Throughout puberty she did not have periods, and doctors later discovered she had no reproductive
organs thanks to a condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome.
‘When they told me I had no womb, I was so confused I felt sick. My biggest fear was never having children,’ she told the Daily Mirror.
‘Suddenly a huge piece of my life was missing. I felt like half a woman and was embarrassed. How I was going to tell a guy I was genetically male when I started dating?’
Mrs Haynes, now 28, said she was devastated that she would never have children of her own – and told her childhood friend Sam, who later became her husband: ‘No man will want me.
However, a ray of hope came in 2007 when a new specialist at Royal Derby Hospital found a tiny womb missed on previous scans. ‘It was only a few millimetres, but it was a start,’ said Mrs Haynes, from Bedford.
‘He was optimistic it would grow. I still couldn’t conceive naturally but I could have the option of IVF.’
The first step was a course of hormone tablets to give her the right levels of progesterone and oestrogen, which would stop her suffering osteoporosis and create an environment in which her womb could grow.
In 2011, Mrs Haynes was told her womb was ready for IVF – but was dealt another blow when she was told her local NHS trust would not fund it. Determined not to give up, the couple paid £10,500 – more than half their savings – for IVF treatment and flights to a clinic in Cyprus in April.
‘I was so nervous. We only had one shot and couldn’t afford to go through it all again,’ Mrs Haynes said. ‘I desperately wanted to be a mother and knew if there were no viable eggs or the implantation wasn’t successful, I’d be distraught.’
Doctors told her she had only a 60 per cent chance of pregnancy – so when two tests came back positive, she was ecstatic.
And when Mrs Haynes went for her six-week scan, it was a shock to discover both eggs had taken and she was expecting non-identical twins.
‘I couldn’t believe it’, she said. ‘I freaked out, but I was over the moon at the same time. I had the chance to have a complete family.’
Mr Haynes, also 28, added: ‘I felt numb with excitement. It was two for the price of one.’
Nine years after hearing the crushing news that she would never be a mother, Mrs Haynes gave birth to Avery and Darcey. She said:
‘Becoming a mother was the single most amazing moment of my life. When I held the babies in my arms for the first time, I was overwhelmed.’
