A woman has spoken of her heartbreak after she was rejected by an adoption agency because of her pregnancy phobia. Kayleigh-Emma Shiel, 30, has always dreamed of becoming a mother, but suffers from tokophobia – a fear of childbirth. Her condition means that she is unable to conceive a child of her own as she is too terrified of pregnancy and the associated pain. Believing that adoption was her only chance of becoming a mother, Kayleigh and her fabricator husband Gary, 47, applied to adopt a child in January this year. But the couple, from Elland, West Yorkshire, were rejected partly due to Kayleigh’s unusual phobia.
STRETCHING his little legs in the air, a smiley leaf-tailed gecko breaks free from his old, scaly skin .
With their guts spewing and eyes hanging out, these are the cuddly toys children might be reluctant to curl up to .
This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
An osprey soars through the air at 30 miles per hour before swooping down to catch its prey from a lake .
Swirling water and sand create amazing aerial images of river deltas across Iceland .
WIDE EYED with a huge smile across her face, this little elephant is a picture of happiness .
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and for this greedy camel he can't get enough of his morning feed, as he gate crashes his owner's mealtime .
A panic stricken kitten that got her head stuck in a car tyre has been freed by quick thinking RSPCA staff .
DIPPING his head into the vase of water, this little squirrel takes a refreshing break from an afternoon of eating .
NEW DELHI, A woman activist of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party crosses a police barricade near the residence of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi during a protest against the recent rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2013 .
STARING open-mouthed into the camera, this shocked fish looks out of place in the middle of its angry friends .