S & G

We have come to realise that there is no greater gift than life and the greatest joy we have found is holding our precious child, no matter by what means they have come into our life.

After so may years on IVF , we were advised that the only way for us to proceed was with donor eggs. At first we were a bit apprehensive but after much consideration we realised that no matter what it took, we wanted a family of our own and so we decided to give donor eggs a try, after all, what did we have to lose?

We have used donor eggs twice now, and hope to have a third try soon. Our first attempt resulted in a pregnancy, but unfortunately, due to unforeseen complications ( which must be stressed , had nothing to do with the donor factor ), an early delivery resulted in a stillborn baby girl. Nothing can prepare you for something like that, and even though we were devastated and heartbroken, there is absolutely nothing that can replace the love we felt for the child we held in our arms.

We were now technically parents, but had nothing to show for it -no baby to hold - no baby to take home. About a year later we decided to try again and are we ever so glad we did. After 13 long , difficult and heartbreaking years we were finally able to bring home OUR beautiful baby boy - and he is a blessing like no other.

It is only on very rare occasions when we stop and think that genetically our baby only belongs to one of us. Many of our family don't even know that he is from a donor egg, and really, it is none of their business. Most people can't even tell if he looks like his mum or dad, so there is no doubt that he belongs to us. The only thing that really matters is that we have him in our life. He is our beautiful boy who has come to make us an extremely happy family.

Words cannot express our gratitude to all that helped in the process. To Dr Bernstein, Denyse and all their team, for not giving up on us, and for all their help and support throughout the good times and bad.

Our greatest thanks, however, must go to the wonderful , selfless woman who gave up her eggs for us - we will be eternally indebted to her.

S & G