Page 1 of A nice, positive (yet personal) announcement

It is with great pleasure (and pride) that I am able to announce that my wife is 15 weeks pregnant. :D

We have now been together for 17 years and started trying to have children 6 years ago. After a huge number of tests and 6 rounds of IVF we have finally got past the first major hurdle!

Anyone that has been through IVF treatment and experienced failures will appreciate the emotional rollercoaster that it is and the utter heartbreak that you experience when it doesn`t go the way you want it to. We almost gave up at the beginning of this year because we thought we couldn`t survive another failure, but we`re obviously extremely pleased we persevered.

We were only allowed 1 IVF attempt on the NHS by our PCT, which I wish we`d never bothered with it. The treatment we received was terrible (compared to the 2 previous private rounds we`d had) and my wife had to be admitted to hospital for the night of egg collection because they`d given her medicine that made her incredibly ill.
I think the NHS do a marvellous job in emergency and life threatening etc. cases where they need to care for / cure someone. However, in what is considered `elective` treatment they appear to fall short (in my opinion).

I`m also very aware of how lucky we are to be able to afford these private treatments and am thankful for that. I feel extremely sorry for those who desperately want children but can`t afford the treatment necessary. With some rounds costing about £14k it is a huge financial burden to take on when the chances of success can be so small (national average is around 33% for our age range, although the success rates at the clinic we eventually went to are 69%!).

What is still so frustrating for us is that the doctors can not provide an explanation as to why it didn`t work naturally for us (all any of the previous IVF attempts) - so we are still in the "unexplained infertility" category that around 2% of couples fall into.

I`m not normally one for sharing such personal information in such a public way, but everyone I speak to about this knows someone who is going through a similar experience and it is (unfortunately) becoming more and more common for couples to experience difficulties in conceiving. It also really helps to be able to talk to other people who have been through this and can understand the heartache that is involved.

If anyone does know someone that`s experiencing this, I would recommend them to visit the FertilityFriends forum where there is a wealth of knowledge and experience on this topic (I know my wife found it invaluable and has made some nice friends from it).

Anyway, apologies for the long post, but I hope the positive announcement has a positive impact on your weekend! :D

Great news mate - and the best of luck to you both for the rest of the pregnancy and the future!!
We have friends who went through IVF on the NHS (Liverpool Women`s Hospital) and, as you say, you get 1 round.  I seem to remember a round is as many attempts as they could do using the amount of `good eggs` taken in `one go`.  I think they had 4 tries - which were an absolute rollercoaster as you say - but the fourth and last attempt was a success and they now have 18 month old twin boys.  :D
They had nothing but good things to say about the treatment they got so it`s a shame you weren`t afforded the same treatment - especially during what is such an emotional and mentally exhausting time.
Still, all going well I hope - `just` the one I assume? ;-)

Ste

Congratulations!

On a related topic, about a year and a half ago my brother and sister-in-law were having problems conceiving and opted for IVF treatment on the NHS. The first attempt worked and baby Rhys has been with us since last November. That said, whatever blockage was holding up the proceedings before, must have been cleared by the first baby because within a few months of it being born they announced they were expecting sprog #2, completely naturally.

Thanks Ste.

There is just one in there. We were both a little sad to see just one little heartbeat on the 7 week scan as twins would give us that instant little family without any more fertility issues.
My brother has twins and I know a few other people who have them so we were well aware of the amount of effort involved in having them...but they also increase the risks for the mother during pregnancy, so a singleton was probably the better outcome for us.
Who knows, it might all just `work` after the first one.

We`re still trying to remain a little cautious as there is a long way to go, but every little hurdle we get past increases our hope a little more!

Cheers Gareth - I`m hoping that something similar might happen for us!

I`m really sincerely pleased for you both, Miles. Take good care of her. A pregnant lady cannot receive too much pampering.

Thanks Sue.

Trust me, she has had a lot of pampering for the last few years. I have a lot of respect for her already having gone through the operations and injections etc. as she has done. My part in all of this is a fairly simple one (as I`m sure a lot of people could imagine ;)).
I have been the one doing all of the injections though as she is petrified of needles. So I am now a master at sub-cutaneous and inter-muscular injections! :D

I`ve also been baking all manner of wheat-free treats for her as well as cooking fairly regularly due to her recently discovered allergies (who knows, it may be cutting out the wheat & yeast that`s done it for us!)

Thats wonderful news!! :D :D

Congratulations to you and Mrs Miles. Enjoy the pregnancy and take photos as the bump grows - one regret I have is that I didnt `document` my pregnancy!

Juls

Thanks Juls, photos were started around week 5! :D
She`s only now really starting to `show` though.

Fantastic news! Having not experienced it myself I couldn`t begin to imagine the toll it would take on you personally, in your relationship and of course your bank account!

Let`s hope its a good pregnancy for your wife, and I promise you the whole thing will go so quickly you`ll be cradling your baby before you know it. I can`t believe I`m about to spend a 2nd Xmas with my little boy, time goes so fast so you really have to treasure it.

And not trying to steal your thunder but we actually have a 2nd one on the way. Have our first scan on Monday so fingers crossed!