HomeMerck SeronoContact UsGlossaryReferencesSearchSite Guide
			Concern Treatment Pregnancy Experiences Experiences Anna & Pete (Australia) Peter & Deirdre Hudson (UK) Sam McCuish (UK) Diagnosis Meeting Our Consultant Our Treatment Ups And Downs We Are Expecting A Baby Chantal & Philippe (Switzerland) Myriam (Switzerland) Nikki & Steve (Australia)		Sam McCuish (UK) Chapter Five: We are expecting a baby The next two weeks were long. We were both excited and anxious and tried to remain very positive. Our clinic provides the facility of guided ultrasound during your embryo transfer and this enabled us to see the embryos being replaced into my womb. I felt immediately attached to this tiny part of us. I know that this is not an experience that every woman who is going through fertility treatment of this nature is comfortable with, as if the outcome is negative, they may find it even more difficult to come to terms with. I, however, took the positives from it and sincerely think that it contributed towards my positive frame of mind. We talked about pregnancy, babies, what it would mean, how our lives would change, and we even talked of baby names. We believed we would be parents one day, if not this time then it would happen for us eventually. We discussed doing a pregnancy test before returning to the clinic on our outcome day, and we eventually agreed (barring all superstitions) that we would rather be prepared for the news - particularly if it were to be bad. Our outcome day was 8th August. The day before I was out walking and suddenly had a wave of nausea. I was intending to buy a test anyway and I returned home and decided to do it. I felt a bit guilty that my husband was not home, especially when it was POSITIVE! I couldn’t contain myself. I had to call him and tell him that we were expecting a baby. We were both so happy we couldn’t quite believe it. I did five pregnancy tests in total – just to be sure. All the staff at our clinic were thrilled for us and we can never thank them enough. I had some early bleeding at about six weeks, accompanied with pain. I was devastated, and we thought we had lost our baby. I was scanned (as practice in IVF) at seven weeks and our scan showed two embryo sacks, which probably explained the early nausea. One was slightly smaller than the other and they were not sure that it would continue. We were referred to the twins’ specialist at our maternity hospital and I was told to have plenty of rest. At nine weeks, I had more abdominal discomfort and was admitted to the early pregnancy unit. Our scan now showed one developing healthy baby and the remnants of the other embryo sack. We felt a little sad, and I do sometimes wonder what this baby would have been like. But the news was not unexpected and we were over the moon to see our baby waving at us on the ultrasound scan – it was to be an active one. After an eventful pregnancy from sickness to symphysis pubis dysfunction, we gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl in April 2002. She is the most precious thing in the world to us, and we are so grateful for every day that we spend with her. We have recently had an unsuccessful attempt at IVF with ICSI in July of this year and we are now awaiting the outcome of another cycle. Our second cycle was very different and much more difficult emotionally and physically than before. I believe that no treatment cycle will ever be the same as another. On a positive note, my family are now always aware of what is happening as I am more comfortable discussing it, and they have been much more supportive, particularly my mother an brother. We desperately want to have another baby and a brother or sister for our daughter, but if it is not to be, she will always be much, much more than we had ever dreamed of, and we cherish her for that. (Sam recommends you visit the Cradle (Scotland) site at   www.assistedconception.org/cradle)
			© 2003-2008 Merck Serono S.A. Please read our Legal Statement. US residents should consult the Serono, Inc. fertility website at www.fertilitylifelines.com Last Updated: 5/6/2008