“...one of the ladies who shared my eggs has had twins, so their dream has come true too, and I'm so happy for them...”
I fell pregnant with our first child, Abbie, without any problem so couldn't understand what was wrong when we started trying again in 2004 and nothing happened.
I went to see my GP and had routine blood tests before being transferred to our local hospital for further investigations. They told us that we needed ICSI, and because we already had a child we were not eligible for NHS funding so had to pay privately.
We went to Liverpool Womens Hospital and had our first cycle in May 2006. Two cycles and £8,000 later, I still wasn't pregnant, and we'd had to increase our mortgage to fund the treatment.
We decided to look in to egg sharing at CARE Manchester, which reduced the cost of our ICSI cycle from £4,000 to £1,500. We then went on to have three more attempts - which all failed! Still hopeful, and determined to try and stay positive, we decided to have one final attempt - I had always planned a big family and desperately wanted a brother or sister for Abbie. A lot of people couldn't understand our desperation, they'd say to us 'At least you've got one child - some people don't have any', but even though we loved Abbie to bits, she is not a consolation prize and it didn't stop us wanting another child.
We decided to go through one more cycle at the end of 2008 and it was successful! The icing on the cake is that one of the ladies who shared my eggs has had twins, so their dream has come true too, and I'm so happy for them.