I had a baby thanks to IVF – then a miracle happened

After months and months of trying to conceive with no luck, I went to my GP who referred me for tests. These showed it was likely I had PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and I was eventually referred for IVF.

Back then I only knew one person who’d had IVF and because, aged 29, I was still relatively young fertility wise, it didn’t seem real that I would need something which seemed so huge and terrifying.

We were living in Hammersmith, London, at the time and fortunately, we qualified for one round of IVF funded by the NHS which we opted to have at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital in London – primarily so that it would be closer to my office but also because our research suggested it had good results.

When we went for our first IVF appointment in January 2012 it was made very clear that success was by no means guaranteed and so I made the decision not to tell many people, apart from a few close family and friends.

The truth was I was terrified that the treatment wouldn’t work. I couldn’t cope with having to tell everyone the bad news if it failed.

Soon my life revolved around week after week of injections, appointments, internal scans, and worry. Fortunately, I was extremely lucky.

Despite being warned that the handful of embryos harvested were not good quality ones, we had two embryos transferred and one was successful.

I can still remember that moment in the bathroom of our house in Hammersmith when the test came up positive.

My husband was away with work, and I had woken up extra early to do it on the date the hospital had advised.

My whole body was shaking as I weed on the stick and waited for a line to appear.

When it came up positive, I broke down in tears of utter relief as I phoned my husband, unable to believe it was really true. That we were going to have a baby.

Fortunately, my pregnancy progressed as normal, and our son was born in December 2012. He was my world, and I felt lucky that breastfeeding went well, and I savoured every second of being a mum (well, apart from the sleepless nights which nothing could have prepared me for!)

I stopped breastfeeding when he was a year old, and my periods returned. With them, I dared hope that maybe I would get pregnant naturally this time.

And after months of periods, when one month my period didn’t come, I did a pregnancy test and couldn’t believe it when it was positive.

Sadly, my joy was short-lived when less than two weeks later I started bleeding and when I did another pregnancy test it was no longer positive.

Another four months later the same thing happened – a late period, a positive pregnancy test, my daring to believe I might have another baby. And then two weeks later I started bleeding.

Some people might have given up trying then, considered themselves lucky to have one healthy child. I really did consider myself incredibly lucky, but I also wanted another baby and a sibling for our son.

IVF had worked for us first time around, and so I figured that would be the best way to make it happen again.

So using some savings we paid over £5,000 to return to Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital for another round of IVF.

And in October 2014 we started the cycle of injections, scans and egg harvesting. Because the embryos from our first round hadn’t been good enough quality to freeze, we had to do it all from scratch again.

By now I was working part time from home, so it was easier this time than trying to make it to hospital appointments before I went into the office in the morning.

I was heartbroken when neither of the two embryos that were replanted took, and we had none good enough to freeze.

Not long after, we moved from London to Oxfordshire and I had become obsessed with getting pregnant again.

We used the last of our savings to have another round of IVF at a local Fertility Clinic in Oxfordshire

This time I did everything in my power to try and make it work – I had reflexology and saw a fertility nutritionist about diet changes to make. Determined to give myself the best chance. But, yet again it didn’t work.

Afterwards I was utterly devastated.

I researched online for anything that could help and read about a natural killer (NK) cells test which I paid around £300 for at a hospital about an hour away. During this I was given a mid-luteal endometrial biopsy, or an ‘endometrial scratch’ to enhance the uterine decidual response and advised to take progesterone supplements.

The following cycle I fell pregnant naturally. Whether it was that, or just luck, no one will ever know for sure. But every day that followed I was on tenterhooks, waiting for the inevitable bleeding to start like it had done so many times before.

One month passed, and then another. The bleeding never came. In May 2016, two weeks overdue, my second son was born after a natural delivery.

Until I held him in my arms I couldn’t quite believe here was here. Not a day has gone by since then when I don’t count myself incredibly lucky.

Now my sons are 8 and 12 and I love telling people about my two miracle boys – both remarkable in different ways. And I love sharing my story with anyone who will listen, because when I was in the depths of infertility despair it was stories like mine that kept me going.