It was a wedding day gift like no other.
After seven years of trying to conceive, Emma and Paul Johnson found out they were expecting their first child together on their wedding day. While getting ready at her parent's house, Emma decided to take a pregnancy test as she had noticed her wedding dress felt a little tight.
And as she travelled to Bradbury Glade to say her vows, she knew that "I do" wouldn't be the only special words she would be sharing with her husband that day as she was about to share the news that she was pregnant.
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It was a surprise she kept with her until the couple went off to do their wedding photos together. And it was then that the newlywed shared the amazing news with her husband.
Emma said: "It was complete shock when I found out, I didn't believe it. Like every other month for the last seven years I didn't think it was going to happen. He was so happy when I told him."
The 33-year-old, from Ferryhill, County Durham, added: "I had customised handkerchiefs for the two of us with pictures of the other babies on. It had the two ultrasounds and a picture of the embryo that had been transferred. I had that tucked into my dress and then I had the pregnancy test tucked into that. And when we went off to do the photos I told him then."
Emma had always wanted to have children, but when she was 23 she was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), one of the most common, but treatable, causes of infertility in women.
She claimed she was told by her doctor "if you don't have a child before you're 30, you'll probably never have one". And with that in mind, when Emma and Paul got together in 2015 they decided to start trying for a baby.
Emma said: "I've known my husband since we were kids. I met him when I was 16 and he was 19. When we finally got together in 2015, we knew it was forever. We thought 'let's get a jumpstart on starting a family' because we knew, due to my PCOS, that we'd probably have to put some effort into it."
But after two years with no success, the couple went to their GP and were referred to the assisted conception unit. Following a consultation, Emma was told she would need to lose four stone to get her BMI down for treatment.
She spent 18 months working to reduce her BMI and was prescribed Clomid, a fertility medication commonly used to attempt to induce ovulation in women who do not ovulate on their own. Unfortunately, the treatment was unsuccessful and after increasing to dosage twice to no avail Emma was told she wouldn't be able to receive any further hormone treatment, due to the risk.
The next step for Emma was to have a procedure called laparoscopic ovarian drilling, which can correct the hormone imbalance affected by PCOS. Things seemed to be going well when Emma became pregnant on her first cycle after the surgery.
Emma said: "It was New Year 2019, and it was perfect. I had all the usual pregnancy symptoms, no signs that anything was wrong. However, a private scan at eight weeks showed that my uterus was empty.
"It was horrendous – I'd had no pain, no bleeding, I felt pregnant, and nobody was going to tell me otherwise."
It was then that Emma discovered she'd had an ectopic pregnancy and was rushed to emergency surgery where she had to have a fallopian tube removed, making her chances of having a baby in the future even smaller.
She was transferred back to the assisted conception clinic and was informed that the next step would be IVF, but that I wasn't eligible for that treatment on the NHS, because her husband already had a daughter from another relationship.
Emma said: "We were so angry at the situation; we fought tooth and nail to try and get further help. This involved visiting multiple doctors, writing to our MP, and approaching our CCG. Each time, the door was slammed in our face.
"Even our families got involved trying to get some support, but ultimately, we were refused NHS IVF treatment, and nothing would change that. In the end, we knew our only option was to go private.
"It was so expensive, but I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn't try. It was a case of 'if we don't try, then we'll always wonder 'what if'."
After researching private IVF treatment online Emma discovered Access Fertility, a provider of private IVF treatment in the UK. The service allowed the couple to fix the cost of private IVF treatment, while also being eligible for a receiving a refund of up to 100% if they didn't have a baby.
The couple used the refund from a holiday they had booked but was cancelled due to Covid, along with some savings and an interest-free credit card to pay for the treatment. In Spring 2021, successful treatment resulted in eight eggs, but only one of those made it to embryo transfer day.
On April 1, Emma's pregnancy test was positive and the couple went to collect the next phase of medication. But sadly in the car on the way home Emma miscarried. "It was like an awful April Fool's joke," Emma said.
After a couple of months' break, the couple tried again for their second round, but unfortunately none of the four eggs collected had survived. The couple were now left with one final chance to fall pregnant through the treatment.
Emma said: "I asked the doctor to give me everything they could to give us the best possible chance of success – I didn’t care if I hyper-stimulated. He explained that he couldn’t do that, as he needed to work within the guidelines to keep me safe, but he did agree to increase the dose slightly.
"I remember the egg collection well because it was more painful compared to the other two. All the same, the clinic got in touch to say they had two really good quality embryos. Consequently, they explained I needed to consider whether to transfer one and freeze one, or whether to transfer two, which might result in twins. In the end it didn’t matter as only one made it to transfer day."
Once again, treatment resulted in a positive pregnancy test and because of Emma's history of the ectopic pregnancy, she had an early viability scan, at six weeks rather than the clinic's standard seven weeks.
Emma added: "I went in all excited. Having had so many scans, I'm familiar with how everything is meant to look. I could see what looked like the gestational sac, right there in my uterus, and I was so happy. But the consultant said he couldn’t see an embryo and told us he couldn’t give us false hope, and we potentially had a blighted ovum.
"We had to go to the early pregnancy assessment unit on September 9, 2021. They told us that everything was fine, but the embryo looked a bit smaller than they’d expect. The next week, when we came back, the embryo hadn't grown.
"On September 23 I went back again and they confirmed I was having another miscarriage. I was admitted for medical management of the miscarriage a few days later."
Following their experience, Emma and Paul, 37, got engaged at the beginning of 2022 and decided to focus on wedding planning. They decided to take a break from treatment and save the refund money for another round in the future.
But now they're planning to spend the refund money on shopping for their new baby after finding out they had conceived naturally.
Emma added: "Of course, we're remaining very cautious, but we're so hopeful that this time round, we'll get the baby we've dreamed of for so long.
"Everything is going really well, other than suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. We're now planning on using our refund money for the baby shopping we never thought we'd get to do."
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