Northampton mum issues advise to couples wanting a baby after waiting six years to fall pregant

Rebecca Langdon of Kingsthorpe welcomed four-month-old Cullen into the world in November after spending over £3500 on fertility treatment and blood tests.

Before falling pregnant with her son after IVF treatment with CARE Fertility, Rebecca conceived naturally on several occasions but miscarried six times in six years, which she described as a “difficult journey.”

Now she is advising other couples who are struggling to conceive to research other tests that could help with fertility if they are not readily available on the NHS.

She said: “I think you kind of become hardened to it, in a nice way, as it kept happening more and more I kept thinking I just want to investigate more.

“I thought to myself there had to be something wrong, because every test I had done I was ovulating, my womb looked really good.”

After investigations to check if Rebecca had endometriosis doctors found that she was having immune problems and her womb was rejecting her embryos, causing her to miscarry.

After she was diagnosed, Rebecca was given steroids and infusions, which is thought to calm down the mother’s immune reaction.

Talking about the struggles of conception, she said: “It was quite difficult, I kept myself busy, we [husband] went away a lot. We randomly had a weekend out and would do something to take my mind off of things.

In the back of my mind I kept saying don’t give up but I always said if it doesn’t work we would have adopted anyway, although it would have been somebody else’s child, I would have felt like we were lucky.”

Rahnuma Kazem, Medical Director, CARE Fertility Northampton said: “I see many patients in my clinic who have suffered failed IVF treatments or repeated miscarriage.

Depending on the patient’s medical history, at CARE we can offer blood tests which will give us detailed information about the patient’s immune system.

"The patient may have an over-active immune response to the developing pregnancy, which may result in miscarriage.

"Treatment is quite straightforward using an infusion containing egg and soya which is thought to calm down the mother’s immune reaction.

"The infusion is given by a nurse, at the patient’s home before and sometimes during pregnancy. The treatment is well tolerated, is inexpensive and we are seeing successful pregnancies following its use. We send our warmest congratulations to Rebecca and Matthew on the birth of their son Cullen”

Rebecca has been with her husband Matt for 15 years and named Cullen after a bay in Australia near to their family.

Rebecca and her husband Matt was given counselling after suffering six miscarriages and felt it helped them to open up about their concerns.

The pair were given ‘homework’ to keep their minds active and were told to buy a symbol or toy for the babies they have lost so they could get "closure."

Rahnuma Kazem, added: “The emotional impact of infertility and having treatment can be overwhelming and unexpected. Counselling is available at CARE free of charge, and patients always tell us they wish they had seen the counsellor sooner.”