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Welwyn Garden City mum to have first mothers day after IVF treatment | Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield News – Welwyn Hatfield Times

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PUBLISHED: 17:02 22 March 2020 | UPDATED: 17:02 22 March 2020

Matt Powell

Laura and Matt with their daughter Elle. Picture: Supplied

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A Welwyn Garden City mother has shared her journey IVF treatment to raise awareness of some of the misconceptions that still exist around fertility.

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A WGC mother has shared her journey IVF treatment to raise awareness of some of the misconceptions that still exist around fertility.

It was incredible, almost surreal, suddenly holding her. This is the little family we wanted for so long, said Laura OMalley, who celebrated her first Mothers Day on Sunday.

Baby Elle was born after IVF treatment at Bourn Hall and Laura is sharing her story to raise awareness of some of the misconceptions and to give hope to others struggling to have a baby.

Laura and her husband Matts fertility journey began six years ago after they got married and started trying for a baby. When Laura didnt get pregnant she admits she was surprised. We didnt have a clue that we would have a problem, she says.

When you start looking into it, you appreciate how remarkable it is that anyone gets pregnant. The tiny percentage chance that its going to happen started to become a fixation. Also you realise that the assumption is that infertility is a womans problem. I was looking at what I could change and what to do differently, trying to get fit and lose weight.

The couple would have benefited from expert advice at this stage, which is why Bourn Hall Clinic is hosting a free fertility awareness event at Hatfield House on April 18, 2020 which coincidently is Elles first birthday.

Dr Thanos Papathanasiou, Medical Director at Bourn Hall Clinic, says that 80 per cent of couples will become pregnant within one year of trying so couples who have been trying for longer than this should seek advice.

While there are a number of steps which couples can take to improve their natural fertility this wont work for everyone fertility tests can reveal blocked tubes, endometriosis, issues with sperm count or morphology and other underlying conditions which compromise the chances of natural conception, says Dr Papathanasiou.

When Laura still hadnt got pregnant after a year, she and Matt sought advice from their GP in WGC, and were referred immediately to the hospital for tests the results took them completely by surprise.

At the consultation we were both completely stunned, recalls Laura. We hadnt thought for a moment that there was going to be a problem with Matts sperm. The results were pretty bad, and it came as a shock.

Matt had been a heavy smoker but had given it up some years ago and he had lost a lot of weight. There was nothing more he could do. It was a really tough time for us.

Many people dont realise that 40 per cent of infertility cases are due to male factors, 40 per cent are due to female factors and the remaining 20 per cent are either a combination of both partners factors or are unknown/unexplained.

Laura and Matt were referred for NHS-funded IVF treatment and chose Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridgeshire. Bourn Hall Clinic was the worlds first IVF clinic and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

At Bourn Hall Clinic Laura and Matt were treated using IVF and ICSI stimulating Lauras ovaries with medication so that she would produce many mature eggs at the same time and then injecting selected high quality sperm from Matt directly in to each egg to form an embryo. ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) can help overcome the problem of having only a few good sperm available.

Elle was born following the couples third cycle and this also produced other good quality embryos that have been frozen for future treatment.

Sadly, although the couples first two treatments both resulted in pregnancies, Laura miscarried within a few weeks.

She says that was when she realised how people still consider fertility a womans issue. Everyone was lovely, looking after me but no one asked how Matt was. Matt was devastated too, he had always wanted to be a dad.

Laura thinks that more openness would help men to talk about their feelings and make people more aware of male factor infertility.

The 34-year-old distinctly remembers the overwhelming emotions she felt at holding her daughter for the first time: I was amazed, over the moon; it was incredible.

The family are already looking forward to celebrating Elles first birthday on April 18 and Bourn Hall is also marking the day with a free fertility event at Hatfield House. Visit: http://www.bournhall.co.uk/news-events for more.

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Welwyn Garden City mum to have first mothers day after IVF treatment | Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield News - Welwyn Hatfield Times

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