Natalie Austin never thought she’d fall pregnant naturally, least of all just before she had major weight-loss surgery – and didn’t find out she was expecting until she went into labour
When Natalie Austin woke in the middle of the night with stomach pains, she feared her appendix had burst. But a few hours later, she got the shock of her life when she realised she was actually giving birth to a baby girl.
Natalie thought she was unable to conceive naturally and her daughter Eloise, one, was born following four cycles of IVF. Then, after she’d had Eloise, Natalie went on to have a gastric band – without realising she was already pregnant with her second child when it was fitted. With no pregnancy symptoms – and the fact she was losing weight – Natalie was none the wiser.
She says, “When I woke up at 4.30am, I thought that my appendix had burst. By 7.30am I was in so much pain I was throwing up. It all happened so quickly, there was no time to process it. Before I knew it, Darcy had arrived. She was a surprise, but now we can’t imagine life without her.”
DIFFICULT
Natalie, 40, and her husband Rob, 39, started trying for a baby in 2015. But years on, she hadn’t fallen pregnant, so the couple turned to IVF in 2019.
“The doctors weren’t sure why I couldn’t get pregnant, but thought it might have been a chromosomal issue,” she explains.
But three rounds later, Natalie and Rob – who works in design – had still not been successful and the couple were left heartbroken.
She says, “We had no idea it was going to be so difficult to start a family. It was devastating. We went through IVF, but it didn’t work – on my second try, I miscarried before I got to five weeks. We didn’t know what to do. It felt so unfair.”
The couple had a third try in July 2020, but again it tragically failed. Natalie says, “There was so much medication and loads of injections. I felt like a human pin cushion.”
Determined to become parents, though, they decided to give it one more try and, in November 2021, Natalie and Rob discovered they were expecting. After a smooth pregnancy, Eloise was born in July 2022.
Natalie says, “We were over the moon. Our much longed-for baby was finally here. We were parents! It was all we’d ever wanted.”
NAUSEOUS
Six months later and weighing 13st 5lbs, Natalie treated herself to a gastric band. She says, “For years, I’d planned to have weight-loss surgery. I tried dieting but struggled, so I thought it was the best option for me. But I wanted a child first.”
In January 2023, Natalie flew to Turkey to undergo
