Yahoo Lifestyle Mum who suffered 10 miscarriages overjoyed with arrival of miracle baby boy
A proud mum who suffered ten miscarriages is overjoyed at giving birth to a baby boy after refusing to give up on her dream to be a mother.
Jen Bickel, 40, had tried for more than a decade to have a baby with her electrician husband Andrew.
And despite falling pregnant 10 times – six times naturally and four times through IVF – each time ended in heartbreak.
But the couple, from Cardiff, Wales, refused to give up and are finally celebrating the arrival of baby Bobi.
“Bobi William Bickel is now six weeks old, and I do not care if he cries all day or wants to feed all night; I have everything I ever wanted,” she told the BBC.
“We still have two embryos in the freezer and I’m sure at some point we will try and implant them.
If they work, so be it.
“If not, we have our beautiful boy, and after more than a decade of heartbreak, we could not be more grateful.”
Long road to motherhood
The mother’s joy of having her first child comes after years and years of pain.
“There have been so many low points in my journey to becoming a mother, it’s tricky to pick out the lowest,” Ms Bickel said.
“As newlyweds, we never dreamed that having a baby would prove so testing. Back then, we were both fit and healthy 29-year-olds.
“It was 2007, and at first, I fell pregnant quite quickly, miscarrying at six weeks before I actually even knew I was pregnant.
“I was upset but not too devastated; we had time on our sides after all. But it was 18 months before I fell pregnant again, and this time I miscarried at 11 weeks.”
Ms Bickel said she and Andrew were devastated, and faced mixed emotions at seeing many of their friends starting families.
“Many of our friends were starting families, and although we were happy for them, it made our losses all the more acute,” she recalled.
“Personally, I couldn’t help but blame myself. Why was my body failing me? What had I done?”
Ms Bickel miscarried again in 2009 when an early scan showed her baby had no heartbeat and in 2010 they turned to IVF.
They created 10 embryos in their first round of IVF – but the treatment failed to result in a pregnancy.
“A few months later, we tried again, this time receiving a positive pregnancy test, but again a foetus with no heartbeat.
“By this stage, we were desperate. Unsure of how to proceed, we paid out AUD$3600 for private tests, had acupuncture and bought supplements – yet nothing helped.
“Still, we could not give up, so we had no option but to steel our nerves and keep trying.
“In 2014, we had two embryos implanted at a private clinic but in the October, while out for my birthday, I felt a terrible pain in my side, which turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy.
“This was the end of the road of IVF. We had no frozen embryos left, and no more money for treatment.”
Couple handed a lifeline
Ms Bickel said the couple spent at least $9000 on each round of IVF and had run out of money.
“Amazingly, we were then thrown a lifeline when the IVF clinic gave us a free round, after nurses voted us the most deserving couple.
“We implanted two embryos which failed, but froze a further three.”
Ms Bickel suffered then more heartbreak after two ectopic pregnancies meant her fallopian tubes had to be removed.
“I was heartbroken, knowing I would never conceive naturally.”
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“In total, over the past decade, I had fallen pregnant 10 times – six times naturally and four times through IVF – and we couldn’t take anymore.”
But the couple still didn’t give up hope and their faith was rewarded when Ms Bickel fell pregnant once more, on the eleventh time of trying.
“All we had were the frozen embryos – our last hope – and we were keeping everything crossed,” she said.
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