Woman suffered five miscarriages and endured 10 years of IVF to become a mum
Andraya Chuter and her husband are £8k in debt after paying for endless rounds of IVF
ANDRAYA Chuter, 42, lives in Portsmouth with her husband Paul, 41, a consultant for Ordnance Survey, and their daughter Lauren, three. She says:
"Staring at my gaunt face in the mirror, I looked exhausted.
I’d just taken a pregnancy test for the 11th time and, once again, it had come back negative.
For 10 years, my husband Paul and I had endured endless rounds of IVF and suffered five miscarriages.
We were unhappy and broke – and still childless.
Paul and I met while I was a hostess on a boat in 2000. Within six months we were engaged and, as we both wanted kids, we started trying straight away.
But nothing happened.
At first, we felt nature would take its course because I was only 26, but following 12 months of trying, I cried every time I got my period.
Our GP had said he would refer us for IVF if we still weren’t successful after two years, but we didn’t want to get stuck on an NHS waiting list, so in late 2003 we went to a private clinic for intrauterine insemination (IUI), where doctors put Paul’s prepared sperm straight into my womb.
We were devastated when two attempts failed, but we refused to give up and decided to try IVF instead at another private clinic.
We knew it would be pricey, but as we both had a decent wage – I was a sales rep earning £25,000 – and Paul had just inherited £10,000 from his grandmother, we were lucky to be able to afford it.
Starting treatment in July 2004 was so exciting, even though the hormones left me feeling woozy.
But that was unsuccessful, too, which really knocked us. Over the next year, we had two more rounds of IVF.
When the first of these failed, it floored us even more, so when in late 2005 I found out I was pregnant, we were thrilled.
But it was short-lived, as eight weeks later I miscarried. It was heartbreaking.
Paul and I didn’t give up hope, and over the next six years, I had five more courses of IVF, costing around £4,000 each.
I was pregnant three times, but lost each baby within weeks.
By then we’d run up debts of at least £15,000, but we would have paid anything to have a baby.
Plus, as an amazing act of kindness, friends and family helped out, too – giving us £25,000 in total.
The stress put strain on our relationship and I could see Paul was hurting.
So at the beginning of 2011 we took almost a year off treatment to focus on our marriage.
At the end of the year, we resumed IVF at a different clinic, where we got the news that my blood cells reacted to any foetus as if it was an infection and would try to get rid of it.
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It was awful to hear, but it was a relief to have a reason and I was given medication to counteract it.
In December, we had another failed cycle of IVF.
By then we were heavily in debt and running out of options.
However, after another cycle in April 2012, blood tests revealed I was pregnant.
We didn’t dare get excited and it wasn’t until we hit the 12-week mark that we started to relax.
As my bump got bigger, I still had nightmares about miscarrying.
Then on January 28, 2013, after spending £50,000 on a total of 12 courses of fertility treatments, our precious daughter Lauren was born, weighing 8lb 1oz.
The feeling of joy in the room was indescribable.
We’re still paying off around £8,000 in debt, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We’d love to give Lauren a sibling, but right now we can’t afford it – plus, we’re aware that time isn’t on our side.
There’s always hope, but for now we’ll stick with our happy little family."
BTW
- There is around a 20% chance of women in their late-30s having a live birth after IVF treatment.
- The average price for one cycle of treatment is £5,000.
- One in seven couples have fertility problems.
