A West Fife couple who never thought they would be able to have a baby of their own are getting ready to spend their first Christmas with their miracle daughter.
Danielle Somerville and Barry Young are just cherishing how special it is to have their beautiful baby, Wren Iris Marrel Young, here with them.
With Danielle having been told she would likely never have children, Barry coming close to death after contracting sepsis, and baby Wren fighting for her life at birth, it’s incredible they are able to celebrate Christmas as a family.
Danielle described Wren as “amazing” and said: “She laughs all the time, she loves her dad, he is everything to her and she’s such a sociable wee thing.”
She added: “We’re doing Polish Christmas on Christmas Eve with her Babcia (Gran) and Dziadek (Grandad) and then we’re spending Christmas Day at my mum’s.
“My mum goes all out, she’s cooking, but Barry is doing the gravy because it’s very important! And then we’re having Boxing Day just us as a family of three so we can have a little time together, which will be nice.”
Back in 2001, Danielle, who was born and raised in Kelty and works as a nursery early years officer, was diagnosed with Endometriosis.
She had her left ovary removed and was given the heart-breaking news that she would likely never have children.
After receiving her diagnosis, she struggled to look after other people’s children, knowing she would never likely carry one of her own.
Eighteen years on, Danielle and her brother’s best friend and now fiancé, Barry, got together during the Covid pandemic.
“The first year of our life together was really good,” said Danielle. “But then in 2021, Barry got really ill with an infection. He caught sepsis and nearly died. He was in a coma for eight weeks and in hospital for seven months.”
Barry, originally from Dalgety Bay, recovered and was discharged from hospital in February 2022, but the couple’s troubles didn’t end there.
Danielle and Barry suffered two miscarriages that year, so they decided to try In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
Danielle was put on Clomid, a medication to stimulate the ovaries, to give her the best chance of getting pregnant, but the side effects were really intense – sickness, insomnia and pain.
After five tough months, she’d had enough and asked to be taken off the medication and was scheduled for an egg collection.
On a whim, she decided to take a pregnancy test beforehand – and to her surprise, it was positive.
Both Danielle and Barry were delighted, but it was an anxious nine months with multiple tests, scans and worry.
Danielle was quite unwell and there were also concerns that Wren’s weight was too low.
“We were just terrified, I was terrified that something was going to happen,” said Danielle.
“The anxiety is like you wouldn’t believe, this was the furthest I had ever gotten in a pregnancy.
“I was starting to see the bump, feel her and feel her kick and it was just horrible.
“The last three weeks of the pregnancy I was getting scans every week just to see how her weight was going and she did get up to 6lb so that was fine.”
By 36 weeks, however, Danielle was in a lot of pain and it was decided she should be induced.
But while in labour, baby Wren’s heartbeat dropped and Danielle was wheeled into theatre at 8am on June 19 for an emergency section.
“It was just horrible,” she said. “They pulled and pulled and pulled.
“It took them a long time to get her out because she was stuck under my rib so they had cut through quite a lot of endometrial tissue.
“They got her out and I thought that this would be the moment I’d been waiting for... but she didn’t cry. And she still didn’t cry.”
Eventually, they got her to make a sort of “half-cry” noise and the baby was brought over to Danielle and put on her chest. But Wren “went blue” and stopped breathing, and after that “all hell broke loose”.
“They snatched her away and ran into the next room, then people piled into the room, as many doctors and nurses as I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Danielle.
Still not knowing if her own baby was alive, Danielle went through further agony as she was moved to a ward where she was surrounded by new mums and their babies.
Eventually, Danielle was taken to see Wren in her incubator, where she spent the first five days of her life.
During her birth, Wren had swallowed both amniotic fluid and meconium, which made its way into her chest and lungs. Danielle said it took the medical team “ages to bring her back”.
Now, though, six months on, Wren is a happy, smiley baby.
Danielle said: “The fact that she is as amazing as she is, yes she has had some chest issues for a few months and she has eczema, but that is the extent of the damage. The team that brought her back, I can’t thank them enough.
“It was horrible to watch all the stuff she had to overcome but she’s still got her blue eyes, and she’s laughing all the time.
“Even in the face of all adversity we have gone through, miracles do happen.”
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