Emily & Dave’s story – secondary infertility

With a daughter from a previous relationship, Emily did not imagine she would have problems conceiving again when she met husband Dave. After over a year of trying for a baby without success, the couple from Bognor Regis decided to investigate their fertility at Wessex Fertility, and discovered Emily was suffering from secondary infertility. However, after IVF treatment at Wessex Fertility, the couple are now besotted parents to beautiful baby Sienna.

Emily, 32, and Dave, 28, met in 2011 and married 4 years later. “We met when my daughter Ruby was 5. As soon as we were married, we decided to start trying for a baby and we didn’t think we’d have any problems. Before we knew it, a year passed, and nothing had happened, so we started to get a bit worried.” remembers Emily. The couple decided to book an appointment with their doctor, who thought they had discovered a cyst on Emily’s ovary that needed removal.

However, this wasn’t the case and Emily received devastating news when she woke from the operation.

Emily and Dave had been trying for a baby for a total of 18 months when they decided it was time to research into fertility treatment. “We came across Wessex Fertility on an online search, we liked that it looked more personal than other clinics because we didn’t want to feel like a number. I remember reading the success stories on the website, and thinking, hopefully that’ll be me! We received such a warm welcome on the phone when we booked our first appointment which put us completely at ease” recalls Emily.

The couple decided to book a Rapid Fertility Assessment, a quick service that enables Wessex Fertility to diagnose the cause of infertility, offer specialist advice and to recommend possible treatments in just a 2-hour appointment.  “The semen analysis, scan and AMH test all came back fine. But as soon as Dr Ingamells tried to pass the dye through my tube in a HyCoSy test, we were told that the dye did not pass through. When the test was over we went straight into a consultation where we discussed the option of IVF. We were given a good chance of success, as everything was there for us to have a baby, the road there was just blocked!” remembers Emily.

Emily and Dave decided to go into treatment straight away, and so that same month, attended Wessex Fertility for their consenting appointment, where the couple were taught how to administer medication. “We didn’t find the treatment itself too bad although it’s a very emotional thing, and it’s always in the back of your mind that it might not work. We tried to keep positive though, my sister was a great support to me and net mums was also fantastic, I made friends that I’m still in touch with now!”.

About 6 weeks later, Emily had her egg collection procedure, where 9 eggs were collected. Emily’s eggs were mixed with Dave’s sperm and then monitored in the state of the art EmbryoScope. “From my 9 eggs, 7 successfully fertilised which then went on to make 3 good quality embryos. We still have the photos of our embryos now!”. An embryo was then selected and then transferred into Emily’s womb.

Then began the two week wait to find out if they had been successful. “We found the wait really hard! I had no symptoms of pregnancy at all, the only ones I did have felt like a period so we weren’t feeling very hopeful”. However, on Father’s Day 2017, the couple got the wonderful news they had been waiting for. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the test was positive! I went straight in to Dave and said ‘Happy Fathers Day!’. It was a really special moment” remembers Emily.

A few weeks later, Emily and Dave had their first pregnancy scan at Wessex Fertility. “We took my daughter Ruby to the scan with us which was really special. I was a bit worried about taking her in case something was wrong, but thankfully everything was great. When the sonographer was scanning me the heart beat came up straight away, we were all really emotional” recalls Emily.

On 5th March 2018, Emily gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, named Sienna, weighing 7lb 41/2 oz. “It was an incredible moment holding Sienna for the first time. The labour was 4 days so it was surreal when she finally arrived! I absolutely loved seeing Dave hold her too, it made everything worth it.”