Result! Fertility Health and Wellbeing Check fast-tracked path to parenthood

Vicki and Joe were in their mid-thirties and had been trying for a baby for over a year. Feeling that time was not on their side they wanted answers quickly and opted to bypass their GP completely and pay for a Bourn Hall Fertility Health and Wellbeing Check. 

“We are the kind of people who like to know the reasons for things and so when I wasn’t getting pregnant, we didn’t want to have to wait for answers,” says Vicki. 

“I had really struggled during lockdown. Everyone was getting pregnant. People laughed about how many babies were being conceived while everyone was at home, but it just made it more difficult for us because we were actively trying and nothing was happening. I got really upset and then when restrictions eased I couldn’t bring myself to go to baby showers – it was too much for me.

“I sent an email to Bourn Hall to enquire about paying to get some fertility tests done. They got straight back to me, and we had all the tests done a few weeks later; it all happened really quickly.” 

Within two weeks of having all their tests done at Bourn Hall Vicki and Joe had a definitive reason for not being able to conceive. 

“The tests at Bourn Hall quickly established that Joe had a very low sperm count,” says Vicki. “The doctors looked into his medical history and think that it may have been as a result of medication he had taken when he was a child which could have ‘obliterated’ his sperm.  

“Bourn Hall said that they wanted to investigate with Joe a little bit further, so he had further tests with a specialist urologist in case it was going to be necessary to do surgical sperm retrieval. The urologist however concluded that SSR would not be necessary and recommended we have IVF with ICSI. 

“That all happened quite quickly and we were able to just crack on with the IVF after that. 

“We found out in November 2021 that we were expecting twins. I cried when I saw two little heartbeats at the Bourn Hall scan. Joe didn’t say a word; he didn’t cry at any of the scans, actually, and admitted to my mum about it after they were born that he had been just so convinced that at one point that it may not even happen for us that he still couldn’t quite believe it had worked.” 

Hugo and Harper were born in June 2022 – just in time for Father’s Day. “It was very emotional and very surreal as well,” says Vicki, now aged 35. “I can’t believe how quickly things happened in the end for us. From booking our Fertility Health and Wellbeing Check with Bourn Hall to getting pregnant it took just ten months.” 

The twins have just celebrated their first birthdays and as Joe prepares to mark his second Father’s Day as a Dad he says:

“At one point we were starting to look down other avenues to grow our family and now we are celebrating our own twins birthday. They really are our little miracles. Every Father’s Day will feel extra special for me that’s for sure.”