Rosanna Davison reveals she felt 'ashamed' as she suffered 15 miscarriages

The 37-year-old model has been outspoken about her fertility journey over the last number of years.

Rosanna was told by doctors she might never be able to carry her own baby due to a suspected immune system dysfunction but would later go on to have identical twin boys, Hugo and Oscar, in November 2020.

Speaking to the Sunday World as she turned on the Christmas Lights at Carrickmines Park, Rosanna said: "When it happened back a few years ago, I went through all the emotions of feeling ashamed, and embarrassed, and that my body was dysfunctional and broken and I was maybe less of a woman because I couldn't have a baby, and I was looking at my friends who were able to have healthy full-term normal pregnancies.

"So I had to do a lot of work on myself to make peace with the idea that I was the girl who couldn't have a baby, and that I needed help, I needed a surrogate and I needed medical science to help me," she explained.

The Dublin native welcomed her first child with her husband Wes Quirke via gestational surrogate. Sophia Rose Quirke was born on November 21, 2019, in Ukraine.

Rosanna admitted she used to feel embarrassed when she heard a pregnancy announcement, but her shameful feelings only encouraged her to speak out.

"I got fed up of feeling ashamed and embarrassed of my body, and feeling I couldn't talk about it and feeling sad when I was going to a friend's baby shower or feeling down."

"[The embarrassment] led me to speaking about it more with family, and close friends and then eventually sharing our story, and I strongly feel that by sharing our stories we can support others going through it."

The former Miss World admitted that she realised talking about her experience helped her to understand that she wasn't alone.

In Ireland, 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, meaning one in five women will experience losing a pregnancy in their lifetime. However, in most cases, the cause is unknown.

"It breaks my heart to think of anyone else feeling as we did; lonely, and ashamed and traumatised."

Opening up about people being so interested in her perspective on parenthood, Rosanna said it's something people can relate to.

"It's my life now, and I can understand that it's a story I've shared and it's a unique story and that's what other people are interested in and the experience of babies and motherhood and being part of a family is so universal that it is something a lot of people can relate to."

Miscarriage is not the only topic Rosanna has been vocal on. She has recently joined a campaign to request that the Government draft legislation to give children born via international surrogacy the same rights as other children in the country.

"I felt very strongly that the Government really needs to listen to the hundreds of families across Ireland, and listen to all the parents speaking on behalf of their children.

"To ask them to seriously consider drawing up legislation so that no Irish child is left behind or left out.

"And obviously Sophia's included in international and retrospective pathways to parenthood, so this affects her, and affects us as a family."

Currently, legislation means that only biological fathers can be recognised as a parent, with their partners, the child's other parent forced to wait two years before applying to become a legal guardian.

"I speak on behalf of every family involved, we just strongly feel that it's time to include children and to recognise that they're Irish citizens and they deserve equal rights to other Irish children," she said.

"In our case, Sophia isn't recognised as equal to her brothers. I'm not recognised as her legal mother, and if anything happened to Wes, we'd be in a difficult situation."

A total of 95 per cent of Irish children who are born through surrogacy are born abroad, meaning that many families are significantly impacted by the lack of appropriate legislation.

"It's just really important that all Irish children are given equal rights, and this is about families and it's about children," Rosanna said.

"It's not even a gay issue or a LGBTQ issue, it's just about families, and children being recognised as equals, so I really hope the Government is listening to us and does the right thing as soon as possible," she added.