09 March 2024 , 16:22
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It took Samantha Jones 31 years, £45,000, four miscarriages, eight rounds of IVF and a brush with death... but she finally gets to celebrate Mother’s Day with the twin girls she had at the age of 52.
All good things come to those who wait, according to Sam and her husband Ian Jones, 55. They first dated for two years when they were 19 and 21 – before being reunited and falling in love all over again, 21 years later.
Sam says: “Age is just a number. I have occasionally been mistaken for the twins’ grandma, but I proudly tell everyone that I’m their mum. And I will be enjoying a walk on the beach with my girls and my mum on Mother’s Day.”
In her job as a police officer with 10 years in the riot division, and Ian’s as a firefighter, they are used to tackling difficult and dangerous situations. But these were eclipsed by the challenges they overcame in their determination to become parents.
Cuddling 19-month-old Rubi-Mae and Summer, Sam, now 53, swears every moment has been worth it. She adds: “They bring such a lot of fun and laughter into our house.
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“We never gave up. I’m a very determined person in life – I tried 11 times to get into the mounted section of the police and finally made it.”
Sam out walking with her twin daughters (Jonathan Buckmaster)
Sam and Ian's wedding day in Cyprus (Jonathan Buckmaster)Despite ending things with Ian on her 21st birthday and marrying then divorcing someone else, Sam says their hearts were forever entwined. She recalls: “On my 21st birthday, I thought Ian was going to ask me to marry him. He pulled out a small jewellery box and I opened it, expecting to find a ring inside, but it was earrings. I thought I wasn’t enough for him, so I walked away heartbroken without ever explaining why I broke things off.”
More than two decades passed without contact. Then she received a message from Ian on Facebook.
“‘My heart leapt,” Sam admits. “I’d never stopped thinking about Ian or loving him. He was the one who got away. And he felt like that about me too. I’d kept a photo of us together for over two decades.”
Ian, too, was single and, after chatting online, they became a couple again. They were desperate to start a family, at 42 and 44, and started trying 18 months after marrying. Sam survived cervical cancer at 21, which left her infertile, so she always knew she’d need an egg donor. In 2016, they began IVF. Their first four rounds failed, but Sam became pregnant at the fifth attempt, in late 2018.
The twins shortly after their birth (Jonathan Buckmaster)She says: “It was a feeling of incredible elation. We’d finally done it, after four failed rounds of treatment.” Tragically, the embryo wasn’t viable and she miscarried. “It was heartbreaking, but at the same time I’d finally fallen pregnant, so I knew it was possible,” says Sam. “It gave us renewed hope.”
A sixth go a few months later was again successful, but Sam miscarried at seven weeks. Falling pregnant again on the seventh attempt, Covid delayed her 12 week scan to 14 weeks, but the baby had died.
“That was our lowest point,” says Sam. “We’d had a scan at seven weeks and the doctor said it all looked good. We got past the first three months and thought everything was OK. So, to be told we’d lost the baby was devastating. It took such a toll on us.
“Going through all the treatment was exhausting, plus I was working overtime constantly, as that was the only way of funding the treatment. When I told my mum we’d lost the baby, she was heartbroken too.
Sam underwent IVF in Cyprus, and was soon pregnant with the twins (Jonathan Buckmaster)“She’d been through it every step of the way with us, and had started knitting for the baby. She told me perhaps it wasn’t meant to be because of my age, and started unravelling the little garments she’d knitted.”
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By now, even this intrepid couple felt defeated – booking a Caribbean holiday to recuperate and forget their parenting dream. Sam says: “I’d lost a few stone and thought I’d just enjoy looking good in a bikini at 50 and put it behind me. But I couldn’t do it.”
With over-50s not encouraged to have IVF here, in January 2022, they chose a clinic in Cyprus, where doctors implanted three embryos into her womb. Two weeks later, Sam discovered she was pregnant.
“We were over the moon, but also incredibly anxious,” she says. "The sonographer ran the scanner over my stomach at seven weeks and we saw two little heartbeats pumping away. It was incredible. I was actually pregnant with twins.”
But, until she reached 24 weeks, when the babies were deemed viable, every day was racked with worry. She says: “I was sick up to 10 times a day, but it was totally worth it.
“This is what I’d waited 31 years for. At our 11-week scan, Ruby was bouncing around so much against the walls of my womb it was like she was on a trampoline, and it gave me so much hope. We facetimed Mum – she said she was going to start knitting again!”
Sam was admitted to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth in July 2022, at 29 weeks, with life-threatening pre-eclampsia. She says: “I told Mum and Ian that if there was a choice between saving the babies or me, they needed to save the babies. Luckily they were delivered safely by C-section and I was safe too.”
Summer came first, weighing 3lb 3oz and Rubi-Mae followed, weighing 2lb 11oz on August 3, 2022. “When we held them in our arms, it was the most incredible moment,” says Sam. “I was a mum.”
Now the twins are happy, healthy and hitting their milestones. Sam bats away any criticism she gets as an older mum. She says: “We have a good pension and I’m a Slimming World consultant, which means when I retire I still have an income.”
Ian says: “Sam and I were meant for each other and it’s been worth the wait. They keep us feeling young and their grandparents dote on them.”