CREATE were the most transparent with their pricing
My husband and I had been trying to conceive for a few years before deciding to go to our GP for some fertility tests. Unfortunately, the test results showed that there were problems on both sides. I was over 40 years of age and so my ovarian reserves were low and also one of my ovaries was inaccessible. In addition to this my husband had low sperm count and some also some issues with the mobility of his sperm. Our GP told us right away that we would not be suitable for IVF treatment on the NHS.
I did lots of research; I ended up looking at over 30 different fertility clinics. I even built a spreadsheet to compare them! The most important factor for us was success rates and CREATE has one of the highest in London. I also read a lot of the Google reviews and again CREATE’s reviews were generally very positive. We narrowed it down to 3 clinics which were very comparable but the deciding factor was the fact that CREATE were the most transparent with their pricing and they also had lots of success stories with women of my age group.
After attending one of CREATE’s free webinars, we booked in for an Initial Consultation. This was a very comprehensive appointment. We are explained everything thoroughly and although the clinician didn’t give us a lot of hope she was very honest about our chances being quite low.
We were offered two options for treatment: either have 1 cycle of IVF or opt for CREATE’s 3 cycle package which could potentially improve our chances of success. The later option was more expensive however at no point did we feel pressured into making a decision. We really appreciate the fact that we were given all the facts and could pick what we thought was best for us. In the end we decided to go for the 3 cycle IVF package with ICSI. Our approach was to go all in because if we didn’t try we knew we would have regrets.
We started treatment but unfortunately two cycles had to be cancelled due to cysts. After the first complete cycle we only had one egg collected that didn’t fertilise , then the second complete cycle was more successful and we managed to get five eggs - two of which fertilised and are now frozen in storage. Lastly, from the third cycle we managed to get two eggs, one of which fertilised and that embryo was transferred into my womb a few days later.
The two week wait after the transfer was difficult. I was working and this kept me distracted but, still, there wasn’t an hour I didn’t think about it. I kept trying to observe myself to see if I felt any symptoms of pregnancy but I felt nothing.
On the day of the pregnancy test appointment both my husband and I took a day off work. We went into London for the appointment and then went out for a nice breakfast and a little bit of window shopping to keep ourselves busy. When we got back home we received a phone call from the clinic with our results. I was pregnant! However the news wasn’t all positive because my hormone levels were quite low so although I was pregnant it was classed as a low pregnancy and we were told that we would have to repeat the pregnancy test the following week.
I then started bleeding quite heavily which was extremely stressful. The bleeding was quite strong so I became convinced that I was having a miscarriage. That week was incredibly nerve-racking and the bleeding continued. Going into the second pregnancy test appointment I really was expecting and had prepared myself for the worst. Surprisingly, the test result was still positive and the nurse advised me that my hormone levels were much higher meaning that I was still pregnant and that the baby was fine! Hearing this was a huge relief for both myself and my husband. We simply couldn’t believe it.
The rest of my pregnancy was fine. I had very little pregnancy symptoms I felt really well throughout and worked up until the last day. Due to preeclampsia, I gave birth a little early and although our daughter was was a little small she was Healthy.
Everything since has been absolutely amazing. We love being parents and are actually finding it quite easy. We’ve been waiting for this and have been ready to be parents for such a long time, we have embraced it fully and don’t view it as challenging. For the first month my husband was off work and we’ve been enjoying sharing all the responsibilities. It’s actually quite amazing - I am finding it much easier to wake up at 3am to feed her than I did waking up at 7am for work!
Lastly, we are both very pleased with the service we received from CREATE. Whenever I called and needed to speak to someone, someone was there to answer all my questions.
We are incredibly thankful for our daughter and would 100% recommend CREATE. We’ve actually already recommended them to our friends who also need fertility treatment.
My advice to other women who may be older and have been told that their chances are very low is to try. You won’t know for sure until you try and it really is true - it does only take one egg and one sperm to make a healthy baby. We knew that our chances were low but we would have regretted it for the rest of our lives if we didn’t try.
Book appointment online