A COUPLE who thought they’d never be parents have welcomed a baby boy after the dad ditched bread.
Stephen and Rachel Greenwood were shocked to discover they were having a baby at the ages of 55 and 41, respectively.
Stephen and Rachel Greenwood have welcomed a baby boy, Oliver, at the ages of 55 and 41, respectively. They thought for 21 years they would never be parentsCredit: SWNS
Stephen ditched bread in September 2020 along with other yeast products, which he believes is what helped him and Rachel conceiveCredit: SWNS
For two decades they were told it was unlikely they’d conceive and even IVF would not work due to their medical conditions.
Rachel has had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) since she was a teenager, which can reduce fertility, and Stephen suffered a twisted testicle as a teenager that left him with an extremely low sperm count.
But when Stephen decided to ditch bread in September 2020, the couple believe it changed everything.
Stephen stopped eating bread and other foods to combat yeast infections that were a complication of his type 2 diabetes.
Thrush and other yeast infections are more common in people with diabetes as high sugar levels lead to better conditions for the yeast to grow.
The fungus that causes penile yeast infections could interfere with te function of sperm, lowering the chance of getting pregnant, according to NOVA IVF.
After Stephen ditched yeast completely – the only thing that changed in his diet – he was amazed to see his yeast infections disappear entirely.
Just five months later, Rachel found out she was almost five months pregnant while in hospital for pain in her stomach.
On July 1, she gave birth to Oliver, weighing 5lb 5oz, via C-section. His excited parents are settling into their new life as a family.
Proud husband Stephen, from Montgomery, Powys, said: “My wife is absolutely ecstatic and I can’t stop crying every day. It’s just the most incredible feeling.
“To think that I’m retired from the police and I can now spend every day at home with my baby boy is absolutely out of this world.
“It’s such a wonderful thing, I want to get it out there and tell people not to give up hope. You just never know, everybody is different, our bodies change.
“It’s an incredible situation with Rachel because of her polycystic ovaries and coming to 40 years old with menopause around the corner.
“When you put all of the factors together, it’s really amazing. I’ve got my health problems, she’s got hers, and I’ve also got an 84 year old mother with frontal lobe dementia who has lived with us for the past 14 years.
“With that, and the health problems, the opportunity doesn’t arise very often so it’s actually billions to one – not millions, but billions!”
The couple say they haven’t used contraception “since they were teenagers” as they thought they’d never have kids.
Nor have they tried using medicines to boost their fertility.
Most women with PCOS are able to get pregnant if they take treatment, the NHS says.
If these are not successful, the couple may be offered injections or IVF treatment.
But due to an operation on a twisted testicle when he was 18, Stephen’s sperm count was so low that IVF was not a possibility.
Therefore, the couple – who met in 2000 – accepted they would never be parents.
Against all odds
Stephen said: “We were desperate to have children together but when we ran out of options, we just had to accept that we would never be parents.
“It was devastating, but we came to terms with it and still enjoyed our lives together with it being just the two of us.”
In February 2021, Rachel was admitted to hospital with kidney stones – a problem that she encounters regularly due to her kidney disease.
Rachel and Stephen met in 2000 and their dream of becoming parents was quickly dashed, as Rachel had PCOS and Stephen had a low sperm count due to an operation for a twisted testicle at the age of 18Credit: SWNS
The couple, from Abermule in Wales, said they had never used contraception or drugs to boost fertilityCredit: SWNS
But when Rachel’s stomach grew increasingly painful and her skin turned yellow, she was given further tests.
Rachel, who said she’d “tried to get on with her life” knowing she wouldn’t have kids said: “I’ve never had active steady periods so I would most certainly never have known that I was pregnant.
“I just thought it was a kidney stone causing the pain.”
Stephen was sitting with a coffee in the car park of McDonalds at Meole Brace Retail Park, waiting for his wife, with no idea that one phone call was about to change his life forever.
Stephen said: “Rachel rang and said ‘I’ve got some news for you’. I said ‘oh it’s a kidney stone?’ She said ‘no I’m pregnant’.
“I said ‘you can’t be’, obviously. She said ‘I know, I told them that there must be a mistake with the test’.”
Rachel had to be blue-lighted to Telford Hospital because doctors were worried she had an ectopic pregnancy.
Stephen said: “I went home, distraught, crying, waiting to console my wife when she got home.”
But the nurse discovered Rachel was carrying “a beautiful bouncy, very active, very large 21-week-old baby boy”.
Stephen said: “I went from my knees to ecstatic, as you can imagine! It was a miracle.”
No-bread winner
The shocked couple couldn’t believe that they had finally fallen pregnant.
Stephen said: “I’m diabetic and suffer from a lot of thrush and balanitis. I’ve lived with it for years, so things in the bedroom department don’t happen very often.”
Thrush, a yeast infection, thrives off sugar. Therefore diabetics with high blood sugar levels can be plagued with the problem.
The condition, which causes itching, discharge and pain during sex, is seen in both men (candida balanitis) and women (vulvovaginal candidiasis).
For diabetics, keeping blood sugar levels controlled is the main form of prevention, which largely comes down to diet.
And in women, the “candida diet” is often touted to cure repetitive thrush. Although it’s not backed by strong evidence.
Stephen said: “I told my osteopath about it and he recommended a book about yeast infections and how our bodies can overload on yeast quite easily.
“I am quite careful about what I eat anyway but I read the book and I started to think about how I do eat toast in the morning and a sandwich at lunch time and have the odd pastry.
“I stopped eating anything with yeast in it last September.
“My osteopath rang me when he found out through a friend of mine that Rachel was pregnant. He’s 70, I’m 55, and we were both crying down the phone at each other.”
Stephen has also lost a stone in weight since swapping his sandwhiches for salads with fish or chicken and rye crackers.
Rachel said: “It still hasn’t quite sunk in some days.
“I am loving being a mum. It was quite emotional to start off with – nobody expected us to be having him and he’s just been so well looked after by our friends sending us gifts for him.
“It has been overwhelming. It is weird to talk about, it just all sounds so unusually strange with how it all came about. We just say he is our little miracle baby.”
Dr Hajira Dambha-Miller, a NIHR Clinical Lecturer in General Practice, said: “It’s likely that cutting out carbohydrates like bread would result in weight loss which is certainly linked to improve fertility.
“Reducing sugary foods such as pastries also improves diabetes and that can certainly improve fertility.”
Stephen said: “To think that I’m retired from the police and I can now spend every day at home with my baby boy is absolutely out of this world”Credit: SWNS
Rachel said: “It still hasn’t quite sunk in some days”Credit: SWNS
