WHEN Jim, the window cleaner, told Norma Irvine she would be pregnant within the month, she wanted so much to believe him.

But she was convinced it would take a miracle.

Both Norma and her husband, Stephen, had been tested and there was no apparent problem, but after four failed IVF attempts, she was in despair.

"Stephen and I had made a vow that no matter what happened, we would stick together," Norma says, "but it was a big gap in our lives."

Norma, now 38, and Stephen, 42, owner of Newlands Home Bakery, had spent thousands on trying to become parents and had agreed their fifth attempt would be their last.

"I thought that this was it. I'm never going through this again," Norma pauses to wipe baby Elliot's chin. "I was so down at that point. It was eating me up.

"And then one day, Jim was there at the door, telling me he believed that God had brought him to ask if I was okay."

Not as taken aback as she might have been because Jim, a born again Christian, had discussed the Bible with her on his cleaning visits, Norman opened her heart and told him she and Stephen had been trying for six years for a baby.

"He put his hand on my head and prayed for me and I sobbed like a baby.

"And then he said Norma, I can almost guarantee you're going to fall pregnant very, very soon. I feel God saying this."

It smacks of old style biblical prophecies - not quite what you expect in the suburbs of South Park Village in Darnley where the Irvines were living at the time, and to be honest, most of us would pay him off for good if the window cleaner started prophesying like the Angel Gabriel.

But it came to pass as he foretold.

The fifth IVF was successful, resulting in Amy, a happy, healthy, "beautiful, nine pound baby with her daddy's eyes".

(For good measure, the window cleaner's wife was pregnant the next month - they had been trying in vain for 13 years.) "It was so strange," says Norma with massive understatement. "God's got an amazing way of working in people's lives. How else do you explain that?"

You could say a lot has happened since.

Shrieks of laughter come from the garden at the back of the house on a quiet estate in the village of Stewarton.

Inside, Norma is feeding one-year-old Elliot and fending off demands for sausages/chocolate biscuits from 10-year-old Amy, five-year-old twins, Beth and Jonathan, and David, who is two.

"We thought Amy was going to be the only one. We knew she was a gift from God and then Stephen found out about a new laser treatment which increased the chances of IVF working."

They then had the twins, followed by David.

"And about 13 months later, we had a pleasant wee surprise when Elliot happened along naturally."

They were all healthy though Norma suffered pre-eclampsia with the twins and they were born six weeks prematurely.

Left to herself, she admits, she would have had a baker's dozen but was warned not to have any more after three caesarians.

In all, Norma has had seven IVF treatments, three of which worked.

There is no doubt that she thinks it was all worth it.

"It's absolutely wonderful," she says. "I adore them all; they are all treasures and they're all peas in a pod."

But her children aren't the only miracle.

For years, Norma was living with a ticking time bomb.

At the age of 18 with all her life before her and a successful career as a photographic model, she was diagnosed with a growth in her brain called an arterio venous malformation.

At the time, it was inoperable and she was told she had to learn to live with it.

"I was told I could drop dead tomorrow or I could live a normal life."

But by the time Amy was two and a half, the migraines were worsening and surgical techniques had improved.

First, she had to go through a difficult, five-hour procedure where the growth was covered in glue to help it detach from the brain. This was done via the main artery.

Three months later, she went through a 16-hour operation.

"I was told I had a 50/50 chance of survival because of the size of the growth, but by then I was a Christian and I had such peace. My friends were praying for me right through the operation.

"I could have made videos for Amy, but I didn't because I knew I was going to come through it. I had it in my heart I'd see Amy again."

And what about the window cleaner? "He breezed into our lives and he breezed back out of it again. We saw him occasionally at B & Q afterwards."

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Norma set to launch bib at show

MUM'S INVENTION

IT DOESN'T look like much but Norma's invention, the Dribble Bib, which is being launched at the Baby Show at the SECC this weekend, is set to revolutionise the lives of mums and suffering babies.

Already featured on the BBC's Best Invention Show and also Scotland Today, it has been recommended to Mothercare by Peter Jones of television's Dragons' Den and Tycoon.

Now she is ready to launch it on the market at £4.95.

Norma developed the cotton and polyester bib when she couldn't find anything in the shops to keep her babies' chins dry.

"My first baby, Amy, could dribble for Scotland," she says. "She suffered a sore, red neck and a damp chest.

"Conventional flat bibs were soaked through and the plastic-backed ones lasted only minutes.

"Apart from that, I loathed the fact that they hid my daughter's pretty little dresses."

So five years later, when she was expecting twins, she set to work with her tools on the kitchen table and after just a week of trial and error, the Dribble Bib was born.

Since then, it has been well tested by her own children and the offspring of friends and family.

Norma has three target markets - babies, special needs adults/children and the elderly.

"We're not in competition with the conventional flat feeding bib," insists Norma. "My bib serves a different purpose. It won't keep a baby clean if they're eating their lunch."

She reckons she and husband, Stephen, have spent £20,000 in legal costs, sourcing, manufacturing and shipping and on patents. She's had help from Scottish Enterprise, but adds: "It's my baby."

lwebsite www.dribblebib.uk.com, or e-mail Normaoopsadaisy@aol.com

It works and shows off baby's clothes

OUR VERDICT Mum Ruth McDonald tried out the Dribble Bib on daughter Natasha. Here's her verdict.

Natasha is four-months-old and has begun teething - which means plenty of dribbling. I go through five or six bibs a day at the moment.

I used the Dribble Bib for a couple of days and, if you can get over the unusual look of it, it works quite well.

My husband thinks Natasha looks like Mary Queen of Scots with it on and I can see his point.

However, it's certainly a lot more absorbent than a normal bib and keeps her clothes cleaner.

The bib is a bit tricky to put on while trying to hold Natasha as you have to tie a ribbon at the back. A velcro fastener would be much better.

The down side of a conventional bib is they cover up the baby's clothes. Natasha has some gorgeous dresses and I hate to cover them up. With the Dribble Bib people can see her clothes.

THE Baby Show is at Glasgow's SECC today, tomorrow and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. It's Scotland's biggest baby event with stalls, fashion shows, children's entertainment and practical advice on pregnancy, birth and childcare.

For tickets, £9 (£7.50 in advance), call 0870 040 4000 or visit www.thebabyshowscotland.com