baby

"I’ve got three kids out of 12 pregnancies. But we're the lucky ones."

George McMahon thought all her dreams had come true when she fell pregnant soon after marrying her partner, Ryan.

“My husband Ryan and I wanted to have as many [babies] as we could. We used to talk about having six, seven or eight,” she told Mamamia.

But the Melbourne-based mum had two miscarriages before her first baby, Lily, was born and she had many more heartbreaks to come.

Isabelle was born premature. Image supplied.

"I had rude awakening to the world of miscarriages and the pain and hardship of trying to have a baby," she said.

"I was born with a congenital uterus condition and I’ve got three kids out of a result of 12 pregnancies.  I’ve had multiple miscarriages between seven and 13 weeks," she said.

The 36-year-old - who is mother to seven-year-old Lily, five-year-old Isabelle and three-year-old Maggie, also had life-threatening conditions with all of her successful pregnancies.

"With my first, I had pre-eclampsia - I delivered her at 36 weeks," said George.

"The second one, Isabelle, I had a condition called placenta accreta and iugr – which is intrauterine growth restriction and she was delivered at 34 weeks but very small.

"Then with Maggie I went into labour at 29 weeks but then eventually had her at 32 weeks because of a placenta abruption."

Maggie was in care in hospital for 33 days.

George and Ryan wanted to have more children. Image supplied.

George and Ryan's plans of having a large family came to a halt when her most recent pregnancy resulted in a hysterectomy.

The Melbourne mum has fallen pregnant three times since having her youngest child, Maggie, but the last one was an interstitial pregnancy  - a severe form of ectopic pregnancy.  Doctors gave her no choice but to have a hysterectomy.

"I just felt like my body kept letting me down. I couldn’t understand. I was fit and healthy, I looked after myself and I felt like I was letting myself and my husband down. I wasn’t able to provide him with his dream," she said.

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"But we are the lucky ones. We always consider ourselves the lucky ones. We’ve got friends who have had stillborns and don’t have any children."

George says she is one of the lucky ones. Image supplied.

After George's most recent pregnancy loss, she decided to go on a trek across some of Australia's harshest country for charity.

Travelling with long-time friend, Hollie - who was born with a congenial heart disease - the pair hope to ride and walk 1698Kms in 35 days.

They are setting off from Alice Springs to Cable Beach this Thursday, 1st June.

"I want to raise awareness for premature and stillbirth and the fact that there are still five stillbirths a day in Australia," she said.

The pair set out for their incredible journey on Thursday. Image supplied.

The funds raised will go towards Mercy Health's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and research to prevent stillbirth and preterm birth.

Mercy Health say out of the five babies born stillborn every day 30 per cent are preventable.

Their research team is working to develop a new maternal blood test to identify unborn babies with dangerously low levels of oxygen.

Despite her rough trek already into parenthood the mum of three sounds incredibly strong.

"The fact that we have been blessed with three kids has helped us through it. We’ve got a really strong relationship. We look at our situation compared to others and we feel like the lucky ones," she said.

"We feel really blessed to have our three kids and it’s all about raising awareness for those less fortunate than ourselves."

For more about the trek and to donate visit - GoFundMe.

Podcast: Libby Trickett on miscarrying.