Six years after becoming a single mother, she builds a blended family: “I gained someone who loves me and cares about my daughter”

Raquel Orgillés decided to become a mother alone six years ago, after fertility tests showed a low ovarian reserve and two blocked fallopian tubes. At 35, she chose to try in vitro fertilization rather than wait for a future relationship and a shared decision to have children.

“I always wanted to be a mother,” Orgillés said. She had experienced a psychologically abusive relationship and did not want to start again with anyone. She instead wanted to be alone and at peace, while still hoping to have a child.

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I always wanted to be a mother. I had younger siblings and it was something I had always wanted.

Her first IVF treatment brought the news she had hoped for. “I remember perfectly the day they told me I was pregnant. They made me look at a screen and said, ‘Do you see this light? That is her,’” she recalled. The pregnancy was difficult. Orgillés said she suffered depression and mourned the family she had imagined but would not have in the expected form.

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I remember perfectly the day they told me I was pregnant. They made me look at a screen and said, ‘Do you see this light? That is her.’

The birth of her daughter Nora was also traumatic. Orgillés described spending many hours alone and said the delivery felt cold and lacking in sensitivity. Still, she said, her daughter was born lively and cheerful. Soon afterward, the COVID-19 lockdown made life harder for a single mother caring for a baby while carrying depression from the pregnancy.

Orgillés later began a relationship after traveling to Senegal. She now describes the experience as the creation of a blended family, saying she gained a person who loves her and cares about her daughter.

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I gained someone who loves me and cares about my daughter.