Matthew is a miracle baby – his mum Chloe was told at 16 that she didn’t have a womb. Matthew and his mum helped to celebrate Bourn Hall’s Essex clinic’s fifth anniversary with the world’s first test-tube baby, Louise Brown.
When Chloe was 16 she was diagnosed with MRKH and told that she had been born without a womb; the news was devastating.
“I still have my ovaries so can produce eggs, but I will never be able to carry a baby myself,” explains Chloe.
Chloe married Chris in 2018 and the couple went to Bourn Hall, where the clinic collected some of Chloe’s eggs, fertilised them with Chris’s sperm and placed the resulting embryos in frozen storage until the couple found a surrogate.
In 2020 Chloe and Chris joined Surrogacy UK and became part of their members website. Eight months later they met Sophie and a few months after that the three became a ‘team’. Sophie underwent a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) at Bourn Hall in January 2022. “I was able to be in the room with her and held her hand as we watched it on the screen,” says Chloe.
Two weeks later it was confirmed that Sophie was pregnant with Chloe and Chris’s baby – the treatment had worked first time.
“When Matthew was born I was allowed to cut the cord and I had my first skin-to-skin with him; it was really lovely,” says Chloe. “Chris then came to meet him and we were very, very happy – it was just such a surreal moment.”
Building trust in surrogacy
It can be a lengthy process to find a surrogate, says Julie Middlemas, a Surrogacy Coordinator at Bourn Hall. “Some surrogates do prefer couples who already have frozen embryos as this means that once all the checks have been undertaken the treatment can start sooner.
Julie has seen a recent rise in surrogacy treatments at the clinic and the team is experienced at creating trusting relationships with all parties.
“Our aim is to make the journey as smooth as possible,” Julie continues. “If the couple are intending to use their own embryos, it may be beneficial to create and freeze these embryos with us either before or whilst in the early stages of finding a surrogate.
“Once a couple have found their surrogate all parties are included in the planning of the surrogacy treatment. We hold both separate and joint discussions between the clinical team, surrogate, and the intended parents.
“I feel it is important to create a trusting relationship between myself and the surrogacy party. Their treatment is tailored to their needs, and I try to always be there for them along the way.
“I enjoy my role as Surrogacy Coordinator, and to know that you have helped a couple to become a family is very rewarding.”
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