We spoke to Sarah* about her experience of IVF.  

I only met my husband now husband when I was 37. I’ve always had PCOS, so I knew that there was a chance we would struggle to conceive. We had to have the conversation about wanting to have kids really early on, and we both did.

We got married and then started trying quite soon after that. I knew I’d be 40 soon which would make us ineligible for NHS fertility treatments, should we need them. And because of the PCOS, it was always in the back of my mind that we might need some help.

We tried Clomid, which is an ovulation stimulator, which I thought was all I would need. But we were trying for a year, and it just wasn’t happening.

Some of our really good friends got married about the same time as us, and when they got pregnant and I did feel a bit of frustration. She didn’t have periods and then just found out she was pregnant miraculously. That kind of stuff is difficult.

We were trying really hard, we had two very early miscarriages, and at certain points there’s a fear that you’re just not going to get there.

We got an appointment at the fertility clinic and found out that my husband has quite poor sperm parameters. On top of that, I found out that I’ve got adenomyosis in addition to PCOS and I had to have a hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue from my womb.

I have certainly said at times in my life that I didn’t think I’d ever have IVF. I used to say that if I couldn’t have children naturally, I would adopt and I’d be happy with that. I was fearful of having IVF because I have seen so many people struggle with it.

But when I then met my husband and he was really sure that he wanted to have his own children, and I actually felt happy to go down this road.

We’ve been very lucky; we’ve had an ideal scenario in many ways. 


When they did the egg collection they got plenty of eggs because of my PCOS. You always think PCOS is this massive disadvantage when, in reality, if you do need fertility treatment, you’ve often got more eggs available than other people.

While on the egg collection medication I did develop Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). I was very bloated but luckily, I didn’t feel really poorly.

The hardest thing is all of the logistics you have to think about. You have to get it right 100% of the time and not miss anything. I’ve got 12 reminders on my phone every day; progesterone, pessary, tablets, oestrogen patches. There’s not any point in the day where I’m not having to think about it. 

It’s also been really difficult to get hold of the team at times. There’s been three times when I’ve had to just go into the clinic and sit there and say that I need to speak to a nurse because we’ve not been able to hold of anybody.

But after three transfers, we found out last week that I’m pregnant.

And it’s so difficult for me to believe, I must have done about 15 tests. There’s just this feeling that it’s going to be taken away from us. But it’s also the most amazing news. If I could say anything to myself at the start of this journey I would just say “You can do this”.