I had always wanted to be a mother but I didn’t meet my partner Kirsty until I was 36, and it wasn’t until I was 38 that we had decided to think about starting a family. We agreed that I would carry our child, and we contacted the Harley Street Fertility Clinic to discuss our options. Dr Venkat welcomed us into her clinic but was upfront that it might not be an easy journey, as I had a very low ovarian reserve. Although this was difficult news to come to terms with, Dr Venkat encouraged us to remain positive and we persevered with the treatment.
Sadly we had a number of failed attempts and on the 4th round we decided to seek an altruistic egg donor. Because I am Asian I wanted our child to share my heritage. However it was challenging to find a male Asian sperm donor, and we had to look to America to find the right match . We were so hopeful that everything would work this time, but yet again our dreams of starting a family were dashed.
However by an amazing stroke of luck, Harley Street Fertility Clinic told us that another female donor had available eggs. My partner was out of the country at the time and it was a big decision to go ahead with treatment initially on my own. But we were both so determined to have a shot at starting a family.
Despite the setbacks in this long and sometimes fractious journey, I soon discovered the wonderful news that there was a heartbeat and I went on to have a successful pregnancy. In November 2015 I had a lovely baby boy and we are delighted to have finally become parents.
At every step of the way, the team at HSFC were welcoming, supportive and kind. We especially want to thank Dr Venkat for being so honest, realistic and understanding about our situation. In fact, we hope to return in March to try for a sibling for our baby.
