DESPERATE QUEST FOR BABY I spent six years and £8,600 in search for someone to father my child
I thought he was quite attractive,” she says. “I did hope there might be a spark, but I soon realised we’d probably only be friends. For the next six months we met up at hotels. It was quite surreal. I’d sit down at the bar having a drink, while he left me a sperm sample in the room. Then I’d insert it using a syringe. It was all very clinical.”
For six months, Jacqueline faced crushing disappointment. “I told him by text I thought it was time to call it quits,” she says. “He was quite cold in his reply, saying he wouldn’t have started with me if he’d known I’d only give it six months. “But my mind was made up.” Jacqueline then forked out £600 for a donor sperm at a clinic in Copenhagen. When that didn’t work, she paid a further £ 2,000 for two more procedures in Edinburgh. She says: “It was the third failed attempt which really got me. I was fast approaching 40 and they told me on the phone my egg count was very low, so I’d only have a five per cent chance of having a child that was biologically mine. As soon as I hung up, I burst into tears.”
Jacqueline’s last hope was IVF treatment. After months of research, she decided on a clinic in Cyprus which claimed it could offer a 50 per cent chance of conception.
She initially feared she’d have to use a donor egg, but doctors said they were confident she’d still be able to conceive using the last of her own eggs.
SCARED
The trip and procedure cost her £6,000. She says: “I felt really nervous travelling to Cyprus. The thought of having IVF scared me but I knew I’d regret it forever if I didn’t give it a go. On the plane, my heart was pounding. But I was reading a self-help book that gave me the strength to go for it.
“I was scared about being put to sleep but it wasn’t as traumatic as I thought.” At last, the finish line in her long and emotional race was in sight. “Two weeks later, the clinic phoned and said it had been success. This time I cried tears of joy. I called my family and we all sobbed together.” Sophie was born four weeks early after a three-hour labour. Jacqueline says: “It all happened very quickly so I didn’t have time to phone my mum, who was my birthing partner.
“But in a way I was glad it was just the midwife and me. When I held Sophie for the first time, I couldn’t believe she was real. It was a beautiful moment.”
Jacqueline knows very little about the man who made her dream come true – but Sophie will have the chance to meet him when she grows up. Jacqueline says: “I know when Sophie gets older she will ask why she doesn’t have a daddy. I’ ll tell her mummy needed a bit of help to get the magic seed to bring her into the world.”
Jacqueline hopes to start dating again when Sophie is a little older – but there’s no rush. “It’s just the two of us for now but things are perfect,” she says. “I won’t bring anyone into her life unless it’s the right man.
“Sometimes, I look at her and I wonder what her dad is like, how he looks and how his voice sounds. I won’t keep any secrets from Sophie. I’ll be very open as soon as she starts asking questions.
“I want her to know I tried really hard to find her a daddy - but I wanted her so much I’ll love her enough for two parents.”
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MUM JACQUELINE WHO FINALLY GOT HER DREAM BABY SOPHIE THROUGH IVF
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