A mum who lost seven children has said that people tell her to be happy with the one child she has.
Ever since Kirby and Daniel welcomed daughter Piper they have gone through hell and back trying for a second baby.
Back in 2018, Kirby had just begun her maternity leave in preparation for welcoming her second child and was enjoying some grub with her friends when she noticed something not quite right.
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Speaking to Kidspot, she said: "That’s when I felt reduced movements but I didn’t know what that meant back then.
"Naively, I believed the old wives tale that the baby was just running out of space."
Kirby went into hospital on the Monday morning, explaining: "I’d actually meant to have that original appointment on the Friday, but it was my last day at work, so it made sense just to have it on the Monday when I wouldn’t have to rush back and forth.
"That decision has played on my mind a lot since."
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Kirby was expecting to leave hospital that day with some reassuring news, but she was instead dealt a devastating blow.
"They said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t find a heartbeat'," she recalled.
"I just kept saying, ‘What do you mean?’ I look down, thinking, ‘This can’t be happening’. I collapsed in tears."
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Devastatingly, Kirby delivered her stillborn baby girl named Coco via C-section the very next day.
"We were crying the whole way through it all," Kirby said.
"Knowing you’re having a baby that won’t come out crying is so incredibly hard."
The couple never got an explanation for the stillbirth, spending the next two years trying to extend their family.
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Kirby later discovered she was suffering from endometriosis, as she and Daniel endured numerous failed IVF cycles.
In 2020, the mum found out she was expecting twins, but their joy was short-lived as one of the twin's embryos had implanted on Kirby’s caesarean scar.
The couple subsequently lost both twins, only for Kirby to become pregnant with twins once more in 2022.
Sadly, the same outcome prevailed again, with the couple losing the babies.
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And yet another devastating setback came just last week after an IVF transfer ended in Kirby miscarrying at six weeks along.
Having lost seven babies, Kirby and Daniel fear they will never be able to experience the joy of welcoming another child into the world.
"There was one blow after the other," Kirby told Kidspot.
She added: "All the rare things that could happen were happening to us and we had no idea why. The grief is debilitating and remains with you forever. They say time heals but it doesn’t, it just changes.
"Then people would come up to us and say, ‘Is [Piper] your only one?’ or ‘At least you have Piper’, and I’m grateful for that but I would love to have all of our babies. It hurts."
If you have been affected by the contents of this article, please find more information and support via Endometriosis UK on their website, or call 0808 808 2227
If you need support and advice following a pregnancy loss, you can contact the Tommy’s team at [email protected]. You can also call them for free on 0800 014 7800 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Callum Jones