Rainbow Baby ❤️
Kelly
Kelly and her partner found out about 3 years ago that the chances of conceiving naturally were very low. Her partners sperm count was low as was their mobility. After countless doctors and hospital appointments, they were never promised anything on the NHS due to Kelly’s weight being over the recommended BMI for IVF. It was then they decided to go private. Kelly dropped her weight down and in January had a clinic visit. At this point they were struggling to get the money together however Kelly’s amazing Nan lent them the money, so they could continue. They had all their tests were done in February but during this time, Kelly’s Nan passed away. Kelly describes this as the darkest day of her life as her Nan was like a Mum to her. They decided to continue with the cycle, but her emotions were all over the place, there is so many emotions involved when losing a loved one and then add in hormones and emotions of IVF and it’s a really difficult thing to cope with.
Kelly shared the rest of her story with me below;
“We’ve been trying in total for 4 years. Every month it was the heart ache when my monthly started, it never gets easier, it hurts just as much, every single month and after all these years, it just felt like we were never going to be parents. Apparently being overweight can cause problems with carrying babies. Blood pressure being high, immune system being poor, so baby can pick up more things too. I’m sure there is more but I have never looked into it too much. With NHS I was told to get my BMI down to 29 (which for me would be around 11.5 stone), but no matter what I tried I just couldn’t do it. I love going to the gym and a lot of my weight is muscle (or used to be!!) but I just couldn’t get to where they wanted me to be. We went private as they will take people up to 35 BMI. We found out we wouldn’t have even got 1 cycle anyway because of the area we live in, so I’m pleased we didn’t hang around and waste time before finding that out. I have to say it’s still frustrating, one of my friends who lives 10 miles away got 3 rounds on NHS and at the same clinic. I’m happy for her but it’s still very frustrating. I’m not too sure why different areas don’t offer the same, I’ve seen many areas are different on the support group but never really found out more. We knew what we wanted and didn’t want to stop or get held back so we just went private. We’ve monitored my cycles and ovulation all the 4 years before IVF to the point that it felt more like a chore of making a baby than enjoying it. Jamie felt very pressurised and it strained our relationship, we had so many arguments and tears when Mother Nature paid a visit each month. I’ve got friends who are bigger than me, with their own health problems so I felt like the world hated me and didn’t want us to fall pregnant. But, in April we had egg collection, we had 19 eggs collected, 15 fertilised and 6 went through to blastocyst. I developed OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) which is a risk in IVF as it is when the ovaries over stimulate and produce too many follicles. It can be really dangerous and can affect the kidneys, liver and lungs and sometimes even cause a blood clot. I spent a night in hospital, so they could monitor me, but luckily it didn’t stop me having the transfer which was done on 7th April this year. Good Friday was our test date and we finally got our big fat positive! I’m so excited, and relieved it worked first time as we couldn’t have afforded a 2nd round but I am really nervous, every twinge and ache sends me into a panic. I keep on thinking that there must be something wrong as I don’t have any morning sickness, but the only complication so far is my blood pressure, so I am taking an aspirin a day to help. I just feel so lucky, if it wasn’t for my Nan our dreams wouldn’t have come true.
Kelly, thank you so much for sharing your amazing story with us, you are an inspiration, 4 years of heartache and finally you get your rainbow baby, your Nan would be so proud of you, I am sure she is somewhere smiling and watching over both you and baby. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy lovely, you deserve it!
Gemma
Gemma and Lee met in 2011, she is a northern bird and him an Essex boy. She moved down to Essex 6 months later and the fairy tale began, well kind of. Fast forward 2 years and they decided time was ticking and they wanted to start trying for a little one! 6 weeks later, Gemma found out she was pregnant, she thought it was amazing how fast it had happened for them. But sadly, it was not meant to be and at 8 weeks she found out it was an ectopic pregnancy. Gemma, like quite a few people, had never heard of such a thing, an ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy that occurs outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes. The baby cannot survive there and due to internal bleeding that the mother can suffer, it can be life threatening. So, Gemma had a drug called Methotrexate to basically kill the baby. Luckily Gemma didn’t have to have a tube removed like a lot of women do in this scenario, but her tube was damaged. It was a really sad time for the couple, so they had a few months off and then began trying again but it was 2 years before Gemma got pregnant again, and unfortunately, she had another miscarriage. By this time, she really thought something can’t be right so Gemma was referred to a doctor who specialises in fertility problems. Both Gemma and Lee had many tests and it turned out that she had a blocked tube, she was told this was likely from a miscarriage she had in her 20’s, Gemma fell pregnant with her then boyfriend and before 12 weeks, he got drunk, became violent and beat her up, meaning she lost the baby. This time must have been so horrendous, and this miscarriage was still haunting her nearly 5 years later. So, she was recommended to start IVF. Gemma tells me about her journey;
The clinic said I would need to wait 3 weeks before I had a scan, which was absolute hell but it was totally worth it in the end, there we were in the room, she said “knickers off”, I couldn’t have got them off quick enough!! Because of how early I was, the scan had to be internal, it wasn’t just for no reason that she told me to take them off!! We both sat there thinking I would have an empty womb, especially when the lady shouted to her helper to ask if I had 1 embryo planted or 2, my heart dropped thinking she hasn’t seen anything but then something amazing happened! She turned the screen to us and said, “See that flicker there, that’s baby’s heart beat.” Wow, I was numb, I couldn’t believe it. Then she said, “Look, that's the other baby’s heart beat.” What!!!!!!!!! 2 babies!!! Twins!!! Well, I was amazed! So was hubby! I remember asking the clinic if they see many twins, to which she replied, “Yeah but they hardly ever get to live birth.” Great, thanks for that darling! The next mile stone was the 12-week scan, it felt like a lifetime away, the toilet paper check 200 times a day continued but luckily it was fine and at 12 weeks there they both were. I felt like I could relax a little, I know the miscarriage rate drops massively after 12 weeks so I felt like I had finally done it!
Then BAM, 13 weeks on my 169th paper check of the day, there it was, bright red blood, NOT AGAIN. I nearly had a heart attack. I was straight to hospital, crying all the way, bleeding so heavy I had to have a massive pad on, and I was screaming down phone to my poor mum who is 200 miles away saying, “I am losing them.” I had to wait for a scan and all I could think was that my poor babies would be dead. To our amazement, she confirmed they were both still there and they were ok. I didn’t want to stand up, I felt like they were just gonna fall out if I did!! The trips to hospital continued all the way through my pregnancy, each one as heart wrenching as the next. I had to go in for reduced movement, I also had strep b and gestational diabetes, I never do anything by halves!!! Managed to get to 32 and then BAM, waters broke. I was horrified, again I started having all these horrible thoughts about the fact they might not make it, every issue after the next was just as scary. I had an emergency delivery via c-section as both babies were breech, but out they popped, Mia Robyn 3.4lbs and Scarlett Elsa 3.5lbs, both absolutely beautiful. They were taken straight to NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), I didn’t get to see them for 5 hours, which felt like the longest time in the world, but when I did, I could not believe they were mine. I was a mummy, finally. My dreams came true. 4 very tough weeks of hospital visits every day and my girls came home, they are now 18 months old and thriving. I hope this gives anyone hope who feels like it might never happen for them, I wanted a baby so much and I never thought I was going to get it, and, in the end, I got 2.”
