PATH TO PARENTHOOD - 'IVF TAKES A PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TOLL'

AS HER FIRST-BORN FACES BIG SCHOOL, KATE SILVERTON OFFERS ADVICE FOR OTHERS WHO STRUGGLE TO CONCEIVE

- RHIANNA BENSON

Kate Silverton can’t quite believe that her little girl is already preparing for her move to senior school. Flash back to almost 12 years ago, and the former BBC News presenter was unsure whether she and ex-Royal Marine husband Mike Heron would ever be able to conceive a child naturally.

The couple endured a gruelling IVF experience, which included several unsuccessful rounds of treatment, and which Kate has since admitted was often made harder by her high-pressure job. But their lives changed forever when in 2011, aged 40, she made the joyous discovery she was pregnant, and they welcomed their beautiful daughter Clemency Florence Rose that November.

Now, with her first-born preparing to say goodbye to her primary school pals, 52-year-old Kate says seeing her daughter growing up is bittersweet.

“There’s this lovely, delicious sense of her still being my baby,” she smiles. “She’s still my gorgeous little girl, but equally, I’m delighted to see how she’s maturing and developing. Her confidence is just growing ahead of going to senior school – it’s a lovely rite of passage for her to go through.”

Following Clemency’s arrival, Kate told her fans, “The love I feel for her is overwhelming. Just watching her little face and her expressions means everything to me.”

And just over two years later, Kate and Mike revealed they were expanding their family, despite previously believing that it would be nigh-on impossible.

“Mike and I are very happy to share that Clemency is set to become a big sister,” Kate tweeted in 2013, and in June the following year, their son Wilbur was born.