Sarah & Rob's IVF story

"The package we were given and the price -it was exactly what we paid!"

So, I’ve had endometriosis, for probably 9 or 10 years now. It was first diagnosed after I had my appendix out. So, I had those removed and then the pain just kept carrying on so each month when I was having my cycle the pain was horrendous. The doctor eventually decided to take me to the hospital to do keyhole surgery. The operation was a success and for the next few years they kept an eye on it, then the pain came back again. This went on again and I had two more endometriosis on my ovaries removed.

We tried naturally for 5 years for a baby and nothing happened, so we went to see our local doctor and they said it’s probably the endometriosis that’s causing us not to fall pregnant. It got to the stage where we were both obviously a lot older and we thought if we don’t try soon then we’re getting too old. So, we looked into local clinics, and we said we would give it one hit - if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.

abc was a very affordable clinic. It took us a while to find a clinic that we though was affordable and fitted every aspect of what we wanted and needed. We’d spent a lot of time researching other clinics in the area and abc definitely came out to us as the most affordable in the area and also, they were very quick to answer all our questions and queries. Whereas other clinics took a while to reply and I didn’t feel we got the same experience from them that we did from abc.

We started our journey with abc in Bristol, where our first round of IVF with ICSI. Sadly, we miscarried that egg. We then decided to go for a second round. But unfortunately, locked down hit us and the day we were due to start the medication was the day we went into lockdown. So, we waited until the June, and we started the frozen transfer again, sadly, that one didn't work.

We were really happy with the way that abc had called us and talked to us. They offered us counselling, which was fantastic, but I think the support from each other and from our families got us through to go to the next stage.

So, in June, we made the hard decision to start again with a full new cycle of ICSI. And then on the test day, two weeks later, the clinic had asked us to test that morning. We did our test, and found out we were pregnant.

The day we found out, we were expecting Ella was quite an emotional day for us. It was the most exciting thing we'd ever been through, but we were also incredibly nervous because obviously we'd already lost one that it may not work again. We went to the seven week scan, and the minute Jill did the scan, we both burst into tears because we knew that the baby was okay.

The whole journey, the ups and downs that you do go through - from getting that positive test to the downside of the miscarriage, the failed rounds it is very difficult. It is really emotionally draining but you just support each other and you both can get each other through that and happier times are at the end of those sadder times.

The package we were given and the price -it was exactly what we paid. We obviously paid a little bit extra to freeze the eggs that we had left over and we had to pay again for the Frozen Embryo Transfer which is what you expect but all in all the price that we paid was a very fair price to pay for our beautiful daughter.

Ella has got three big brothers and they all dote on her. Thomas, 10 year old, they're like little besties. Honestly, she follows them around everywhere. She tries to play the PlayStation with him, she tends to turn the PlayStation off when she's had enough of him playing on the PlayStation. They’re brilliant with her and likewise she's brilliant with them.

The biggest bit of advice I would give is listen to the advice that abc gives. We went along with everything that they gave us advice with because they're the experts. We're not. Believe in yourself. I think if you believe in yourself that anything can happen. And don't give up. I think that's the biggest bit of advice I can give, really, is don't give up. Not everyone will fall pregnant on the first round. If we gave up on the first hurdle, then we wouldn't be sat here with Ella now.

Sarah & Rob x