The Mens Fertility Forum - Mensfe

Discussion Groups => News Flash => Topic started by: mensfe_admin on 2008-11-17 13:06

Title: News - A Christmas Special - Dec. 08-
Post by: mensfe_admin on 2008-11-17 13:06
" Its my first celebration with the baby I thought I'd never have".

"When I got married at the age of 40, I assumed, naively perhaps, that I'd get pregnant. But after a year of not conceiving we were referred for tests. I was put on drugs to increase my egg production but nothing happened.
Special occations like Christmas were particularly hard. Colleagues talked about the look on their childrens faces as they opened their presents. Inside, I'd think - "Maybe next year we'll have a baby to celebrate with too".
So at the age of 43 I embarked on the first of two courses of IVF, both of which failed. We were becoming more and more distraught - everywhere I went I seemed ti run into pregnant women or babies.
Then in 2003 I stopped producing eggs. We knew then that the only way we could have a child was through egg donation. It did'nt bother me that the baby would'nt be biologically mine - I knew we'd love that child so much it wold'nt matter.
We were accepted by a clinic but the waiting list for donors was three years. We could'nt waite that long, so we advertised for donors ourselves by putting postcards in the locasl newsagents windows and supermarkets. Eventually the clinic told us they a donor had been found and I took hormones to prepare my body. But just when it seemed that everything was finally working out for us, the clinic rang to say the donor had dropped out. It felt like as if our dream of a child was slipping further and further away from us.
Then last year, while I was in London waiting on a tube platform, I was struck by the posters on the wall opposite. I suddenly thought:
"Thats what I need- something that hundreds of women will see". When I got home I contacted the company responsible for the sdverts. They told me a Tube poster would cost £100-000 but suggested putting smaller posters inside 50 London buses, which was around £2000 a month. We decided to go for it.
I wrote the advert, which appeared alongside a photo of us on our wedding day. It read:

"Please can you help us have a baby? We'll never be a Mummy and Daddy unless a wonderful women can help us by donating some of her eggs. You are our only chance of happiness"

More than 100 women responded. The clinic screened the candidates for us, then rang and said one women had fullfilled the criteria. We were ecstatic, but tried not to let ourselves get to excited. Then in September last year, our donor's eggs harvested and Richard provided the sterm sample. Four embryos were fertilised and I had two implanted into my womb, while the other two were frozen.

The day that the clinic called and said, "Congratulations you are pregnant"
I felt as if I was in a dream. But our daughter Katy was born on 3rd June this year. We kept staring at her, hardly believing that she was ours. A few months on, she's the happiest baby you could imagine.

This Christmas will be different for us from previous ones we've had - I can't wait to see Katy's face light up at her presents and watch her being cuddled by all our friends and familie.
The woman who helped us is the most generous person in the world, and on Christmas Day I'll be silently thanking her for her precious gift.........   

Good Housekeeping - December 08