Mitchell born on Sunday 5th October 2003 at 13:24 weighing 6lb 12 oz (4wks early)
My Story……
Hi, My name is Rachel I am 27 years old and have been married to my wonderful hubby Jason (30) for 3 ½ years…..here's our story :
I met Jason in 1996….fell in love instantly and knew that we would always be together. We both made it very clear from the start that we wanted children…Jason had lots of niece’s and nephews and we both loved spending time with them, we just took it for granted that soon we would have a baby of our own (maybe even two)!!
I had already stopped taking the pill before I met Jason and at first we used contraception. We decided to just let things “happen” after about a year and so we stopped using any contraceptives. Months went by and people just said."you are trying too hard…...you just need to relax”. One month my period was late.I did a test which was a low positive …..but a week later started to bleed. I went to the early pregnancy unit at our hospital and they took some blood tests and confirmed that I had had an early miscarriage….we were both devastated, angry and I felt in some way responsible…..
Colleagues and friends told me that there was probably something severely wrong with the baby and that is why we miscarried..I knew that but it still hurt..it was our baby and we felt such a great sense of loss.
More months went by and we decided to go and see our GP for some advice…
We were both getting a bit worried..but I really don’t think that either of us thought that anything could be wrong……
I was referred to the hospital for investigations..blood tests to check I was ovulating and my hormone levels were ok (all of which were ok). I was then given a dye injection into my fallopian tubes under x-ray so that they could check if my tubes were blocked..the dye went through ok but just to be sure I was referred for a laparoscopy (the waiting list for this was almost a year). In the meantime we just kept trying,….in the hope of a miracle…….
We got married on 7th August 1999..one of the best days of my life!! For one day it seemed that we could forget about the heartache of longing for our child….. My September period was late..we daren’t get our hopes up too high but finally plucked up the courage to do a test…to our delight it was positive!! Unfortunately a couple of weeks later I started to bleed, I took straight to my bed hoping that it would subside…but it didn’t. Jason took me to the hospital and the dr’s were worried I had an ectopic pregnancy. They sent me up to the early pregnancy unit for a scan and blood tests…my fallopian tubes were clear..but they couldn’t see a heartbeat. They took some bloods to check my HCG levels and asked me to ring them the next day for the results……..
The following day I rang the ward and spoke to a nurse..she said (very matter of factly)”yes it looks like you have miscarried..you’ll probably bleed for 3 weeks or so” and then put the phone down. Maybe I was more emotional than usual but her tone really upset me..what happened to caring????
My appointment came through to have the laparoscopy at my local hospital. They found that I had a blocked left tube but my right one was ok……I was surpsised to hear this as the initial dye test I had done showed that the dye went through both tubes ok.
Jason also had semen analysis performed which unfortunately showed that he had a low sperm count and also some “abnormal” sperm..we were devastated, but vowed not to give in!
We were referred to St James ACU in Leeds in August 2001. At our initaial consultation we were advised that ICSI (where they inject a sperm directly into the egg) would be our best chance of achieving our dream baby….
I was very lucky to find the bulletin board just as my treatment was starting..and that is where I found all the information and support I needed. I “met” lots of other ladies who, sadly, were in the same position as us, I also met my two very special friends Lillianna and Ceri…who I will always share a bond with and helped me through my darkest moments……..
My first cycle was in January 2002…we had two good quality embryos replaced and we were both so excited..i mean how could it not work?? Oh how little we knew…It was a huge shock and totally soul destroying when I started to bleed 3 days before my test date.
We had a little break and then returned for another cycle……this time when it came to my down regulation scan we found that my lining was still thick and I hadn’t responded to the down regulation drug. I was told to continue down regulating and went back every couple of weeks for scans….in the end I produced a follicle so my cycle was cancelled…..again we were devastated. It felt like I couldn’t even get this bit right…..
For our next cycle in August I was given a different down regulation drug..a single injection (bliss) which lasted for the full cycle. I down regulated without any problems this time….. This time our embryo grading was not as good so our clinic agreed for us to have three embryos replaced… again I started spotting early and then went on to get my period a few days before my test date. This cycle hit me really bad as I had slight ohss so I thought that maybe I could be pregnant. We both started to wonder if it would ever work……although neither of us were ready to give up….
We decided to have another break over Christmas and started our third cycle in January 2003. I started having acupuncture at the same time and found it helped me to relax more. This cycle I was far more at ease than on my previous cycles.. We had three good quality embryos replaced (all grade ones) and I just carried on as normal after embryo transfer..within reason. I started to feel “different” on this cycle..dizzy spells, cramping type pains and was tired. I tried not to think about it too much and as we got closer to test date..with no bleeding…started to think “maybe”.
We did a hpt two days before our “official” clinic test and it was negative..i was heartbroken. The next morning I decided to use the other test,..anc couldn’t believe my eyes when it showed positive!! The wait until our first scan (at 7 weeks) was horrendous and I kept imagining all sorts of scenarios. We saw our precious tiny baby with a little heart beat and we were amazed, overjoyed and totally in awe of this little person that had fought so hard to stick around!! :
I have since had two more scans one at 10 weeks and one at 12 weeks and each time our baby has grown so much!! I am now 18 weeks and 2 days pregnant and finally starting to relax (just a little)
The only advice I can give you all is never to give up hope…I know that lots of my buddies have been through much more than me and I feel totally blessed.
Wishing you all the luck in the world
Hope
xxx
update.....our beautiful baby boy Mitchell James arrived (4 weeks early) on 5th October 2003:jump: Weighing 6lb 12 oz
Parenthood is everything i dreamt it would be....and more. He makes our lives complete