Bourn Hall baby miracle at Christmas

When Emma married Ryan ten years ago she thought ‘lovely, we will have a baby now’ and assumed that it would just happen. Trying to conceive took its toll on the Norfolk couple – it took three attempts at IVF and then their lives changed.

“This year is going to be the best Christmas ever. Six years ago we thought we might never have children and now we have three, one conceived after IVF and two conceived naturally.”

“I have wanted to be a mum for as long as I can remember,” says Shelley, aged 31. “In fact I think it is what prompted me to become a midwife and share the joy of so many families as they welcome their babies in to the world.” But at the back of her mind Shelley felt a clock ticking as both her nan and her mum had had an early menopause. So Shelley decided to go it alone, and her brave step has brought two little miracles.

“I was in hospital a couple of days when it hit me that I was actually a mum – ‘I  get to keep this one, he is mine and I get to hold him and kiss him!’ Christmas is now my favourite time of year.”

Angela was one of the early patients at Bourn Hall and IVF means everything to her.

“If I hadn’t had IVF over 30 years ago, I would never have had a family. Now I am a grandmother twice over too. It has been quite a journey.”

Amber married her teenage sweetheart Josh. She says: “The one thing I have always wanted is children and it was like my body had failed me and just said ‘no’. I started feeling really bad for Josh and worried that if he was with someone else he would have had children by now.”

This all changed when IVF treatment began again after lockdown. “It feels fantastic to finally be a mum, it is something I was born to do. We can’t wait for Hallee’s first Christmas this year. She is a very special little one.”

After three years of trying Leanne fell pregnant naturally during lockdown, but the couple were devastated when it was found to be ectopic. Once the clinics opened they resumed treatment and a little miracle happened.

“It didn’t feel real at first when Albie arrived,” says Leanne. “It was only after he was born that I thought ‘I’ve done it, I’ve got a baby!’ It felt like quite an achievement for me because I never thought it was actually going to happen! Christmas is going to be a very special day!”

Eloise and her husband Ian coped with treatment by taking time out every month for treat together; it kept them going for four rounds of treatment – and then …

“Using our one remaining frozen embryo we fell pregnant and finally got our precious baby girl – she is our miracle.”