living Helping you make the most of life
May 29, 2010
Fashion p22
Fab and flirty lingerie for Valentine’s day Food p20
Recipes from the celebs’ favourite diet cookbook Life Lessons p46
Making bicycles beautiful
February 11, 2012
A tiny bundle of Hope Having overcome illness, bereavement, miscarriages and a cancer scare, Ellie Stoneley turned to IVF to fulfil her dream of having a baby and, at 47, she’s now the proud mum of a gorgeous new daughter – with a perfectly appropriate name
T
HE door opens and I’m greeted by the dinkiest little person dressed in a farmyard animal babygro, snuffling away in her mother’s arms.
Holding baby Hope up to the sunlight, mum Ellie Stoneley Gradwell proudly tells me her daughter has just learnt to suck her thumb. Delivered by C-section, three weeks early, on January 5, to look at them both now you’d never guess what they’ve faced to get to this blissful point. Squirming and wriggling her perfect little arms and legs, Hope is the bubble of light following a “very bleak five years” for Ellie and her husband Roy. “All of which make her even more of a miracle,” she says. The death of her father, huge issues with work and an autoimmune condition that had her endlessly in and out of hospital – not to mention a breast cancer scare this time last year – would be a lot for anyone to cope with and, at 47 years old, Ellie admits she was skirting the upper age limit for new motherhood too. Despite the health implications and risks, Ellie and Roy, 49 – who had been trying for a baby since getting married three-and-a-half years ago – made the decision to try one last time to get pregnant, and Ellie set off from the couple’s north
Real Life By Ella Walker Cambridge home for a three week stint in India, to cleanse and reboot her body. “I came back thinner, fitter and healthier,” she says. Then came IVF treatment, which Ellie had in Alicante. “It was our last ditch attempt, but it worked first time,” she says. “We were very, very lucky.” Knowing she was likely to face a tumultuous pregnancy because of her age, and having suffered miscarriages before, Ellie set up a blog: crazypregnantperson.com, to act as a record in case things didn’t work out and to help her through the process. “It started as an outlet for my fears but the people who got in touch, people going through similar experiences, became a fascination,” she explains. “It really helped me get all my feelings down and helped me unburden a bit. It seemed to help other people too and their responses encouraged me to keep going with it.” I continued on page 19
A MOTHER’S LOVE: Ellie and Hope
Pictures: Warren Gunn 803645/703