She was desperate to get pregnant.

So desperate that she went through multiple surgeries, received rounds of hormonal medication to make sure she ovulated and put herself through acupuncture, despite being terrified of needles.

Mrs Joyce Padfield's biological clock was ticking frantically as her 40th birthday approached. The Singaporean is married to 55-year-old Bill Padfield, who is a permanent resident here.

She yearned badly for a second child, despite already having a seven-year-old son.

"My mother asked me at some point, 'Why don't you just give up? You already have one healthy child.' But I felt like I didn't want to look back and regret because I didn't try my best.

"I always planned to have two children," she explains.

Their firstborn came easily, having been conceived just five months into the marriage.

"I knew eventually I wanted another one, but after that I was just busy carving out a career, and time went by," says the housewife, who used to be a banker specialising in wealth management.

"I just wanted to have another child... be it naturally or artificially, I would have done whatever it took."

She first underwent surgery after being diagnosed with adenomysis, which occurs when endometrial tissue, which normally lines the uterus, exists within and grows into the muscular wall of the uterus.

Then came months of hormonal treatment to help the womb heal faster, so she could get pregnant quickly.

"It made me irritable. My husband and friends hated me because I was being such a nasty person," Mrs Padfield says.

She says it in a self-deprecating manner, laughing as she recalls those days. But it is clear that the anguish run deep.

She recalls her joy in April 2010, when she discovered she was pregnant. But just two months later, she was plunged into despair when she lost the baby.

Last March, she got pregnant again, but lost the child again six weeks later.