‘Like every couple, we just assumed it would happen right away.’
Alice’s story might ring true for many couples who now find themselves looking at their fertility treatment options. We sat down with Alice and discussed her complete journey to motherhood, why she chose the Harley Street family, and what she learnt along the way.
When she and her husband decided it was time to start growing their family, like many couples, they assumed this was something that would happen quite easily.
However, when Alice didn’t fall pregnant within the first 6 months of trying, they decided to contact us at the Harley Street Fertility Clinic for a check-up. And this is where their story begins…
Finding the HSFC family
Alice explained that she and her husband found us online via our “informative” website, and after coming to see us for her initial tests, we found that Alice’s results came back as normal apart from an underactive thyroid, low BMI and mild PCOS. Although, our doctors reassured her that these weren’t factors what would stop them from conceiving.
Once the couple hit the 1-year mark and had still not been successful however, they chose to seek additional treatment as soon as they could. Alice knew right away that our clinic was where she wanted to be, thanks to our attentive team and thorough examinations.
‘We were already so comfortable with staff at HSFC that we knew we wanted to stay for treatment. It is such an emotionally difficult process, you have to be comfortable with the people around you.’
After two unsuccessful rounds of IUI, the decision was made to move on to IVF treatment…
Their IVF journey
After a long wait, thanks to COVID lockdowns and restrictions, HSFC reopened and Alice and her husband were ready to start their IVF journey with us.
They had already decided that they were going to use ICSI as well as PGT, to ensure the quality of the embryos that were collected by Dr Verstraete, an experienced Belgian Obstetrician-Gynaecologist with more than 20 years of international experience.
Unfortunately, after egg collection, Alice contracted COVID-19 which meant that she wasn’t able to complete a fresh transfer. This was incredibly distressing for the couple to come to terms with at the time and is somewhat reflective of what many couples have had to experience when going through IVF treatment during the pandemic.
'My recovery was difficult, but Dr Verstraete’s aftercare was excellent, she called to check on me every day.'
When the time came, Alice was finally able to transfer one of her own frozen embryos and to everyone’s delight, it worked, they were pregnant!
The couple even have some PGT-tested embryos in our freezer to hopefully use again one day to further grow their new family.
A final message
‘Be proactive. Be positive’
‘The main thing I would want to say to other couples is that if your first time fails, somewhere like HSFC will take the time to make sure they approach your treatment differently next time. They will keep going.’
‘When we first approached HSFC we weren’t looking for treatment, we only wanted a fertility check-up. We were so comfortable with HSFC. Even if there might be other fertility clinics whose success rates are good on paper, this doesn’t mean anything. We liked everyone, the team, for us it was the best choice to choose HSFC.’
We would like to thank Alice and her husband for becoming part of the HSFC family, and for taking the time to share their story. We wish this family all the best for the future.
Contact Us
If you have been touched by Alice’s story and would like to know more about our couple’s fertility check-ups to kick start your journey to parenthood, then please don’t hesitate to contact us, we’re only a phone call away.
