My employers were good to me when I went through IVF

Susie’s journey to parenthood involved multiple miscarriages and rounds of IVF while holding down senior roles at work. When she joined the UK Space Agency, she was able to be open about her fertility treatment - and it made a world of difference.

“We couldn’t find a reason for the miscarriages”

Susie married Paul in 2013 and they decided to try for a family. To this Lebanese-Polish family, children are everything.

Susie had a history of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and never had periods, so she knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Then routine testing revealed that Paul had a fluctuating sperm count.

The couple were referred for three rounds of IVF on the NHS and they opted to do this in 2014 with TFP Fertility Oxford. It felt logical because their NHS consultant also practised there.

Susie explains that during the first cycle, they used ICSI (Intracytoplasmic sperm injection) to introduce the best quality sperm into her eggs.

She’d had 13 eggs retrieved, of which five became embryos suitable for transfer.

“The clinicians identified one to transfer, but unfortunately that didn’t survive long enough to be placed in my uterus.

So, they identified a second one – but that didn’t result in a pregnancy,” she says.

The next two transfers then both resulted in miscarriages.

“Finally, we were left with just one blastocyst,” she adds. “But I was worried about this one and didn’t want to use it – so it remained frozen.”

Susie was using the TFP Fertility satellite clinic in Swindon for blood tests and scans. “The staff at Swindon were great,” she says. 

“I wouldn’t have continued without their help. They arranged to have some more tests, but we couldn’t pinpoint a reason for the miscarriages.”

“It didn’t look the best, but it became my wonderful baby boy, Eliasz,” says Susie.

What are mosaic embryos?

There are 200-300 cells inside a blastocyst. Inside each normal cell is the right number of chromosomes, which carry genetic information.

But not every cell in a blastocyst is normal - some may have extra or missing chromosomes.

• Normal embryo – Less than 20 percent abnormal cells

• Low-level mosaic embryo – 20 - 40 percent abnormal cells

• High-level mosaic embryo – 40 - 80 percent abnormal cells

• Abnormal embryo – More than 80 percent abnormal cells

Sometimes mosaic embryos are an option for use in IVF, as they can go on to become a healthy pregnancy. It depends on the type and amount of mosaicism.

During this chain of events, Susie had been working at a senior level in a government department.

She’d been juggling a busy diary with all her IVF appointments and this demanding lifestyle plus all the miscarriages had taken their toll.

“It was horrendous,” she says. “You think IVF will be the hard part and then you realise that you have another obstacle – recurrent miscarriages.

“I wasn’t sure if I could put myself through this again.

“Then, a year later, Paul said to me that he didn’t want Eliasz to be on his own when we were gone.

He said, come on, let’s do it again. And I knew he was right – we had to do it.”

The test results were devastating. Only two embryos were normal – the rest had to be discarded.

The first embryo transfer led to a miscarriage, and the second didn’t implant.

Susie says, “I thought, that’s it, it’s over. I didn’t want to miss out on our boy growing up. The miscarriages weren’t easy. I wouldn’t wish them on anybody.”

Then in 2021 Paul’s grandmother passed away. At the funeral, he looked at Susie and asked if they could give IVF just one more go.

This time, things were different.

“Everyone gave me the space to take all the appointments I needed, and I made sure someone was there to deputise for me in case I had to take any unplanned time off.”

Meanwhile, Susie had returned to TFP Fertility Oxford for another round of IVF.

The TFP Fertility clinical team were concerned about Susie’s recurrent miscarriages and suggested using a medication – in this case, the hormone progesterone - to increase the success rate of implantation and encourage the early growth of the embryo in the uterus.

This IVF round was the best yet, resulting in four healthy embryos.

Susie fell pregnant and the additional progesterone helped nurture the embryo following the transfer.

The pregnancy was a success, leading to the birth of Emilia in 2022.

“I spent a decade trying to get pregnant or being pregnant and that’s a large chunk of my life. So at some point, I want to know I can close a door on that,” she says.

“With this final pregnancy, I feel I’m happy with my family and can move on.

“We just had the first trimester scan, and it is incredible.

We’ve got there three times!

Susie’s reflections

Susie found the IVF process itself quite straightforward.

She says, “At first, I struggled with not knowing what comes next. But now I’m a pro! 

“We had to go very slowly with stimulation because of my PCOS. I was already producing lots of follicles, so there was a risk I could develop ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

“Once I knew the process, none of it bothered me. I’m not squeamish with needles and the medication was fine. I just followed the steps one by one.”

However, the miscarriages have taken a toll.

“It is horrendous, and even when you have babies you still mourn the ones you have lost.

“It is the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. I don’t know anyone who has gone through this and I felt like no one could understand or relate to what had happened.

“I’m happy to talk about this now, to help people,” she adds. “Because when you struggle like I did, it is all internal. If you didn’t speak up, no-one would ever know.”

“A miscarriage is something you never get over. You think of those lovely little humans you never got to know.”