Real life stories of infertility and IVF – Liz’s Story

My fertility journey started like many others…unexpectedly. Like thousands of other women, I assumed pregnancy would happen, having done everything I could do to prevent it during my twenties.

In 2014 (4 months before my wedding day) I found out that I was pregnant for the first time. A total surprise! It was not what I was expecting. I felt dizzy, crampy and had spotting that came and went, but hoping it would pass, I focused on the positives. I was so excited and in typical ‘me’ fashion, I started to plan everything. Sadly, 2 weeks later, I found myself in A&E and it turned out to be a self-resolving ectopic pregnancy. Gutted didn’t cut it. I was in shock, with a whirlwind of emotions.

As the weeks went by (and our wedding day got closer) I found comfort in the fact that I had conceived at all and that I had conceived so incredibly quickly. Surely this was a good sign? So, yet again, I focussed on the positives and got on with 2015. It took us another year to fall pregnant with our son, which at the time felt like flipping ages - little did I know! When he arrived in 2016, I’d never felt love like it. Our little rainbow baby was here and he was perfect.

Life bumbled along quite nicely for a little while. I went back to work in 2017 and we started to think a 2-year gap would be nice between our two children. So, Christmas 2017, we began trying for a second child. At first, I was really relaxed about it. I knew it wouldn’t happen straight away, but as each month went by, I found project Baby Number 2 all consuming. Ovulation sticks, herbs, Chinese teas, acupuncture - you name it I tried it. If someone said “This is good for fertility,” I did it in abundance. It started to take over my life. I began feeling so jealous of other people announcing their pregnancies and how easy it was for them and then, simultaneously, feeling overwhelming guilt, because I had a child already.

I was so excited in January 2019 to find out I was pregnant again. Finally! We could plan Baby Number 2 into our lives, the relief! Unfortunately, I started to feel unwell, with quite sharp pain in my right side and after being referred by the GP, another ectopic was diagnosed, but this one wasn’t budging. I had two attempts at a medicalised abortion and weeks of waiting and watching HCG levels, which finally resulted in having my fallopian tube (and our little stuck embryo) removed, on our wedding anniversary.

Back to square one and only one fallopian tube left. As you can imagine, once the stitches healed and the methotrexate was out of my system, I was eager to get the show on the road. With one tube down, we were going to have to double our efforts. Dr Google became my new best friend. Did...