Help to achieve IVF miracle





Thankyou for taking the time to read our story.
We are looking to the kindness of strangers to help us make our dream a reality, we will continue so save up as much as we can, we have already taken out a loan, credit cards and remortgaged our house, as well as help from my parents.  
Lee and I started trying for a baby in 2011. After 1 year of trying and nothing happening we went to speak to the doctor due to my medical condition of Fibromyalgia. Simple tests were carried out which were all normal, then following protocol we were advised to return if still nothing had happened after another year.
During the next year we continued waiting every month to see if our dream had come true, facing disappointment each month. So we returned to our GP, more tests were carried out, including a HyCoSy tubal and sperm analysis. The only thing noted was I have a very low AMH level - meaning I don't produce many eggs or good quality eggs.  
We were referred to a consultant who agreed we could have IVF treatment, due to where we live we were only eligible for 1 cycle of NHS IVF, if we lived 10 minutes away we would get 2 NHS cycles, or 3 if we lived 20 minutes away - the great postcode lottery!

Our first round in 2015, they found at the egg retrieval stage I had been over stimulated, so only 2 eggs were collected. Only 1 egg made it to day 3 so this was transferred, this resulted in a negative result. No embryos suitable for freezing.

Our second round in February 2016 , 2  day 3 embryos were transferred, this was a negative result. No embryos suitable for freezing.  After transfer I had pain in my chest and pelvic area, scans showed I had developed fluid on my lung and pelvic area, and was put on the blood thinner Fragmin to help with symptoms. After this cycle it was noted that I had small cyst on my left ovary, and the eggs were dark with dark cytoplasm.

Our third round in June 2016, 1 day 5 blastocyst was transferred. This cycle was done on a long protocol, to give more stimulation and down regulation so my hormones were controlled solely by the drugs. This again was a negative result. No embryos suitable for freezing.
Again the eggs were dark in colour. At this point is was suggested that due to the poor quality of my eggs, we should look at using an egg donor. Obviously this was very hard to hear, and took us a long time to get our head around.  We spent a long time looking into different clinics, our clinic in Hull had a 2 year wait for donor eggs, at that point we were both 31 and didn't want to wait that long. 
Eventually we had a consultation with a clinic in Sheffield, who promised us the earth even with my eggs, we spent £3300 having further tests, sperm comet test, chromosome testing, Karyotype testing. They told us if we used Quad therapy (using steriods, anti-coagulants and IV infusions) our chance of conceiving  with my eggs would be the same as any couple our age. So feeling elated we paid for a 2 cycle programme using Access Fertility. We were declined the refund programme due to 3 failed fresh cycles.

So we began our 4th cycle with Sheffield in June 2017, we travelled from Hull alternate days for scans, had the egg retrieval done under local anaesthetic which was very painful. We had 1 day 5 blastocyst transferred, negative result. No embryos suitable for freezing.
We had the follow up with a different consultant, she disagreed with pretty much everything the first consultant had said. The IV infusions had no clinical evidence, so there was no need to have these with the next cycle.  The reason the treatment hadn't worked was down to my eggs. As we had paid via access fertility, we couldn't add in using an egg donor, but we could a sperm donor, she suggested using half the eggs recovered with donor sperm and the other half with Lee's sperm. We agreed to do this to rule it out, so we paid another £1300.

Our 5th cycle in November 2017, we travelled to Sheffield again for the scans, but went to the Nottingham branch for egg retrieval and transfer so it could be done with IV sedation. 8 eggs were recovered, only 1 egg from the donor split fertilised, and Lee's were all better quality, so 2 day 5 embryos were transferred. This was a negative result, still no embryos suitable for freezing.

So now we had to face that for me to have the chance of carrying our baby, we needed to look at using an egg donor. We spent hours researching loads of clinics, finally deciding on 2. One was a clinic in Greece, the other in Manchester. The clinic from Greece were holding an outreach clinic in London, so we emailed all of our details and copy of medical records before the appointment so they had chance to read through them. We paid 100 euros in advance.
In January this year we went on the 4 hour journey in heavy snow to London, to be told they would want to do a cycle with my eggs, and would have to redo all the tests we had spent thousands having. They spent all of 10 minutes talking to us, one of them arriving in the room late telling us she had been playing with some twins, not what you need to hear under the circumstances. 
Needless to say we left feeling extremely deflated.
We contacted Manchester and attended a consultation with them, as soon as we arrived we felt happy, the consultant was lovely. Due to the distance we travelled, we had a scan, spoke to the counsellor, saw the patient advisor and consultant that day. The consultant was happy for us to go ahead with donor egg treatment, using part of the Quad therapy. We decided to do a frozen donor cycle as we felt this was less complicated. We were matched with a donor straight away.

Our 6th cycle in May  2018, we had 1 day 5 blastocyst transferred, and 2 suitable to refreeze. This was  negative result. 
After everything we had been through we decided the next cycle would be our last, and we would look at the next step for us.

Our 7th cycle in August 2018, we transferred both day 5 embryos. On 24th August we finally got the positive result we had been wishing for all these years. I phoned the clinic and they booked a scan appointment for 13th September. I had some light bleeding, so I kept doing tests which always showed positive, the clinic reassured me and told me to take it easy - easier said then done when you've waited so long.
We went for our scan, sadly it showed the pregnancy sack was still there but it was empty, the sack was giving off all the normal pregnancy symptoms. It was impossible to tell if it had been an early miscarriage, or if the embryo had failed to develop in the sack. 
We spent the following morning back at Hull Royal, having further scans, booked in for 2 weeks. We returned to be rescanned for the sack to be the same. So this week I was admitted, and under a general anaesthetic the sack was removed and I was given a once over.

Our 8th cycle in February  2019, we had 2 day 5 embryos transferred. With no embryos suitable for freezing. I had a lot of pain on my left side, so the day before we were due to test  I rang the clinic again and they wanted me to do a home pregnancy test which was inconclusive, So we had to do an emergency trip to Manchester for a blood test. The results the following day showed my HcG level was high - I was pregnant, but needed to have the blood test repeated on the Sunday. We returned to the following morning at 9.30am for the blood test, unfortunately my HcG level had dropped too much, I was no longer pregnant. This is known as a biochemical pregnancy  

Because our last 2 cycles got one step further, we now feel we are not ready to give up, what happens if next time we do get even one stage further? We wont know if we don't try. Miracles do happen, we are hoping next time we will have ours. We have being through so much mentally and physically.
We are both 34 now so would love to start treatment as soon as possible. Any donations will mean so much to us, our nursey has been ready since we moved into our house in 2014. We just need our little precious bundle to fill the void in our lives. 
We met with our consultant on the 18th March, he see's no reason why we shouldn't go on to have a full term pregnancy. This time we would like to try with donor eggs on a fresh cycle as this is an option we have not tried yet, mainly due to the cost.
Thankyou so much for reading our journey.

Emily & Lee