Rosanna Davison’s fertility battle left her so hopeless, she told her husband: “I don’t think I’m the woman to give you a family.”
The former Miss World had 14 consecutive miscarriages in two years, which she described as “devastating and heartbreaking” and made her feel “like my body was broken.”
She and husband Wes Quirke went on to have a daughter Sophie by surrogate in 2019, and then became pregnant naturally with “miracle” twins Oscar and Hugo in 2020.
The 37-year-old said she feels “survivor guilt” after years of struggle to fulfil her dreams of having a family.
The model and nutritionist told BBC Radio Ulster: “I still feel a story of survivor guilt. I can’t believe we’ve come out the other side with our family.
“When we were going through those years of struggle, I was desperate for a story of hope.”
Rosanna – daughter of Chris de Burgh – was convinced she would never become a mother. Meanwhile, all her friends seemed to be having healthy pregnancies.
“There was a time in 2017 we were getting nowhere. I said to my husband: ‘I don’t think I’m the woman to give you a family.’ I knew how much he longed to be a dad. It was his dream as well.
“He said to me: ‘Rosie, we’re going to have a good life. If we never have a family, we’ll work out what to do.”
They spoke to an endless list if specialists to “rule out everything that was possibly going wrong.”
A friend who chose surrogacy and had a “very positive experience” was the inspiration for the couple to investigate that option.
“We gathered all the legal and medical advice that we could. I found it difficult to come to the decision as I really battled with my feelings of: How can I watch another woman carry my pregnancy, my child? We decided it was out only option.”
The process was such a success, they were going ahead with it a second time in 2020. But then Rosanna found herself pregnant – with two little boys she has called her “miracle twins”.
“It was just extraordinary and I think about it a lot. I feel so connected to the couples out there who haven’t been as lucky as we are,” she told the Good Morning Ulster show.
