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Celebrity

05th Apr 2022

RTÉ’s Eileen Whelan recalls “stressful” IVF journey

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Fair play.

RTÉ’s Eileen Whelan has opened up about her IVF journey, revealing just how stressful the experience was and the medical side of things she needed to come to terms with.

The news presenter welcomed her second child with husband Larry Donnelly when she was 48 years old, Larry Jnr.

Welcoming a healthy baby, she was over the moon as things had not been so lucky for her and Larry their first time around.

Larry Jnr is now 10 years old and Eileen has another son, 23 year old Sean from a previous relationship.

Being conscious of the medical aspect of IVF, preparing her body, eating better and not drinking, Eileen and Larry explained to RSVP that there was a lot of stress at the time and as it didn’t work the first time, it was more nerve-wracking this time around.

Her husband Larry said: “Before you go down the road of IVF, you need to make sure you are rock solid as a couple because it is extremely stressful and it can be a difficult experience.

“While the reward we got vastly outweighs any negatives, you need to be 1000 percent committed to the person you are with.”

Having a baby at 48 came with a lot of worries and concerns about her own health and her baby’s, but thankfully all was healthy when Larry Jnr was born.

Eileen said: “You read all the scare stories and we had all the tests and scans to be reassured from 12 weeks that Larry was a fit and healthy baby and there were no complications, which was a huge relief.

As this was her second time becoming a mum, many assumed she would be well used to the sleepless nights and nappy changes, but with a 13 year age gap between her two sons, she said she was constantly second guessing herself.

While she envied her peers who had children in their teens and knew that type of freedom was off the table, she was happier to know she had a healthy baby boy to look after.