It's Me, Lucy!

3rd August 2012; the first day of our fertility treatment. The first day of the first cycle. Off we go on our 3 hour round trip to our clinic all excited and filled with anticipation of our dream coming true! Now I don’t know if its just me but obviously I had heard of IVF before and had now had the chats with the clinic explaining the process of ICSI however I don’t actually think I knew what it would really involve. I knew the sperm was injected into the egg and then hopefully a beautiful wee embryo would be created and transferred into its wee comfy bed in my tummy! What I didn’t realise is that the stars and the moon practically have to align to get to that point!!! So many things need to work out for conception to take place that I just have no idea how it just happens by people having a bit of how’s your father!! Anyway having been to the clinic for a baseline scan of my womb and ovaries we head home armed with our meds, mentally preparing ourselves for that first i...

16th May 2012;  having had time to accept that the only way forward for us was fertility treatment, we anxiously awaited our first appointment at the Assisted Conception Unit in Dundee which had been arranged for 25th May 2012. In the meantime, we attended an appointment at the Clinical Genetics Clinic in Glasgow for a better understanding of the condition causing our fertility issues.  We met with a lovely lady who explained the result of Adam's genetic testing and subsequent Robertsonian Translocation diagnosis. Now, I don't claim to be an expert or to really know what I'm talking about but in short layman's terms this is what she told us: Most people have 46 chromosomes, Adam has 45. Of these 45, chromosomes 13 and 14 are affected. This is the most common form of translocation however for us it meant that we had an increased risk of miscarriage (30% instead of 25%) and also an increased risk of Down's Syndrome and Patau's Syndrome (1% and 0.5% more th...

4th September 2010; the last time I felt truly carefree and excited about the future! It was also our wedding day! Adam and I had been together 10 years before we got married (he took a little bit of convincing but eventually saw it my way). We met at 18, bought our first house at 20 and spent the next few years moving up the property ladder, going on some amazing holidays and generally doing what we wanted when we wanted! By the time we got married at 27, a baby was firmly on my mind and thankfully Adam felt the same! We had done all the things in life we had wanted to and this was the natural step for us so you can imagine my shock and horror when I wasn't pregnant by the time our honeymoon was over! I’m a planner type of person, I function better when I have a plan in place and suddenly my plan wasn't working out! Obviously I was still pretty relaxed about it all and was enjoying "practicing" however we did decide it was time to get serious and spen...

Hi, Its Me Lucy! Well actually its not, its Lucy's Mummy but when you ask my 2 year old what her name is, she tells you "its me, Lucy Thom"! These 4 words make my heart burst as they are 4 words I never thought I would hear! Lucy was born following 5 years of fertility treatment. She was also born with half a heart! While desperately searching the web for anyone who could understand what we were going through, I found plenty blogs and groups about Fertility and about Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) but could never find anyone who had experienced both! Im hoping that by writing this blog I can not only help myself but anyone else who might be searching the internet hopelessly and make them feel a little less lonely. This is my story with all its ups and downs, tears and laughter, struggles and achievements, and I hope if you're reading along with me you enjoy the journey as much as I am!