A “MIRACLE” baby is celebrating her first birthday – after her mum made the decision to use IVF after struggling to conceive.

Laura Maskell, of South Ockendon, spent two years trying to get pregnant before seeking help, despite being over 35 – the age when fertility starts to decline.

The mum took the decision to visit Bourn Hall in Wickford, and is now set to celebrate the first birthday of baby Agatha.

Laura said: “I had always wondered if I might have problems getting pregnant as all of the women in my family suffer with heavy periods and my mum used to get so anaemic that she had to have regular iron infusions and ended up having a hysterectomy when she was in her forties.

“I had always imagined myself as a 1950s housewife at home with a baby and a Labrador, but ended up focusing on my career, which wasn’t really me. I just hadn’t met Mr Right.”

And then she did.

She said: “I met Jodie when I was 34 and we tried for a baby for two years before seeking help.”

Despite her medical history hospital tests couldn’t find a definitive reason for them struggling to conceive.

“I found being told that we had ‘unexplained infertility’ incredibly frustrating,” admits Laura. “I was desperate to have a ‘reason’”. Laura was put on an ovulation induction drug for six months and went back to hospital for regular checks but she still didn’t get pregnant. She was then advised that their best chance of having a baby would be to have IVF treatment.

Laura said: “I woke up on the day I was due to take my pregnancy test and went downstairs in the dark to pee on a stick.

“I took the stick through to the kitchen and saw that the test was positive and in that moment my whole world suddenly changed. I woke Jodie up and told him and then I went to work!”

Nine months later Agatha was born and she will be celebrating her first birthday today.

“None of us could imagine life without her,” says Laura.