Britain's most prolific surrogate mother is hoping for yet another baby

19.03.2015

She is approaching her 49th birthday and had previously vowed her 15th baby would be her last.

But Britain's most prolific surrogate mother is now hoping to have a 16th – and possibly 17th – child after two embryos were transferred into her womb at the weekend. They belong to a couple who only met Carole Horlock for the first time a few hours beforehand.

She said: 'I'm just a womb they've hired to help them achieve their dream of being parents. As far as I'm concerned it's their baby not mine.

'I know in my heart I've made the right decision to approach a mum who is desperate to have a baby of her own, and I'm confident that they'll be good parents.'

Miss Horlock, who lives in Colchester, Essex, with her partner of 16 years, Paul, offered her services after being 'dumped' by another couple midway through a cycle of fertility drugs.

She approached the new couple on an internet surrogacy forum last Monday and met them on Friday night, before having the IVF treatment on Saturday morning.

It will take up to two weeks before doctors know if either of the embryos has successfully embedded and she is pregnant.

She said: 'Some people may think that what I'm doing is wrong, as I'd only met the couple in the flesh just 12 hours before having the IVF, but I don't believe it is at all.

'Ideally, I would have spent more time getting to know them. There wouldn't normally be such a rush, but I'd been having this treatment for another couple who pulled out of the surrogacy with no real reason, which has left me devastated.

'I didn't want to lose out on the chance to have another surrogate baby for a couple, as I'm now 48 years old.

And it seemed such a wasted opportunity when I could use my womb again to help others.'

Miss Horlock also boasted that the IVF clinicians told the couple, who haven't been identified, that their surrogate had 'the best uterus in the world'.

She has two daughters of her own, Steffanie, 24, and Megan, 21, and has given birth to 13 other children as a surrogate mother – including a set of twins and a set of triplets.

She last gave birth in April 2013 – to a boy weighing 9lb 14oz. 'At the time I said he was going to be my last, but having babies is addictive,' she said.

'The thought I could be pregnant again is incredibly exciting – it's the beginning of a journey with the couple which culminates in a magical moment when I give birth.' If one or both of the embryos implant into her womb's lining, the baby – or babies – will be born by caesarean section, as with her last two pregnancies.

Miss Horlock said: 'I'll be 49 when I give birth, which is not so strange and well within the realms of getting pregnant naturally, let alone with IVF.

'I love being pregnant, although I hope it is just one this time. With two embryos there is a chance it could be twins. And I really don't want to contemplate triplets or quads at my age – I've done triplets once and that was enough!'

Source: dailymail.co.uk