A PROUD mum is looking forward to Christmas with her new daughter after seven years of baby heartache.

Since 2000, Danielle Cole, 27, of Kirkhill Avenue, Haslingden, has been pregnant every year during the festive season, but a heartbreaking string of miscarriages meant she only had two children in that time.

She and husband Ian, 48, had their first child, Bradley, in February 1998. wanted more children, but between January and August 2001, Mrs Cole suffered four miscarriages.

In the new year of 2002, disaster struck again when she had an ectopic pregnancy, and the couple were told they were unlikely to conceive again naturally.

The couple, who run a car hire firm in Rochdale, paid for IVF under with Manchester centre Care Fertility, and were delighted when Danielle fell pregnant at the first attempt, but celebrations were cut short again when it was found that she had another ectopic pregnancy in January 2003.

Christmas was a busy time for the family again the next year, but the family enjoyed a much better festive season, with the birth of Nathan on January 6, the 12th day of Christmas.

Spurred on, the pair had another cycle of IVF in November 2005, only for Danielle to suffer another miscarriage, this time just two days before Christmas.

More eggs were implanted again a year later, making for another nail-biting Christmas, but the couple's youngest child Tegan was born in July this year.

Now she is planning a quiet Christmas with the three children, and has encouraged other women never to give up.

She said: "We will be staying at home and having a proper Christmas dinner together this year with no worries about what might happen.

"It just happened that every time I had something go wrong, it was around Christmas and it was really hard to keep everything together, even though of course we had to for Bradley.

"I just love being a mum and I was determined to have more children, and it was that determination that kept us going.

"The children themselves are little miracles - we gave Nathan his name because it means gift', and we named little Tegan Louise so that her initials spell out TLC."

She added: "Now everything is complete and I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. I've got three children who are all healthy and happy and it's going to be great watching them grow up through all the Christmasses in the future."