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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on December 02, 2008, 08:24:19 AM
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A kidney transplant, £40,000 on IVF, two surrogate mothers and three miscarriages... then couple finally conceive naturally
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:24 PM on 02nd December 2008
A couple who spent £40,000 on failed fertility treatment and endured the nightmare of three miscarriages in seven years are cuddling their little Christmas angel today - after she was born naturally.
Claire and Mark Davies tried three times without success for a baby, paying for the spiralling cost of three IVF treatment cycles on their credit card, before going on to try for a surrogate baby with two different mothers.
But financial woes are the last thing on their mind today as they proudly gaze down at baby daughter Francesca Patience, who amazed everyone by being conceived naturally.
She was born in July and now the family are preparing for her first Christmas at their home in Wheatley, Oxon.
"This Christmas will be absolutely magical. We have the baby we always longed for" said Claire, a former primary school teacher.
Doctors told the couple, who are both 38, that their chances of conceiving naturally were slim.
Claire was diagnosed with kidney disease as a teenager and during her first job as a teacher at Rose Hill First School in Oxfordshire she found out her kidneys were dying.
After four years of dialysis, her mum, Carole Newman, 63, volunteered to be a living donor.
On April 19, 1998, the transplant took place. But even though Claire's life was transformed by the surgery, her heartache was not over. Doctors revealed years of disease had made it unlikely she would conceive.
IVF was suggested and they underwent their first costly cycle of treatment in May 2003. Mark said "To be told it hadn't worked was totally crushing."
After two further unsuccessful courses of IVF, the couple registered with a surrogacy agency and used embryos left over from their failed IVF attempts.
They met their first surrogate mother through the organisation Surrogacy UK and the embryos were planted in April 2005. But the first attempt was unsuccessful.
Then Claire's sister Lucy volunteered to be a surrogate and was implanted with embryos three times.
Claire said "On two occasions she became pregnant. But Lucy miscarried at six and seven weeks." Devastated and exhausted, Claire and Mark attended an adoption course in October 2007 and booked a holiday.
It was then that their patience finally paid off and Francesca Patience was conceived. Claire said "I'd noticed my period was two days late, but by then we'd given up on conceiving naturally. "I did a test and got in the shower.
Then Mark came in and said it was positive. We just couldn't believe it.
And despite the £40,000 debt the couple have incurred on their credit card, the two remain sanguine.
"The debt's not important now. Only our little girl matters."
The couple will be spending Christmas morning at home, unwrapping their daughter's first Christmas gifts before getting together with family.
Claire said "I'm so thankful to my mum. She's given me two lives - my own, when she gave me her kidney, and the health I needed to have Patience.
"This Christmas will be extra wonderful for us all.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1091214/A-kidney-transplant--40-000-IVF-surrogate-mothers-miscarriages--couple-finally-conceive-naturally.html
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My sister offered very kindly to be a surrogate for my husband and my lab-fertlized egg but while doing our research we could never be assured of the effect of fertility drugs on my body which was already dealing with the heavy immunnosuppressive transplant drugs. Even more importantly, no one could reassure us that the baby would suffer no consequences. I was one of the first patients (other than those that had it in randomized trials) to take Cyclosporine and there were too many unanswered questions for my comfort.
Being childless is yet another adaptation we had to make, another thing to be accepted. It led me to work with troubled youth for many years and to cherish other people's children who are often loaned to us.
Very few of my plans for my life have worked out as planned and yet I've had such an interesting and satisfying life.