Mum of 2 Kate Able-Green has written this post about her experience of IVF treatment for us to share with the BornFree Mum & Dad community.

How many people do you know that have had IVF? These days, it seems we all know somebody who has had to go through treatment for one reason or another. I’m one of those people.

We were very lucky conceiving our daughter, she was classed as a “honeymoon baby” married in December, pregnant in February. ‘This is easy’ I thought, ‘I can be someone who times when I want a baby, and hey presto!’

Er, no! In short, it took us six and a half years to have another baby, and in that time we went through two courses of IVF with ICSI.

Sadly, both courses of IVF failed for us, the first had to be abandoned because I didn’t get enough follicles that held the eggs, so I endured a month of drugs for nothing, the second failed because, well nobody knows why. They implanted two perfect grade A embryos and I did everything I was “meant” to do. I’m now a mummy to two beautiful children; our son, who came along when he wanted to, was a complete and utter surprise, especially after being told by numerous doctors that “it just won’t happen naturally”

IVF is awful. There are no two ways about it. The drugs you put in your body are evil! There’s down regulating that shuts the body down, and there are stimming drugs that wake everything up and try to create as many eggs as possible. In between that, there are tears, anger, mood swings, severe bloating, and countless trips to the hospital for scans, blood tests, and checks. Nothing about it is easy. When you add in that there seem to be people around you falling pregnant just by looking at their partner, you find yourself turning into somebody you just don’t recognise. A bit like the incredible hulk, you wouldn’t like me when I’m doing IVF!

Of course when it works, it’s worth it and then some, a gorgeous baby to hold and say “we made you”. You know you would go through it a million times to get that feeling. When it doesn’t work, it’s heartbreaking. Probably one of the hardest things we’ve ever gone through.  We saw the 2 embryo’s being implanted, I was pregnant with them for two long weeks, in a way it’s like losing a baby, and we’ve been through that too.

IVF gets thrown around in the news a lot: should we be entitled to free treatment? Should older mums just go straight to IVF to “save time”? The way people talk about it makes me wonder if any of them have ever been through it! IVF is not the easy way. It’s like a trip to hell and back and nobody can guarantee you’ll end up with a baby at the end of it! For some people though, it is the only way and if you want a baby that much, you will do anything. Absolutely anything. x

You can read more from Kate on her blog What Katie’s Kids Did Next . If you gone through IVF or would like to comment on any of the experiences that Kate has written about we’d love to hear from you. We’ll be sending a Twist N’Pop to one person who leaves a comment by selecting a name via random.org on Fri 1st Oct.

One last thing, Kate found the following website very helpful and supportive when she was going through her treatment:

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/

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