Grandmother who was sterilised 13 years ago gives birth to 'miracle baby'

A grandmother has just given birth to a 'miracle' baby boy 13 years after being sterilised twice.
Debbie Amos, 43, had the operation to stop her falling pregnant again after having her first three children.
But three months ago she felt strange movements in her stomach and a test revealed she was six months pregnant.

Now she is mother to health baby boy Connor, born last week and weighing in at 8lbs 8oz, who is younger than her grandchildren.
Mrs Amos, of Colchester, Essex, said: 'At the end of July, I started feeling tired and then felt movements in my stomach.
'I thought I could feel something - I thought it was wind at first but I I was tired as well so I thought I better do a test.
'I did a pregnancy test, which was positive. I still didn't believe it and I had to sit down for about half an hour.

'I thought it must be a big mistake. When I showed my husband he said, "whose is that?"
'I didn't really believe it until he came out.'
Mrs Amos made a trip to the doctor who told her he thought she was about 18 weeks pregnant but a scan revealed she was actually 23 weeks pregnant.
Mrs Amos and her husband Melvyn, 57, a transport manager, had trouble conceiving when they first got married because of her irregular periods.
She took fertility drug Clomid to speed up ovulation when she was 19 which helped her get pregnant with daughter Kerri, 24.
Mrs Amos, who works as a pharmacy assistant in Boots, then took two more years on the drug to conceive son Glen, now 19.


She said: 'I didn't ovulate and my eggs weren't any good so they gave me Clomid to make me ovulate.'
The couple then decided not to have any more children so came off the drug but were surprised when she fell pregnant for a third time with daughter Rebecca, now 16.
Mrs Amos said: 'They said I wouldn't fall pregnant without taking Clomid, so I didn't take any precautions because I was off the drug. Then four years later I fell pregnant with Rebecca.'
Not wanting to risk a further unplanned pregnancy, the couple decided the mum-of-three would get sterilised and she underwent an operation at Colchester General Hospital.
Mrs Amos said: 'I was doubly sterilised - my fallopian tubes were both cauterised and clipped so I thought there was no way i could get pregnant again.

'And as you get older it is harder to conceive anyway, so it is the last thing I expected.'
Thirteen years on, the couple got the shock of their lives when they discovered they were to be parents for the fourth time.
Mrs Amos said: 'I think I cried for a week. I thought I'd been doubly sterilised and I had had no symptoms, such as sickness, which I did with my other children.
'I never really had periods. They were very irregular, so I didn't give it any thought that I had missed one until I felt the movement.'
But when baby Connor arrived at Colchester General Hospital last Thursday, the couple were just happy he was healthy.

Mrs Amos said: 'We were very relieved he is fit and healthy. I didn't have any tests as I didn't know I was pregnant until so late on and there were obviously added risks because of my age.
'When you think of all the things that could have gone wrong, he is just a little miracle.
'We are getting used to the nappies and the lack of sleep - my husband has taken to it again and he is coping well.

'We wouldn't change him for the world.'
The couple are already grandparents to Kerri's children, Callum, three, and ten-month-old Courtney, but now have their own bundle of joy to fuss over.

Mrs Amos said: 'When I last changed nappies they were terry nappies - now I am asking my daughter for advice.'

After discovering the sterilisation had failed, Mr and Mrs Amos considered taking action against Colchester General Hospital but have now ruled it out because they had been warned the procedure might only be 99 per cent effective.
The procedure involves blocking the fallopian tubes so the eggs are unable to pass into the womb and be fertilised.

Mrs Amos said: 'My doctor said maybe the tube had grown back, but we don't know.
'My husband was thinking about retiring from his job as a transport manager when he was 60 but that won't be happening now.
'If you think about the fact I needed fertility treatment for the other two, then the odds of me having Connor are just huge.
'Obviously, I would not be without him for anything now, but it has been a massive shock.
'Maybe he was just meant to be here.'