Maria Walsh announces pregnancy 'as single woman who always wanted to be a mother'
Walsh, who went on a fertility journey early last year, announced her pregnancy on social media on Saturday. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
MEP for Midlands North West and former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh has announced that she is having a baby.
Walsh, who went on a fertility journey early last year, announced her pregnancy on social media on Saturday.
“Loading… The next generation of farmers,” she captioned a carousel of photos on Instagram.
Walsh posted the carousel, describing the journey as “a new chapter”.
“Over the past 18 months, I've been navigating the highs and lows of IVF and fertility treatments,” she wrote.
“I have done this as a single woman who has always wanted to become a mother.
“Going through this process on my own hasn't always been easy - but I want to show other women that it is possible.
“I am so grateful and excited to have reached this stage and hope to welcome a healthy, happy baby later this year.
“Families in Ireland today come in many different forms, which isn't always reflected in our media or politics. I think it's now time we have a conversation to change this.”
She also joined Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1 to share her story and opened up about her fertility journey as a single, gay woman, working in frontline politics, as well as the impact of pregnancy on her body and self-image.
When asked by O’Connor if she always wanted to be a mother, she said: “I think if I asked myself in my late 20s or even in my early 30s, had I planned on doing it on my own… not at all. But wanting a family was always part of my bucket list.
“As I got older, and now second time elected, I’m really privileged; I own my own home. And at 38 years of age, the clock was somewhat ticking, so just over a year ago I started the fertility journey and have had a wave of emotion attached to it — challenges and now being able to share publicly that I’m 16 weeks pregnant is really exciting.”
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She said she went on a fact-finding mission in October 2024 to learn if she could carry a baby, beginning her IVF journey in early 2025.
“I was finally able to have a positive pregnancy test in February this year,” she shared.
Speaking about the physical and emotional toll that IVF can take on your body, Walsh said: “You’re pumping a lot of hormones into your body. I was injecting a number of things on a daily basis; taking tablets.
“Then I had a period of time where, for the egg retrieval — I did that in July of last year — I had so much estrogen I produced too many eggs so then I had to wait two months. By waiting, you had to have two menstrual cycles. That was heartbreaking because in my head I had planned, in two weeks I can have the transfer and then I’m moving on with this… the delay is heartbreak.”
She told O’Connor that she then discovered that the lining of her uterus wasn’t thick enough to carry a baby, so egg retrieval was delayed by an additional number of months, eventually going on to have the egg transfer in January of this year.
Walsh also touched on the changes that her body went through when taking hormones, including weight gain, which she said can be difficult.
She spoke about being a public figure who doesn’t always receive kind messages online, saying people had been commenting on her weight gain, not knowing her story.
There are so many things that are uncontrollable about fertility.
She spoke about the emotion involved in waiting to find out if IVF had been successful, saying she must have gone through about 25 pregnancy tests before having a positive result, before experiencing a heavy period which she thought was a miscarriage.
Touching on the moment during a follow-up ultrasound where she heard her baby’s heartbeat for the first time, she said: “In that moment, my head and my heart connected.” Walsh said her family have been extremely supportive, and are “so excited” for this next chapter.
“Now I get to really breathe through it... It’s all very exciting. They’re all very supportive,” she said.
Walsh said she is due mid-October, and plans to take maternity leave in November and be back in parliament full time from January.
Messages of congratulations flooded the comment section underneath her Instagram post.
“Congratulations Maria on such wonderfully exciting news - how truly beautiful. Thrilled for you and your loving family. This is a v v very lucky baby to have you as its mum,” Miriam O’Callaghan wrote.
“Huge congratulations Maria. I hope you're feeling good xxx,” Síle Seoige wrote.
MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú posted: “Maria Comhghairdeas ó chroí. You’ll be a wonderful Mammy to your new Baba.”
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