Vicky Pattison has taken her "first proper steps" towards having children as she visited a fertility clinic to begin the process of having her embryos frozen.
The former Geordie Shore star, 35, visited London Women's Clinic with fiancé Ercan Ramadan to prepare for having her eggs retrieved in the New Year. The pair plan to have the eggs fertilised to create embryos, which will then be frozen and "will be there waiting for us when we do decide to start the next chapter of our lives," as Vicky shared in a candid Instagram post.
After getting engaged to Ercan in February, Vicky revealed that she had decided to undergo the fertility process so that the pair could have children when they're ready. In a post shared to her Instagram followers back in April, the star admitted: "Now I'm finally in a place where my heart wants to have children, my head knows it's not necessarily the right moment for us and unfortunately my body doesn't have the luxury of loads of time."
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Posting on Instagram on Friday, Vicky wrote: "Last week Ercan and I took our first proper steps to hopefully adding to our family in the future. I haven't posted about this as I haven't really known what to say and stupidly every time I do start typing about it, I cry."
The star thanked the team at London Women's Clinic as she admitted that the experience of having scans and tests to prepare for the freezing process left the couple "nervous and emotional". But Vicky joked: "I've got to be honest, it was a sight to behold watching Erc toddle off clutching his little cup for his 'sample'."
She continued: "Luckily we're all healthy and in a good position to prepare for the egg retrieval process in the New Year! Then if everything goes to plan we'll make our gorgeous little embryos and our frozen family will be there waiting for us when we do decide to start that next chapter of our lives."
Vicky said that she intended to share "every step" of her fertility journey with fans in a bid to raise awareness and understanding of the many different journeys that can be undertaken to have children. "I want women to be aware that there is more than one route to motherhood and happiness," she wrote.
"But we have to understand more about our OWN bodies first and I think there's a real lack of honest information out there - and we also have to understand that every woman's experience with having children or trying to have children is different.
"In the New Year I will be doing my best to share every step of this process with you - chronicling the highs and the lows of our embryo freezing process - just to give those ladies out there thinking about doing it an accurate understanding of how it can look!" she said. Vicky also confirmed that she will be sharing the process on ITV's Lorraine next year.
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