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Daughter for couple after 15 IVF attempts
A woman who spent £64,000 on 15 attempts to become pregnant through IVF treatment has finally given birth.
- Evening Standard
- Published: 23:41 February 5, 2008
London: A woman who spent £64,000 on 15 attempts to become pregnant through IVF treatment has finally given birth.
Delina Tree and her husband Simon from Sevenoaks in Kent were told they had only a five per cent chance of conceiving.
But, 10 years after they first started IVF, they are celebrating the birth of daughter Olivia.
The couple, both 40, spent £4,000 on each IVF cycle. Experts said most couples either conceive on the fifth or sixth attempt or give up soon afterwards.
Delina said: "We are so happy. All that time, effort and money was definitely worth it in the end."
The Trees suffered a miscarriage, considered adoption, twice remortgaged their home and worked hundreds of hours of overtime as they tried to become parents.
Delina, a bank clerk, said: "We have had to remortgage the house twice, take out loans and asked our parents to help us financially.
"I stayed in a job I hated as a cashier manager at the Abbey and Simon [and] worked evenings and weekends just so we had enough money for the IVF."
Professor Stuart Campbell, former head of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's Hospital in London, said: "Many fertility experts would want to call it a day before it reached double figures.
There has been a huge psychological toll for the patient as well as a financial burden. What would worry me is the assault on her womb and ovaries from so many cycles of treatment using steroids and hormones."
Delina turned to IVF after a natural pregnancy went wrong and she had a fallopian tube removed.
No expert could explain why eggs removed from her womb to be fertilised did not develop when they were put back.
She said: "Each time I had the IVF treatment I couldn't relax. On one occasion I fell pregnant but miscarried very early on. It was heartbreaking."
The Trees considered adoption but backed out when they found the interviews too harrowing.
Describing her pregnancy with Olivia, who was born by Caesarean section on 15 January, Delinas said: "For the first four months I was terrified.
"When friends congratulated me it didn't sink in. I would even go for extra private scans to make sure that the baby was OK."
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