sweetangel's Journal

A British nurse who suffered 17 years of heartbreaking miscarriages finally delivered a healthy baby boy at a Liverpool hospital, thanks to her pioneering doctors.

Catherine Findlow never thought she would be a mother after losing 10 babies, including one set of twins, but thanks to her dedicated doctors at Liverpool Women's Hospital, the 41-year-old Runcorn, England woman finally gave birth to a son, Daniel Robert, Aug. 12.

According to the Daily Mail, Findlow, who began trying to conceive in her early 20s, suffered nine miscarriages before doctors finally discovered the cause of her heartache -- "killer" cells in her uterus.

Also called "natural killer" or NK cells, the cells protect the body from cancer and infection, but can also cause problems in early pregnancy -- too many NK cells in the womb create too much oxygen, making it impossible for a fetus to survive. The Daily Mail reports that Liverpool Women's Hospital is the only place in England that treats this rare condition with steroids.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Practice Bulletin states that high numbers of NK cells have been found in women who experience multiple miscarriages.

However, the publication also states that there is "no proven treatment for women with recurrent pregnancy loss found to have increased percentages of circulating NK cells."

Findlow had just about given up on having children and was considering being sterilized. She told The Daily Mail that the "need and desire to be a parent enables you to cope over the years," but she and her second husband, Matt Findlow, were at their wit's end.

"But we both felt we were getting to the stage where we couldn't deal with it any more emotionally," she told the newspaper. "Dr. Quenby and Liverpool Women's Hospital have changed our lives completely."

Little Daniel Robert is a miracle in more ways than one: Findlow underwent a cesarean section at 37 weeks gestation, and it was discovered during her surgery that half of her placenta had died.

"It was folded in a way it could not be detected on the scans, so we feel doubly lucky Daniel is here," she told the Daily Mail. "All that disappointment and heartache fades into insignificance when you hold your baby in your arms."

Findlow and her husband are not alone in their difficult journey; according to the U.K. journal Human Reproduction, some patients suffering from this syndrome have experienced as many as 19 early-term miscarriages before having a live birth.

How much would you endure to become a parent?