cyst growing.

“I had a mask on when I found out so you couldn't see my full facial expression, but you can imagine it was a bit of a shock – I remember thinking, ‘oh my god, what is my husband going to say?’.

“We were both in complete shock for a few days – we feel our new arrival is a miracle that would never had happened if there hadn’t been a pandemic.

Caroline at 30 weeks

“I've always wanted children ever since I was a little girl and played with dolls.

“I trained as a nursery nurse, so I have always been around children.

"We feel grateful for our blessing and want to let people out there know that you should never give up hope.”

The couple married in 2001 and moved to Germany due to Roy’s career in the army before attempting to start a family together.

The couple on their wedding day

But Caroline was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome – a disorder where the ovaries fail to regularly release eggs – and was unable to fall pregnant despite two years of investigations by doctors and treatment.

She said: “It definitely had both a physical and psychological toll on me, because even with all the treatments they still couldn't tell me why it wasn't happening for us."

In 2004, Caroline unsuccessfully underwent IVF – after which she and her partner decided they would not have further treatment.

“It was an awful time, I was traumatised really”, Caroline added.

“You just thought it was going to work, and obviously it didn't.

“After that, we kind of had a break and decided that we weren't going to have children as I didn't want to keep putting my body through all the hormones.”

Having adopted their then 10-month-old boy in 2015, Caroline suffered a second ruptured ovarian cyst on Christmas Day in 2016 – following a previous rupture nine years earlier.

She said: “I lost about two pints of blood, and one of my ovaries was removed – it was hugely traumatic.

“I felt more terrible for my son, though, because it was his Christmas Day that was being ruined.”

Caroline continued to suffer serious pain over the coming years after being diagnosed with endometriosis, and began pre-operation preparations to have her second ovary removed in February last year.

But the postponement of the procedure amid the Covid-19 crisis would prove to be a blessing in disguise.

And the family are now ‘very smitten’ with their unexpected arrival.