The Flatters Family

Our journey with CARE Fertility London

My husband and I tried for about two years before we went to the doctor who then recommended that she put us forward for IVF after doing a number of tests. We then started on the long journey of an emotional rollercoaster trying to have a baby.

We started our first of four processes in September 2012, through to September 2013. All treatments were through the same clinic and three of them were funded by the NHS. Through these treatments although the nurses were very good not once did a doctor talk to us about what we were doing (beyond the initial clinical review for the first one, which was private) nor did anyone suggest that we have a break between treatments.

I went to see a one of the doctors just before our fourth attempt to see if there was anything that I could do to help us have a successful procedure and I was told no, that was it (I was lucky to get even 5 minutes' consultation with her).

After we had finally had the fourth failure, I was emotionally drained and just did not know where to go from there, and then we heard about Time Lapse Embryo Imaging. My husband and I discussed it and decided to give it a go just so that we could never say to ourselves "what if".

We made our appointment with CARE's IVF Clinic in London, one of the only two clinics that performed this procedure. When I saw the doctor, one of the first things he said to me is that I was to take a three month break, and then proceeded to look at my file and build a procedure that was best to suit me. He also made the suggestion to order blood tests, one of which was the killer cell test which we not informed about by the NHS.

It turned out that I had high killer cells so my last four procedures never had the chance to work it seemed. Now with all the information needed, we proceeded with our final attempt with CAREmaps time-lapse imaging and killer cell treatment as part of the procedure.

Despite all the information given to us at CARE London (which was a lot) the previous failed treatments still left us with the feeling that this last one would also be a failure.

“Freya has filled a hole in me that I never knew existed”

When it came to the transfer we had two embryos to put back and were told that the embryoscope revealed certain embryos that would have failed. So this process allowed the selection of those embryos that exhibited the best chance of a successful pregnancy. At the transfer we were shown images of the two embryos which was a first for us - an incredible experience.

When we returned for the blood test to check if the pregnancy has been initially successful (14th of February as it turned out - Valentines Day!) the previous failures still affected us to the extent that we did not think this time it would succeed. The shock of being told that the test was positive was so much that I even asked if they were sure.