Thank you to all the team at CREATE for making our dream come true; we are forever grateful
My husband did the job of researching different clinics. He came across the abc clinic online and we decided to try that as it was the most affordable option we could find. When we got to abc and had our Initial Consultation, they found that my ovarian reserve was low so they referred us on to CREATE Fertility where I was recommended to have a cycle of Mild Stimulation IVF.
We could only afford one cycle so we decided to just go for it. We opted for Mild Stimulation IVF treatment with ICSI to give ourselves the very best chance.
We began the treatment and the first step were the hormonal injections. I have always been quite scared of injections so having to inject myself in the stomach daily was really difficult at first. But I knew it was something I needed to do so I just got on with it. I was working through this period so it did get a little bit stressful trying to manage everything all at once but my desire of having a baby was stronger; I would have done anything they asked me to. Every other day I joyfully went to London for my monitoring scans and stuck to my injection schedule.
Everything went well during monitoring - my follicles were developing well. However, when it was time to have my eggs collected, I was told that I was at risk of hyper stimulation (OHSS) and was advised to abandon the cycle. My hormones were very high and it would have been too risky to carry on. I cried so much when I was told this because I had already pictured in my mind that I would have my embryo transfer in a few days and that I might then have a baby growing inside me soon. I was really disappointed, but I do understand that the medical team didn’t want me to get sick.
Out of the 8 eggs collected, only 5 were good and fertilised and we were really happy with this result. In my mind I had 5 children there waiting to be transferred! One was frozen on day 3, remaining 4 was left to grow to blastocyst stage. Then, we received the news that none made it to the blastocyst stage and that really shook me once again. I was devastated because I knew this was the only cycle we could afford. If this embryo failed, that would be the end of our journey.
We then had to wait for my next cycle to commence before we could go ahead with the Frozen Embryo Transfer. Some weeks later, my cycle eventually started again and we could go in for the procedure. I was so scared! This was the only embryo we had and I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to try again if this failed. We had used our last savings for this cycle so the pressure was huge!
On the day of the transfer I felt incredibly nervous but was supported by my husband and the CREATE team. The nurse and doctor looking after me wished me well and kept me very positive. Getting through this day was very much a team effort. I was also educated on the dos and don’ts which I strongly adhered to.
After the procedure, I went home and the two week wait started. Those two weeks felt like two years! I had bought lots of books to try and take my mind off the wait but I couldn’t concentrate for long enough to read! So I went and bought some painting materials instead as I thought painting might keep me occupied and calm. The painting really did help, but even then it was really hard to keep my mind off of it! Prayer was also very important to us. My husband and I are both Christians and so prayer helped us throughout our whole journey. It helped us keep calm and positive when things were out of our control.
During this time I also had some side effects from the medications I was taking and so I kept calling the clinic with my worries; they did a great job of reassuring me. We both felt very supported throughout and no question was ever a silly question for the team. We honestly cannot fault the medical and patient care we received from the clinic.
We did break the rules and take a home pregnancy test. When it came back positive I was so overwhelmed with joy I really had to contain my excitement because I knew that anything can happen this early on and I wanted to wait until it was 100% confirmed by the clinic. When the time came, I went to the clinic in the morning for the pregnancy blood test and then we got the call with the results in the afternoon. I was literally in tears when they told us the results. They told me that I was ‘very pregnant’ and that was honestly the best news I have ever received. Words cannot express what we felt that day!
I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy on April 14th and life has been so sweet since he came into the world! Although it can be stressful at times, we’re really enjoying parenthood. This is what we have been waiting for many years!
My only advice to anyone who might be in a similar situation is that it does really take just one embryo to make a baby so stay hopeful; you’ve done all the hard work, everything else is out of our control.
Lastly, thank you to all the team at CREATE for making our dream come true; we are forever grateful.
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