Among the guests at BCRM’s celebration of ’40 years of made-in-Bristol IVF babies’ were some pioneering parents who had their treatment decades ago. Here, one such mum, Maggie, shares her story.
“My husband and I started trying for a family in 1985 when I was nearly 33.
“Ten years later, by which time we were on the two-year waiting list for IVF treatment, we conceived unexpectedly and were delighted to become parents to a baby girl.
“When our daughter reached 18 months we wanted to try for a second baby, but I was 44 by then and IVF was not available to women over 45 so, with the clock ticking, we decided to pay for private treatment at Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM).
“It transpired my own eggs couldn’t be used: my age meant there was too high a risk of chromosomal abnormalities, in other words they were past their ‘sell-by’ date!
“However, donor eggs were available, and an anonymous donor was proposed to us who had children of her own and had donated previously with a positive outcome.
“We were happy and grateful to try for an IVF baby using her eggs and my husband’s sperm.
“I should have been 45 when our transfer took place, but it was delayed by a month because our donor had flu, so by the time we were able to have the transfer I was already 46.
“With six embryos available to us, we had an important choice to make regarding how many to have transferred: if this round failed, subsequent rounds of treatment were unlikely to be possible because of my age.
“We were told each embryo had only a 10% chance of making it (at that time) so we were advised to have three transplanted to give us a fair chance of at least one resulting in a live birth.
“But my seven-week scan revealed a shock: there were three healthy heartbeats!
“This was not what we had anticipated and obviously had far-reaching financial implications – we’d need a bigger house and a bigger car, and we’d used most of our savings on the treatment.
“Nevertheless, three babies were on their way.
“I didn’t have a great pregnancy: I was solidly sick for the first three months, and so huge for the last three months that I had constant heartburn and couldn’t eat. I lost a tremendous amount of weight.
“Nowadays triplets are routinely delivered at around 34 weeks, but my planned C-section was for 37 weeks and it turned out to be too late.
“The last month of pregnancy was bed-rest under the care of the local maternity hospital.
“At 35 weeks I felt I needed, and asked for, an earlier delivery but my request was declined by their consultant. Soon after, I went into spontaneous labour and the babies arrived by emergency C-section.
“We had two boys and a girl – I’d been carrying 16lb of baby plus three placentas and three sacs, so no wonder it had felt like an ordeal.”
The triplets were born on 13 February 1999, healthy and thriving, and were taken home four weeks later.
Maggie said: “Overall, actually having the triplets was a mixed experience – poor perinatal care meant I almost died.
“But BCRM, who created our beautiful babies, were terrific throughout: supportive, caring and knowledgeable. We are so happy we went to them.
“When we attended the 40th celebrations we were accompanied by our triplet daughter, who is now 25 and in a same-sex relationship, as is one of our sons – so maybe there will be second-generation BCRM babies for our family in due course.
“And if they do decide to follow that route, they have access to one of the best clinics in the country at BCRM, so we wish them all the best.”
BCRM www.fertilitybristol.com is the longest established fertility clinic in Bristol, helping people from throughout the South West and Wales with fertility treatment for both private and NHS patients. The clinic is involved in innovative research and has one of the best success rates with IVF and other fertility treatments in the UK.
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