A Bristol couple whose son was conceived thanks to gynaecological and fertility treatment at Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM) have been back to the clinic as they near the end of their baby’s first year to wish the team a very special Merry Christmas.

When Camelia and Andrew Gay married in February 2015 they were aged 35 and 37 respectively and wanted to start a family straight away.

So when there were no signs of a baby by 2017 their GP referred them to BCRM, where investigations revealed that Camelia had endometriosis and experts on the team carried out two separate surgeries to remove excess tissue from her womb, making it possible for them to start assisted fertility treatment.

Given Camelia’s history the decision was taken to use ICSI, a sophisticated form of IVF that overcomes any issues that prevent the sperm from fertilising the egg naturally. The procedure involves injecting sperm into eggs using high magnification with a needle over 10 times thinner than a human hair.

Just one of Camelia and Andrew’s blastocysts made it to day five and this was duly implanted.

Camelia said: “I didn’t believe it was going to work and I didn’t want to do the pregnancy test when the time came for it, but one of my colleagues just wouldn’t take no for an answer and persuaded me.

“When the blue line appeared, I was so happy I could have fainted.

“All the same, I found it hard to have confidence in my pregnancy because of the damage caused by the endometriosis, and it wasn’t until I could feel kicking at 18 or 19 weeks that I really believed we were going to have a baby.

“My pregnancy wasn’t straightforward because I had chronic pancreatitis for the whole period, culminating in an emergency admission into Southmead Hospital on New Year’s Eve last year.

“I hadn’t wanted to go to hospital – I was just 10 days away from my due date – but the pain from the pancreatitis was so bad we had no choice.

“We were the only car on the road at midnight as we drove there, and I expected to be given medication. Instead, I was kept in hospital for three weeks. I was very ill and truly, they saved my life and my baby’s life too.

“As my due date approached, it was suggested I should have a C-Section but this wasn’t possible because of my pancreatitis and my diabetes, so on 6 January I was given an epidural, then they hooked me up and induced me.

“It was a long and difficult birth, but eventually our miracle baby arrived safe and sound at 3pm that day.

“I cannot describe how grateful we are to the team at BCRM who worked so hard to give Andrew and me our beautiful son, and to the NHS for the amazing way they nursed me through my pancreatitis.

“Our fertility treatment with BCRM was also paid for by the NHS. We were incredibly lucky that everything worked for us first time around, but I know the endometriosis treatment that BCRM gave me played no small part in that.

“It was so lovely to take baby Liam into the clinic in his Christmas outfit and introduce him to some of the staff who helped make our dream a reality, and we can’t wait to share our first Christmas with our beautiful little boy.”

BCRM www.fertilitybristol.com is the longest established fertility clinic in Bristol, helping people from throughout the South West and Wales with fertility treatment for both private and NHS patients. The clinic is involved in innovative research and has one of the best success rates with IVF and other fertility treatments in the UK.