I have just read online an article from the Daily Mail about a new test for IVF patients that has made me quite cross as it seems to me to be quite misleading.

The article states that within months there may be a test that women can have that will almost guarantee their IVF success and make the process of IVF less stressful, emotional and make starting a family cost less money.

The test is not for the women themselves but for the embryos that they produce through their IVF treatment. It aims to identify the healthiest embryos without any abnormalities and to only transfer the highest quality embryos so improving a couple’s chances of sucess.

The test is best carried out when embryos are 5 days old.

Now this is an issue very close to my heart. Regular readers of this blog will know that Esther and William were the result of 5 rounds of IVF. We had two treatments on the NHS and then two privately with one clinic in Kent before transferring to in London. Esther and William are the result of the only cycle, out of the five, that was any kind of success.

Esther and William were two of the only four embryos we have had that made it to 5 days old. Those four embryos came from a total of almost 100 eggs and the best part of £20,000.

For us this new test would not have taken away any of the heartache or the financial strain we experienced. We only once reached the stage where this test could have been carried out for us, and without the test the cycle was a success.

I am glad that doctors and scientists are trying to improve success rates and chances for women with fertility troubles but I am certain that they need to be looking more at the early testing that can be carried our pre-conception.

Our success I am sure came from the immune testing carried out at The ARGC and the drug regime then used to help my body support the growth of eggs and allow a pregnancy to develop.

This had not been offered to me in my previous four cycles at a different clinic and so much time and money was wasted, so many tears cried and bitter blows of disappointment felt. The IVF was never going to work when my body was attacking the embryos in my womb.

IVF is one of the hardest things I have ever done the daily, twice daily injections, the testing, the waiting, the repeated disappointments, the feeling of being inadequate and constantly letting people down. The beating yourself up for not being able to do what should come naturally to every woman. The loneliness of longing for a child you know you may never have.

I hope that it becomes easier for women everywhere but it is not fair to give people false hope.

This new test will only improve results for people who are able to get their embryos to the blastocyst stage in the first place.

And that at the moment is not as easy for many women as it should be.

I know, I am one of them.