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'You have to go through a lot with IVF'
It is 30 years since Lousie Brown, the world's first test-tube baby was born. It is estimated that one in six couples will struggle to have a baby. But what can you do if you're are finding it hard to persuade the stork to fly over your house?
It is 30 years since Lousie Brown, the world's first test-tube baby was born. It is estimated that one in six couples will struggle to have a baby. But what can you do if you're are finding it hard to persuade the stork to fly over your house?IVF is no quick or easy way of having a baby – as Mark and Sandy Corcoran know all too well.
The couple, from Lincoln Road, Peterborough, struggled to conceive naturally, and after tests and help from Mr Randall's clinic they decided that IVF gave them their best hope of having a baby.
Their treatment was a rollercoaster ride of mindblowing highs and souldestroying lows: but they got there in the end, and are now the proud parents of gorgeous Archie, who is looking forward to his first birthday party.
Related: Meet Peterborough's fertility pair making little miracles come true, Jemma Walton, 28 July 2008.
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They hadn't gone into IVF lightly. They knew it would involve Sandy having an injection of hormones every day to shut down her reproductive system, and then two injections a day to restart it artificially.
They also knew she would have to go to hospital to have her eggs "harvested" and fertilised in a lab, and then replanted in her. And even then, there were no guarantees of having a baby.
"We paid about 3,000 for the first cycle of IVF, but the cells didn't divide, and there were no eggs to be implanted in Sandy," said Mark.
"We were absolutely devastated – we had expected to turn up at the hospital and go through the operation, but when we got there we were told that there was nothing they could do, and so we had to start it all again."
They decided that they would give IVF three goes, not counting their first attempt, and so they moved on to another cycle, which was this time paid for by the NHS.
After the second round, everything seemed to go well, and when Sandy did a pregnancy test and realised she was pregnant the couple were thrilled, thinking their heartache was over.
But, five weeks later she went for a scan, which showed a blighted ovum – there was an egg sac inside her, but nothing else.
Her body had thought she was pregnant, but she wasn't.
"That was the worst part," she said. "I felt like such a failure. I was envious of other women who had children, and of people we knew who had been successful with IVF. It was the lowest point for me. And I had to go to hospital to have a termination. Can you imagine that? Having to get rid of a baby I couldn't have that I had longed for."
"I just can't describe how I felt," said Mark. "As a man you want to protect your wife and give her everything she wants, but in this situation, you're just helpless, you haven't got any control over what's happening and there's nothing you can do to make it better."
But through all the ups and downs the couple talked about how they felt and what kept their relationship strong, and never gave up hope.
Sandy fell pregnant after the third cycle of IVF, through Care Fertility IVF specialists in Nottingham.
Mr Randall, who works privately as well as through the NHS, worked with them on all three of their attempts.
Her pregnancy was fine, and on August 10 last year, Archie was delivered by Mr Randall.
"Our little Archie was just so perfect," she said, nuzzling his neck and playing with his tiny toes. "He is just so perfect. I just can’t say how much he means to the two of us.”
“We would like to tell any couple in the same position that there is every chance you will have a baby,” said Sandy (38). “Don’t give up hope.
“We had mixed emotions watching Louise Brown talk on TV on her 30th birthday,” said Mark (45). “You have to go through a lot with IVF, it’s not a simple thing by any means, but if it wasn’t for IVF and that young lady we wouldn’t be as happy as we are now.”
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