From heartache to hope: My IVF Story by Katy Jenkins
I'm Katy, 32 years old, I’ve just moved back to Staffordshire after living in Devon for 11 years due to my husbands job. I became part of the fertility space after sharing my own infertility journey via Instagram. It really helped me to connect with others who understood exactly what it was like and the support from strangers who just got it was amazing. It really helped me get through our journey.
Our journey started in 2015 after a missed miscarriage at our 12-week scan two weeks before we got married. It completely turned our world upside down. We then continued trying, and I got pregnant again a year later, but unfortunately, early on I knew something was wrong and this time I was diagnosed with a blighted ovum miscarriage. After trying again for another two years and without success, we went to the doctors for help and after initial tests for both of us, we were referred to the fertility clinic, who then diagnosed us with unexplained infertility. We then started IVF at the end of 2018 which resulted in us having 6 Embryos. After 3 failed transfers, 2 failed and 1 ended in an early miscarriage. Our fourth transfer worked, and this chance gave us is our beautiful boy in May 2021. We knew we had 2 embryos remaining and when our son was a year old we decided we’d look into transferring both as one of them wasn’t as good quality. Never thinking it would work again, we transferred both of them in November 2022 and they both had taken! We had our son & daughter in July 2023. I also think I’ve always been interested in fertility, as my parents had me through IVF too.
I love that in our household there are four IVF babies & I am extremely proud of it. Infertility/IVF is still a very taboo subject. I’m passionate about raising awareness about it and the exact struggles many men and women go through to try and get their miracles. Many people outside IVF just see success stories in the media. It can be portrayed as an easy process, but it isn’t like that at all. There is so much more science, emotion & it is physically challenging on a person. I’m also an open book about our journey and I love that when I talk about it, it opens the conversation and in the past many have said they, too, are going through the same and it’s helped to finally talk about it to someone.
My best advice is to try not to compare your journey to others going through it. Many have different diagnoses and different outcomes. Infertility is really vast, so many different procedures etc. Find your tribe or even just one person, a stranger maybe, to talk to it really helps you to feel less alone. Always tell yourself you are doing everything and the best you can. Be kind to yourself, It’s a tough journey mentally and physically.
I’m looking forward to being in a room with such amazing advocates, businesses and experts. It’s something I have talked about and have been passionate about for years, so it will be nice to meet everyone, share my story and also learn from so many.
Meet Katy at The Fertility Show this 18-19 May at Olympia London. Book your tickets here.