Jennifer's Story

"We will always be grateful to abc ivf and have already recommended it to a couple of people who also need help!"

In 2017 we has our first son, George, naturally and to be completely honest it was really easy. Naively, we thought that trying for a sibling would be just as easy so we decided not to rush into it and wait a bit.

We started trying again in December 2019 and after a few months we started to get worried because nothing was happening. We waited for lockdown to pass and then we booked an appointment with our doctor to discuss our fertility. We had all the initial tests done and everything came back fine. They couldn’t find any reason as to why we weren’t getting pregnant so they told us to just go back and keep trying.

In the midst of us having all these tests done, I did actually fall pregnant naturally but sadly miscarried at 8 weeks. At this point I was exhausted. I couldn’t bear the though of continuing to try naturally so we started to look at the next step - IVF.

We did some research and saw that we were looking at around £7k-£8k per round and that was a huge shock. We couldn’t realistically afford that. Then an advert pops up about abc ivf and the lower cost IVF they offer. We looked into it and decided to book a scan right away.

I felt really nervous but the first appointment went really well. I met all the criteria for treatment and  once I received all my medication and my cycles started - the treatment began. I remember thinking at the time ‘Wow this is really happening now’ but it was easy enough.

My eggs were not responding as well as I had hoped to the treatment and there was a lot of talk about potentially cancelling this cycle and trying again next month but I didn’t want to do that. The team supported my decision and we went ahead to egg collection and managed to collect 3 eggs. I know this doesn’t sound like a lot but I honestly believed these could be the best quality eggs. I kept hearing ‘quality over quantity’ so I really focused on that. The egg collection procedure in itself went smoothly and although I was very nervous beforehand because of everything I had read online about the potential risks, I was pleasantly surprised.

Waking up from the anaesthetic was like waking up from the best nap I’ve ever had! It’s very bizarre to say because it’s not an easy procedure but I honestly had a nice experience.

A couple of weeks after I had the embryo transfer, it was time to find out if the treatment has worked. I remember going into the clinic and then getting the phone call confirming my pregnancy. I was so happy but because of the previous miscarriage I didn’t really allow myself to get too excited.

I felt a bit cynical because my HCG levels weren’t that high and I remember fretting over that a little bit but the abc team reassured me lots and the early pregnancy scan, later, confirmed that everything was fine. There was a little heart in there beating away.

My only advice to other people is to try not to ‘Google’ too much - I wish I had gone with the flow more. I did overthink a lot of the process but in reality my treatment worked the first time, with only 3 eggs collected and it still ended in us having little Henry who is 3 months now. We will always be grateful to abc ivf and have already recommended it to a couple of people who also need help!