A woman who has lost six children because of a rare condition is trying to raise money to have a baby by a surrogate.
Over the last decade, Jina Mcphee has had two stillbirths, a miscarriage of twins, lost a daughter at 13 days old and another at three years old.
The 28-year-old, from Livingston, has since discovered she has a rare condition which means her body cannot carry a healthy baby.
As there is nothing wrong with her eggs, Ms Mcphee’s only chance of a family is to use a surrogate. But with expenses of up to £15,000, her and her husband Thomas cannot afford this option without help.
They are now trying to raise the money through crowd funding site Go Fund Me.
Ms Mcphee said: "It’s my body that’s fighting against the baby. I know I can have my own child through surrogacy. I just want to be a mum. I will try whatever I can to make it happen.
"I know Thomas is an amazing dad and I want to have his children. I would love to have my own family – it would be all my dreams come true."
The couple got together when Ms Mcphee was 16 and she fell pregnant a year later. But Crystal was stillborn. A few months later, Ms Mcphee fell pregnant with twins but had a miscarriage at 12 weeks.
The losses were "heartbreaking" for the young couple.
Ms Mcphee said: "That was a hard time, we were so young. They just told us it was one of those thing, just nature and there was nothing we could do."
Soon after, Ms Mcphee fell pregnant with the couple’s daughter Carmel, who was born prematurely by emergency cesarean at 29 weeks.
Carmel was severely disabled, a scan showed parts of her brain had not developed properly, and the couple were told she was not expected to live more than a few months.
They underwent training so they were able to look after her at home and Carmel died when she was three years old.
Ms Mcphee said: "We were just grateful for every single day."
The couple then tried again, with baby Ruby born prematurely at 27 weeks.
Ms Mcphee said: "The doctors told us quite quickly she had no disabilities – that was a big relief. She seemed to be getting stronger and stronger every day."
But at 13 weeks old, Ruby had an episode which ruptured her bowel and she died of septicaemia.
Ms Mcphee said: "That just felt like a nightmare, I remember thinking this isn’t happening."
Doctors told Ms Mcphee if she took steroids during any future pregnancy, she would have a healthy baby.
But the next pregnancy resulted in baby Moray being stillborn at 23 weeks.
Ms Mcphee said: "How could this be happening? I just didn’t understand it."
Tests carried out have now shown Ms Mcphee has a rare condition which means she cannot carry a baby to full term.
Ms Mcphee said: "They told us any future pregnancy would likely be another tragedy and surrogacy would be the way to go. That was quite hard to accept, it took us quite a while even to just absorb what they had said."
Her husband, Thomas, said he has felt "helpless" during the last decade.
He said: "After the first two pregnancies it was like a daze to be going through all this again. I wanted to do something to help but I was helpless. We had each other to get through it."
The couple hope they are able to raise £15,000 to allow them to use a surrogate. The money goes towards any expenses the surrogate incurs during the pregnancy.
Katharine Dobb from Surrogacy UK explains: "In the UK it is illegal to pay a surrogate anything other than reasonable expenses.
"These expenses depend on a surrogate's individual circumstances but usually fall within the range £8,000 - £15,000. Expenses can include travel costs, childcare, loss of earnings, maternity wear and pregnancy vitamins.
"Intended parents may also incur further costs such as clinic costs and the cost of travel to their surrogate."
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