A MUM who got together with her childhood sweetheart after years apart is speaking out to raise awareness about molar pregnancies.
Mum-of-five Samantha Redhead suffered 12 miscarriages and also lost a daughter, Kaitlyn, aged four weeks.
Childhood sweethearts Samantha and CraigFocus Features
Focus FeaturesWhen the pair reunited in 2018 some 15 years after breaking up[/caption]
She had a sterilisation op reversed in order to try for a baby with her new husband, Craig, and was delighted to fall pregnant soon after.
But more heartbreak followed when Samantha was diagnosed with a molar pregnancy – a rare complication where an unusual growth fills the womb after conception.
In the UK, about one in 590 pregnancies is a molar pregnancy, according to Cancer Research UK.
Samantha, 37, from West Yorkshire, says: “It is really upsetting. I am grieving a baby that never was, and yet I feel such a sense of loss.
“I’d like to reach out to other women and make more people aware.
“It is such a cruel condition. My body was conned into feeling I was pregnant but there was no baby.
“Craig and I are lucky because we are so much in love, and we will support each other through this.”
Samantha and Craig met aged 16, when both joined the army.
They began dating but split six months later when Craig was posted to Iraq.
Samantha says: “I never forgot Craig. In fact, I never stopped loving him.
“I even thought of him on my wedding day, to another man. I just couldn’t help myself. I knew he was the man for me.
“But we’d lost touch and I never thought I had a chance of being with him.”
Samantha gave birth to her first child, Kaitlin, aged 19.
Her daughter survived only four weeks, and passed away in Samantha’s arms due to complications at birth.
She went on to have three boys and a girl, but tragically has suffered 12 miscarriages in total.
After her fifth child, she was sterilised. Her relationship broke down soon after.
New chances
Then in 2018, Craig, now 40, messaged her on Facebook.
She says: “My stomach flipped. I couldn’t believe it.
“He was single again, like me. He said he’d always thought about me. I couldn’t wait to see him.”
The couple began dating and were engaged on NYE 2019.
The following year, they got married.
Samantha says: “It really was a dream come true.
“Craig and I were best friends as well as husband and wife. We never argued.”
The couple longed for a child together and Samantha underwent surgery to reverse her sterilisation, costing £4,500.
She says: “I had to take out a loan, it was a lot of money for us.
“But I was determined to give it my best shot.”
My pregnancy hormone levels were very high, I had all the symptoms of pregnancy.
Samantha
In December 2022, she fell pregnant, and the couple were overjoyed.
She had an early hospital scan, which could not pick up a foetus, but she was told not to worry.
She says: “My pregnancy hormone levels were very high, I had all the symptoms of pregnancy.
“I got an appointment to go back two weeks later, when they’d be able to see the baby.”
But there was no sign of the baby at the second scan and Samantha and Craig were heartbroken to learn she’d had a molar pregnancy.
A molar pregnancy may seem like a regular pregnancy at first.
But the foetus does not develop and instead, there is an unusual growth of cells called trophoblasts. These cells typically become the placenta.
It can occur when the egg is fertilised by two sperm, doubling the number of male genes.
This is called a partial molar pregnancy – and there are early signs of a baby but it cannot fully develop or survive.
During a complete molar pregnancy, a sperm fertilises an egg without any genes.
The foetus does not form at all but abnormal cells grow in the womb after conception.
There are no clear causes but women are more likely to experience a molar pregnancy if they are younger than 15 or over 45 years of age, are of Asian background or have had one before.
A molar pregnancy can have serious complications, including a rare form of cancer.
Samantha says: “I’d had all the symptoms.
“The smell of alcohol made me sick, I really felt pregnant.
“I was so confused – grieving a baby yet there was no baby.
“It’s so difficult for women to go through this and I want to raise awareness.”
The couple married in 2020 but despite reversing her sterilisation, Samantha has not had luck with getting pregnantFocus Features
Focus FeaturesSamantha after having her sterilisation reversed[/caption]