IVF client story

A client story – pregnant after failed cycles elsewhere…

Some of our client’s stories can be heartbreaking, and it means so much to us when we can help them become pregnant after many failed cycles. Here we share one of our client’s journeys…

4 years, 14 miscarriages, 3 rounds of IVF

“I’m a mum to 6 month old twins. After 4 years of trying and an agonising 14 miscarriages, I can finally say those words that I started to fear I may never have the privilege of saying: “I’m a mum.” Three simple words but life-changing to me. Becoming pregnant after failed cycles elsewhere is down to the Zita West clinic. My partner and I started trying when I was 35, so pretty late by fertility standards. I was fairly blasé when we had our first three miscarriages, each two months apart, pleased that at least I could get pregnant. But that early optimism was misplaced and soon the notion of a successful pregnancy became an ever more distant dream. And over the years the worst happened, we began to lose hope. Hope was the sustenance that had kept us going and with an ever-diminishing amount of that, we were beginning to despair. All women who have gone on this journey will know all too well the physical, mental and emotional toll it can have on us and our partner too but the loss of hope is a bit of a game changer. We underwent two rounds of IVF at another London fertility clinic, both times we saw a heartbeat, both times we lost the pregnancy.

Dream team

The team at Zita West, George Ndukwe in particular, gave us back our hope but most importantly gave us our babies too. For that I will be eternally grateful. George is kind, gentle and knowledgeable but he really listens and he hears you. His attentiveness meant that we had a successful live pregnancy with twins. He understood what I needed medically and emotionally and, in addition to a fairly comprehensive medical load, George worked flexibly to offer new medication and explore alternative avenues. As our previous fertility clinic kept us on a standard protocol, this approach from George again provided hope as it wasn’t just the same old, same old. Importantly, this gave us a timely lift when we were running low on stamina and resilience.

Holistic approach

In addition, I had a session with a nutritionist and had acupuncture from Zita and her team, the overall sense being that of a family taking a holistic approach at looking after every aspect of your health and well-being and I really did feel looked after and nurtured. Psychologically this approach really worked for me, as it was comforting and I felt safe. Every time I went to the ZW clinic, from the receptionists to the medical team, I felt welcomed and cared for, people always knew my name and knew what stage of treatment I was at and asked me about it and how I was doing. When it came to the egg collection, this took place a few streets away with Care London. My previous experience of egg collection was three silent men down at the business end waiting for the embryos to be brought in, my partner clutching my hand, me in stirrups sweating lots. At Care, there was more the atmosphere of a spa day, interestingly all women, but chatting about my nail varnish colour, flitting around and enjoying their job it seemed, they put me right at ease. Honestly, it was fun. One nurse called Sarah was so emotional when she rang to tell me the good news about my positive pregnancy test that I felt like I was on the phone to my sister, because she sounded like she was so emotionally invested in it all. Probably she was. I’ve shed a few tears writing this, remembering the tough bits, but I can honestly say that I really wouldn’t change a moment of it. And I do absolutely credit the team at Zita West for getting us here, the four of us. Again, for that I’ll be eternally grateful.”