A woman who wanted to be a mum and feared she was running out of time to find the perfect partner has gone it alone to become a single parent using IVF.
Performance coach Stacy Thomson has since used her experience to start a dating app for people wanting to start families.
The 43-year-old had baby Milo in 2021 by herself after said she was failing to find a suitable partner to have a child with on the regular dating sites she was using.
Stacy, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, said: “Everyone on online dating platforms seemed to just want something casual and it was difficult to wade through the men who didn’t share the same life goals as me.
“I did a fertility test in July 2020 and it came back with quite a poor result which worried me. I knew the clock was ticking and I was running out of options.
“I ultimately made the decision to have a baby by myself, which I have no regrets about, but it wasn’t how I imagined starting a family.
“That’s why I’ve now launched a new app for people who are aiming to start or expand families.”
For Stacy, finding someone who also wanted children was very important to her.
She said: “I’ve always wanted kids, but I imagined I’d have a loving relationship before bringing a child into the world.
“It was only as I got older and older that I realised it might not happen.
“The biggest problem is that, once you’re in your late 30s, if you’ve got that you want kids in your dating profile then that puts off a lot of men.
“Unfortunately, on most apps you can’t filter out people who don’t want children or it can be ambiguous with when they want to start a family.”
And Stacy admitted that she grew tired of searching for ‘The One’.
She said: “I just got fatigued by online dating. My last relationship ended at the one-year mark and I suddenly realised I was single at 40.
“After taking a fertility test and it coming back quite negative, I knew I had to do something soon if I wanted to become a mum.
“I’ve always been the kind of person who is fast to act once I’ve made a decision. I had the fertility test in July 2020 and by the September I was having my eggs harvested.
“My first round of IVF was a success, I was very lucky.”
And while Stacy was delighted to find out she was pregnant, she admits that the IVF journey was difficult alone.
She said: “It was a very lonely process. I didn’t imagine having children this way.
“I remember being in hospital, waiting to be sent down for my c-section, sitting on the bed while I was given an epidural and I was sobbing.
“I think I was grieving for the life I thought I’d have.”
Baby Milo was born in August 2021 and, Stacy has now founded her new dating app Reddi.
She said: “Being a single mum has been both challenging and wonderful.
“I’m so glad I decided to take that leap but there are other people out there who might not be able to afford or want to have a baby without a partner and, for them, they end up missing out when they’re unable to find a suitable relationship.
“This sparked the idea for Reddi, a new kind of dating platform where people share the same values and life goals.”
The app, which was launched in July this year, is an exclusive, member-only site. Stacy said she already has around 200 people on the waiting list.
She said: “Each profile is vetted by a human being before they’re allowed on the site. This is because we want to make sure everyone is genuine and on the platform for sincere reasons.
“We use social media accounts as part of the vetting process but, for us, it’s not about status, who you know or what you do, it’s as much about whether you are a well-rounded, decent human being who cares about other people and is serious about a finding a partner.”
Now Stacy hopes her app will help her to find love.
She said: “I’m still single but I am on the app and I’m definitely still hopeful for love.
"At the moment, I’m very busy - between looking after Milo and running my business - but I’m excited to see what the future holds.
“Who knows, I may find someone for myself on Reddi.”
