A woman who was told she may never give birth is celebrating being a mum to FOUR children.
Lytina Kaur was given the heartbreaking news aged just 18 after being diagnosed with leukaemia a year earlier.
In the years to follow she suffered 17 miscarriages – but now, aged 32, she has four daughters all born over a nine-month period.
Lytina, of Wollaton, Nottingham, gave birth to her first daughter Kiran in September 2015.
Her twins, Kajal and Kavita, were born to a surrogate mother in India two months later.
And in June last year, Lytina gave birth to Kiyara at the Queen’s Medical Centre.
The former housing officer told the Nottingham Post: “I was still quite young when I was told I couldn’t have children.
“I didn’t think about it too much at the time and thought I’d worry about it when I crossed the bridge. However when I got married at 23, it was heartbreaking.”
After her wedding in 2007, she decided to see if it was possible for her to start a family of her own.
But before becoming a mother-of-four, Lytina had 11 miscarriages, the first which happened in 2010 after she conceived twins.
Between 2010 and 2012, she suffered another nine miscarriages before undergoing one free cycle of IVF on the NHS a year later, which was unsuccessful.
She then decided to explore adoption, but was told there were no suitable Asian children available. As a result of this, her and her husband started looking at surrogacy.
Between 2013 and 2015, a hospital in India made six attempts to implant an embryo into a surrogate – but each ended in miscarriage and the couple gave up.
In February 2015, Lytina found out she had fallen pregnant naturally as she was planning to undergo another round of IVF.
After being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer when she was just a teenager, Lytina Kaur was told she would never be able to give birth.
The now 32-year-old spent six months in hospital while she had chemotherapy when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the white blood cells.
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A year later Lytina relapsed and had to undergo intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy before receiving a bone marrow transplant from her brother.
It was then she found out it would be almost impossible for her to give birth.
She said: “When I had my transplant I was told I couldn’t have children because of my leukaemia.
“I thought I would think about it when I crossed that bridge as I was still quite young at the time.
“I didn’t think about it too much at the time and thought I’d worry about it when I crossed the bridge.
“However, when I got married at 23, it was heartbreaking.”
Three years after her wedding, which took place in 2007, Lytina decided to see if it was possible for her to start a family of her own.
She conceived twins but miscarried at 17 weeks.
Lytina added: “I was having twin boys. I had 17 miscarriages in total and they were all hard but that one was the most difficult because it was my first and I had been carrying them for a long time.”
Between 2010 and 2012, she suffered another nine miscarriages before undergoing one free cycle of IVF on the NHS a year later, which was unsuccessful.
Lytina then decided to explore adoption, but was told there were no suitable Asian children available.
As a result of this, her and her husband started looking at surrogacy.
Between 2013 and 2015, a hospital in India made six attempts to implant an embryo into a surrogate – but each ended in miscarriage and the couple gave up.
In February 2015, Lytina found out she had fallen pregnant naturally as she was planning to undergo another round of IVF.
She said: “It was quite a shock. My husband and I were waiting for a miscarriage. We just presumed it was going to happen.
“Every day was so hard. I didn’t go places and I didn’t drive because I didn’t want to add any unnecessary stress. It was horrific.
“I didn’t tell my family. I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want people to get excited for a miscarriage to happen again. Luckily you couldn’t tell I was pregnant.”
Lytina gave birth to her first daughter, Kiran, via a planned C-section at the Queen’s Medical Centre in September 2015.
In November, twin babies Kajal and Kavita were born in India after the hospital decided that, as a goodwill gesture, they had transferred the last four embryos to a surrogate mother.
And a month later, Lytina flew over to India to meet the twins and complete the process for bringing them home.
But while she was over there, she discovered she had fallen pregnant naturally again.
Lytina said: “My second pregnancy happened very quickly. I didn’t know I was pregnant.
“I had Kiran and the doctors told me it probably wouldn’t happen again and I must’ve just had a strong egg.
“Within six weeks I had two other girls as I went to pick up Kajal and Kavita from India so it was very busy. I didn’t have time to think. It was quite overwhelming.
“I got to India and I realised I hadn’t had a period for a while but I didn’t really think anything of it. Then I found out I was 13 weeks pregnant.”
Kiyara was born premature – 28 weeks – at Queen’s Medical Centre in June 2016. She spent nine weeks on the neonatal ward before she was able to return home.
Lytina said: “She came early but she has no health complications. In the end, we were really lucky.
“I was just enjoying my life and suddenly, within nine months, it turned crazy.
“I do miss being able to go out whenever I want to but I love spending time with my kids and I need to make the most because they’ll be in school in a few years’ time.
“Luckily I’ve got my mum and she’s pretty hands on, she’s been incredible. I don’t go anywhere, my life is devoted to the children now and we create our own playgroups at home.
“They will all be in the same year group when they start school which I’m happy about as they’re quite close as there’s not much of an age gap between them. That will probably change when they turn into teenagers though!”
Lytina told the Post she goes through a box of 82 nappies every five to six days – and that she has also stopped counting the amount of baby formula and food she uses.
She added: “I’m really lucky because the girls have always been good sleepers.
“There is a struggle getting them all to bed but once they are asleep they don’t wake up until about 7.30am or 8am.”
