Alice's IVF story

"We had an amazing experience at abc so we were absolutely over the moon with the results! "

Having IVF is something that I am extremely proud of.

My husband has two children from a previous marriage and I remember having quite a hard conversation very early on in our relationship about children. I knew I wanted a least one of my own so after a very long conversation we decided that when we are ready, my husband would have his vasectomy reversed and we would at least try.

We had been trying for 4 years before starting IVF treatment. My husband had successfully had his vasectomy reversed and all my tests were coming back fine; we didn’t understand why nothing was happening. The only thing that kept flagging up was that my egg reserves were diminishing quite quickly, but otherwise everything looked healthy. After further investigations we also found out that my husband has sperm antibodies and that might be contributing to us struggling to conceive. We knew we would have to start looking at private treatment.

Due to my husband having children from a previous relationship we were told that the NHS couldn’t help. It was really hard to receive the news; it essentially felt as though I was being told that I have to pay to become a mother.

We started looking around at different clinics and were recommended abc ivf by a family member who had treatment there. She has advised me to attend one of their free webinars and get all the information I need before making any decisions. I attended the webinar and found it incredibly useful. I got to ask all the questions I had and gained so much information. It was especially useful having the founder, Prof Nargund, presenting the webinar herself. She is an extremely established figure in the industry and this gave me a lot of faith in the scientific methods used at abc. I also love the emphasis on a gentler form of IVF treatment; a method that would work with my body in a more natural way.

Another reason we were attracted to abc ivf was the cost. At this point we had spoken to a few other clinics too and every time we spoke to them the costs kept adding up - at abc the pricing was more transparent and more affordable so we decided to book a consultation. At the consultation everything was explained to us in great detail and we were talked through all the costs involved before making any decisions. I really appreciated that. The whole team were brilliant and confident in answering all of my questions, especially the pricing questions which most clinics could not answer me easily.

After a great initial consultation we decided to go ahead with treatment. My husband did my injections for me and I am very grateful that my body reacted really well to treatment. We had 13 eggs collected and 3 excellent embryos created!

When it was time to go in for the transfer, we went in for a fresh transfer but during the scan the specialist explained that, although it completely my choice, she could see fluid around my womb and that my ovaries were swollen so she would recommend waiting and doing a frozen embryo transfer instead. She was absolutely brilliant. Although it was not ideal news, at no point did I feel pressured into it. It felt as though it was my choice however the team had my health as their top priority; that meant a lot. I knew this was a crucial part of the IVF process and if my body wasn’t quite ready I would rather wait a month or two in order to have the best possible chance at a pregnancy. So thats what we did. We decided to wait and opted for a frozen embryo transfer.

At the time everyone around me was falling pregnant. It was a difficult time. One day I received a FaceTime from my best friend. She was crying and explained that she felt awful having to tell me that she had fallen pregnant. My sister too! They didn’t know how I would take it and didn’t want to hurt me but I was really happy for them both. I just also wanted my own.

Finding out I was pregnant was the best thing ever. We had a call from Bridget, who was absolutely brilliant thought out our whole journey, and she was the one to tell us that the blood test results came back positive. We were overwhelmed but in the best way possible. It was amazing! Treatment had worked for the first time and we couldn’t be happier. Plus we had an amazing experience at abc so we were absolutely over the moon with the results!

When the time came for us us to announce our pregnancy, we were really open about our journey. We are really proud that science was able to help us complete our family. To us it’s not something we are embarrassed about and we are both so passionate about sharing our story and raising awareness about infertility.

The best advise I can give is to get all the information you need before making a decision. Go to a webinar if you can; not all clinics do them but they are a great source of information. Do your research and have a think about what you need to know before you embark on this journey and speak to people. If I had to do it again, I would 100% go back to abc. I had an incredible experience and have been recommending them to anyone I know that needs help.