Brave couple thrilled with IVF success

The mother of Bourn Hall Clinic Peterborough’s first baby is thrilled to bits; she says that when the couple were referred for IVF treatment it was “as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders”.

Recurrent miscarriage

Sarah and her husband Daniel met at university and were together for many years before they married and immediately started trying for a family. Within the following two years, Sarah became pregnant twice but to her great distress miscarried with each pregnancy.

The couple were devastated; they went to their GP who told them that they wouldn’t be considered for fertility testing until they had three years without a pregnancy.

Sarah recalls: “It was a long further two years of trying to be positive before we returned to our GP. It’s hard seeing other people getting pregnant so easily when you’re not. People don’t understand how lonely it can be.”

Eligible for NHS funded IVF

The couple were eligible for NHS funded IVF treatment and chose to go to Bourn Hall as the results on the HFEA website were so good.

Sarah recalls: “The seminar at the Cambridge clinic was brilliant- informative and thorough. It was such a relief to be there. We had been doing all we could and still not getting pregnant so it felt like a weight had been lifted. It is also a lovely place to visit: like a country estate, where the staff were very welcoming and made you feel looked after.”

“Bourn Hall had impressive IVF statistics on the HFEA website,” adds Daniel. “Certainly choosing Bourn Hall turned out to be a great decision for us because it was just at the time the Peterborough satellite clinic was opening and we both worked in Peterborough.”

This meant the couple were able to have their initial consultations and appointments at the satellite clinic in Peterborough and would go to the Cambridge Clinic on two occasions for the egg collection and embryo transfer procedures.

Clinic staff helped to alleviate worries  

Sarah felt quite apprehensive about the treatment and the possibility of miscarrying again.

“I tried to remain positive throughout the process. I decided that I would have to leave it in hands of the professionals and concentrate on taking one step at a time,” she says.

“It was reassuring to know that if I did have any worries I could just pop into the Peterborough clinic. I did once when I wanted some advice. I was quite scared about the injections but the staff were so helpful and supportive.”

Jack is born

14 eggs were collected from Sarah, of which two made it to blastocyst stage when they are most likely to result in a successful pregnancy. One was frozen and the other one transferred to Sarah’s womb. Nine months later and baby Jack was born on 26^th March 2015.

Sarah says: “I couldn’t believe our first IVF treatment worked! Being a mum is fabulous: the hardest job I’ve ever done but I love every minute. It’s been a long time coming but once we went down the IVF route everything happened so quickly.”

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