Our Journey to Baby Burnett
Our Journey to Baby Burnett By Tara Burnett
In 2012, I met my now husband. I feel like it’s very cliche, but I think I knew this would be the man I would marry, and things progressed quite quickly.
We talked about our future and having children together quite early on it just felt so right. In 2014 we put an offer in on our house and in early 2015 we had moved in. We had already chosen which room would be the nursery.
We decided to stop all contraception and just “see what happened” but unfortunately every month we left disappointed. I remember tracking cycles within an inch of their life and getting so excited each month to be left broken hearted.
A key moment I will always remember is February 2017, we had been trying for 2 years at this point and our friends were starting to fall pregnant, but we were still left waiting.
I had it in my head that you needed to wait at least 3 years before going to the GP which I have since found out is an old wives’ tale and after 1 year you are entitled to help. However, our situation was slightly different. I had a daughter in 2011 from a previous relationship so I just thought it will happen. I had heard of infertility but never secondary.
It wasn’t until the end of 2019 after we were married, I decided to speak to the GP. I had some blood tests, and my husband had a sperm analysis, and everything came back normal. In early 2020 I was referred to a gynecologist and in October 2020 I was seen face to face for a scan.
I had to attend this appointment alone due to Covid restrictions and it was here I was told I had a bicornuate uterus and this could be a reason we are unable to conceive. I was advised I needed surgery and was put onto a waiting list.
On 24th December 2020 I had the reconstruction surgery along with ovarian drilling to see if this would help. I was told to wait three months and if I had not had any success then I would need to go through IVF. However due to having a child already I would need to go privately.
In March 2021 we decided to try IUI with our local fertility clinic unfortunately this ended in another negative and left us completely heartbroken. We sat with our consultant and decided to move on to IVF. In June 2021 we started the IVF process.
I had a successful egg retrieval and managed to collect 18 eggs which resulted in 9 highly graded embryos. We were over the moon.
Our first transfer was in August 2021 and sadly this was unsuccessful. In October 2021 we started another transfer cycle, but this was cancelled due to my thyroid levels not being in the right ranges. It really knocked us back and I think that’s the moment we realized this wasn’t going to be so straight forward.
However, in November 2021 we tried again and this time we saw those two pink lines for the very first time. We were pregnant. A little bit of me and a little bit of him, it was like a miracle. At Christmas we were 7 weeks pregnant, we had our first scan on Christmas Eve and saw the most perfect heartbeat! We decided we were going to tell our families on Christmas Day, they were completely over the moon there were so many tears of happiness it really was a Christmas miracle. Sadly, on the 30th of December 2021, we had a miscarriage. All we were left with was a scan photo and broken hearts. It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever gone through.
In March 2022 we felt like we were ready to try again and on Mother’s Day I had another positive test. It was like all the pain was taken away and we had been given a little slice of happiness. We were so scared of what was to come though, we had lots of scans, but everything was perfect. On the 19th of April we were finally discharged from our fertility clinic, with a letter to take to our GP. It was like magic. We skipped out the clinic at 9:30am with our hearts full of love, but by 12:30pm the bleeding had started, and I just knew it was happening again. In the 20th of April it was confirmed the babies heart had stopped beating. I had to go into hospital and have surgical management as baby was not passing naturally, and on 26th April our baby was delivered at the hospital.
I felt so broken, but I knew that I just wanted a baby more than anything and couldn’t stop trying. So, in August 2022 we started another cycle. This really felt like make or break this time. Our cycle was successful, and we are now currently pregnant with our double rainbow baby girl who is due Spring 2023🌈💖🥰
This pregnancy has been anything but easy. The worry and anxiety that comes with pregnancy after loss of something I don’t think you can understand unless you are going through it. We had a lot of bleeding in the first trimester, and I have been seen by a consultant from 5 weeks. The first 13 weeks I had trips to the hospital weekly and each time the doctors were just as surprised as we were that baby was ok. The bleeding was heavy, bright red and everything you are told it should not be in pregnancy, but it can happen.
We will forever be eternally grateful for the incredible doctors, nurses and midwives who have looked after us during this journey and here’s to 2023 being our year!
To anyone who is struggling please never give up hope, hope was the one thing we held onto, and I really hope the light at the end of the tunnel is just around the corner! ♥️