After years of trying for a baby, Hayley Keeber feared that she was never going to have the child she dreamed of with her husband Aaron. She had a three-year-old daughter, Sydney (now 12) when she met him in 2015 but tried for a year to conceive baby number two following their June 2018 wedding, without success.
Finally, Hayley, 36, from Northampton, went to see her GP to see if anything was the matter. She was shocked to discover that she has the hormonal condition PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which can impact fertility, and her chances of falling pregnant were slim. “We realised it was a miracle I’d even had Sydney,” she says. “I was so grateful to have her but my worries about growing our family started to creep in.”.
Worried that she wouldn't be able to conceive naturally, Hayley and Aaron opted for fertility treatment. Hayley was prepared to start with a round of Clomid, a drug that helps women who have trouble ovulating, in September 2019. But shortly before she embarking on the course of medication, Hayley discovered she was pregnant.
However, her joy was short-lived. “Despite only having a slim chance of conceiving, in September 2019, I suffered an ectopic pregnancy. It was devastating. Plus, it meant we’d have to wait another six months before starting any fertility treatment,” she says.
In February 2020, Hayley took Clomid for six months without success. And as fertility services closed in the midst of the covid pandemic they were forced to make the tough decision to hold off on any more treatment. They then decided to stop trying altogether and started to come to terms with the fact that they may never have children.
