Chris & Megan's Story
"I was pregnant. It had worked the first-time round!"
We had been trying to conceive for about two years when we decided to go and get some tests done. The test results came back and we were informed that the reason for our infertility was male factor; Chris had azoospermia. Although this was difficult to process, we are so glad that we got tested. It was daunting but it meant we could find out exactly what the problem was and make sure we were on the right path towards becoming parents.
We then went back to our GP with this information and were keen to find out if there were any treatments available. We were told that the only way for us to potentially conceive a child that is biologically both Chris and mine is to have his sperm extracted via surgery which we could then use for IVF treatment. This completely rocked us, but we were willing to give it a go.
We were in the NHS system, but everything was moving extremely slow which was incredibly frustrating. Our appointments were constantly being pushed back or cancelled so we decided to start researching private IVF treatment. By the time we discovered abc ivf, we had been trying to conceive for four years!
The journey at abc was a lot smoother and quicker. We had an initial consultation over Zoom and then I went into the clinic for a scan to assess my fertility and eligibility for treatment. I was relieved to find out that my AMH and AFC were high enough, however my BMI was a little bit too high so I had to bring it into a healthy range before starting treatment. They had also detected an issue with my thyroid, which I was prescribed some medication for.
A couple of months after this appointment, we were finally ready to start treatment. I started taking all the medication I was instructed to and had monitoring scans every few days to keep an eye on how my follicles were developing. One of the scans showed that my body wasn’t responding as well as expected, but after a few tweaks we were back on track and ready for the egg collection. During the egg collection procedure they collected 8 eggs, 3 of which fertilised into embryos. Unfortunately, one didn’t make it to day 5, but we had one embryo transferred into my womb, and we decided to freeze the other one for potential future use.
We were told not to do a pregnancy test before coming into the clinic, but we just couldn’t wait. The first test that came back positive I didn’t really believe, but then they all kept coming back positive! I was in so much shock and because we had been waiting for this moment for so long, I didn’t want to believe it until it was confirmed by the clinic. I went into the clinic for a blood test and it was confirmed - I was pregnant. It had worked the first-time round!
I can’t put into words how we both felt - extreme happiness is an understatement. It did take a while for it all to sink it. Once it started to feel real, it was simply amazing; I loved being pregnant.
The pregnancy went well and I gave birth to a healthy little boy. Becoming parents was so special; we absolutely love it. He’s such a lovely little boy. We’re now starting to get lots of little smiles and giggles from him and it’s just the best thing. We enjoy every milestone to the fullest. There are points where we just take a step back and just soak it all in.
We would 100% recommend abc to anyone who is in need of fertility treatment. We actually already have! Overall, we had such a positive journey and the price of treatment really is incredible. I also would like to mention the staff who are so kind and caring. They really do go above and beyond to help and answer all our questions. We never felt like we were bothering them, they were just always happy to help and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.