After two and a half years of trying to conceive, Lily and Jack found themselves with just one single blastocyst remaining. Here’s their story.
Lily
Jack and I first crossed paths in sixth form. Our relationship was still new when Jack fell ill. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and received treatment at the Churchill hospital in Oxford. It made sense for us to go to TFP Oxford Fertility to preserve his sperm.
Jack
I was only 23 at the time. I had been living with the diagnosis for two years without knowing it. We weren’t even thinking about starting a family, so we didn’t think to ask critical questions about the quality of my sperm. Honestly, the results would have shown poor motility and a low sperm count. Hodgkin’s is a type of blood cancer that affects the lymph nodes, and while you can manage it for a long time, it can seriously impact fertility. This made our journey a bit more complicated.
Lily
By 2019, we tied the knot and decided to have fertility assessments done. It quickly became evident that my egg quality was not as high as it should be for my age. This was a clear sign that our path was going to be anything but simple. After one round of treatment through the NHS, we experienced a devastating miscarriage at six weeks. This was in March 2020, just as the world was shutting down due to the pandemic. It left us feeling completely lost.
Jack
You see so many success stories with IVF and think, “It’s not ideal, but it will probably work out.” When our first round failed, it felt like our world had crumbled. On top of that, we had to deal with COVID-19 while figuring out how to fund our next attempts. Fortunately, before the lockdown fully hit, we secured funding through Access Fertility for three additional tries.
Lily
We kicked off our second round at the end of May 2020, but it didn’t lead to a pregnancy. By late August, we realized the third attempt had failed too. The issue was that we rarely got many embryos to the blastocyst stage. We’d have a decent number of eggs and a good fertilization rate, but by day five, our hopes would drop. We never had more than one viable embryo.
At this point, we were feeling pretty disheartened, yet it never felt like we were completely in the dark. The team at TFP Oxford Fertility was always positive, suggesting new approaches and reassuring us that this wasn’t the end.
Jack
Given the condition of my sperm, the team advised us to skip other methods and go straight to ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). For our next round, we tried IMSI, which involves using a microscope to check for DNA fragmentation to select the best sperm. Sadly, nothing seemed to be working.
Lily
By the time we got to the third round, we were both overwhelmed with stress and disappointment. A nurse gave me a comforting hug, which was just what I needed. Every visit, whether it was for a scan or an embryo transfer, the staff was always warm and welcoming.
Fast forward to our fourth round in March 2021. I had been on medication to regulate my cycle and discovered I had a cyst on my ovary. It was uncomfortable, so they removed it. They took great care of me as a patient. After I healed, they encouraged me to get back on the stimulation cycle. We managed to get one blastocyst, just one to transfer.
In a miraculous turn of events, after all that trying, I finally got pregnant! Our baby, Mia, is now 15 weeks old. We still can’t believe it’s real. Even when she keeps us up five or six times a night, we just smile and think about how lucky we are. It feels surreal thinking it’s been a year since our embryo transfer, and all those two and a half years of trying have led to this joyful moment.
Jack
With my Hodgkin’s diagnosis, we knew from the start that this journey would be challenging. We made a conscious decision not to let the process consume us. Life can blur when you’re going through this, and it can be destructive. We agreed to keep living our lives, or else it would feel like we were just waiting for something to happen.
Lily
It’s easy for your mental health to take a hit during this process. It often seems like everyone else is having kids effortlessly, leaving you feeling isolated. You can’t become obsessed with all the traditional fertility myths, like eating pineapple core (which honestly, yuck!). Thanks to TFP Oxford Fertility, I had access to acupuncture, yoga, and phone support throughout our journey. It never felt like they were just focused on getting us pregnant. Even with the scientific approach, the experience was just as meaningful as any other method of conception.
If you’re curious about other helpful tips, one of our other blog posts discusses home remedies for baby ear infections, which you might find interesting. Additionally, if you’re looking for ways to enhance fertility, check out this resource on fertility boosters for men from an authority on the topic. For further reading on artificial insemination and its processes, this Wikipedia page is a great resource.
In summary, Lily and Jack faced numerous challenges on their journey to parenthood, including health complications and the emotional toll of IVF. With the support of TFP Oxford Fertility, they navigated these hurdles together, ultimately welcoming their daughter Mia into the world.