IVF baby joy for couple

A WORKSOP couple who feared their dream of having a baby may never come true have given birth to daughter - after their seventh round of IVF.

Lisa and Steve Cooper’s daughter Seren was born last Thursday, after a four year journey that has been an emotional rollercoaster.

“When you have been waiting for something for so long you almost can’t believe that its real,” said 40-year-old store manager Lisa.

“We started trying four years ago. We have been together 16 years and I’ve gone down the career path, and it just never happened. So we started to think something might be wrong.”

The couple were entitled to one free round of IVF treatment on the NHS, which they had at Jessops Hospital in Sheffield at the start of 2009.

“We didn’t get the result that we had hoped for, and had another try through Jessops which was self-funded,” continued Lisa.

The second attempt was also unsuccessful, so the couple turned to Care - a specialist IVF clinic in Nottingham, where they underwent a further five treatments.

After some additional blood tests and treatment for an immune system disorder Lisa did fall pregnant.

“We had a successful result but it didn’t last and that was heartbreaking,” said Lisa.

“We started to wonder how far the funds were going to go, and think about time and the fact that I was getting older.”

“We went to an adoption information evening and I realised that I wanted a forever family more than I wanted to be pregnant. With that I kind of relaxed and stopped worrying so much and thought there was a way forward for us.”

“You can sometimes feel like there’s no hope, but there is always hope. We had one final round, and now we have Seren.”

Though Steve, 46, admits that there were some tense times during Lisa’s pregnancy.

“It was a difficult time. Every day I felt relieved that we had just got through another day,” he said.

“When you lose a pregnancy you feel like it’s the end of the world. I kept expecting and worrying that something might go wrong right up to Seren being born.”

But all went well and little Seren - which means star in Welsh - was born just after 1am last Thursday, weighing a healthy seven pounds two ounces.

“It’s been absolutely fantastic. We are both so happy and feel like a huge weight has been lifted.” said Lisa.

“I adore being a mum and Steve is a great dad. I am just going to concentrate on enjoying her.”