Featured Image Credit: SWNS
Topics: Real Life
Emma Guinness
Your wedding day is meant to be one of the happiest of your life, and couples often go to extreme lengths to make sure it goes smoothly.
But one mum said she's got no regrets about her decision to get married 10 days after giving birth, despite not being able to sit down or even dance on the day.
Allie Svarc, 29, was delighted to become a mum in October last year after going on a monumental fertility journey that saw her undergo one round of IVF and three rounds of IUI.
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This difficult journey took three years - during which time, her initial wedding date was postponed because of the pandemic.
The journey began with IUI (intrauterine insemination) that cost £4,000 a time before Allie and her partner, 32, were given an NHS-funded round of IVF.
Thankfully, this was successful, and she went on to give birth to a healthy 9lbs boy, who became the 'cutest addition to their guest list'.
"All three of us really enjoyed our day," Allie, who is a social media manager from Nottingham, Notts, said.
"On February 14, I found out I was finally pregnant.
"But we quickly realised - our wedding was also nine months away.
"It'd been so long since our original date [which was postponed because of the pandemic]. We thought, f**k it, we've been waiting three years for this - and we didn't reschedule."
While Allie did have some warning that she may well be a new mum by the time she said 'I do', she could not have foreseen the 'traumatic' birth she went on to have.
"It wasn't the wedding I'd initially planned - my friends threw me a joint hen do/baby shower - as two of my friends were also pregnant at the time," she said of the November 2022 event.
Allie said that when she went into labour on 23 October, things took a dramatic turn for the worst that saw her have an episiotomy.
This is a procedure where a cut is made between a woman's vagina and anus so that a baby can be delivered safely - and needless to say, this had a knock-on effect when it came to the wedding.
"My confidence was really knocked on the day of the wedding," Allie said, adding that she had to have stitches and was unable to sit down for a month after giving birth.
"I spent £2k on ASOS - buying my wedding dress, Spanx to go underneath, and dresses for the bridesmaids.
"I still had half a pregnancy belly, and huge boobs I had no idea what to do with.
"I couldn't sit down, I couldn't dance, and I was expressing. I was exhausted."
But despite her physical discomfort, her son definitely made the pain worth it.
"The guests couldn't get enough of my new son - he was passed from person-to-person all day," the new mum added.
Although Allie's wedding day did not look quite how she'd imagined it - even with a newborn baby - she said that she wouldn't change it for the world.
"It was the most insane day of my life, but it was so lovely," she said.
"My new husband and I ended up falling asleep at 10.30pm.
"The adrenaline really got me through, and I really enjoyed it in the end."