Stacey and Robert’s story

Stacey and Robert might have the baby they have always dreamed of but it hasn’t been an easy road. Proud new parents to four week old Arthur, the couple from Chelmsford want to share their story to give hope to others who are finding it difficult to start a family.

“After I turned 30 we tried for a baby for some time but nothing happened,” explains Stacey. “We had numerous tests at Broomfield Hospital for unexplained infertility and six months of taking Clomid resulted in numerous disappointments. The hospital told us our best option was to think about IVF, but with no NHS funding there was little more they could do for us.”

Stacey and Robert looked on the HFEA website and researched a couple of local clinics in Colchester and Wickford. Then they saw on its website that Simply Fertility was holding an open day and decided to go along and take a look.

“We got a good feeling about Simply Fertility from the start, made a quick decision and booked ourselves in for a fertility assessment. Three weeks later we started treatment.  I struggled with the injections at first but soon got used to them and the treatment itself was fine. Thirteen eggs were harvested, and four fertilised.”

“Looking back we were quite naïve about the whole process. One embryo was transferred, I was really positive, but it didn’t work. Then two more embryos were transferred, but they didn’t work either. The team carried out more blood tests for implantation failure and my treatment protocol and drugs were changed as a result. The fourth embryo was implanted but we were disappointed again. It was such a blow, we had really underestimated how difficult things could be.”

At the start of 2018, Stacey and Robert decided to give IVF another try.  This time the pregnancy test showed a thin blue line, the couple recall shaking and crying as the positive result was revealed.

Fast forward nine months and the couple welcomed the safe arrival of baby Arthur on Wednesday 24 October, weighing 6lb 11 oz.