At least a hundred thousand euros were spent by an Irish couple in their quest to have a child, a new emotional book reveals.

After trying to get pregnant using IVF and trying to adopt a child in Ireland, a Clare couple decided to use the surrogacy option to fulfil their dream.

Sean and Fiona, both in their mid-forties, fell in love for the second time when they met each other. They both already had children but they wanted to become parents together.

Their book, Without A Doubt, recalls the obstacles fill journey they had to go through to be able to fulfil their desire of being mother and father. It also recalls Fiona’s struggle to be recognized as the mother of her children.

They first tried to get pregnant naturally but after a few months without results they realised that they needed help.

Fiona and Sean then decided to go to Spain to be able to go through an IVF. Fiona being too old to use her own eggs they had to get donor egg but they were able to use Sean’s semen.

The process of the IVF is really expensive and the risk of failure is high especially when the age of the parents is advanced.

Fiona did get pregnant after the first attempt of the IVF, she and Sean couldn’t believe it and were extremely happy.

Their world fell apart when Fiona suffered a miscarriage three months into the pregnancy.

In their book Fiona says : “That awful day our world was shattered. I was bleeding. I phoned Sean in a panic, knowing that I was probably losing our baby”.

Without letting go of their hope, they choose to adopt a child here in Ireland. Once again the process of adoption is highly expensive and full of paperwork.

Their book reveals that their experience with the Irish system was not satisfying and that they wasted two years of their lives.

However, their wish to become parents together did not go away and so they started to explore the option of surrogacy.

Surrogacy is illegal in Ireland but can be done in other countries like India, which is where they decided to go to get their child.

The cost of the surrogacy, the flights to go to India and the stay cost them more than a hundred thousand euros.

There they found a surrogate and started the complicated process, a lot of research were done by the couple, as well as preparation and bureaucracy involved.

The couple finally got what they wanted, they became parents to not one but two children named Donal and Ruby.

In the book, they also talk about the birth mother : “She said she was happy that our babies were born and were healthy. She asked if we were happy, and I told her we couldn’t thank her enough.”

The birth mother was fine and after months of struggle the couple was finally able to come back to Ireland with their children.

That is where Fiona’s struggle began. Sean, who is the biological father of the children was mentioned on the twins birth certificate.

However, Fiona is not the biological mother of the twins so according to the Irish law she didn’t have any rights regarding her son and daughter.

Fiona wanted to be recognized as the mother of her children but to get legal guardianship of the twins, she needed both the approval of the biological father and mother.

After two years she finally obtained legal guardianship of the twins but was still not recognized as their mother.

The legislation in Ireland being extremely unclear regarding Irish parents and children born through surrogacy, Fiona has now decided to take it to the European Court to get her name on the birth certificates of the twins.

As for the twins, they know their story and will be able to find their birth mother if they want to when they will be older.

As well as their book, Fiona and Sean were also part of RTE’s documentary “Her Body, Our Babies”.